Last chance to transfer your Citi ThankYou points to American Airlines
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
Citi is a TPG advertising partner.
This summer, Citi made waves in the points and miles world by announcing American Airlines as a temporary transfer partner in its ThankYou Rewards program.
Cards like the Citi Prestige® Card (no longer available to new applicants), the Citi Premier® Card, the Citi Preferred (no longer available to new applicants) and Citi Rewards+® Card earn ThankYou points.
The information for the Citi Prestige and Citi Preferred has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
At the time the transfer option went live, Citi stated that it would be available through Nov. 13, 2021. Given what a popular move adding AAdvantage was, however, many hoped that the change would become permanent. Alas, that was not to be. The ability to transfer ThankYou points over to American Airlines AAdvantage is officially coming to an end this Saturday, as originally announced.
TPG has confirmed with a Citi representative that "the limited-time transfer partnership will end on Nov. 13. That said, AA is a long-standing Citi partner and we are both continuously exploring ways to add value to our customers."
We won't entirely rule out the possibility that transfers from ThankYou Rewards to American AAdvantage could come back one day, but if you've been holding off on transferring, there's no more time to waste.
And if you don't have one of the cards that earns ThankYou Rewards, remember that Citi issues a handful of cobranded AAdvantage credit cards.
Here's what else you need to know.
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Citi ThankYou Points transfer to American Airlines AAdvantage
If you've recently applied for the Citi Premier thanks to its record-high 80,000 ThankYou points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening, you could be sitting on a stash of ThankYou points. While you might have other uses for them in mind, transferring them to AAdvantage can be a great idea...if you have a specific, imminent award redemption in mind.
Also remember that if you carry another Citi card that earns ThankYou points that might not be transferable on their own, namely the Citi Rewards+, that if you also have the Citi Premier or the Citi Prestige, then you can combine your ThankYou points from your various accounts and then transfer them to the program's airline partners.
Related: Competitive perks, manageable annual fee — Citi Premier credit card review
Opportunities to redeem American Airlines AAdvantage miles
One of the most straightforward ways to redeem AAdvantage miles is on American Airlines-operated flights. Many domestic and international flights are priced reasonably in terms of AAdvantage miles, and partner flights are still priced according to charts with fixed rates. For those reasons, TPG values AAdvantage miles at 1.4 cents a pop.
That said some of American's own flights are priced somewhat dynamically, which means the higher the airfare, the more miles you'll need for a ticket. That said, you can usually find tickets in some of these notable sweet spots:
- 35,000 miles for an economy round-trip flight to South America during off-peak dates.
- 57,500 miles for a business class one-way flight to Europe.
- 12,500 for a domestic economy one-way flight.
There are also plenty of options for redeeming miles on partner flights — see our full guide to redeeming AAdvantage miles here.
Bottom line
The Citi ThankYou Rewards program remains one of the best for credit card users looking for flexible cash-back options or travel rewards. In addition to American Airlines, Citi's partner airlines include Avianca, Etihad, Singapore Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. While we generally don't recommend transferring your points without a specific redemption in mind, the opportunity to move your points to the AAdvantage program may be too good to pass up – and there's only two days left to make up your mind, so get transferring.
Official application link: Citi Premier.
Additional reporting by Jane Frye and Jennifer Yellin.