Citi ThankYou Rewards members can now transfer their points to Virgin America Elevate at a rate of two-to-one. There are a number of lucrative aspects to this partnership, including the fact that until October 21, cardholders get a 25 percent bonus when they transfer points.
You’ll get 1.25 Elevate points for every two Citi ThankYou Points. To get the bonus, you need to transfer at least 1,000 points.
Adding more value to the mix is the fact that Virgin America award flights to popular destinations such as Cancun, Los Angeles and San Francisco can be picked up for as little as 2,500 points. The airline will be adding Honolulu, Maui, Oahu and Kahului to their destination roster later this year. There are no blackout dates on Virgin.
Citi ThankYou Is Flying Higher
Last year, Citi began bringing on airline transfer partners, including Cathay Pacific, Etihad, Garuda Indonesia, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, EVA Air, Malaysia Airlines and Qatar Airways. With Singapore, Cathay and Garuda, the program gained entry to the three major alliances: one- world, SkyTeam and the Star Alliance. That opened up a lot of options for cardholders.
Although that move put ThankYou Rewards on the trajectory to compete with larger programs such as Chase Ultimate Rewards and Amex Membership Rewards, there was one obvious issue. None of the program’s airline transfer partners were based in the U.S. But the inclusion of Virgin America has changed that.
Amex Membership Rewards is keeping pace, though, and has also partnered with Virgin America. So you can boost your Elevate balance with your Amex card, too.