Nerdy takeaways
- The value of Citi ThankYou points is 1 cent when you book travel through Citi's portal.
- The value of Citi ThankYou points is around 1.7 cents when you transfer to American Airlines.
- You can use your Citi points instead of cash to make purchases on Amazon, but it's not a great redemption.
The value of Citi ThankYou points ranges between 1 cent and 1.7 cents depending on what card you have and how you redeem them.
As a "baseline" value, you can get 1 cent each for ThankYou points when you book travel through Citi's portal. Some cards also let you redeem points for cash at that value.
But according to our data-driven analysis, your ThankYou points are worth around 1.7 cents each when transferred to American Airlines — Citi's highest-value partner. That's potentially 70% higher than the baseline value (if you have the right card).
» Learn more: How to earn and use Citi ThankYou points
The value when booking through Citi's portal
When booking through Citi's travel portal, Citi ThankYou points are worth exactly 1 cent apiece. That means a $500 flight or hotel stay will cost 50,000 points, and you'll get that value with any card that earns ThankYou points.
You're effectively trading value for convenience when you redeem points this way. One cent isn't the best value you can get from ThankYou points (see below), but booking through the portal might be faster than transferring points and finding award inventory with a partner.
Just remember, Citi's travel portal is powered by Booking.com, and reservations made through the portal have the same limitations as booking through any other third party. If your travel plans change, you'll have to deal with Citi, not the airline or hotel.
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The value when transferring to partners
To get the best value for your Citi ThankYou points, you should consider transferring them to one of Citi's high-value hotel or airline partners. Just remember that not all transfer partners provide the same value. According to our data, your ThankYou points are worth around 1.7 cents each when transferred to American Airlines.
We arrived at that value by looking at main cabin economy cash and points prices across a combination of 80 domestic and international flights booked between 15 and 180 days before departure.
Full list of Citi transfer partners
Transfer ratios will vary depending on which card you have.
Airlines
- Aeromexico (1:1 or 1:0.7 ratio).
- American Airlines (1:1 or 1:0.7 ratio).
- Air France/KLM (1:1 or 1:0.7 ratio).
- Asia Miles (1:1 or 1:0.7 ratio).
- Avianca (1:1 or 1:0.7 ratio).
- Emirates (1:0.8 or 1:0.56 ratio).
- Etihad (1:1 or 1:0.7 ratio).
- Eva Air (1:1 or 1:0.7 ratio).
- JetBlue (1:1 or 1:0.7 ratio).
- Qantas (1:1 or 1:0.7 ratio).
- Qatar Airways (1:1 or 1:0.7 ratio).
- Singapore Airlines (1:1 or 1:0.7 ratio).
- Thai Airways (1:1 or 1:0.7 ratio).
- Turkish Airlines (1:1 or 1:0.7 ratio).
- Virgin Atlantic (1:1 or 1:0.7 ratio).
Hotels
- Accor Live Limitless (2:1 or 2:0.7 ratio).
- Choice Hotels (1:1.5 or 1:1.05 ratio).
- The Leading Hotels of the World (5:1 or 5:0.7 ratio).
- Preferred Hotels & Resorts (1:2 or 1:1.4 ratio).
- Wyndham (1:1 or 1:0.7 ratio).
Events
- Virgin Red (1:1 or 1:0.7 ratio).
However, that depends on the card you have. You'll generally get maximum value and 1:1 transfers to most partners by holding a card with an annual fee, including the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card and the Citi Strata Premier® Card. For example, those cards transfer to American Airlines at a 1:1 ratio and have an optimized point value of 1.7 cents, so transferring 10,000 points to American is worth around $170.
But no annual fee cards such as the Citi Strata℠ Card and the Citi Double Cash® Card transfer to most airlines at a 1:0.7 ratio. That means your points are worth 30% less, or 1.2 cents each, for transfers to American, and the same 10,000 ThankYou points are only worth around $120.
🤓Nerdy Tip
Citi lets you comingle ThankYou points earned on different cards. So if you have a premium card and one with no-annual-fee, you can send your points to the premium card and get the better ratio when you transfer points to travel partnersAccording to our analysis, here are some of the best transfer partners, along with their value.
