With most of the folks not looking to travel in next few months and uncertainty around travel some of us would be thinking of how to best preserve cash. Most of the flexible credit card points program in the U.S.A such as Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou points allows one to cash out the points for statement credit or cash in checking/savings account.  If you have a big stash of these flexible points and no near term travel plan it may be prudent to cash them out. 

While Chase Ultimate Rewards makes it easy and gives a value of 1:1 (Every 1,000 points can be redeemed for $10 in cash) Citi ThankYou points gives a real bad value of 1:0.5 (Every 1,000 points can be redeemed for $5 in cash).

How to maximize cash out of Citi ThankYou points?
Citi ThankYou points allows few ways of cashing out the points.

• Cash Rewards (1:0.5 ratio)
• Statement Credit (1:0.5 ratio)
• Payment towards Mortgage (1:1 ratio)
• Payment towards Student Loan (1:1 ratio)

As you can see from above only the redemption towards Mortgage / Student Loan will get a 1:1 value for your points. But what if you are not looking for any payments but want some cash?

Alternative option of gift card!!
You can redeem Citi ThankYou points for gift cards at 1:1 ratio. While not as good as cold hard cash, you could still redeem for plethora of merchants such as Target, Lowe's , Home Depot, Best Buy etc. This would give flexibility of getting close to 1:1 value which otherwise you would not get. You can also sell this gift card at some of the online re-sellers and still get `~90% of the value of gift card as cash getting a redemption ratio of 1:0.9 (1000 points for a value of $9) which is better than 1:0.5. 

Getting a Citi Rewards+ Card for Better Redemption value:
Citi has a no annual fee Citi Rewards+ Card which gives 10% back in points for any redemption of Citi ThankYou points (Maximum of 10,000 points back per year). If you have this card and redeem for gift card than you can potentially get close to ~1:1 ratio as you would receive 10% back in points.

So, do remember alternate option as they might be better of than taking a direct "cash reward" or "statement credit" at reduced value.

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Lot of folks are currently looking to either change or cancel their near term travel as well as at the same time return to their home ASAP due to the outbreak of COVID-19. While most of the airlines/hotels are updating or changing their policy to accommodate the passengers/guests, there is lot of anxiety among the folks who are either currently travelling or have near term travel booked. 

So, if you need to change / cancel your travel here is your to-do list in no particular order:

• Check the airlines/hotel website for updated information regarding their change/cancellation policy. Since the pandemic situation with COVID-19 is evolving there are lot of changes happening rapidly and the best source is to check with airlines/hotel website.
• Use social media specially twitter to check for quick answers/resolution. This is useful as most airlines/hotels have a dedicated social media team and there are others who would have raised similar questions, so easier to check with the airlines/hotels social media representatives.
• If you booking is done through an OTA such as Expedia or Priceline check their website for an update. Remember that your best resource for information is Airlines/Hotel website, so check their first before heading to OTA's website as lot of times the support staff is not completely knowledgeable. 
• If you are trying to call Airlines/Hotels and have long hold time, try calling their foreign office through Google Hangout App or any other VOIP service. These are pretty cheap these days and would avoid you having to wait for a long time.
• Last but not the least, do you homework. Be ready with alternatives and flexibility in what you want to get done. It will help broaden your options rather than relying on the one presented by Airlines/Hotels support staff.

Be safe and hopefully the situation will get better sooner than latter. 

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Due to spread of Coronavirus named COVID-19 majority of airlines in the U.S.A. are now offering free cancellation (in some cases free change of dates). There is a catch though for all of them where the refund will be provided as a credit for the future ticket (again the length of validity of that credit varies). The policy are different for different airlines in regards to when the tickets were booked and the flight date till which the policy would be applicable.

The good news is that if you have any travel plans within the eligible dates then the time is to book NOW!! Since you are eligible to cancel without any reason you can be assured that if your plans change you will not lose your flight money completely (although it would be tied to particular airline only). The policy also applies to "basic economy" fares which are the most restrictive otherwise.

That being said the best deal out there is with JetBlue Airways as there policy applies equally to both revenue fares purchased as well as Award Tickets. So below are the links for major U.S. Airlines regarding their change/cancellation policy.

JetBlue Airways: Policy applies to both revenue fare as well as Award Tickets. The refund will be provided in "JetBlue travel bank" credit for revenue ticket and taxes+fees on award tickets. The credit expires 1 year from initial issue date.

Alaska Airlines: Policy applies to revenue fare only. The refund will be provided in "Alaska Wallet" which is valid for travel till 28th Feb 2021.

American Airlines: Policy applies to revenue fare only and only "changes" are allowed. Also there are few "gotcha" in terms of the valid dates of booking and travel which you need to be aware of.

Delta Airlines: Policy applies to revenue fare only and only "changes" are allowed. Both domestic and international tickets can be changes without paying change fees when booked within applicable dates.

United Airlines: Policy applies to revenue fare only and both changes and cancellations are allowed. For cancelled tickets the original ticket value will be retained for future travel up to 12 months from the original ticket issue date. Also this applies only to tickets purchase within applicable dates.

So, if you have any travel plans within the applicable booking cancellations dates now is the best time to book it.

​Disclaimer: Some of the links used in the post may be referral links and earn referral to this site. We appreciate you supporting the website.