How to Transfer Citi Points to Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus (2026 Guide)

Thai Airways has belonged to Star Alliance since the alliance's founding in 1997, so Royal Orchid Plus miles book both Thai's own metal and the full Star Alliance network — Lufthansa, ANA, Singapore Airlines, United, and the rest. Thai spent nearly five years, from 2020 to mid-2025, in court-supervised business rehabilitation; it emerged from that process leaner and has been releasing more award seats across its own flights and Star Alliance partners since, which makes this a better moment to look at the program than it's been in years.

The honest reason to care, though, is scarcity of access rather than program strength: American Express Membership Rewards doesn't include Royal Orchid Plus among its current lineup of 17 US airline transfer partners, and Chase has never had it. United MileagePlus and ANA Mileage Club are generally regarded as having the best visibility into Thai's own premium-cabin award space — but if you don't hold a balance in either of those, Citi ThankYou is essentially your only remaining on-ramp from a major transferable-currency program into Thai's fixed award chart.

Royal Orchid Plus still prices Thai-operated flights on a published, zone-based chart rather than dynamic pricing — Thai maintains two separate versions, one for nonstop flights to or from Bangkok and one for itineraries connecting through Bangkok, each covering Economy, Economy Plus, Royal Silk (business), and Royal First. Rates are quoted one-way; double the number for a round trip.

For a sense of scale: Royal Silk business class between Bangkok and Europe runs around 89,000 miles one-way, Royal First to London — the only European city where Thai still offers the cabin, now that its A380 fleet is retired — runs roughly 129,000 miles one-way, and shorter regional hops price far lower: Royal Silk business between Bangkok and the Middle East, for instance, comes in around 42,500 miles one-way. Always confirm current pricing on thaiairways.com before transferring, since charts do get revised.

The detail that trips people up: Thai Airways doesn't fly to the United States at all right now, nonstop or otherwise. It ended its New York JFK route in 2008, cut Los Angeles down to a one-stop routing through Seoul around 2012, then pulled US service entirely in October 2015 — a shutdown that lined up with the FAA downgrading Thailand's aviation safety rating, which barred Thai carriers from operating to the US at all. Thailand only regained that top-tier FAA rating in 2025, clearing the legal path back, and any relaunch is widely expected to wait for Thai's new 787-9s, due to start arriving in 2027 — though no specific route has actually been announced. So a US-based Citi cardholder isn't booking a single-flight award here — plan on either a connecting Star Alliance partner itinerary into Bangkok, or spending the miles on a partner airline (United, ANA) for the transpacific leg and saving Thai's own chart for the Bangkok-Europe or Bangkok-Asia segment where it's genuinely competitive.

Booking mechanics matter too: Royal Orchid Plus only lets you book round-trip awards departing from Bangkok online. Anything else — a one-way, an open jaw, a Star Alliance partner award not originating in Bangkok — generally requires a phone call to Thai Airways reservations, since the website's search doesn't reliably surface partner inventory.

The transfer itself takes 3 to 7 business days to post — the slowest partner on Citi's entire transfer chart — so this isn't a currency to move speculatively. Confirm award space by phone first, then transfer, and expect to wait out the posting time before you can ticket. The full 1:1 ratio also requires a premium ThankYou card (Strata Elite, Strata Premier, or Prestige); other Citi cards transfer to airline partners at a reduced rate.

Royal Orchid Plus miles expire on a rolling three-year cycle, with each quarter's earned miles lapsing three years after that quarter closes — there's no extension or reinstatement once they're gone. Cancelling a ticketed award can also cost up to $190 per ticket in redeposit fees, and any miles that expired in the meantime don't come back with the refund.