Citi transfer partners: Airline and hotel loyalty programs

Many Citi cardholders redeem their Citi ThankYou Rewards points for gift cards or bookings through the Citi travel portal. But if you have a premium Citi ThankYou card, you may get greater value from your points by utilizing the Citi transfer partners.

In this guide, we’ll discuss how to earn Citi ThankYou points you can redeem with the Citi transfer partners.

Earning points you can use with Citi transfer partners

You can earn Citi ThankYou points through some Citi credit cards, including:

Keep in mind, though, that not all ThankYou points have the same value. To transfer Citi ThankYou points to most partners described in this guide, you must hold a premium Citi ThankYou card such as the Citi Prestige® Card (no longer available to applications) or the Citi Premier.

If you only have the Citi Rewards+ Card, you’ll earn more limited ThankYou points that you can transfer to JetBlue TrueBlue, Choice Privileges and Wyndham Rewards. If you only have the Citi Double Cash Card or the Citi Custom Cash Card, you earn cash back as “basic” ThankYou points that you can’t transfer to partner programs.

However, if you also hold the Citi Prestige or the Citi Premier, you can combine your limited and basic ThankYou points with those from your Citi Prestige or Citi Premier account. Then, you can transfer your combined rewards to any Citi ThankYou transfer partners.

The information for the Citi Prestige card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Related: Is the Citi Premier worth the annual fee?

Citi transfer partner overview

The Citi ThankYou Rewards program currently has 19 transfer partners: 14 airline loyalty programs, four hotel loyalty programs and one retail loyalty program.

Here’s an overview of the Citi transfer partners and the ratios at which you can transfer ThankYou points:

• Accor Live Limitless: 2:1 transfer ratio
• Aeromexico Rewards: 1:1 transfer ratio
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue: 1:1 transfer ratio
• Avianca LifeMiles: 1:1 transfer ratio
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles: 1:1 transfer ratio
• Choice Privileges: 1:2 transfer ratio (2:3 transfer ratio for cards that earn limited ThankYou points)
• Emirates Skywards: 1:1 transfer ratio
• Etihad Guest: 1:1 transfer ratio
• EVA Air Infinity MileageLands: 1:1 transfer ratio
• JetBlue TrueBlue: 1:1 transfer ratio (5:4 transfer ratio for cards that earn limited ThankYou points)
• Leaders Club: 5:1 transfer ratio
• Qantas Frequent Flyer: 1:1 transfer ratio
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club: 1:1 transfer ratio
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer: 1:1 transfer ratio
• Shop Your Way: 1:10 transfer ratio
• Thai Royal Orchid Plus: 1:1 transfer ratio
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles: 1:1 transfer ratio
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club: 1:1 transfer ratio
• Wyndham Rewards: 1:1 transfer ratio (5:4 transfer ratio for cards that earn limited ThankYou points)

Occasionally, you may be able to transfer Citi points to select partners at a higher ratio during a transfer bonus.

To transfer Citi ThankYou points, go to thankyou.com and sign in to your account. You may need to select the ThankYou account you want to use. Then, click “Travel” on the top navigation bar and select “Points transfer.” Each transfer must be at least 1,000 ThankYou points but no more than 500,000. ThankYou points can only be transferred in increments of 1,000.

Some partners recognize transfers from Citi ThankYou Rewards quicker than others. Citi says transfers can take up to 14 days to process, but our tests on how long Citi ThankYou points take to transfer show most transfers occur much quicker.

In the remainder of this guide, we’ll discuss each Citi transfer partner and whether they’ll likely provide good value if you transfer Citi points.

Related: Best ways to redeem Citi ThankYou points

Accor Live Limitless

Accor Live Limitless has 53 brands, including popular names like Sotifel, Fairmont, Raffles and Movenpick. Its redemptions are simple — 2,000 points are worth 40 euros (around $44, based on current exchange rates). That means each Accor point is worth around 2.2 cents.

Transferring Citi points to Accor at a 2:1 ratio means you’ll get just over 1 cent per Citi point (significantly lower than TPG’s valuation of Citi points at 1.8 cents each). That said, if you have a limited number of Citi points, Accor Live Limitless could be a compelling transfer partner that will offer slightly more value than redeeming your points for travel through the Citi travel portal.

Aeromexico Rewards

While Aeromexico Rewards has an award chart for limited-availability classic award tickets, it uses dynamic pricing for most award tickets operated by Aeromexico, Delta, KLM and Air France. This dynamic pricing varies depending on demand, availability, destination and your class of service — but the rates usually aren’t compelling. Even if you book your award online, you’ll still need to pay an award booking fee of 365 Mexican pesos (about $22).

You may get good value from Aeromexico if you use your points in the right situations, but generally, Aeromexico Rewards isn’t one of the most valuable Citi transfer partners.

