How to Use Citi ThankYou Points on Delta Air Lines

Citi ThankYou Points are a powerful and somewhat underrated transferable point currency. Amex Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards points often get most of the press, but you shouldn’t forget about Citi ThankYou Points.  

The most popular credit card that earns ThankYou Points is the Citi Strata Premier, which earns three points per dollar spent on air travel, hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, and EV charging stations, and one point per dollar on all other purchases. 

Once you’ve accumulated a decent amount of points, you might want to book an award flight with Delta Air Lines. Unfortunately, Delta SkyMiles isn’t one of Citi’s 14 airline transfer partners. So, if Delta is your preferred carrier and you have a bunch of ThankYou Points, are you completely out of luck? Not quite. Here’s everything you need to know about using Citi ThankYou Points on Delta flights. 

Booking Delta flights using the Citi travel portal 

Your first and most straightforward option for using Citi points on Delta is to book through the Citi Travel portal. You can book hotels, flights, cars, and attractions through the portal using cash or points. Once you log into your account, you’ll see the landing page. 

You can search for flights by entering your departure and arrival airports, dates, and passenger information. 

You can filter the results by airline, number of stops, time of day, and price per person. In this example, a flight from Atlanta (ATL) to New York (EWR) on Delta would cost $123, or 12,349 ThankYou points. Once you add the flight to your cart, you’ll see the option to pay using your available point balance or in cash using your Citi card. 

You’ll receive a value of 1 cent per point when booking through the Citi Travel portal. This isn’t the best value, but it could be a viable option if you want flexible flight options using points. 

Booking Delta Air Lines flights using Citi ThankYou points on partners 

To maximize the value of your points, the best option is typically to transfer them to an airline partner. Delta isn’t a transfer partner of Citi, so you can’t transfer points directly. Even if you could transfer your Citi ThankYou Points to Delta, you might not want to, and you’re about to see why. Instead, you’ll need a small workaround. 

Delta is a member of the SkyTeam Alliance, so you can book award flights operated by Delta through partner airlines also in the alliance. Of the 14 Citi airline transfer partners, three are in the SkyTeam alliance: 

• Aeromexico

• Air France-KLM

• Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic is a great partner for booking Delta flights because it uses a zone-based award chart. That means the number of points you’ll need to book your flight won’t vary, depending on the paid fare. 

Virgin publishes three main award charts for Delta-operated flights: routes between the U.S. and the UK, routes between the U.S. and Europe (excluding the UK), and a distance-based chart for routes to everywhere else. Each award chart shows fares for Delta Main Cabin, Delta Premium Select, and Delta One. The award chart for UK and Europe routes also includes peak and off-peak pricing. 

Virgin Points required for flights between the U.S. and the UK

Virgin Points required for flights between the U.S. and Europe (excluding the UK)

Virgin Points required for all other Delta flights

Let’s say I’m flying from Buenos Aires, Argentina, back home to Wilmington, North Carolina, at the beginning of June. Although I have plenty of Delta SkyMiles, I don’t want to book directly through Delta, as the flight costs upwards of 90,000 SkyMiles in the main cabin, even with my SkyMiles credit cardholder discount.

Instead, I go to Virgin Atlantic to search for the same route. In my experience, the Virgin Atlantic platform is very glitchy, so you’ll need to be patient while searching for redemptions. However, you’ll generally be pleasantly surprised by what you find. 

For example, I can book the same flight, still operated by Delta, through Virgin Atlantic for 57,000 points in the main cabin. That’s over 30,000 points cheaper than if I booked through Delta, and it allows me to transfer my Citi ThankYou Points to Virgin Atlantic to complete the redemption. It’s a win-win. 

To transfer your points, visit ThankYou.com and log in to your Citi account. Then, click “travel” and “Points Transfer.”

Then, scroll to find your desired transfer partner. At the time of writing, Citi is offering a 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic, which means I’d need even fewer points to book my flight. 

Click “continue” and enter the number of points you want to transfer. Thanks to the transfer bonus, I’d need to transfer just 44,000 ThankYou Points to end up with 57,000 Virgin points. 

Unfortunately, I don’t have enough in my account to complete the redemption, so I’ll need to supplement by using miles from a different card. 

Once you enter your Virgin Atlantic Flying Club member number, you must accept the terms and conditions and complete the redemption. Then, you can book the flight through your Virgin Atlantic account as soon as the miles hit. 

Aeromexico

Booking a Delta flight with Aeromexico is a little more complicated than Virgin Atlantic. There are two types of award tickets: classic award tickets and award tickets with dynamic fares. 

