Citi adds valuable transfer partner: Japan Airlines | Coffee Break Ep123 | 9-23-26

Frequent Miler on the Air

The episode discusses the recent addition of Japan Airlines as a 1:1 transfer partner for Citi ThankYou Rewards. The hosts weigh this positi

Key takeaways

Citi has officially added Japan Airlines as a 1:1 transfer partner for holders of Strata Premier, Strata Elite, and Prestige cards.
Recent Citi devaluations include reduced transfer ratios to Choice Privileges (from 1:2 to 1:1.5) and IHG/I Prefer (from 1:4 to 1:2).

Main topics

Citi ThankYou Rewards updates
Japan Airlines transfer partnership

Notable quotes

Citi decided not to do its usual craziness and instead one-to-one with a transfer bonus at launch.

Conclusion

While the JAL partnership provides high-value opportunities for existi

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:01) This is a Voyescape podcast. You can find all of our travel podcasts from around the world at voyescape.com. Speaker 2 (0:11) This podcast episode is sponsored by Saley. Saley is an eSIM service app created by the security experts behind NordVPN. Instead of paying absurd daily rates to your home carrier or swapping SIM cards on arrival, Saley gives you flexible prepaid data plans in over 200 destinations worldwide. Setup takes just a couple of minutes on your phone before you leave, and your data activates automatically when you touch down. Plus, in order to reduce your data consumption, Saley actually blocks malicious sites, trackers, and annoying ads while you browse. Whether you need a quick Speaker 3 (0:44) gigabyte for a weekend away or unlimited data for a longer adventure, Saley keeps you connected without any Speaker 2 (0:50) surprise bills waiting for you at home. Ready to upgrade your international roaming? Download Saley from your app store and use our code FREQUENTMILER at checkout to get 15 % off your first purchase. Details are in the show notes. Speaker 2 (1:05) Today's Coffee Break, Citi adds valuable transfer partner, Japan Airlines. Welcome to Frequent Milers Coffee Break, where we focus on a single topic related to miles and points. Each Speaker 3 (1:16) Coffee Break is limited to 20 minutes or less, or your Speaker 2 (1:20) money back. Citi's Thank You Rewards program is a transferable points currency. And to get the best transfer ratios, you need to have like a Citi Strata Premier card or a Strata Elite card or maybe even the old Prestige card. But once you do, then you get the best transfer rates, including to this new partner, Japan Airlines. And this is just one more in a... set of kind of roller coaster changes that we've had in recent times from Citi, right? Yeah. So, I mean, a while Speaker 3 (1:59) back, Citi added choice privileges at a one to two transfer ratio initially. So that was a yay. Speaker 2 (2:06) They added, I prefer, preferred hotels I prefer Speaker 3 (2:09) at one to four. Again, great Speaker 2 (2:11) news there, Speaker 3 (2:12) right? Big yay. Yeah. Then they added American Airlines at one to one. Biggest yay yet, probably. Right. I mean, that's something Speaker 2 (2:19) people have been waiting for for years and wishing would be the case. So so they were on a roll. I mean, looking on top of the world. Right. I mean, who wouldn't want city points at that point? Speaker 3 (2:30) Right. Exactly. So city realized that and said, well, hold on, let's back up the truck here. And they they reduced Speaker 2 (2:36) the transfer ratio to choice privileges. So it's no longer Speaker 3 (2:40) one to two. Now it's one to one and a half. Yeah, it's kind of a little boo there. It's not terrible, but yeah. Yeah. Well, but the bigger boo probably out of that, well, I don't know if it's even bigger, but they also reduced the transfer ratio to I prefer. And instead of being one to four, that's now just one Speaker 2 (2:57) to two. I thought that was a much bigger boo. Now, part of that has to do with that there's no one else where you could get that old one to four. Whereas with Choice, if you have Wells Fargo points, you could still get one to two to Choice. Speaker 2 (3:12) Yeah. OK, so now now what's new? Speaker 3 (3:15) Well, now they've added Japan Airlines as a transfer partner and transfers are one to one for those of you with all of those cards that we just mentioned. Speaker 2 (3:22) That's Speaker 3 (3:23) a big, Speaker 2 (3:23) big day. I mean, we were not we were expecting that this might happen, but I don't know. I kind of thought they would do a capital one thing here and do a not quite one to one transfer. Speaker 3 (3:34) Yeah, but Citi decided not to do its usual craziness and instead one-to-one with a transfer bonus at launch when they first are launching this. So that's all great news. Japan Airlines there. Of course, they're not the only ones to transfer to Japan Airlines at one-to-one since Bilt also transfers one-to-one and so does Rove Miles. But still, it's Speaker 2 (3:55) a Speaker 3 (3:55) great addition for Citi. Thank you, rewards. But also new this week. They've added lifetime language to the Strata cards, indicating that, for instance, if you want the Strata Premier card, you are not eligible for the introductory bonus if