If this has been discussed already let me know, but I don't think it has.
I have read many threads on Citibank's thankyou reward system and different cards that are linked to it. I was wondering if people have any ideas on how to best use their points to get more value per point. So far it seems the best value is student loan rebate for students, and gift cards for purchases you were already going to buy. I was also thinking you might be able to get more value from your points by selling airplane tickets you redeem for a higher value, like during peak seasons since there are no black out dates. Currently Citi doesn't charge any additional fees for these tickets. What are your thoughts or strategies that you use?
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Some general ideas that have been discussed: * Don't use the TY points for gas cards. You lose out on the possible 5% you get for buying gas with a PP card or other rewards card * Same concept for gift certs and store cards, although with Target and Staples cards (and possibly others) you can buy online with FatCash and use Staples Rewards to sweeten the deal * Some people do TYPoints>StaplesGiftCards>buyFARitems>sellOrUseFARitems to max the points/FatCash/Rewards * There's some conversation about using TYPoints to buy flight GCs, then using the GCs to buy a ticket that is more expensive than the GC, and using the PP card or other reward card to pay for the diff. In many cases, this results in full mileage credit to the card that paid for the diff. Not sure I totally understand it, but some discussion here * An option is to request a check against your 'student loan' from TYN. In most cases (apparently), the check comes in a format that can be simply deposited into your bank account or, at worst, used to pay off non-student loans. If you order multiple student loan checks, Citi will often combine them into one check for the total amount.
Tickets may require 14 day advance purchase and/or Saturday overnight stay.
Best way to use: Updated 2009Oct09
* redemption spreadsheet here * Expedia travel booking (1pt=$0.01; at the risk of losing cc protections). There is a $7 per ticket fee (700 points) added to the points amount aside from the ticket price. The fee is akin to giving up 0.5%-3.5% of your points' value depending on the price of the flight (vs a penny per point). * GC sold at a discount like $100 for 9000 points promotions (currently none available) * $100 GC for 10000 pts like Home Depot, Staples, Macys, Sears, Gap, etc. See current full list below. * Note that the Nike.com store sells iPods. Get a $100 GC for 10k TY points plus 10% CashBack via ShopDiscover and you have a decent deal. * Note that you can use a Land's End card at Sears or Kmart
The following are items that can be redeemed for $0.01 per point:
(Updated 10/09/09)
Travel Certificates
Hyatt Check Certificates $100 10,000 pts
Marriott TravelCard® $100 10,000 pts
Ritz-Carlton Currency $100 10,000 pts
Retail Gift Cards
Tourneau Watches Gift Card $500 50,000 pts
Big City Chefs Gift Certificate $200 20,000 pts
babyGap giftcard $100 10,000 pts
Bath & Body Works® Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
Bloomingdale's Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
Brooks Brothers Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
Cabela's Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
Foot Locker Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
Gap GiftCard $100 10,000 pts
GapBody giftcard $100 10,000 pts
GapKids giftcard $100 10,000 pts
Hammacher Schlemmer Gift Certificate $100 10,000 pts
L. L. Bean Gift Certificate $100 10,000 pts
Lands' End® Gift Card $100 (good at Sears, Kmart) 10,000 pts
Macy's Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
Marshalls® Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
Motherhood Maternity Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
Nike Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
Old Navy GiftCard $100 10,000 pts
Orvis® Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
PBTeen® Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
Pottery Barn Kids® Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
Pottery Barn® Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
Sephora® Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
ServiceMaster® Gift Cards $100 10,000 pts
Staples® Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
T.J. Maxx® Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
Timberland® Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
west elm® Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
Williams-Sonoma Home® Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
Williams-Sonoma® Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
Restaurant Gift Cards
Chili's Grill & Bar® Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
dean & deluca Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
Legal Sea Foods Gourmet Gifts $100 10,000 pts
Omaha Steaks® Gift Certificate $100 10,000 pts
Romano's Macaroni Grill® $100 10,000 pts
Entertainment Gift Cards
Red Door Spas Gift Card $250 25,000 pts
Red Door Spas Gift Card $100 10,000 pts
Tickets have different price brackets depending on what regions of the world. Continental US is 25000 points per round trip ticket. You can go from any major US airport to another major US airport and back, no black out dates. Currently Citi is also covering taxes and fees.
Without a doubt, combining ThankYou points with the flight points you get when purchasing and flying on a ticket bought with one of their PP cards would be the best use, at least I think so. Say you accumulate 10,000 regular thank you points and then purchase a ticket to Europe. You will get an additional 8,000 or so (depending on destination in Europe) miles that can be used in conjuction with the regular thank you points, for a total of 18,000.
True, there are no blackout dates, but note that the new description for flight ticket redemption reads 'starting at xxxx points', and sometimes you need more than, say, 25k TY points for a domestic rount trip, or 60k for one to Asia. I suspect it happens when the ticket price they can find is over a certain limit, which is not disclosed. That said, flight ticket redemption works fairly well these days after Citi dumped Global Impact and started to use Expedia as their 'travel department'. They make effort to accommodate your request regarding specific travel times/airlines, etc. I would also encourage you to read others' experiences and report yours here. I think flight ticket redemption is the only way to reach a cash value greater than 1 cent/pt.
Message edited by: aegean94305 on 2006-03-29 15:40:12 CST
I understand this is a thread about TY points redemption, but I'd also say a word or two about the strategy to accumulate TY points. I'm currently doing the following: 1. use Diamond Preferred Reward for gas/supermarket/Drugstore purchase to get 5 pts/$ 2. use PP Elite for everything else, especially flight tickets. -- 2pts/$ GIVEN THAT YOU FLY ENOUGH. 3. get points from citi banking products, currently 800 pts/month. 4. when shopping online, go through the TY merchants website. that's a bonus of several pts/$, and it gets doubled when matched to flight pts in PP. Hope this helps.
IMO the best way is to redeem for student loan rebate - they'll send you a check payable to you and your loan company. You mail the check to the loan company.
Next best way is to redeem for non dealpas gift card (dealpass giftcards can be bought for 20% off face value). Gas gift cards are ok, but keep in mind that you lose 5% which you would earn by buying the gas with CC.
Amazon certs are typically amoung the best options to cash out your points. because with Amazon gift certs you can apply promo codes and take advantage of free shipping
As foto said, stay away from the Gas cards because then you're just losing that 5% back. Insted use it on something you wouldn't get Cash Back on or only get 1% back. I usually just get the GCs I know I'm going to use, although the student loan idea isn't too bad. I always figured it was mainly for people with Citi financed student loans. Foto, so they send you a check and you just sign it and forward it to your loan provider?
Maybe a question for another topic, but when I check to redeem my continental miles, all I get it 25000 points 1 way....I am new to the onepass, can someone explain? Also just got 20,000 TY points by signing up for 1 PP & 1 PP Elite ( combined limits, converted to simplicity, saved the $75 on Elite). Can I swap the TY points for OnePass miles? On an average, how many miles required for a round trip ticket to Europe?
Edited to answer my own question-
Just called TY network to find out points required. Was told starting with 25,000 if I included a saturday night stay and 14 days advance purchase, else 50,000. I think Continental is a better deal in this case coz they hd same conditions but only 10,000 one way so 20,000 total for a round trip.
Message edited by: karannarang on 2006-03-29 16:22:26 CST
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