There is no need to envy those passengers seated at the front of the plane, enjoying better food than yours and drinking nice champagne. There is a way to travel first and business class at a fraction of the price - which is using miles! Besides butt-in-seat miles, there are other more economical and faster way to earn miles. One of which is through credit cards. Once you get the right credit cards and choose the right frequent flyer program to credit these miles, you are on the right track to book your dream flight.
In this post, I am focusing on the best credit cards for generating miles in Singapore. On the side track, I will be explaining which frequent flyer program you should credit these miles into.
(In 2015, I had made similar post. This is the updated and cleaner version.)
1. Before you continue... β
So how many miles is needed to redeem a flight? Let's take this as an example:
So what is 46750 Krisflyer miles? How to better quantify it? Continue to read on...
2. βTo begin with
Just before you start reading about the credit cards, I would like to give you a rough idea on the ways you can generate miles. The diagram below depicts the 4 main areas which you can generate your miles from.
The main focus on this post will be on the first circle- credit cards. When you pick your cards to generate miles, you should focus on these 3 areas:
1. Sign up bonus miles 2. Bonus miles from paying annual fee 3. Card that fits your spending habit and offers you good earning rates per dollar spent. β
3. Guide to the best credit cards for earning miles in Singapore
a. Cards with good sign-up bonus miles
Links: DBS Altitude Visa Signature,ANZ Travel VIsa Signature, Standard Chartered Visa Infinite, American Express Krisflyer Card, American Express Krisflyer Ascend
b. Cards with good bonus miles upon paying annual fee
Links: DBS Altitude Visa Signature, ANZ Travel VIsa Signature, Standard Chartered Visa Infinite, Citibank Premiermiles Amex, Citibank Premiermiles Visa, Citibank Prestige Card
Instead of seeking for annual fee wavier, it is definitely worth paying just to receive the bonus miles. For a better understanding, here is an example:
Hopefully the above example gives you a good idea why you should consider these cards listed above in b. and why you should pay the annual fees. Although the earning rates for Citibank is not great, you should consider holding their card as they allow miles transfer to British Airways. Unlike other banks, Citibank offers miles transfer to many airlines. Of all the selections, I think British Airways and Singapore Airlines are the best selection.
British Airways offers good flight redemption and it allows you to book on other Oneworld Alliance airlines as well. For a better understanding, here is an example:
From britishairways.com
c. Cards with good earning rates per S$1 spent
Links: Citibank Rewards Card, UOB Preferred Platinum Visa, DBS Altitude Visa Signature, ANZ Travel VIsa Signature
β4. Conclusion
There are many ways to fly premium cabin at a fraction of the price. One of which is through earning miles from credit cards. When picking the credit cards. you should look at these 3 areas:
1. Sign up bonus miles 2. Bonus miles from paying annual fee 3. Card that fits your spending habit and offers you good earning rates per dollar spent. After collecting the miles, it is very important to pick the right frequent flyer program to transfer your miles to. For instance, Citibank offers mile transfer to many airlines which includes Qatar Airways and British Airways. At 1:1 ratio, it is not worth transferring miles to Qatar Airways Privilege Club program. For instance, 35,000 miles in Qatar Airways privilege club program only offer upgrade to business class on a 7 hours flight. However, 40,000 miiles (avios) allows to redeem a return business class flight for a total of est. 8 hours flight. If you think that I have missed out any good cards and feel that what I mentioned in this post is not right, please feel free to leave a comment below. I would love to read the comments and learn from you guys as well. Disclaimer: Presentation slide template is taken from slidescarnival.com
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16 Comments
Marietta Isidro
18/5/2016 02:15:41 pm
Reply
Ben
27/5/2016 10:01:58 am
Hi, just saw this updated post. But what about miles expiry? Do DBS miles expire?
Reply
They Are Judged
27/5/2016 10:14:34 am
Hi Ben,
Reply
22/6/2016 09:25:45 pm
Do it right and credit cards are the cheapest way to borrow. You can get 0% for up to 27 months - yet get it wrong and you'll be stuck in debt for years.
Reply
Andy
2/7/2016 11:45:13 pm
Please note that UOB visa signature spending will only earn u 10x UNI per only if the online shopping is foreign currency denominated, has a min S$1,000 prerequisite for that statement month and the 10x UNI is capped at UNI$4,000 which is effectively capped at S$2,000 spending per month.
Reply
They Are Judged
7/7/2016 01:24:06 pm
Thanks for the info Andy!
Reply
Hans
14/7/2016 11:07:34 pm
Hi,
Reply
Theyarejudged
15/7/2016 12:36:23 am
Hi Hans,
Reply
Hans
14/7/2016 11:07:44 pm
Hi,
Reply
Hans
14/7/2016 11:07:59 pm
Hi,
Reply
24/7/2016 01:47:32 pm
One of which is through credit cards. Once you get the right credit cards and choose the right frequent flyer program to credit these miles, you are on the right track to book your dream flight.
Reply
Shan
21/9/2016 10:59:35 pm
Hi,
Reply
They Are Judged
21/9/2016 11:41:08 pm
Hi Shan!
Reply
john
18/10/2016 03:27:19 pm
Can you review or advise on the following cards:
Reply
They Are Judged
18/10/2016 06:24:14 pm
After some google search, this is what I have derived:
Reply
10/1/2017 02:48:12 pm
Find Best Luxury Miles or Travel Card for Business Travelers in Singapore.Know More About Travel Credit Card Features, Benefits, Rewards and Offers and List of some of the banks in Singapore that offer travel credit cards at bankbazaar.sg
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