Citi Removing Virgin America As A Transfer Partner – Should You Transfer Speculatively?

Alaska’s acquisition of Virgin America has been completed, as a likely result of this Citi ThankYou points will no longer be able to be transferred to Virgin America starting January 22nd. Citi added Virgin America as a transfer partner back in September of 2015. The transfer rate is 1,000 Citi ThankYou Points = 500 Virgin America miles so for most people it wasn’t an attractive transfer option.

virgin-america

The big question most people will have is ‘does it make sense to transfer your Citi ThankYou points to Virgin America in the hopes that when they turn into Alaska miles you’ll receive a favorable rate?’ My answer would be no, you’d more likely be better off transferring SPG points to Virgin America instead (1:1 transfer rate, plus 5,000 bonus for transferring 20,000).

Personally I think Virgin America will convert to Alaska Airlines at a 1:1 rate, but I was pleasantly surprise with the generous 1:3 rate for SPG to Marriott and vice versa. What rate do you think Virgin America miles will turn into Alaska?

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Brian
Brian (@guest_327638)
December 15, 2016 18:17

“I was pleasantly surprise with the generous 1:3 rate for SPG to Marriott and vice versa.”

The vice versa here makes no sense in the context of the full sentence… a transfer rate can’t be “generous” in both directions.

Jeff
Jeff (@guest_327692)
December 15, 2016 20:15

1:3 is not generous. It’s only about fair. I hope Marriott executives don’t read this and think of lowering the transfer rate.

Andrew
Andrew (@guest_328175)
December 16, 2016 20:21

Fair is generous in the FFP world. 1:3 transfer rate made it so that neither programs got screwed.

kingofkingsforu
kingofkingsforu (@guest_327616)
December 15, 2016 17:25

spg to alaska is a direct partner which transfers as same as spg to vx. Why are you suggesting to do spg to vx then to AS.

If VX to AS is going to have a favorable rate then converting citi ty to VX then to AS is the best option.

2 Citi TY to 1 AS is also a good deal. If u are going to have a favorable rate then 1 citi TY to 1 AS will be awesome.

Raj
Raj (@guest_327560)
December 15, 2016 16:18

They’re telling us the conversion rate on Dec 19 so it would be good to wait until then to transfer.

Matthew
Matthew (@guest_327599)
December 15, 2016 16:50

https://www.virginamerica.com/cms/alaska-virgin-top-faqs.html

Starting December 19, 2016, Mileage Plan members can earn miles on Virgin America flights, and Elevate members can earn Elevate points on Alaska Airlines flights. More details regarding earn structure will be available at that time.

(They also sent out an email today to Elevate members, and also have my VA points at 0 for some reason. They aren’t clear about saying what the transfer rate is, but I would assume the earning rate would give us an idea of Alaska’s plans.)

jnrfalcon
jnrfalcon (@guest_327601)
December 15, 2016 16:52

It’s now suspected that the earning will be just keeping individual plan’s earning rate like 5 point/$ if you are accumulating into your VX account or class/mile based earning if you earn miles with AS account.