Air France-KLM Flying Blue

Air France-KLM Flying Blue is a popular program that some might argue is one of the best Citi transfer partners. However, Flying Blue uses dynamic award pricing and adds fuel surcharges that can be hefty on some routes.

Flying Blue standardized prices of saver-level redemptions to Europe in late 2023, and you can find great value through the monthly Flying Blue Promo Rewards and Flying Blue stopovers. You can also use Flying Blue’s calendar search tool to find cheaper award tickets.

Related: How to find the cheapest redemption rates using Flying Blue miles

Avianca LifeMiles

With its mixed cabin ticketing and low taxes and fees, Avianca LifeMiles is a popular currency for booking flights on Star Alliance carriers. Unlike some frequent flyer programs, LifeMiles doesn’t pass along carrier surcharges on award tickets.

Although Avianca LifeMiles raised award costs to Asia in late 2022, two of our favorite sweet spots remain:

You’ll also often find inexpensive Avianca-operated award flights within the Americas.

Related: The best websites to search for Star Alliance award availability

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles uses distance-based award charts for flights on its own metal and Oneworld partner awards. Long-haul flights, such as those between the U.S. and Hong Kong, can be expensive. Specifically, you can book one-way “ultra-long” Cathay Pacific flights of 7,501 miles or longer for 160,000 Asia Miles in first class, 110,000 miles in business, 75,000 miles in premium economy and 38,000 miles in economy.

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles passes on fees and surcharges from other carriers and often charges significant fees on its own tickets. But, even after Cathay increased most Asia Miles award rates in late 2023, you’ll still occasionally find award flights where booking through Asia Miles is the best option.

Related: Traveling soon? These 10 apps and websites make award redemptions easier to find

Choice Privileges

Choice integrated Radisson Rewards Americas into its loyalty program in mid-2023. Now you can book Choice hotels, including legacy Radisson Rewards Americas brands, through Choice Privileges. Award nights at most properties worldwide range from 6,000 to 35,000 points per night.

You can transfer Citi points to Choice at a 1:2 ratio (2:3 ratio for cards that earn limited ThankYou points), which makes it easier to get good value. Check out our stories on Choice Hotels Sweet Spot Rewards and unique ways to redeem Choice points to learn how to maximize Choice points.

Related: Register for Choice Hotels Your Extras to earn gift cards or other perks on weekday stays

Emirates Skywards

Emirates Skywards is perhaps most useful for booking Emirates business-class or first-class award tickets, but its award prices are high. For example, a business-class one-way flight from New York to Dubai costs 138,000 miles and $839 in taxes and fees.

A more viable option is to look at one of the carrier’s fifth-freedom routes between the U.S. and Europe. For example, you can book a one-way business-class award from New York to Milan for 87,000 miles plus $106 in taxes and fees, but if you can find round-trip, saver-level awards, your total price for the New York-to-Milan fifth-freedom route drops to 108,000 miles plus $248.

Related: The complete guide to the Emirates A380 onboard bar and lounge

Etihad Guest

Etihad Guest used to be a fantastic program for maximizing partner redemptions. Unfortunately, Etihad slashed its sweet spots and increased award rates by over 300% on some routes in 2023.

Etihad is making more loyalty program changes this year, including reduced GuestSeat award prices and the ability to redeem miles to upgrade to the Residence on some A380 flights. However, Etihad Guest award rates tend to be high, and the award charts you’ll find only list introductory rates, so the rates you’ll find when you go to book will often be significantly higher.

Related: Your ultimate guide to searching award availability for the major airlines

EVA Air Infinity MileageLands

EVA Air Infinity MileageLands generally won’t be your program of choice. After all, it is often beaten by other programs and is rather difficult to understand. But there are a few notable cases in which you might want to use Infinity MileageLands.

One particular area to consider is intra-region round-trip itineraries. You’re allowed up to two stopovers, up to six segments and one open jaw on round-trip Star Alliance awards — and some regions are very broad. For example, the “North Asia” region consists of “Guam, Japan, Micronesia, Palau, Russian Far East, South Korea, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Saipan.” So, you could piece together a nice island hopper for just 30,000 miles round trip in economy or 55,000 miles in business class. Likewise, the “South West Pacific” and “South America” regions also look appealing.

Check out the award chart for Star Alliance awards and the award chart for EVA Air awards.

Related: Is EVA Air business class worth it on the Boeing 787-10?

JetBlue TrueBlue

Redeeming JetBlue TrueBlue points for the carrier’s flights is simple: The more a flight costs in cash, the more it will require in points. According to TPG’s valuations, you can expect to get roughly 1.4 cents of value for every TrueBlue point you redeem, but some flights may yield slightly better or worse value.

Another option is to redeem JetBlue points for travel on Hawaiian Airlines. You can usually book nonstop, one-way intra-Hawaii economy flights for 7,500 points plus $5.60. However, this isn’t as good of a deal as it sounds since paid flights are often inexpensive on these routes.

