How To Maximize A Citi Quadfecta To Earn Cashback Or 2.22-5.55 American, Turkish, Or Qantas Miles Per Dollar; What Citi Says About Long-Term Transfers To American

A game-changing announcement

On Sunday, Citi made a surprise announcement that ThankYou points will be transferrable to American through 11/13. While Citi points transfer to JetBlue, this is Citi’s first mileage transfer option to a domestic airline that offers the ability to receive outsized value when redeeming miles. Citi’s international partners can book travel on domestic airlines, but foreign carriers can be difficult to reach and their awards may carry fuel surcharges.

 

It’s something that many people had hoped would happen for years, but never materialized. But a limited time partner transfer is something that we’ve never heard of before. Will it really go away?

I reached out to Citi to find out if the partnership may extend past 11/13 and they responded that, “On background, we cannot provide details into any longer-term transfer partnership with AA. That said, AA is a long-standing Citi partner and we are both continuously exploring ways to add value to our customers.”

That sounds promising if you ask me, but only time will tell. Even if transfers to American don’t stick around, perhaps it will come and go as a limited time transfer offer in the future?

Despite the limited time offer, I wouldn’t advise transferring points to American, where they would be subject to devaluation, without being ready to book an award ticket. Better off waiting until 11/13 and see if there’s any news about the transfer option sticking around and deciding then if you should transfer over any miles.

Between transfers to airlines like American, Turkish, and Qantas, Citi ThankYou points look a lot more valuable. Best of all, it’s easy to rack them up!

Citi’s powerful card lineup

There are 4 currently available Citi cards that are worth focusing on to rack up ThankYou points:

• Citi Premier is offering a record high 80,000 points limited time offer for spending $4,000 in 3 months. $95 annual fee. Read more here.
  • This card is required to transfer points into miles at a 1:1 ratio.
  • If you have this card, you can also cash out your points at a value of 1 cent per point.
  • With this card you’ll earn 3 points per dollar on airfare, hotels, travel agents, groceries, gas, and dining.
• The Citi Double Cash card offers 2% cash back or 2 points per dollar spent everywhere that can be transferred into ThankYou points. If you also have a Citi Premier Card you can transfer points into miles. No annual fee. Read more here.
  • With this card you’ll earn 2 points per dollar everywhere with no limits!
• The Citi Rewards+ Card is offering 15,000 points for spending $1,000 in 3 months. If you also have a Citi Premier Card you can transfer points into miles. No annual fee. Read more here.
  • This card automatically rounds up rewards earned on every purchase to the nearest 10 points, meaning you earn 10 points on a $0.50 Amazon balance reload, which is a whopping 20 points per dollar spent at Amazon! Plus you’ll earn 2 points on $6K in annual spending at supermarkets.
  • Even better, when you have this card you’ll get a 10% points rebate on all points redemptions on up to 100K points per calendar year. So when you transfer 100,000 points to an airline via a Citi Premier card, you’ll get a 10,000 point rebate thanks to also having a Rewards+ card.
  • You will also get 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months.
• The Citi Custom Cash Card is offering 20,000 points for spending $750 in 3 months. If you also have a Citi Premier Card you can transfer points into miles. No annual fee. Read more here.
  • With this card you’ll earn 5 points per dollar on up to $500 in purchases in your top spending category each month! There’s no need to enroll for this bonus. Eligible categories include Restaurants, Gas Stations, Grocery Stores, Select Travel, Select Transit, Select Streaming Services, Drugstores, Home Improvement Stores, Fitness Clubs, and Live Entertainment. With $500 in monthly purchases, you can rack up 30,000 points annually!
  • You will also get 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months.

Signup bonus terms

• You can receive a bonus on a Custom Cash card once every 48 months.
• You can receive the bonus on the Rewards+ card or Premier card if you haven’t received a bonus or closed the CitiRewards+, Citi ThankYou Preferred, ThankYou Premier, or Citi Prestige card in the past 24 months.
• You can receive the bonus on the Rewards+ card or Premier card even if you downgraded one of those cards in the past 24 months.
• You can receive the bonus on the Rewards+ card or Premier card even if you currently have those cards.
• You can get multiple of the same exact Citi card, so you can apply for a Premier card even if you currently have a Premier card.
• Citi allows applications for 1 card every 8 days and 2 cards every 2 months.
• You can check application status at 866-252-0118 and you can call reconsideration if you’re denied at 800-695-5171.

