A guide to Singapore's best credit cards for earning miles. (2015 version)
Ever dream of flying first and business class? There is no need to envy those passengers seated at the front. Instead of paying a few thousand dollars, the cheapest way to fly on premium class is to redeem ticket using air miles, costing as low as S$172* for a return business class to Hong Kong on Singapore Airlines. Now the question comes. How can you earn free miles? Besides flying, you can earn free miles using the right credit cards at an incredible speed. Click on to find out how you can fund for your next business class trip to any destination you like. Conversion fee of 3 credit cards* (from points/miles to krisflyer miles) + airline taxes & surcharge DBS Altitude, ANZ Travel Visa, Citibank card For an updated version, click here to view the guide to the best credit cards for earning miles in Singapore (2016 Version).
For illustration purpose, you are going to redeem a return business class flight to Hong Kong on Singapore Airlines.
This is the actual cost: 42 750* Krisflyer Miles+ S$79.40 (Taxes) on SQ website *15% discounted miles for online redemption. Taken from SQ website
In the Singapore market, there are credit cards that give sign-up bonus miles and extra miles on certain purchase.
How fast you earn that 42 750* Krisflyer miles is depending on the cards you are using and your spending habits. Besides signing up the cards with sign-up bonus (which you will end up with 20 660 Krisflyer miles), you should sign up and retain the cards that fits your spending habit. Hence the total cost of your redemption ticket: The conversion fee from credit cards (points/miles to krisflyer miles) + S$79.40 The conversion fee usually cost SS25 per credit card. if you are maximizing every dollar you spend to grow miles, you are likely to hold at least 2 credit cards. The below mentioned are the cards that I think are attainable and beneficial for most people. Some cards with good earning rates should be retained while some cards with bad earning rates should not retained after receiving the sign-up bonus. I will be covering 3 categories of credit cards- cards with sign-up bonus, cards with good earning rates, cards with 10 000 miles bonus after annual fee. 1. Credit Cards with Sign-Up Bonus
Picture taken from DBS website
Receive 12,000 miles (6000 DBS points) with minimum S$800 spending within the first month by 31 July 2015. You should make use of this signup bonus if you have big future purchase on gadgets, travel and etc.
Additional Info: Earning Rates per SGD 3 miles = Airlines and hotel bookings 2 miles = Overseas spending 1.2 miles =Local spending This card should be retained for travelers for long term use due to good earning rates. Transfer fee of DBS points to Krisflyer miles: $42.80 per year in blocks of 5000 DBS points : 10,000 Krisflyer miles. The rewarding system for this card is in DBS points instead of miles.
Taken from Amex website
Receive 5000 Krisflyer miles first sign-up bonus on first purchase with no transfer fee.
Additional info: 4 complimentary lounge access and 1 complimentary night at Millennium Hotel per year. Earning Rates: 1 Krisflyer mile per S$1.20 on local spending 2 Krisflyer miles per S$1.20 on SQ purchase This card should not be retained due to bad earning rates. c. ANZ Travel Visa Signature Credit Card
Taken from ANZ website
Receive 2000 miles (Travel$) first sign-up bonus with minimum S$500 spending within first 30 days.
