Citibank has added yet another airline as a Citi ThankYou Point transfer partner, this time the Australian airline Qantas. The transfer rate is a straight 1:1 transfer (as it is with all of their travel partners, apart from Hilton which is 2:3).
Citi has slowly but steadily been adding travel partners, the service launched with 8 travel partners in July of 2014 and Malayasia & AirFrance/KLM were quickly added in August, 2014. Their last addition was Virgin Atlantic Flying Club in January of 2015, bring the total to 12 travel partners. Everybody is still waiting and holding out hope that they will add American Airlines as a transfer partner. Given that Citi is the card issuer for American Airlines co-branded cards, you’d think that this would be an easy partnership to secure. I imagine at this stage given that it hasn’t happened yet, it’s extremely unlikely that it will happen in the future, but fingers cross it does.
Current Transfer Partners
Below is a list of current transfer partners, all transfer partners transfer at a 1:1 rate unless otherwise noted.
| Emirates | EVA Air Infinity MileageLands | Malaysia Airlines Enrich |
| AirFrance-KLM Flying Blue | Etihad Guest | Qatar Airways Privilege Club |
| Asia Miles | Accor Hotels (1:0.5) | Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer |
| Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus | Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | Qantas |
| JetBlue (1:0.8 rate, 0.5 with Preferred) | Sears SYWRP (1:12) | Jet Airways JetPrivilege |
| Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles | Avianca LifeMiles | Club Premier Aeromexico |
| Choice Hotels (1:2) | Leading Hotels of the World (5:1) |
Transferring Points
You can only transfer points if you have one of the following three credit cards:
- Citi Chairman
- Citi Prestige
- Citi ThankYou Premier
Best Use Of Qantas Points
There are a number of things to keep in mind when using Qantas points: they charge fuel surcharges (these were recently reduced, but they are still quite significant), they use a distance based award chart for partner redemption and it’s possible to upgrade to business class using points on a revenue ticket.
The best value is using the points for an upgrade to business class tickets. How much you’ll pay for this upgrade will depend on your status and how many seats are available.
Personally I don’t see a lot of value in this new transfer partner, it’s always good to have more options and I am sure there are a few sweet spots in the award charts but at a quick glance I didn’t see anything terribly exciting. What are your thoughts on this new transfer partner? Which airline/hotel chain would you like to see added (apart from the obvious American Airlines).