Points transfers and card conversions

You can transfer Citi points to anyone, but once you transfer points they will expire in 90 days, so only do that if you’re ready to transfer them into airline miles or redeem them another way within that timeframe. You can share 100K points per calendar year and you can receive 100K points per calendar year.

You can typically convert any Citi card into another Citi card.

Creating A Citi Quadfecta Killer Combo

A Citi Bifecta would consist of a household that has the Citi Premier and the Citi Double Cash or Citi Rewards+. The total effective annual fee would be just $95. With Citi Premier and Citi Double Cash you can earn 2 points per dollar everywhere and 3 points per dollar on airfare, hotels, travel agents, groceries, gas, and dining. Plus you can transfer your points into miles. With Citi Premier and Citi Rewards+ you can earn 10 points on all small purchases and 3 points per dollar on airfare, hotels, travel agents, groceries, gas, and dining. Plus you can transfer your points into miles and get a 10% points rebate on up to 100,000 points redeemed per calendar year, meaning you’ll effectively earn 11.1 points on small purchases and 3.33 points per dollar on airfare, hotels, travel agents, groceries, gas, and dining. If both members in a household have a Citi Premier and Citi Rewards+ then both members can each get the 10% rebate on up to 100,000 of points redeemed per year.

A Citi Trifecta would consist of a household that has the Citi Premier, the Citi Double Cash, and the Citi Rewards+. The total effective annual fee would be just $95. With those 3 cards you can earn 10 points on all small purchases, 2 points per dollar everywhere, and 3 points per dollar on airfare, hotels, travel agents, groceries, gas, and dining. Plus you can transfer your points into miles. Plus you can transfer your points into miles and get a 10% points rebate, meaning you’ll effectively earn 11.1 points on small purchases, 3.33 points per dollar on airfare, hotels, travel agents, groceries, gas, and dining, and 2.22 points per dollar everywhere.

A Citi Quadfecta would consist of a household that has the Citi Premier, the Citi Double Cash, the Citi Rewards+ and the Citi Custom Cash Card. The total effective annual fee would be just $95. With those 4 cards you can earn 10 points on all small purchases, 5 points per dollar on $500 of monthly purchases in your top category that month, 2 points per dollar everywhere, and 3 points per dollar on airfare, hotels, travel agents, groceries, gas, and dining. Plus you can transfer your points into miles. Plus you can transfer your points into miles and get a 10% points rebate, meaning you’ll effectively earn 11.1 points on small purchases, 5.55 points per dollar on $500 of purchases in your top category, 3.33 points per dollar on airfare, hotels, travel agents, groceries, gas, and dining, and 2.22 points per dollar everywhere.

Redeem for cash back

If you have a Citi Premier card, you can redeem your points for a statement credit of 1 cent per point. If you have a Rewards+ card you’ll also get a 10% rebate on up to 100K points per calendar year. In other words if you redeem 100K points for $1,000 you would get back 10K points, so each point is effectively worth 1.11 cents each.

Transfer to lucrative airline partners

If you have a Citi Premier card you can transfer points into miles:

• American (OneWorld): 1K:1K (Temporary partner through 11/13/21)
• Aeromexico (Skyteam): 1K:1K
• Air France/KLM Flying Blue (Skyteam): 1K:1K
• Avianca Lifemiles (Star Alliance): 1K:1K
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles (OneWorld): 1K:1K
• Emirates: 1K:1K
• Etihad: 1K:1K
• EVA (Star Alliance): 1K:1K
• Garuda Indonesia (Skyteam): 1K:1K
• Intermiles: 1K:1K
• JetBlue: 1K:1K
• Malaysia (OneWorld): 1K:1K
• Qantas (OneWorld): 1K:1K
• Qatar (OneWorld): 1K:1K
• Singapore (Star Alliance): 1K:1K
• Thai (Star Alliance): 1K:1K
• Turkish (Star Alliance): 1K:1K
• Virgin Atlantic: 1K:1K

With a Citi Rewards+ card you’ll get a 10% points rebate per calendar year, making the effective transfer ratio 0.9 Citi points for 1 airline mile!

Sample mileage uses:

American:

Most Citi mileage transfers occur instantly, but  mileage transfers to American have been taking taking 10-20 hours for processing. However as you can hold American awards for up to 5 days, so that you won’t lose your award while waiting for the transfer.

There are plenty of bargains if you do have American miles.

