Yikes: Citi ThankYou Rewards devalues Emirates Skywards point transfers

Editor’s note: Citi is a TPG advertising partner.

In a surprising announcement sent to Citi ThankYou Rewards members, the credit card program has announced a devaluation of one of its 20 airline and hotel transfer partners, Emirates Skywards.

Currently, Citi Strata Premier℠ Card (see rates and fees) cardholders can transfer their ThankYou Rewards points to Skywards at a 1:1 rate. However, beginning on July 27, the transfer rate will devalue by 20%, which means for every 1,000 ThankYou Rewards points you transfer to Emirates, you’ll get a value of 800 miles.

While devaluations are never a positive, could this move spark a larger trend of other credit card programs following suit?

Related: Citi transfer partners: Maximize your ThankYou points with these loyalty programs

Citi devalues Emirates Skywards point transfers

As we mentioned above, if you hold a Citi rewards card, transferring your points to Emirates will no longer yield you a 1:1 transfer rate. Instead, for every 1,000 ThankYou Rewards points you transfer, you’ll receive just 800 Skywards miles — now a 5:4 transfer ratio.

Though Emirates has undergone a string of devaluations in the past few years and has added high surcharges to business and first-class award flights, there are still some sweet spots to find. Specifically, Emirates flies two fifth-freedom routes to Europe from the U.S.: from New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) and Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Athens International Airport (ATH) in Greece.

You can book an economy flight from JFK to MXP for just 17,500 miles plus $54 in taxes and fees or from EWR to ATH for 30,000 miles plus $54 in taxes and fees. These are great deals for European travel, with low fuel surcharges compared to other transatlantic award flights.

Therefore, with Citi’s latest devaluation of its partnership with Emirates, instead of transferring 18,000 ThankYou points to book an award flight from JFK to MXP, you’d need to transfer 22,000 points.

Luckily, Emirates is also a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One miles and Chase Ultimate Rewards; these credit card partner programs all still transfer to Emirates Skywards at a 1:1 rate.

So, if you wanted to book three round-trip economy flights from New York to Italy, you could do that just with one card’s welcome bonus — saving you thousands of dollars.

Will credit card companies follow Citi’s lead?

While a program losing value is never a good thing, what’s more concerning is whether other credit card companies and airline and hotel partners will follow suit. Utilizing the flexibility of travel reward cards instead of solely putting your eggs in one basket with one airline or hotel cobranded card has been key to getting outsize value for your points and miles.

As credit card fees continue to rise, card partnerships with airlines and hotels end and program devaluations become more frequent, could the devaluation of transfer rates between partners be the next trend? Guess we will have to wait and see.