If you have a Citi credit card that earns ThankYou Points on purchases and live near a Southwest Airlines hub, you might want to use your points for your next flight. Unfortunately, using Citi ThankYou Points on Southwest flights is very difficult. Citi has 14 airline transfer partners, but Southwest is not one of them.
Southwest is also different from many other U.S. airlines, as it is not part of an alliance. Its only partner airline is Icelandair, which doesn’t help with the points transfer problem. Luckily, there’s a workaround you can take advantage of if you’re determined to use your Citi ThankYou points for your next Southwest flight.
Here’s everything you need to know about using Citi ThankYou Points on Southwest flights.
Booking Southwest flights using the Citi travel portal
If you are a Citi cardholder, the Citi Travel portal is an excellent resource for booking your next trip. Several Citi cards offer bonus points or cash back on flights, hotels, or attractions through the portal. Once you’ve accumulated enough ThankYou Points, you can use them to pay for your booking at a fixed rate.
Unfortunately, Southwest does not appear in the travel portal, so you can’t book a Southwest-operated flight using your ThankYou Points online. Instead, you’ll need to search for your desired flight on the Southwest website, then call the Citi Travel service center at 1-833-737-1288 when you’re ready to book. Having to call to book your flight is less than ideal, so you might be better off paying cash and booking directly through Southwest.
If you pay for your flight using your Citi card, you could always redeem your points as a statement credit at a rate of 1 cent per point. So, if you book a $100 Southwest flight, you can redeem 10,000 ThankYou Points as a statement credit.
To do so, log into ThankYou.com, select “cash” and “statement credit,” and enter the amount of cash rewards you’d like to receive. Then, add to cart, and you’re all set.
This won’t yield the best valuation out of your ThankYou Points, but it does allow you to cover your Southwest flight with points.
Booking Southwest flights using Citi ThankYou points on partners
Transferring Citi ThankYou Points to Southwest requires a workaround, but it isn’t impossible. One option is to transfer your Citi ThankYou points to Choice Privileges, and then to Southwest Rapid Rewards.
Choice Privileges is a partner of Rapid Rewards, so you can exchange 6,000 Choice Privileges points for 1,800 Rapid Rewards points (roughly 3.33:1 ratio).
If you have the Citi Prestige, Citi Strata Premier, or AT&T Access More Card, you can transfer your ThankYou Points to Choice Privileges at a 1:2 ratio. Other Citi cards, like the Citi Double Cash, transfer to Choice Privileges at a 1:1.5 ratio.
Here’s what this could look like in practice: A flight from Denver (DEN) to Phoenix (PHX) this summer might cost 6,500 Southwest points plus $5.60 in taxes and fees. You can get 6,500 Rapid Rewards points in exchange for 22,000 Choice Privileges points.
To receive 22,000 Choice Privileges points, you must transfer 11,000 Citi ThankYou Points to Choice Privileges. By transferring your points twice, you’re essentially getting a 1.7 transfer ratio between Citi and Southwest.
An important caveat: the flight in this example would only cost $109 if paid in cash. Since it requires 11,000 ThankYou Points and multiple point transfers, it might not be worth it. You aren’t getting a great valuation from your points, so you might be better off paying for (and earning points) on this flight rather than redeeming them.
However, if you want to use your points, it’s easier than it sounds. Visit ThankYou.com and log in. Then, click “Travel” and “Points Transfer.”
Scroll until you see Choice Privileges, then click “continue.”
Then, enter the number of points you want to transfer to Choice Privileges. To book the flight from Denver to Phoenix, I’d need to transfer 11,000 ThankYou Points.
Next, enter your Choice Privileges details, accept the terms and conditions, and click “continue.”
Once the points are in your Choice Privileges account, you can visit the rewards exchange section of the Choice website to receive step-by-step instructions on converting your points to Southwest Rapid Rewards. When you click “exchange now,” you’ll be redirected to the points exchange website. Next, click on the Southwest tile, log into your Southwest account, and complete the transaction. Note that it can take up to 72 hours for your points to become available.
You can book your flight as usual when the points are in your Southwest account.
The best Southwest flights to book using Citi points
The perfect award redemption allows you to take a trip without paying cash for airfare. If you have some flexibility in your travel dates, you can use Southwest’s low fare calendar, which shows how much of a discrepancy there can be in redemptions just a few days apart. The best Southwest flights to book using Citi points should yield a valuation of more than one cent per point (the rate you get when using the Citi Travel portal).
A one-way flight from Houston (HOU) to San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO) in September 2025 could cost anywhere from 9,500 points to 18,000 points. On September 1st, you’d pay 9,500 points plus $24.57 in taxes and fees. The cash fare is $184, which gives you a valuation of almost 1.7 cents per Rapid Rewards point. When you factor in the transfer ratios, you get a value of around 1 cent per ThankYou Point.
You could also escape the cold Baltimore weather this November and head to Montego Bay, Jamaica, for as little as 10,000 points and $49.60 in taxes and fees. The cash fare runs around $226, so you are getting a valuation of 1.76 cents per Rapid Rewards point. This pushes you over the 1 cent per ThankYou Point threshold to make it a good value.
How point.me helps you book Southwest flights with Citi ThankYou points
If you need help finding the best award redemption for your next vacation, look no further than point.me. Point.me makes it incredibly easy to find an award redemption using specific airlines and reward currencies.
After entering your destination and departure airports, travel dates, and fare class, you’ll get several options to book your flight, along with step-by-step instructions for completing the redemption. point.me also shows you how much the flight would cost in cash, so you can easily calculate the per-point value of each redemption.
Frequently asked questions about booking Southwest flights with Citi points
Can I use Citi points for Southwest flights?
You can use Citi points for Southwest flights by calling the Citi Travel service center or transferring your points to Choice Privileges, a mutual hotel partner of both Citi and Southwest.
What other airlines can I transfer Citi points to?
You can transfer your Citi ThankYou Points to 14 airline partners, including:
- 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
Can I partially pay for a Southwest flight with Citi points?
If you call the Citi Travel service center, you can likely pay for part of your booking with Citi ThankYou points. For the amount of hassle you’d need to go through, it might not be worth it.
Summary
There isn’t a clear or concise way to use Citi ThankYou Points on Southwest flights. If you don’t feel like making multiple transfers (that might devalue your points), your best option would be to pay for your flight in cash and redeem points as a statement credit to reimburse yourself for the flight purchase. Or, you could get a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred, which has a 1:1 transfer partnership with Southwest Rapid Rewards. While it’s possible to transfer Citi points to Southwest through Choice Privileges, the poor transfer ratio makes it less than ideal.
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