Citi Cards ThankYou Points

[Superchikk]

We've had a Citibank card with ThankYou Points for about 10 years. I've never had trouble redeeming points, and have used them mostly for gift cards in the past since it's typically the best value. Recently, I noticed the ability to redeem on Amazon and with other partners. We've been saving up for a while, and decided to spend some of the points for a trip to Orlando in January that we just decided we're going to take. I'm already planning a 2018 trip to WDW, and all my other trips have been planned out about a year in advance, so planning a trip on this "short" notice has me a bit nervous. Staying outside the Disney bubble for the first time, and a bit nervous about how that's going to turn out. So I'm trying to get our Southwest flights and hotel secured before prices go up.

Plan A: transfer points to Hilton Honors program because they're offering double points through September. Can't. I don't have the "right kind" of Citi ThankYou card.

Plan B: redeem for Walmart cards (where I buy groceries), use the Walmart cards for my groceries, then use the cash for our trip. Can't. They're not carrying Walmart cards anymore.

Plan C: redeem for Target gift cards and use Target gift cards to purchase Southwest gift cards to help cover flights. Redeemed for Target e-gift card. Cannot use e-gift card to purchase the $200 Southwest gift cards on their site because they're e-gift cards. Cannot purchase an e-gift card with an e-gift card. That fine print was NOT in the T&C I could see pre-purchase. Have $200 in Target e-gift cards I will use in the future, but doesn't help me pay for flights or hotel right now.

Plan D: book our hotel through ThankYou and pay with points. All rooms we can afford/want to stay in are non-refundable. I don't know about you guys, but I'm not down with booking something that's non-refundable this far out. Anything can happen.

Plan E: Use points for statement credit. Value is significantly less than using for gift cards and can take up to 2 months to process. Nope.

Plan F: Purchase gift cards through Amazon, and pay with ThankYou points. Value is not as good as getting gift cards from ThankYou directly, but feeling it's like the best option at this point. Try to purchase 2 $200 Southwest gift cards. Can only purchase 1 because of seller's limits. Was told by customer service that I could purchase another in 24 hours. Not allowed after 24 hours. Another customer service rep told me to wait 7 days and try again.

I've become so frustrated trying to redeem these stupid points. In the past, I've had an easy time redeeming them, so I never imagined it would be this much hassle. Have others experienced these kinds of issues recently, or am I just getting my undies in a bunch over stuff I should've known?

 

[scrapquitler]

Shop at Target, spend your $200 on whatever you need there, and take that $200 from your grocery or back to school budget and put it in your Disney Fund.


ETA: You can get regular Target gift cards instead of the Ecard version, I just did it last week. I'm planning to buy Disney Gift cards in the store, and if I can't, I'll use it for back to school shopping and take the cash I would have spent for back to school shopping and stick it in my Disney money envelope instead.

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

OP do you not have access to a physical Target? Buying gift cards with gift cards at Target hasn't been possible for awhile now - maybe over a year? But you can still use it in store (MOST stores will allow it). E-gift cards are not solely for the use of online sales.

 

[Hikergirl]

I usually get a physical Target card, or just use my points on Amazon. Anything else is too much of a hassle for me.

 

[Superchikk]

Shop at Target, spend your $200 on whatever you need there, and take that $200 from your grocery or back to school budget and put it in your Disney Fund.


ETA: You can get regular Target gift cards instead of the Ecard version, I just did it last week. I'm planning to buy Disney Gift cards in the store, and if I can't, I'll use it for back to school shopping and take the cash I would have spent for back to school shopping and stick it in my Disney money envelope instead.

This is what I will end up doing. But as I don't do my "main" shopping at Target, it will just take longer to recoup. I was trying to do a quick turnaround, and that's what bit me in the rear this time.

 

[Superchikk]

I usually get a physical Target card, or just use my points on Amazon. Anything else is too much of a hassle for me.