Fly American lie-flat direct aisle access business class from JFK, Miami or Dallas nonstop to Tel Aviv from 63K miles each way:

 

 

Fly American lie-flat direct aisle access business class to Europe for 57.5K miles each way:

 

Fly to Tahiti for 80K miles in business class:

 

Fly the industry’s best business class product, Qatar QSuites, to places like South Africa for 75K miles each way:

 

Fly JAL’s fantastic first class for just 80K miles each way:

 

Fly Cathay Pacific’s industry leading first class, with the more comfortable mattress and seat in the air (by a long shot!) and top-notch lounges with kosher food on the ground, for 115K miles each way (no face mask required):

 

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Turkish Airlines:

As I’ve written about before, Turkish Airlines has a ridiculously generous Star Alliance award chart.

And they don’t charge any fuel surcharges for United flights.

Here is the North America version of the chart with one-way award pricing:

Between the US and:	Economy	Business	First
US, including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and USVI	7.5K	12.5K	N/A
North America	10K	15K	N/A
Europe	30K	45K	67.5K
Middle East	32K	47K	68.5K
Central and North Africa	30K	49K	73K
Central Asia	34K	52.5K	77K
Southern Africa and Far East	45K	67.5K	100K
South America and Oceania	52.5K	75K	115K

As part of the Star Alliance, Turkish can book award travel on airlines like United and Air Canada.

You can open a Turkish Airlines mileage account online (Hint: Your password must be exactly 6 numbers or else it will give an error).

And you can book Star Alliance awards with Turkish miles here (Login and then click this link again). You can’t search for partner awards from their home page. Search for one-way at a time for best results.

For example you can transfer miles to Turkish Airlines to fly from the US to Tel Aviv on United for just 32K points, or 28.8K points in coach after the 10% rebate with a Rewards+ card:

 

Or 47K points in Polaris business class (42.3K after the 10% rebate with a Rewards+ card):

There are lots of other bargains, all of which will be 10% less with a Rewards+ card:

• Fly one-way anywhere in the US, including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and USVI, for just 7.5K miles in coach or 12.5K in business class on United with no fuel surcharges.

NYC to Miami in economy for 7.5K or business for 12.5K:

 

LA to NYC in economy for 7.5K or lie-flat business for 12.5K:

 

LA to Kauai in economy for 7.5K or business for 12.5K:

• Fly one-way anywhere in the US to Canada or Mexico for just 10K miles in coach or 15K in business class on United with no fuel surcharges.

NYC to Cancun in economy for 10K or business for 15K:

 

• Fly one-way to Europe for 45K in business class on United with no fuel surcharges.

NYC to Milan in economy for 30K or business for 45K:

Qantas:

With Qantas miles you can redeem for El Al award tickets without any fuel surcharges! You read more about this option here. Plus there have been transfer bonuses in the past.

• A one-way coach ticket from NYC to Tel Aviv on El Al is 37.8K Qantas miles and there are no fuel surcharges.
• A one-way premium economy ticket from NYC to Tel Aviv on El Al is 70.8K Qantas miles and there are no fuel surcharges.
• A one-way business class ticket from NYC to Tel Aviv on El Al is 90K Qantas miles and there are no fuel surcharges.

You can also redeem for tickets on American:

• A one-way coach ticket from NYC to Tel Aviv on AA is 31.5K Qantas miles plus $323.
• A one-way business class ticket from NYC to Tel Aviv on AA is 82K Qantas miles plus $323.

Avianca Lifemiles: Awards on United start at just 6.5K miles and as low as 5.2K miles with frequent 25% transfer bonuses.

Flying Blue: Fly from Los Angeles to Tahiti in lie-flat business class for 64K miles.

Emirates: Fly in shower class with lowered fuel surcharges.

 

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JetBlue: Book awards with free cancellations.

Cathay Pacific: Avoid and lower fuel surcharges on partner airlines like AA and BA.

Singapore: Book highly rated premium cabin or suites on Singapore flights that are blocked with partner miles.

84K miles for a Singapore suite between JFK and Frankfurt:

 

Virgin Atlantic: Bargains on ANA First Class suites and on Delta flights.

You only need 55K Virgin Atlantic miles to fly one-way between the US west coast and Japan or 60K miles to fly one-way between the US east coast and Japan in first class.

 

Do you have a Citi Bifecta, Trifecta, or Quadfecta?