Citibank Rewards Points. Most Efficient Use

constipated on 23/07/2024 - 09:55

I have Citibank Platinum Rewards Cards with a lot of unused points at present.

Early days but researching a trip for the family to Europe.

Using Sydney to Paris as an example. My limited research for Velocity Frequent Flyer is that a return ticket would be around 250,000 points.

2.5 citibank points per 1 VFF point. So that would make it 625,000 citibank points for a ticket. Converting that to $100 gift cards which are 20,900 points that would mean the ticket was costing $2990.

This would be compared to perhaps $1800 for the cheapest return ticket searching online.

Not sure how using Citibank points for flights is efficient. Do people agree or is there a mistake in my calculations?

Financial Reward Points

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Comments

  • Duckie2hh on 23/07/2024 - 10:04

    Just check which has more award seats. I find Singapore airlines usually fare better than Virgin.

    • constipated on 23/07/2024 - 10:25

      Through the velocity site, I think it is bringing up Singapore Airlines Flights but they are approximately 120000 points one way.

  • sumyungguy on 23/07/2024 - 10:23

    Are you Prestige or Premier?

  • AustriaBargain on 23/07/2024 - 10:24

    Ugh, we can finally log back in then. My day doesn't begin until I make some totally banal, off-topic comment on OZB.

  • constipated on 23/07/2024 - 10:25

    Rewards Card Platinum. Not prestige or premier.

    • sumyungguy on 23/07/2024 - 10:30

      Citi Rewards Platinum Visa; earns one point per dollar?

  • AFOS on 23/07/2024 - 13:06

    I did the same math both for international and domestic flights during their 15% promotion and came to the same results. Ended up converting points to flybuys (we need to buy groceries anyway) and flying for cash.

  • Autonomic on 23/07/2024 - 13:32
    +1

    SYD-SIN-CDG one way = 58,500 KF + $125 or 75,000 VFF + $300 one way.

    So for one person return:

    58,500*2*2.5 = 292,500 Citibank points + $250

    Or

    75,000*2*2 = 300,000 Citibank points + $500 (or 250,000 with transfer bonus of 20%)

    292,500 Citibank points = 14x $100 gift cards = $1400.
    250,000 Citibank points = 12x$100 gift cards = $1200

    So at best you're hitting ~$1750 cash equivalent per person.

    edit: These are for Prestige/Premier transfer rates - didn't notice you were Platinum. Makes things even worse.

    • MELso on 25/07/2024 - 10:32

      Would also add transfer to Flybuys. 250000 Citibank points is $1250 at Coles.

      Other point to add is that the use of Velocity/KF points for economy are often poor value. Much better to use them to use them on business class flights (although also much harder to do so).

  • chrisie on 23/07/2024 - 13:57

    I also have been sitting on the fence not knowing which best way to go

  • Fat Horny Ghost on 07/06/2025 - 19:30

    Reward Point whizzes need your help!

    I need some help converting the Citi Prestige reward points the ozbargain way.

    See my calculations below to see if it is correct or not for the best case for me before I cancel the card

    I have 456,976 Citibank reward points.

    I based it roughly on this spreadsheet here to figure the best value

    Converting to Velocity points to use for economy domestic flights (missed out the bonus 15% transfer)
    - Converts to 228,488 velocity points
    - Doesn't seem to be good value as it costs approximately $90 in tax and fees return for my usual flight where I can get tickets for approx $150 return
    - @11,800 Points per usual return flight = 19 return trips ($1710 in fees) = $2850 saved but turns into $1,140 of value after taking away fees
    - Not considering business as I don't need fly business for short domestic flights

    Converting to Velocity points for buying gift cards (missed out the bonus 15% transfer)
    - Converts to 228,488 velocity points
    - 20k points = $100 gift card roughly = 11.42 x $100 gift cards = $1.14k in gift card value

    Converting to Flybuy for buying gift cards
    - Converts to 456,976 fly buy points
    - 20k points = $100 gift card = 22.8 x $100 gift cards = $2.28k card in value (in promotions can get more value)
    - Can change to various types of gift cards when I need to use
    - Can't get Amazon gift cards which is what I will use mostly on

    Converting straight into gift cards via Citi
    - Gets 2.19k in gift cards (but this includes Amazon gift cards which you can't get from Flybuys)

    Overall it sems the best option for me is combination of like $500 in Amazon gift cards via Citi rewards and do rest in Flybuys points where I can redeem gift cards when there are promos?

    • Fat Horny Ghost on 07/06/2025 - 19:35

      Note: I get free groceries, so won't use the Flybuy points to shop at Coles

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