I've always gotten physical cards in the past, but was trying to do a quick turnaround this time. I ended up using points on Amazon to purchase Southwest cards on Amazon, but it was a pain. The vendor only allows 1 gift card per account. I was originally told it was every 24 hours, but that didn't work, so the Amazon rep told me to try again in 7 days. I ended up using my Mom's account to buy the second one I wanted with my points. Southwest will only allow 3 forms of payment per purchase, so I can only use 2 gift cards & CC because the highest GC amount I can get is $200. Again, what killed me this time is the quick turnaround I needed.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Have you browsed all the gift cards? (I just tried and both my browsers crashed on their website, I hope you aren't having those issues!) Maybe redeem points for restaurants you might go to in you everyday life, or even when you travel? There are lots of ways to save money for your vacation even if you can't turn this money into Disney Dollars or Hotel Dollars, if you can cut out some of your restaurant budget you would otherwise have spent you can move that money to your vacation budget without having to take the egregious hit on point redemption. How about gifts? Do you ever give people gift cards? I remember way back in the day I used to use my points to buy a Barnes and Noble gift card every year to cover my B&N membership fee. It's random things like that, that might help preserve the value in these points for you. I advise looking at EACH gift card offering irrelevant of if you can use it on your trip and relate it to your everyday life and your gifting life for birthdays/christmas/teacher appreciation day/boss day/whatever appreciation day under the sun you find yourself having to gift for and redeem to cover those costs.

ETA: Hmm... just caught "quick turnaround" & I've edited this 3 times now trying to decide the best route... 2 months for a statement credit?! The logistics of that sound like a nightmare. Since you are stuck redeeming for Amazon or gift cards I stand by my idea of broadening your gift card horizon. Cover your gift costs for awhile, go all Oprah- you get a gift card, and you get a gift card, and you get a gift card...

 

[Albort]

What card do you have?

Citi thank you points works well travel internationally. Id probably save up your points for that. All the redemptions you want to do is not a good idea. Save them when u want to travel to europe or asia.
If you dead set on flying with citi TYP, you could transfer them to JetBlue and fly with JetBlue instead?
As for statement credit, your best bet is to call citi when ur AF comes around. depending on your type of card, they offer a range of promotion. like $1000 spendings for 5000 TYP + $95 statement credit. i ended up getting +2 to each category up to 35,000 points, 6 months earning period.

 

[Superchikk]

Have you browsed all the gift cards? (I just tried and both my browsers crashed on their website, I hope you aren't having those issues!) Maybe redeem points for restaurants you might go to in you everyday life, or even when you travel? There are lots of ways to save money for your vacation even if you can't turn this money into Disney Dollars or Hotel Dollars, if you can cut out some of your restaurant budget you would otherwise have spent you can move that money to your vacation budget without having to take the egregious hit on point redemption. How about gifts? Do you ever give people gift cards? I remember way back in the day I used to use my points to buy a Barnes and Noble gift card every year to cover my B&N membership fee. It's random things like that, that might help preserve the value in these points for you. I advise looking at EACH gift card offering irrelevant of if you can use it on your trip and relate it to your everyday life and your gifting life for birthdays/christmas/teacher appreciation day/boss day/whatever appreciation day under the sun you find yourself having to gift for and redeem to cover those costs.

ETA: Hmm... just caught "quick turnaround" & I've edited this 3 times now trying to decide the best route... 2 months for a statement credit?! The logistics of that sound like a nightmare. Since you are stuck redeeming for Amazon or gift cards I stand by my idea of broadening your gift card horizon. Cover your gift costs for awhile, go all Oprah- you get a gift card, and you get a gift card, and you get a gift card...

Yes, we've often used these gift cards as Christmas gifts, and like you suggested, used them for regular things and then put the cash in our vacation fund. I was expecting to be able to get Walmart cards and just use those for regular expenses - that would've been the easiest and fastest to recoup. But I was finally able to get the cards I needed, thankfully.

 

[Superchikk]

What card do you have?

Citi thank you points works well travel internationally. Id probably save up your points for that. All the redemptions you want to do is not a good idea. Save them when u want to travel to europe or asia.
If you dead set on flying with citi TYP, you could transfer them to JetBlue and fly with JetBlue instead?
As for statement credit, your best bet is to call citi when ur AF comes around. depending on your type of card, they offer a range of promotion. like $1000 spendings for 5000 TYP + $95 statement credit. i ended up getting +2 to each category up to 35,000 points, 6 months earning period.

I have the Citi Professional card. Apparently it's the "bottom rung" of their ladder. It didn't used to be that way - I've had this card for over 10 years, though, and things change.

International travel isn't going to be happening (at least not on my dime - maybe for work!) in the forseeable future. This is the best way for us to be able to swing a surprise trip for our kids right after Christmas, so figuring out how to make it happen has been my priority the past week. I will call them next time though, and see what they can do.

And I tried flying JetBlue, but that was unfortunately not going to work.

 

[Albort]

no AF card... does it transfer to Airlines? Usually a non AF card cant do that... :\

3x at select office supply stores is pretty sweet though, help u redeem more TYP to redeem if you dont have enough by buying more say southwest gift cards from office supply stores.