Transfer partner | Point/mile value | Transfer ratio |
|---|---|---|
American Airlines | 1.7 cents | 1:1 or 1:0.7 |
Avianca | 1.3 cents | 1:1 or 1:0.7 |
1.0 cent | 1:0.8 or 1:0.56 | |
1.0 cent | 1:1 or 1:0.7 | |
1.4 cents | 1:1 or 1:0.7 |
Keep in mind that unlike the baseline value for using ThankYou points through Citi's travel portal, these transfer partner values are a median estimate based on data from hundreds of flights and hotel stays. So any given redemption could offer more or less value for your points than our valuation.
Before transferring your points, you should carefully research and compare which flights you plan to take and which transfer partner supports them. Using an award travel search tool is the easiest way to do this while comparing the cost of using points versus cash.
The value of Citi ThankYou points on Amazon
You can use Citi points instead of cash to make purchases on Amazon, but it's not a good deal. Although the value per point is not listed on the Citi or Amazon sites (and can therefore change at any time), the current redemption value is 0.8 cents per point.
This is a lousy redemption for two reasons:
- The value per point is far less than even the lower end of using points to book travel.
- You won't earn points on the purchase. That is, if you paid with another card rather than points, you would actually earn more points.
All in all, we discourage using Amazon to redeem Citi ThankYou points unless you're trying to clear out a few remaining points from your balance.
Citi ThankYou points calculator
Use our Citi ThankYou points calculator below to determine the value of your points stash based on what card you have.
Cards that earn Citi ThankYou points
- 2 ThankYou points per $1 spent on all purchases (1 point when you make it, and another point when you pay it off).
- 5 ThankYou points per $1 spent on hotels, car rentals and attractions booked through Citi's rewards portal.
- No cap on how many ThankYou points you can earn.
- Citi ThankYou points will only transfer at a 1:0.7 ratio, meaning if you transfer 1,000 ThankYou points, you'll only get 700 miles or points with the transfer partner.
Annual fee: $0
Sign-up bonus: Earn $200 cash back after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening. This bonus offer will be fulfilled as 20,000 ThankYou® Points, which can be redeemed for $200 cash back.
- 12 ThankYou points per dollar spent on hotels, car rentals and attractions booked through Citi.
- 6 ThankYou points per dollar spent on air travel booked through Citi.
- 6 ThankYou points per dollar spent at restaurants (including food delivery services) on “Citi Nights” on Fridays and Saturdays between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Eastern Time. Outside of this timeframe, you’ll earn 3 points per $1 in this category.
- 1.5 ThankYou points per dollar on all other purchases.
- Several travel-related credits, including up to $300 off a hotel stay of two or more nights booked through Citi.
- Priority Pass Select membership and four passes a year to access American Airlines' Admirals Clubs.
Annual fee: $595
Sign-up bonus: Earn 75,000 bonus Points after spending $6,000 in the first 3 months of account opening.
- 10 ThankYou points per dollar spent on hotels, car rentals and attractions booked through Citi.
- 3 ThankYou points per $1 spent on restaurants, supermarkets, air travel, other hotels and gas stations.
- 1 ThankYou point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
- $100 annual hotel savings on a single hotel stay of $500 or more purchased through Cititravel.com.
Annual fee: $95
Sign-up bonus:
Earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening, redeemable for $600 in gift cards or travel rewards at thankyou.com.
» Learn more: The best ways to use Citi ThankYou points
How did we determine the value of Citi ThankYou points?
Our NerdWallet estimate of 1.7 cents per ThankYou point is based on the highest point value of Citi's transfer partners (American Airlines).
That's the median value from our data study, where we analyzed main cabin cash and award prices across a combination of 80 domestic and international flights booked between 15 and 180 days before departure.
How to maximize your rewards
You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are some of the best travel credit cards of 2026:
- Flexibility, point transfers and a large bonus: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
- No annual fee: Wells Fargo Autograph® Card
- Flat-rate travel rewards: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
- Bonus travel rewards and high-end perks: Chase Sapphire Reserve®
- Luxury perks: American Express Platinum Card®
- Business travelers: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
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