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In a little bit of a shocking move, Citi has announced a new limited time ThankYou Points transfer partner – American AAdvantage.

Starting July 18, 2021 and running through November 13, 2021, if you have either the Citi Premier Card or the Citi Prestige Card, you can transfer ThankYou Points 1:1 to American AAdvantage miles. If you have the Citi Preferred or the Citi Rewards+ cards, you can transfer the points 2:1.

This is exciting news because among the three legacy carriers in the United States, American Airlines is the only airline that doesn’t have a bank transfer partner. 

American Airlines miles can be extremely valuable. You don’t have to fly AA to extract the best value, and instead you can redeem AAdvantage miles on partner airlines for some amazing premium cabin experiences. Some of the best partners include Cathay Pacific, Etihad Airways, Japan Airlines, and Qatar Airways. Learn more about some of the best ways to redeem American Airlines AAdvantage miles.

What can you do with AA miles? Here are a couple of examples of one-way award rates on American itself and its partner airlines: 

  • 70,000 miles in business class to the Middle East and India, including the highly coveted Qsuites on Qatar Airways to the Maldives
  • 75,000 miles in business class between the U. S. and Africa
  • 80,000 miles from the U.S. to Japan in first class on Japan Airlines
  • 60,000 miles between the U.S. and Asia in business class on Cathay Pacific 
  • 57,500 miles between the U.S. and Europe in business class on American Airlines

American Airlines miles are hard to earn because you can usually only earn sizable amounts of them by opening co-branded credit cards. The only other way to earn AA miles in terms of transferring from a partner is by transferring Marriott Bonvoy points at a good, albeit not great, transfer rate in most people’s eyes. 

Citi Premier® Card

Earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. Plus, for a limited time, earn a total of 10 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rentals, and attractions (excluding air travel) booked on the Citi Travel℠ portal through June 30, 2024.

LEARN MORE 

Citi Premier 60K Points Welcome Offer

If you need to earn American AAdvantage miles, you can pick up the Citi Premier Card. You can earn 60,000 points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.

With the announcement of the limited time transfer option to American AAdvantage, this offer just became even more valuable.

The Citi Premier Card is already an excellent card thanks to its bonus categories. The Citi Premier Card earns 3X on dining, gas, groceries, airfare, and hotels. This really is one of the most well-rounded cards for everyday spending, as it covers such broad categories, including things we buy every day.

So between now and November 13, 2021, if you’re Citi Premier Card holder, you can essentially earn 3 AAdvantage miles per $1 on all of your dining, gas, grocery, airfare and hotel spend. That’s better than you can earn on any of the Barclays or Citi co-branded American Airlines cards!

The Citi ThankYou transfer partners represent a broad swath of some of the world’s best airlines, such as Qatar, Cathay and Turkish Airlines. But with the exception of JetBlue, there was never a U.S. based airline on the partners list. We hope that this turns into a permanent partnership between Citi and American Airlines, which would open more opportunities to earn AA miles. 

Final Thoughts

Citi’s newest transfer partner is American Airlines and the points transfer 1:1 if you have a Citi Premier or Prestige card. This is a limited time offer slated to end on Nov. 13, 2021.

American Airlines miles can be redeemed for a variety of high value awards, and this partnership definitely makes both the Citi Premier Card and the ThankYou Points that much more valuable.  We hope it sticks around permanently once this limited time offer ends.

Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.

With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!


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