In a move that I’m frankly surprised Citi hasn’t made a fuss about (I mean, we all just sort of discovered it this morning in concert with seeing the Citi Strata Elite card go live), you can now transfer points from a Citi Strata℠ Premier, Citi Prestige, or the new Citi Strata Elite℠ cards to AAdvantage®.
I’m slightly surprised, not in that the transfers are happening as long rumored, but that they didn’t make this a benefit only for Strata Elite cardholders – simply as the card feels a bit underwhelming and I thought that offering what is clearly a very expensive transfer option for Citi (I understand this to the the only reason this hasn’t happened sooner) to the Strata Elite cardholders only would be their strategy.
However, it would appear that they decided that either that would be too frustrating to Citi Strata℠ Premier cardmembers or made the decision for any number of reasons (like, maybe this was the plan all along??)
Either way, I’m sure that many of you will be thrilled with this new option for Citi’s ThankYou program and it may get you thinking about applying for the Citi Strata℠ Premier since that card has a wide swath of 3X bonus categories and just a $95 annual fee.
With them now having access to a major US carrier’s program, I would say that the value of a Citi ThankYou point is probably higher today than it was yesterday. This aligns them with their biggest competitors, Chase who partners with United and Southwest, and American Express, who offers transfers to Delta.
There was a brief period during COVID where Citi offered these transfers and it was wildly popular. I suspect that at that time, due to COVID, they had a surplus of AA miles and the test was a good way to offload them.
This time, though, it would seem to be a very carefully thought out and (probably!) permanent addition to Citi ThankYou.
Transfers are stated to take up to 24 hours (with a max of 5 days) but MilesTalk Facebook Group moderator Patrick S. did a transfer already and it took just 20 minutes.
I’ve also updated the MilesTalk master matrix of transferable points – what transfers where to include this new transfer partner for Citi ThankYou.
I can’t even imagine the craziness if they ever offered a transfer bonus to AAdvantage® and they may never, due to cost, but you never know – so make sure you are subscribed to our Citi ThankYou Transfer Bonus Alerts 🙂
Thoughts?
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Finally! I know what my next card will be!
Strata Premier or Strata Elite?
I don’t see a big benefit in the Elite over the Premier if you have other top tier cards, but I guess it depends on your categorical spending habits. I also think Citi Double Cash Back is tempting for 2x spend with no annual fee. Thoughts?
I would say that a Strata Premier and a Double cash is a great and easy two card combo.
Bonus miles AND loyalty points… or just bonus miles?
Just miles. You’d still need an AA cobranded card to earn LPs. Anything else and they’d kill off the cobranded portfolio which is way too valuable.