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Update 4/20/15: I got this card back when it didn’t have nearly as good of an offer. A lot of this is outdated because the program has improved dramatically. Check out the new offer.
I got the Citi ThankYou® Premier Card because of its sign up bonus…
- Earn 50,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after $3,000 in purchases in the first three month.
…and category bonuses:
- Earn 3 ThankYou Points for every $1 spent on travel and gas
- Earn 2 ThankYou Points for every $1 spent on dining out and entertainment
- Earn 1 ThankYou Point per $1 spent on other purchases
The Citi ThankYou® Premier Card is one of the top bank point earning cards. The 50k point sign up bonus is worth $625 in free flights on any flight, any time, on any airline with no blackout dates.
And when you fly those $625 in free flights, you will earn miles as if you were flying tickets you had paid for! So getting this card earns points, which lead to free travel, which leads to earning miles, which leads to free travel. The technical term for this is “a virtuous cycle.”
Or you can transfer the points to 11 airlines and one hotel. The bit of extra effort leads to higher value First Class and Business Class redemptions.
Sign Up Bonus
You earn 50,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after $3,000 in purchases in the first three month.
Category Bonuses
In addition to the sign up bonus, the card has killer category bonuses:
- Earn 3 ThankYou Points for every $1 spent on travel and gas
- Earn 2 ThankYou Points for every $1 spent on dining out and entertainment
- Earn 1 ThankYou Point per $1 spent on other purchases
Full breakdown on what counts in those categories. They’re broader than you think.
Expiration and Limit
There is no limit to how many ThankYou points you can earn.
The points never expire as long as you have the account open. If you plan to close your account, use the points first. (This expiration policy is common among cards that earn bank points. The expiration policy of airline miles earned from credit cards is totally different. See The Complete Guide to Miles and Points Expiration for more info.)
I’ll have this account open at least 24 months and possibly longer, so I know I have plenty of time to redeem for my free flights.
Redemption
You can use your ThankYou points to book any flight, on any airline, in any cabin for anybody as long as a seat is for sale. (Open jaws are OK. One ways are OK. Roundtrips are OK. Etc. Etc.)
Most flights are available at thankyou.com. If the flight is not available, you can call 800-THANKYOU from 8 AM to 1 AM ET Monday through Friday and 9 AM to 9 PM on weekends.
The only restriction I see is that you have to book at least 24 hours before travel.
You get 1.25 cents per point in value on all flight redemptions, and the price of the ticket on thankyou.com should approximately match the price you find on kayak.com or the airline’s website.
The airline will see your flight as a paid flight because Citi is buying you a cash ticket for your ThankYou point award redemption. That means that you can input your frequent flyer number and earn miles for the flights as usual including any bonus miles you get for having status!
For instance, a recent paid flight of mine was a $129 one way flight from Chicago to Los Angeles on United, with which I had Silver status. Instead of paying cash, I could have booked the flight with just over 10k ThankYou points, and I would have still earned 2,181 miles for flying it, including my 25% status bonus.
Most of my Citi ThankYou redemptions will probably be on similar flights. I’ll use the points when traditional miles are a poor value like on most domestic economy flights, including Hawaii interisland, and on low-cost carriers in Asia and Europe.
You can also redeem ThankYou points at a value of 1 cent per point for gift cards to a huge variety of stores, restaurants, and gas stations. I would only do this if I were closing the account and had some leftover points that I hadn’t spent on flights where you get 1.25 cents per point.
Who is this card best for?
This card–like all fixed-value bank point cards–is best for people who fly economy class flights at least some of the time.
If you find a $200 roundtrip from your home airport to Orlando, Florida, you can book it with 16,000 ThankYou points and earn airlines miles for flying the segments. That’s a great deal compared to traditional airline miles, since the same roundtrip would cost 25k American, United, or Delta miles–if they even released Saver award space on the flights–plus taxes and you wouldn’t earn any miles.
Some of the cheapest international fares, like $750 to Europe or Asia would also be far better deals with ThankYou points than traditional miles.
I tend to fly international first and business class on longhauls, but economy on short hauls. International first and business class maximize my traditional airline miles, and using ThankYou points for domestic economy will maximize my ThankYou points.
Who is this card totally wrong for?
Please, please, please do not come to my Award Booking Service with 200k ThankYou points and ask me to book you a roundtrip First Class ticket to Southeast Asia.
First Class tickets cost up to $10,000, and a $10,000 ticket would cost 800,000 ThankYou points.
International premium cabin tickets are best obtained with traditional airline miles. American Airlines would let you fly Cathay Pacific First Class for only 135,000 miles plus taxes and fees.
My Experience with the Citi ThankYou Premier
Since getting the Citi ThankYou® Premier Card, I’ve been working on spending $2,000 on the card by next month to earn 20,000 bonus ThankYou points.
Most of my spending on the card so far has been at restaurants and bars, which has earned me 3x points per dollar on most purchases. Once I meet the minimum spending requirement, the Citi ThankYou® Premier Card will still be my go-to card for dining and entertainment.
If I spend $5,000 on the card this year and next year at restaurants, that’s 15k ThankYou points plus 50,000 bonus ThankYou points for 65,000 ThankYou points total. That would be enough points for over $800 in free flights.
