Best way to use Citi Thank You Points

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posted: Mar. 29, 2006 @ 2:01p

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
  - good at Gap, Banana Republic
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
  - good at On The Border, Macaroni Grill, Maggiano's
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

Useful links:
Thank You Network
Earn with the Citi Premier Pass Credit Card
Earn with the Citi Simplicity Card
Earn with the Citi Diamond Rewards Card
Earn with the Citi Professional Card
Earn with the Citi mtvU Card
FlyerTalk thread discussing Citi TY flight redemptions

Message edited by: wxl31 on 2009-11-14 15:53:39 CST

tags: citi, flights, thank, thank you, thankyou, TYN, TYP, typs
edit

also categorized in:
- Subjects › Question
- Subjects › Personal Finance

Skipping 50 replies not matching your search for AyresFan.

Susannah
Senior Member

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posted: Mar. 30, 2006 @ 8:26a

AyresFan said:aegean94305 said: Actually, the proper strategy is to buy AA GCs for an amount slightly less than the total price of your ticket and put the balance on the PP card. I believe that the flight points should still post OK. Say you're buying a $350 ticket, get 3 $100 AA GCs. You get 5 pts/$ on this, 2 pts/$ on the remaining $50 charge that goes on the PP card (with the flight point match), and your flight points. This strategy essentially nets an extra 3 pts/$ on the $300 portion paid using GCs. Also if you buy at Safeway/Pavilion, you can get 125 United or Alaska miles per $250 spent.

Let us know if it works, sounds like a great strategy. I guess I wasn't aware of the "flight points" when I posted, I will look more into that. I think our credit card strategy this year is going to turn into Citibank Dividend for grocery/gas/Drugstore purchases and the MBNA/Fidelity Investments 529 College Rewards Card (2% back on all purchases into a 529 fund) for the rest of it this year. We only average a flight every couple of years now that isn't paid for by a company, so the cash is better in most cases for us.

Skipping 18 replies not matching your search for AyresFan.

nymgiants
Addicted Member

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posted: Apr. 1, 2006 @ 7:16p

AyresFan said:aegean94305 said:Susannah said:
Just wanted to mention that American Airlines gift cards can now be purchased at Safeway, so if you're flying American, that's going to be a better point/$ ratio (5 pts/$) than the PP Elite card.
Disagree. By doing this you get 5 pts/$ only for the amount of the gift card, and you are losing potential flight points, while with PP the flight points boost all your spending to 2 pts/$ (again given that you fly enough).
Actually, the proper strategy is to buy AA GCs for an amount slightly less than the total price of your ticket and put the balance on the PP card. I believe that the flight points should still post OK. Say you're buying a $350 ticket, get 3 $100 AA GCs. You get 5 pts/$ on this, 2 pts/$ on the remaining $50 charge that goes on the PP card (with the flight point match), and your flight points. This strategy essentially nets an extra 3 pts/$ on the $300 portion paid using GCs. Also if you buy at Safeway/Pavilion, you can get 125 United or Alaska miles per $250 spent.

I did something similar. I used my continental points for a free roundtip 25k miles. There is a $10 security fee you still have to pay. I use my Elite premier plus card for the $10 fee. I got 2800 thank you points for the 2800 miles my free flight at .01c per poimt. equiv to $28 worth of points for the $10 charge