Thank You Points Devalued

Well, after my endless enthusiastic defenses of the Thank You program for Travel, Citi has significantly devalued the program. Ripped my heart out!! I don't have a link to the Thank You page yet, but I'll link the Flyertalk discussion and repost from that thread here. This appears to only impact certain travel redemptions, but for those of you/us looking to score a kill with these points, the flexibility and some of the advantages are gone.

There are still values to be had, but now you really have to work at it. The ability to earn points at a rate of at least 2 cents each is still a bonus for the Thank You Program. Some of the redemptions didn't change, but most did (for the worse) and biz class redemptions have markedly worsened.

I am calling Thank You right now to see what happens if you need a ticket over the dollar limit; can you pay the difference, whether in cash or in TY Points, and if in TY points at what price.

Flyertalk discussion

Quoted (the "from xx points" indicates the prior price)

Originally Posted by piyush View Post
Well it looks like the ride for Thank You Points is over. They have increased the number of points required for most tickets and have also put a dollar cap . The fine print says that the point levels are correct as of July 15th, 2007 so maybe we can use the old chart till then. I certainly hope so!

COACH
Flights Starting Points Ticket Value (in Dollars)
Continental US & Alaska and Canada 20,000 Up to $400 in value from 25,000 points
Mexico and Central America 45,000 Up to $900 in value from 35,000 points
Hawaii and Caribbean 50,000 Up to $1,000 in value from 40,000 points
Europe 60,000 Up to $1,200 in value from 60,000 points
Puerto Rico to US (48 States) 40,000 Up to $800 in value from 40,000 points
Middle East and Africa 80,000 Up to $1,600 in value from 80,000 points
Asia 80,000 Up to $1,600 in value from 60,000 points
South America 60,000 Up to $1,200 in value from 60,000 points
Australia and South Pacific 100,000 Up to $2,000 in value from 100,000 points

BUSINESS CLASS
Flights Starting Points Ticket Value (in Dollars)
Continental US & Alaska and Canada 90,000 Up to $2,700 in value from 60,000 points
Mexico and Central America 120,000 Up to $3,600 in value from 60,000 points
Hawaii and Caribbean 140,000 Up to $4,200 in value from 75,000 points
Europe 180,000 Up to $5,400 in value from 165,000 points
Puerto Rico to US (48 States) n/a n/a
Middle East and Africa 200,000 Up to $6,000 in value from 130,000 points
Asia 240,000 Up to $7,200 in value from 165,000 points
South America 180,000 Up to $5,400 in value from 160,000 points
Australia and South Pacific 180,000 Up to $5,400 in from 180,000 points

These point levels are current as of July 15th, 2007, however, since point levels are subject to change please contact a ThankYou Network Travel Specialist for the most current point pricing.

With the Thank You point fixed flight point option being devalued it sure makes the BOA Accolade Card look much better. And considering BOA will waive the annul fee and give you the same benfits with $200K assets vs $500K(possible discount and not full waiver) and BOA hard dollar limits being 50% higher for World Points fixed point redemtion. The only thing making Citi Thank You Program even worthwhile is the fact you can earn more than 1 point per dollar in many more places than with BOA card who only gives 2 points per dollar spent on travel expeness. Combine the flight points with the fact you can earn more than 1 point per dollar allows you earn a min of 2 points per dollar anywhere as long as you buy airline tickets.

Dollar cap + more TY points needed for intl. flights sucks.

OTOH, I'm really happy about the 25k->20k change for domestic flights. For me, it makes getting > $0.01/point very easy, while before it was very unlikely (I don't have enough points, or enough time to fly first class internationally).

EDIT: Had wrote "$.02/pt" when I meant $.01/pt!

To make mattter even worse, half of the good gift cards are gone:
- Target $100 is gone
- gas cards of $100 are gone

The only remaining gift cards that still give somewhat good return are HomeDepot and Sears (as it makes no sense to get BestBuy or CircuitCity cards when big-screen TV I was willing to buy is much cheaper at Costco)

Wow - the business class devaluation is really painful. Any word on whether the booking before 7/15 but travel after 7/15 will still allow us to operate under the old fixed point redemption policy?

