Insider Banking

Here at InsiderBanking.com, we like you to get the most out of your banking relationship.  Many of the current articles have been about getting the most Thankyou reward points from Citibank and its partners.  We also want you to be able to get the best use of these points.  Other articles will tell you how else you can use your points but what follows is the absolute best $ per point use there is.

So you have thousands of points and you want to make the most of them, well get your bags packed because you will be taking a trip or two.

You can use your points to book flights on any airline that Expedia
accomodates.

There are two ways you can convert points into flights.  The first and best is by ‘Fixed’ conversion – in which case you have to call 1-800-Thankyou.  The other which gives you a little more flexibility (but isn’t as cost effective) is called ‘variable’ conversion.  You can use that by going to www.thankyou.com and clicking on flight rewards which then takes you to expedia but using Thankyou points as your currency.

Fixed rate conversion:

This is only available to you if you have certain credit cards or a bank account with citibank, Or an account with Expedia.  Get a bank account it is easy, it will enable you to get more ThankYou points and it will be free if you take the advice in the other blog articles.  Getting an account with Expedia
is the quickest way to make use of the Fixed rate conversion

Anyway back to the fixed conversion. So the conversion amounts and what you get are as follows:

Continental US, Alaska & Canada, 20,000 Points, up to $400 in value (90,000 Points, $2700, Business Class)

Puerto Rico to US (48 States), 40,000 Points, up to $800 in value (Business class not available)

Mexico & Central America, 45,000 Points, up to $900 in value(120,000 Points, $3600, Business Class)

Hawaii & Carribean, 50,000 Points, up to $1000 in value (140,000 Points, $4200, Business Class)

Europe, South America, 60,000 Points, up to $1200 in value (180,000 Points, $5400, Business Class)

Middle East & Africa, 80,000 Points, up to $1600 in value (200,000 Points, $6000, Business Class)

Asia, 80,000 Points, up to $1600 in value (240,000 Points, $7200, Business Class)

Australia & South Pacific, 100,000 Points, up to $2000 in value (180,000 Points, $5400, Business Class)

For doller amounts above the maximum you can use increments of 5000 points per additional $50

You can’t use Thankyou points for the taxes.

The second way is variable conversion.  It is more flexible and is better value for lower priced tickets or if you want to book hotels or cruises.  The conversion rate is 1000 ThankYou points per $10.

So sure you can use your ThankYou points for Starbuck Vouchers but the caffeine won’t get you as far as the Flight reward usage.