Get a 20% transfer bonus when you transfer Citi ThankYou to Air France/KLM Flying Blue.

As for the bonus itself, we just saw a 25% transfer bonus to Flying Blue from Amex last month and transfer bonuses are not infrequent. The biggest reason to consider to not transfer, though, might be the rumor about Japan Airlines becoming a Citi transfer partner. It’s completely a rumor for now, but if you log into your ThankYou account and go to your profile, the option to link your JAL Mileage Bank account is there, and why would it be there if it wasn’t a partnership in progress?

JAL is a fantastic program and would be huge win for Citi to add to ThankYou, although since becoming transfer partners with Bilt, Rove, and Capital One (they used to not partner with anyone by Marriott Bonvoy for transfers), we have seen availability dry up just a bit. I’m sure JAL will struggle a bit to toe the line between selling their miles and preserving award space availability. (It’s a difficult balance!) Still, if JAL does become a transfer partner, you may be inclined to save your ThankYou points vs. speculatively transfer for 20% bonus miles.

As for this bonus itself?

Flying Blue has some really good award rates at times, though they often fluctuate into the absurd. 60,000 points for Business class to/from Europe from the US is solid, but the surcharges have gotten way out of control (about $600 one way). Sometimes, the pricing is waaaaay over 60,000 points with the same surcharges, so we’d like to see them get this under control and it does make a speculative transfer harder to justify unless you have consistent personal success. With Tiffany Funk (former One Mile at a Time / Point.me) running the Flying Blue loyalty program since June, things are likely to improve. Those things definitely take some time to come to fruition.

Also, while Flying Blue miles expire, it’s a reasonable 24 months and any activity (such as a simple 1,000 point transfer in) will extend it. They used to have archaic rules where flight activity miles weren’t extended with other activity but they came to their senses a few months ago and it’s now simplified with all miles in one pool and all extended by any activity.