Bottom Line
Citi is finally providing competition to the existing king of flexible cards that earn points that can be used on any flight: the Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard.
The Citi ThankYou® Premier Card, with its 50k point sign up bonus, is a great card for anyone who wants $625 in free flights to go on vacation, visit family, or save money in case of emergency.
I myself have been know to enjoy free travel, so I got this card in February.
Offer details:
The Citi ThankYou® Premier Card with 50,000 bonus ThankYou Points after $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening
- Earn 50,000 bonus ThankYou Points after $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening – redeemable for $500 in gift cards, $625 for airfare, or other great rewards.
- Earn 3X ThankYou Points on Travel including Gas, 2X ThankYou Points on Dining Out and Entertainment, and 1X ThankYou Points on Other Purchases
- ThankYou® Points are worth 25% more when redeemed for travel through thankyou.com, as compared to gift cards
- No foreign transaction fees on purchases
- Points do not expire and earn unlimited ThankYou Points
- Annual Fee: $95 (fee waived for the first 12 months)
Application Link: Citi ThankYou® Premier Card
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℠ 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!
Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers.
The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.
It’s not really $625 in free flights right since you need to subtract the second year fee from your $625 in travel?
The bonus is worth $625. You pay at least one annual fee (-$125). The $5k in spending is worth $62.50 to $187.50 depending on what category it is.
thanks for the info, but……
-not really “any flight”. only flights which show up on thankyou.com (expedia/travelocity search engine?), which is far less than kayak in terms of foreign airlines (especially foreign discount airlines).
-also, pretty difficult to find complex itineraries on thankyou.com.. will have to price as one-ways.
-not sure about open jaws being ok.. i feel thankyou.com will also price them as separate one-ways.
-car rentals with thankyou points = no frequent renter points will be credited
-same with hotel stays booking using thankyou points… no hotel points will be awarded. at least thats what i was told when i redeemed both. i guess airline points are the exception, which is cool
Not all airlines are bookable at thankyou.com. The one’s that aren’t are bookable by calling the number in this post.
I’m pretty sure Southwest isn’t bookable with these points, and it used to show up in the search results a year or two ago. Also, few if any low cost carriers abroad show up.
This card is a dud past the first year. Just to break even on the $125 annual fee, you’d have to buy one $625 ticket, thus spending 50,000 points. To get 50,000 points, you’d have to spend $16,700 on dining and entertainement! For most of us, that’s a massive waste of money on food. And all you get in return is a break even on your annual fee.
With a combo of Chase Ink and United biz cards I get virtually the same bonus point categories and like-cash booking options, since they share the booking portal, but I also have opportunities to use miles on United and get 2-cents+ of value (even on coach), plus many manufactured spend opportunities. Not to mention the free 4 lounge passes I get between the two cards.
Another good option is Freedom and one of the Ink cards. The one quarter of 5x on dining means on average you get 2x on dining if you dine out about the same throughout the year.
I’m missing how you get $800 in free flights (as mentioned in your tweet). After $5000 in restaurant spend?
Yes
how much is annual fee
Zero for the first twelve months, $125 per year after that.
any experince with getting the annual fee waived the second year? otherwise it’s not really a deal…
You have to wait over a year, you have to pay the fee, and you have to meet a min. spend twice, to get the full 50,000 pt value. They are really pushing you to keep it for more than 2 years. Not a bad a idea, just not sure it’s a fit for a lot of us.
You really have to take the long view on this card. And you have to be comfortable with the assumption that in a year it’s going to be worth having 3k in min spend tied up a card that is worth less than $300 in free flights (given the fee).
Not sure this is a good choice. I’d say you need a lower annual fee.
I am interested in using my points for lodging redemption. Is it a straight $100 per 10K points or do you get the 1.25 cents per point that’s offered for flight redemptions?
1 cent per point for hotels. Use these only for flights (1.25 cents). Use your Arrival miles for hotels because they get the same 1.14 cents toward any travel expense.
To her ti Premier is awesome for those of us lucky enough to be able to pair it with the now unavailable Citi Forward card. The Citi Forward earns 5 TY points per dollar at restaurants and Amazon and for me those points add up fast. By keeping a Premier card in my sock drawer, Citi Forward becomes a 6.25% card if spent on flights.
After the second year (almost up), I will cancel and once I’m ready for a massive redemption, my wife or a relative will apply for a Premier and I will xfer my points (free, but the receiver must use within 90 days I believe) to the relative to book my tix to get the higher redemption rate.
lol why’d you delete the response from @WhoDatif
it was pretty funny..
“Don’t count your chickens before they have hatched. By the time you have master-planned your 2-year plan, Sh!ttybank would have found a dozen ways to devalue your points.
Unless you have something like 200K ThankYou points right now, and you are ready to fire the plan NOW, you are dreaming.”
btw.. my citi premier annual fee just posted. strategy= sincei have 60 days to receive annual fee refund.. apply for another desired citi product within 60 days. call citi credit dept..ax to have TY premier acct changed to new account. thoughts please?
ps.. just finished a 28,000 statute mile round-world trip using points. the banks can be vary generous
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