Citi Premier® Card 80,000 Point Bonus: Worth It?

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The Citi Premier® Card has an outstanding bonus of 80,000 points and it’s ending very soon!

But what can you really do with this bonus and what type of value can it mean for your travels?

Let’s take a look at some of the best redemptions for using these 80,000 points so you can see what might be possible.

The Welcome Bonus

• Earn 80,000 bonus ThankYou Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months

Before getting in too deep in the details of how to use the bonus, it’s a good idea to take a look at the overall package of the Citi Premier® Card.

• 3X on air travel and hotels
• 3X on dining
• 3X on gas stations
• 3X on supermarkets
• 1x on other purchases
• $100 Annual Hotel Savings Benefit
• $95 annual fee
• No Foreign transaction fees

While you can do better on some of these individual categories, the Citi Premier® Card is certainly a strong all-around spender. If you want strong rewards but don’t want to mess around with multiple cards, this card can make it easy to earn a lot of points with your spend.

Interested in the 80,000 point bonus? Learn how to apply here.

Transfer partners

Here’s a look at all of the potential transfer partners:

• Aeromexico Club Premier
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue
• Avianca LifeMiles
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest
• EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Malaysia Airlines Enrich
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

If you’re thinking that hardly any of those airlines look familiar — don’t worry.

A lot of these are somewhat niche programs but they allow you to book sweet redemptions including awards on airlines you are more familiar with like United Airlines, Delta, etc.

Below I’m going to highlight some of the most tempting redemptions. By no means is this list exhaustive. But if you’re looking for some type of reference point for what you can do with 80,000 Citi points this should help.

Turkish Airlines

Transferring your points to Turkish Airlines is a great way to fly domestically. You can get a one-way on United for 7,500 miles in economy and 12,500 in business class, even when flying to Hawaii. They even allow you to take advantage of 48 hour holds so you can transfer your points with confidence.

Avianca LifeMiles

Avianca LifeMiles is great for low fees and now it’s easier to book online. You can book a first class one-way to Europe for 87,000 miles on Lufthansa, considered by many to be one of the best first class cabins. You could also fly across the US in business class on United for 25,000 points.

Virgin Atlantic

Use 50,000 Virgin Atlantic miles to fly Delta in business class from the U.S. to Europe. Or, if you want to take advantage of one of the best first class redemptions consider flying between the U.S. and Japan on ANA-operated flights for 90,000 to 120,000 miles round trip!

Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines are not the cheapest but because you can transfer points from various programs to Singapore Airlines, even rewards that cost a lot are very obtainable. You could fly Singapore Suites for ~147,000 miles from Singapore to the US.

Or for something more obtainable, you could fly from the East Coast of the US to Europe for 81,000 miles in business class.

Interested in the 80,000 point bonus? Learn how to apply here.

Emirates

Emirates awards can get expensive for premium cabins like their amazing first class. But they have reduced fuel surcharges so they are not nearly as expensive as they used to be. For 72,500 miles you can fly first class from New York JFK to Milan, Italy and you only have to pay $84 in fees. That flight is currently going for over $10,000!

JetBlue TrueBlue

JetBlue TrueBlue Award prices are tied to revenue prices so the more expensive the cash price, the more expensive the award ticket.

JetBlue can be a great way to get around the US and they have an amazing business class product (Mint) although sometimes the award redemption value on that is not terrific. For that reason, you might want to sometimes look elsewhere like booking inter-island Hawaiian flights on Hawaiian Airlines for 6,000 points in economy.

Qatar Airways

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend Qatar Airways for partner bookings but if you’ve never flown on the famous Q-Suites, you can find some redemptions decently priced. This is especially true since you can use Avios to makes your bookings. Use the Q calculator to get estimates on the award price and you’ll see Qatar business class seats go for 43,000 from Doha to Paris.

Final word

The Citi Premier® Card bonus of 80,000 points can be used in a lot of ways for travel. These redemptions above are only the tip of the iceberg but should give you a good indication of just how much value you can obtain from this bonus.

Interested in the 80,000 point bonus? Learn how to apply here.

Advertiser Disclosure: UponArriving has partnered with affiliate partners and may receive a commission from card issuers. UponArriving does not display all credit card offers and affiliate relationships may impact how offers are presented. 

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analysis & recommendations are UponArriving’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.