Guess I better book my Mexico ticket soon, a 10,000 point jump plus taxes won't make it worth it to use TY points anymore. This is really going to change my look at Citi cards.

czarandy said: Now that Target for $100 is gone it seems that Amazon for $50 is the best giftcard (though it's 6k points).

i just went with 5x$100 Macys gift cards since there was nothing else. figure can wait until one of the F&F discounts or just wait for a good sale/coupon

tooshy said: Any good signup deals? Which bank affiliation is best?

I'm still weighing what to do after Delta Skymiles cc in December:

1) renew Delta
2) signup Starwood, currently a juicy 25K bonus offer, but not ready to signup today
3) signup Citi Premier, but the annual fee may not justify occasional use of the card to pay for award flight taxes, and now there will be fewer reasons to rack up TY points.
4) signup HawaiianMiles cc

sorry where's the 25k offer for starwood card?

psychtobe said: Well, after my endless enthusiastic defenses of the Thank You program for Travel, Citi has significantly devalued the program. Ripped my heart out!! I don't have a link to the Thank You page yet, ...

From https://www.thankyounetwork.com/faq.jspx (then click on "Travel Rewards", under #2),
As of July 15, 2007, for this option it takes only 20,000 points for flights in the continental U.S. and Alaska, up to $400 in value. There are more destinations in the chart below. And if the ticket you want is over $400 in value, simply redeem 5,000 more points for an incremental $50 in ticket value, up to a maximum of 8 increases per ticket.

See the page for more details and the chart.

I got the Sears $100 card because they have everything.

$50 gas card now cost 6000 points not 5000 points

forgetme said: Dollar cap + more TY points needed for intl. flights sucks.

it makes getting > $0.02/point very easy, while before it was very unlikely ).

It is exactly 0.02 per pt when the value is capped at $400 - 0.02 x 20K = $400. This is the maximum value you get - as you pay tax and fee out of your own pocket.

in the past four months i've gotten over 1k in target gift cards from Thank You Network. I just looked and my last order for $300 in target was just sent out. I just i'm gonna need to find another program as well...

I love thank you. I did a little application blitz with them and opened around 8 new cards getting me over $1400.00 in gift cards.... Seems like all the banks are tighting their belts now and not offering as much.

Beckles said: polobruce said: in the past four months i've gotten over 1k in target gift cards from Thank You Network. I just looked and my last order for $300 in target was just sent out. I just i'm gonna need to find another program as well...

I love thank you. I did a little application blitz with them and opened around 8 new cards getting me over $1400.00 in gift cards.... Seems like all the banks are tighting their belts now and not offering as much.This devaluation has no impact on gift cards.

what are you talking about? $50 cards used to be 5000 pts, not they are 6000+. I did the "your wish fulfilled" thing for an Amazon $100 gift card (previously available for 10,000 points) and the rep replied with an offer of 12,800 points. That is more than two $50 gift cards for 12,000 points. Makes no sense!

Trinidon2k said: Beckles said: This devaluation has no impact on gift cards.

what are you talking about? $50 cards used to be 5000 pts, not they are 6000+. I did the "your wish fulfilled" thing for an Amazon $100 gift card (previously available for 10,000 points) and the rep replied with an offer of 12,800 points. That is more than two $50 gift cards for 12,000 points. Makes no sense!

$50 cards have been 6000+ points for a while now. This devaluation has nothing to do with gift cards.

chase freedom. i think it is the best, 3% on supermarkets, something, and something i forgot. but u can save your rewards and turn $200 Cash Back into $250.

For the people who have been buying gift cards, this "devaluation" could be a blessing because it makes domestic coach flight awards very accessible!

Instead of getting (at most) $.01/pt, it should be fairly easy to get around $.015/pt -- just book a $300 plane ticket using 20k TY points. In my mind, this makes the domestic coach award worth as much as it was back in the day, when it was 25k, but included tax + fees.

For those who have booked tickets before, have you had any problems getting miles?

garyshampoo said: I got the Sears $100 card because they have everything.

Never get a Sears gift card. The one true bargain left is the $100 Lands End gift card for just 9000 points. Lands End gift cards are good at all Sears stores!

Looks like the new rates go into effect until July 15, 2007.
I just booked a ticket for Mexico yesterday at the old rate of 35,000 points plus taxes.

Bump! Last minute reminder to redeem your rewards!

czarandy said:
Of course that assumes that you would have bought the ticket anyway. I doubt that there are all that many people that regularly go on cross-country flights.

not only are there literally millions of cross-country flyers, but some of us do it JUST FOR THE MILES!