I have 220,0000 Citibank Points. What is my best option converting these points? At this stage I am not intending to fly anywhere so my thoughts were to convert them to Coles or Woolworths dollars.
Is there a better way more beneficial to me?
What Is My Best Option Converting Citibank Points?
chrisie on 03/02/2023 - 11:28
Last edited 03/02/2023 - 11:38 by 1 other user
Last edited 03/02/2023 - 11:38 by 1 other user
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Use your points to pay for your card purchases. I haven't done the maths to see if this is better than gift cards.
$500 CASHBACK=200,000 points
COLES SUPERMARKETS $500 =104,200 points
Pay with points : $10= 2500 points220k is a considerable amount if points which is at least 88k velocity or more if it is a premier card. I understand that you are not intending to fly soon. However from my experience, the flexibility of award flight bookings has been more valuable than redeeming for low value gift cards. I highly recommend to save them or transfer to your preferred airlines rewards program and treat yourself to a business class return flight when time permits.
Depends on what card you have. If you have a prestige card then that will convert to flybuys at a rate of 1:1, which isn’t bad. Equivalent to $1100
Many Thanks Guys for your thoughts. My Credit Card is a Citi Bank Platinum Card if that makes a difference.
I was curious about this too so made this spreadsheet for easier comparison. You can download the sheet if you want to input your own points amount in I1.
The airline points value are a rough estimation and can vary but are obviously really good. However they're only good if you actually want/use them.
Some observations:
- There is no reason to ever redeem Apple, Kogan or raw cashback. These purchases can be easily covered by Gift cards or Pay with points at a better rate.
- Premier/Prestige card holders should never redeem Coles, Kmart or Target gift cards since Flybuys points nets a 4% better rate
- Inverse of the above, Rewards card holders should never redeem Flybuys points and instead just get Coles/Kmart/Target gift cards
So it's best converted to airline points?
It's the best yes, but it also depends. There's no right answer for everyone.
In this order:
- If you fly international -> Krisflyer (3 year expiry)
- If you only fly domestic -> Velocity (2 year inactivity expiry)
- If you don't fly but shop a lot at Coles, Target, Kmart -> Flybuys
- If you don't shop at Coles, Target, Kmart -> Gift cards (Amazon, eBay, Woolies/Wish, Uber etc.)
- If you don't shop -> Pay with points (Can apply to any transaction)
- If you are feeling generous -> Donation
Ignore the other rewards
Thanks for your effort :)
Can't you also use Velocity for some international destinations like LAX, SF, Abu Dhabi etc?
Thats some great work. Thank you.
So i am guessing KrisFlyer business is the best option and VFM? So for 300K, if the value is $6000 does that mean i can buy tickets up to 6K?also do i need th eBay tix when i am ready to fly?@Trendyoz: $6000 is just an estimate since you pay with points, not money. It depends on the route and dates. Not sure what your last question is
@wangasm: Last part was do i need to buy the tix when i am ready to fly or i can buy anytime? As in, the conversation rates with points will vary? How flexible are those tickets?
Is there a link where i can see how many points i need for the tickets?
I was planning Syd-DAC business/ first class end of this year. Would 450K points be enough you think? Sorry new to FF points and have absolutely no idea. Thanks for your time buddy.
@Trendyoz: The conversion rates for Krisflyer don't vary. But for Velocity they occasionally have bonus conversion promos. So only convert them when you need it.
Redemption flights are limited so you will want to book at least several months in advance, even more for peak periods.You need to create a Krisflyer account on the Singapore airlines site if you haven't already (free) to be able to search redemption flights to see how much they cost. You will need to check the fare rules here yourself.
Legend good breakown wangasm
Hi, I have about 350k of Citibank points now and would love to use it for travel for 5 people. Haven’t been travelling overseas a very long time and would love to try getting tickets for Business class since I read that it’s better with points.
I just started my first credit card bonus collection and am excited about the prospect. Do you think it’s doable? I tried playing with Virgin Velocity awards website so far but to travel during school holidays, I’m better off buying the tickets instead. I think I might convert to Kris Flyer but I don’t want it to expire before I can collect enough points. Hoping to go anywhere to Asia. It’s my first time with the kids so want it to be as smooth as possible. Hope you can share some ideas about using points for traveling with young kids.
ThanksI don't have a lot of experience with actually flying business (or with kids), but for international business, Krisflyer would definitely your best bet. For economy it's a bit of a toss up between the two (because you can book Singapore airlines with Velocity too)
If you are keeping your Citibank card then you can just keep your points on your card until you are ready to convert your points to Krisflyer, don't need to worry about point expiry this way. Otherwise Krisflyer do last for 3 years before expiry so you still have some time.
Business class for 5 people you'll need a lot more points though. For reference, a one way Singapore Airlines business class ticket from Melbourne to Singapore costs about 68,500 Krisflyer miles. So your current points is only enough for 2.
Sorry, I haven't seen this earlier. Thanks so much for your reply.
It's awesome that I can get 2 free tickets to Singapore already. I also have about 200k in Flybuys which I never redeemed for shopping as I kept reading it's better for flights. It's taken a long time to accumulate compared to the Citibank. Hopefully, that can give me another ticket through Krisflyer. I recently applied for Virgin cc and hopefully will get 100k. So maybe I will get enough in 3 years. I don't want to renew Citibank as it cost $700 next year.
How much does it cost for that one way MEL to Singapore? I might have to buy for a child? Thanks
Not to sure if my understanding is correct but seems like the Krisflyer points have been gutted in some way.
I transferred 250,000 citibank points to get 100,000 krisflyer miles. Which amounts to just about ~$1100 worth of economy flights ($0.01 value per converted point), not even close to the 0.02 $ value per converted point.
Better off getting the 3x$500 gift cards.
It depends on the route and dates you want to fly and if you take advantage of the complimentary stopovers.
For example return economy trip Melbourne to Tokyo in August = 91,000 miles + $177 with 1 extended stopover in Singapore.
This route is normally at least $2098 in cash without an extended stopover, so that's easily over 2 cents per converted point.I would advise to check the route you want before converting points.
Ahh i made the mistake of booking the flight and trying to use my points instead of using the redeem function to get flights.
Thanks for the excel sheet regardless.
Cheers
Very interested in this. Coincidentally I also have around $220k points, and are trying to find the best exit strategy.
At this point, select gift cards seems to be the best avenue. Or transfer to some other points program.