There's big news if you like to transfer credit card points to book award flights: Citi ThankYou Rewards just added Japan Airlines Mileage Bank as a transfer partner — and it's launching the partnership with an impressive 30% transfer bonus.

Japan Airlines is now a transfer partner from the Citi ThankYou program and cards such as the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (see rates and fees ) and Citi Strata Premier® Card (see rates and fees ) at a 1:1 transfer ratio. Eligible Citi ThankYou cards without an annual fee can also transfer points to Japan Airlines, though at a lower 1:0.7 ratio.

Not only that, but until Oct. 24, there's a 30% transfer bonus, which means that for every 1,000 transferred Citi points, you get 1,300 miles in the Japan Airlines Mileage Bank program. To test it out, I transferred 1,000 Citi points from my Citi Strata Elite, which converted to 1,300 JAL miles that posted immediately to my account.

Pair that with the Japan Airlines award chart , and that means that you can fly in lie-flat business class all the way from the U.S. to Japan from just 43,000 transferred Citi points (plus taxes and fees) if you find award availability at the 55,000-mile level.

TPG tip: Look toward the very end of JAL's bookable schedule for some of the best chances of finding business-class award availability on its own flights.

Even if you aren't ready to transfer Citi points yet, consider opening a Japan Airlines Mileage Bank account now. JAL generally doesn't allow members to redeem miles for awards within 60 days of opening an account, so waiting until you find the perfect award could leave you unable to book it.

Flights to or from Japan aren't the only way to use Japan Airlines Mileage Bank miles . Japan Airlines Mileage Bank miles can also be used to book flights on Oneworld partners such as American Airlines and British Airways, as well as nonalliance partners including Air France.

And this is where things get especially interesting. Depending on the award, booking a round trip can cost far fewer miles than simply doubling the one-way price.