Leaders Club

The newest Citi transfer partner is Leaders Club, the loyalty program of The Leading Hotels of the World. Leaders Club uses dynamic award pricing, but you’ll usually get between 6 and 8 cents per point. Given that you can transfer Citi points to Leaders Club at a 5:1 ratio, you’ll usually get between 1.2 and 1.6 cents per Citi point (lower than TPG’s 1.8 cents per ThankYou point valuation).

Suppose you want to redeem Citi points for a stay at a LHW property. In that case, you’ll usually be better off transferring points to Leaders Club instead of redeeming points when booking through the Citi travel portal, but it’s worth doing the math for your specific booking.

Qantas Frequent Flyer

Qantas Frequent Flyer generally isn’t the most lucrative loyalty program with its high fuel surcharges and lackluster award charts. You’ll find multiple distance-based award charts for the program, so you must select the correct award chart based on the airlines you plan to fly.

There are some sweet spots to be found, including short Qantas-operated flights, around-the-world Oneworld tickets, transatlantic business-class awards operated by American Airlines and short-haul American Airlines flights.

Qatar Airways Privilege Club

Qatar Airways Privilege Club isn’t the most popular program, but it’s worth caring about since it switched to Avios as its currency in 2022. Now, it is the only Avios-accruing program to partner with Citi ThankYou Rewards.

Since you can combine your Avios across the loyalty programs that use Avios, you can transfer Citi points to Qatar and then book sweet spots in the British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus loyalty programs.

Related: Book Qatar Qsuites before anyone else

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer is usually your best bet if you’re looking to book Singapore Airlines first-class Suites with points and miles. You’ll usually only find Advantage space for 243,000 miles one-way in first class on the nonstop flight from New York to Singapore. But, if you want to fly in business class on this flight, Advantage awards cost 143,500 miles, and Saver awards cost 111,500 miles. If there isn’t an award available when you book, you can join the waitlist.

If those business- and first-class award rates seem a bit high, you can also find value in the monthly KrisFlyer Spontaneous Escapes program.

Shop Your Way

Shop Your Way is a shopping rewards program. You can’t see your redemption options until you have enough Shop Your Way points. However, according to an article on the Shop Your Way website, 1,000 points are worth $1 toward a gift card.

Citi points transfer to Shop Your Way at a 1:10 transfer ratio, which means you’d get about 1 cent per Citi point if you transfer to Shop Your Way. Considering you can get 1 cent per point when redeeming Citi points for a statement credit or check, there’s little reason to transfer your points to Shop Your Way.

Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus

Despite some decent intra-region award pricing, you won’t find much value in Thai Royal Orchid Plus. You can find the Thai award chart for originating in Bangkok here, the Thai award chart for connecting in Bangkok here and the Star Alliance partner award chart here.

Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles

The Turkish Miles&Smiles program has been a favorite among award travelers in recent years. However, Turkish Airlines devalued its award charts last month. Although this devaluation certainly dropped some of the program’s appeal, there’s still some value to be found.

You’ll still get the most value when you use your miles to book Turkish- or Star Alliance-operated flights. Based on the Miles&Smiles region-based award charts, one-way awards are bookable for half the price of a round-trip award. However, fuel surcharges are high on some Miles&Smiles redemptions.

One of the best ways to redeem Turkish miles is on domestic flights operated by one of the Turkish Miles&Smiles partners. This sweet spot works in many countries with partner hubs, but you’ll pay 10,000 miles one-way in economy and 15,000 in business class on United flights within the U.S., including Hawaii.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club has been a favorite of award travelers, but the program has removed many of its sweet spots over the last few years. In 2021, Virgin Atlantic axed many of its Delta sweet spots. In 2023, Virgin Atlantic increased ANA first-class redemptions and devalued the award chart for many Delta flights outside Europe and the United Kingdom.

There are still ways to find value, especially when you consider the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club partners. For example, Delta Main Cabin flights between the U.S. and the U.K. on standard season dates start at 15,000 Virgin points each way. You can sometimes get good value by booking discounted award flights through Virgin Atlantic Promo Rewards.

Related: How to book Delta award flights with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points

Wyndham Rewards

Wyndham Rewards has a simple award chart: Each award night costs 7,500, 15,000 or 30,000 points, depending on the property you choose. Not all properties are a good deal, but you can sometimes find bargains in expensive cities, at high-end properties or during peak travel dates.

You can also redeem Wyndham points for stays at Wyndham vacation club resorts, Caesars Rewards properties and Vacasa vacation rentals.

Related: The 12 best Wyndham hotels in the world

Bottom line

As you can see, there are plenty of Citi transfer partners. As such, it can make sense to earn Citi ThankYou points even if you don’t know exactly how you’ll want to spend them. Once you know where you want to go, you can determine which transfer partners provide the best options and value for your trip.