The classic award ticket allows you to book flights at a fixed rate based on the destination, cabin, and time of year you’re traveling. High season is defined as the Easter period, the summer period, and the Christmas period, which vary every year. For 2025, the high season is as follows:

• Easter Period: April 10 to April 28

• Summer Period: July 01 to August 24

• Christmas Period: December 12, 2025, to January 09, 2026

Low season is any date outside of high season. Note that the availability of classic award tickets is limited. 

The following is the current award chart for classic award tickets on flights to/from Mexico: 

If a classic award ticket redemption isn’t available, you can book an award ticket with a dynamic fare on flights operated by Aeromexico, Delta, KLM, and Air France. The number of points needed will depend on the destination, cabin, availability, and demand, but dynamic awards are more widely available. 

Finding availability for any type of award redemption on Delta-operated flights online can be difficult, so you might need to call the Aeromexico Rewards Call Center to book your flight. 

Air France/KLM

You can also book Delta-operated flights through Air France/KLM Flying Blue, but fares are subject to dynamic pricing. Since there’s no award chart, you’ll have to do some digging to find a great deal. The process works the same as that of other transfer partners. Log in to your Air France/KLM account, enter your desired dates and airports, and begin searching. 

Delta often charges astronomically high award redemptions, so booking through Air France can be a great option. For instance, Delta would charge you 86,000 SkyMiles for a one-way flight from New York (JFK) to Milan (MXP) in the main cabin this September. 

Meanwhile, Air France would charge just 26,500 miles, saving you 60,000 miles. This also allows you to transfer your Citi ThankYou Points to Air France to complete the redemption. 

The best Delta flights to book using Citi points

Booking a Delta One flight through Virgin Atlantic is one of the best ways to use your Citi points. For example, a one-way flight from Atlanta (ATL) to Cape Town, South Africa (CPT) might cost a whopping 495,000 SkyMiles in Delta One. Even with a Delta credit card, you’ll pay more than 420,000 SkyMiles, which most travelers don’t have lying around.

According to Virgin Atlantic’s award chart, the 8,100-mile flight between Atlanta and Cape Town should cost just 165,000 Virgin Atlantic points. If you took advantage of the 30% bonus on transfers from Citi to Virgin Atlantic, you’d need to transfer just 127,000 ThankYou points to book the flight. 

If you prefer to transfer your points to Air France/KLM, you can find some great sweet spots, especially on flights to South America. For example, a nonstop from Atlanta (ATL) to Santiago, Chile, could cost 90,000 SkyMiles in the main cabin or just 31,000 Flying Blue miles. Although taxes and fees are slightly higher when booking through Air France ($33 versus $5.60), it’s worth spending a little more to save 60,000 miles. 

How point.me helps you book Delta flights with Citi points

With point.me, you can filter your desired programs and airlines when searching for a flight. In this case, you could choose Citi ThankYou as your only card program, which will then automatically select Citi transfer partners. Then, filter only Delta flights, and you’ll see all your options for booking a Delta flight with Citi points.

If you want to fly from New York to Los Angeles this summer, you can transfer 22,000 Citi points to Air France/KLM Flying Blue to book your flight. point.me takes all the guesswork out of finding redemptions and allows you to find exactly what you’re looking for in less time. 

Frequently asked questions about booking Delta Air Lines flights with Citi ThankYou points

Can I use Citi points for Delta flights?

Yes, you can use Citi points for Delta flights. You can book through the Citi Travel portal or transfer your ThankYou Points to SkyTeam partners like Virgin Atlantic Flying Club or Air France/KLM Flying Blue. 

What other airlines can I transfer Citi points to?

You can transfer your Citi ThankYou Points at a 1:1 transfer ratio to each of the 14 airlines below:

• AeroMexico Rewards

• Air France/KLM Flying Blue

• Avianca LifeMiles

• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

• Emirates Skywards

• Etihad Guest

• EVA Air Infinity MileageLands

• JetBlue TrueBlue*

• 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 are a cardholder of the Citi ThankYou Preferred, Citi Rewards+, Sears Mastercard, Citi Double Cash, or one of several AT&T cards, you transfer points to JetBlue at a 1:.08 ratio. 

Can I partially pay for a Delta flight with Citi points?

If you book your Delta flight through the Citi Travel portal, you can use your ThankYou Points for a portion of your flight at a value of one cent per point. 

Summary

With a few workarounds, you can easily use your Citi ThankYou Points to book a flight on Delta Air Lines. You can find excellent redemption opportunities for Delta-operated flights, thanks to Virgin Atlantic, Aeromexico, and Air France/KLM being Citi transfer partners and members of the SkyTeam alliance. Be sure to check point.me if you want to save on your next redemption.