Additional Info: Unlimited Complimentary access to Veloce VIP airport lounge. Earning rates per SGD: 2.8 miles = on Qantas/Jetstar and retail spending in Australia and New Zealand 1.4 miles = on spending at everywhere else This card should be retained for long term use due to good earning rates. Transfer fee of Travel$ to Krisflyer miles: $25 at blocks of 2000 miles (Travel$)
The Total Sign-up Bonus miles on all 3 card received = 19 000 Krisflyer miles
Additional miles earned from local spending ( completion of min. spending for sign-up bonus) = 1 660 Krisflyer miles Total Miles earned = 20 660 Krisflyer miles (23 375 miles for a single trip SQ business class ticket to HKG) The Total transfer fee on these cards =$67.80 Once the bonus miles is achieved, you should focus on the cards that gives you the best earning based on your spending habits for the remaining miles needed for redemption 2. Credit Cards with Good Earning rates
Taken from Citibank Website
Earning Rates per SGD:
6 miles = Expedia 4 miles (10 rewards points) = clothes, bags and shoes or at departmental stores or online shopping websites. 0.4 miles = other spending Transfer fee to Krisflyer miles: $25 with minimum of 500 miles per transfer Best credit card for shoppers b. UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Card
Taken from UOB website
Earning Rates:
4 miles per S$1 on online shopping, entertainment and Visa Paywave (20 miles/10 UNI$ per S$5 spending) 0.4 miles per S$1 on other spending (1 UNI$ per S$5) Transfer fee to Krisflyer miles: $25 in blocks of 5000 UNI$. This card is in UNI$ system instead of miles system. UNI$ rewarded on every S$5 spending. 10 UNI$ reward / SGD is capped at UNI$24,000 per calendar year. I personally find this card quite complicated in terms of their rewarding system. UNI$ will not be awarded at SMART$ Merchant, which cannot be transferred to miles. c. Citibank PremierMiles American Express Card
Earning rates:
2 Citi miles = S$1 on Singapore Airlines, Silkair and overseas spending 1.4 Citi miles = S$1 local spending 10 Citi miles = S$1 on Kaligo.com up to 6 Citi miles = S$1 on Agoda Transfer fee to Krisflyer miles: $25 with minimum of 500 miles per transfer. This card comes with 2 complimentary lounge access per year Best Card for travelling with Oneworld Alliance airlines on redemption with British Airways Avios program. 40 000 avios + S$70 (taxes & surcharge) : Return business class to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific d. Citibank PremierMiles Visa Card
Earning rates:
2 Citi miles = S$1 on overseas spending 1.2 Citi miles = S$1 local spending 10 Citi miles = S$1 on Kaligo.com up to 6 Citi miles = S$1 on Agoda Transfer fee to Krisflyer miles: $25 with minimum of 500 miles per transfer. This card comes with 2 complimentary lounge access per year. Best Card for travelling with Oneworld Alliance airlines on redemption with British Airways Avios program. 40 000 avios + S$70 (taxes & surcharge) : Return business class to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific e. DBS Altitude Visa Signature Card Refer to 1a. under credit cards with sign-up bonus. Earning Rates per SGD 3 miles = Airlines and hotel bookings 2 miles = Overseas spending 1.2 miles =Local spending Best earning card for travellers f. ANZ Travel Visa Signature Credit Card Refer to 1c. under credit cards with sign-up bonus Earning rates per SGD: 2.8 miles = on Qantas/Jetstar and retail spending in Australia and New Zealand 1.4 miles = on spending at everywhere else Best earning card for general spending 3. Credit Cards with 10,000 to 15,000 Bonus Miles for Paying Annual Fee
15,000 Bonus Miles for paying S$267.50 annual fee.
Best Card for travelling with Oneworld Alliance airlines on redemption with British Airways Avios program. 40 000 avios + S$70 (taxes & surcharge) : Return business class to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific b. Citibank PremierMiles Visa Card
10 000 bonus miles for paying S$192.60 annual fee
Best Card for travelling with Oneworld Alliance airlines on redemption with British Airways Avios program. 40 000 avios + S$70 (taxes & surcharge) : Return business class to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific. c. DBS Altitude Visa Signature Card
10 000 bonus miles for paying S$200 annual fee
Is it worth paying the annual fee for the extra bonus miles. To me, it is definitely worth the price. Airlines are selling their miles at double or triple the price than the annual fee of these credit cards. The commercial price for a return business class to Hong Kong cost more than S$2000. If you are using 40 000 bonus miles received from the annual fee to redeem this ticket, you are only paying around S$850 (plus taxes & surcharges). With the bonus miles from the annual fee, it helps to get you the redemption ticket that you want at a much faster speed, and yet still paying a premium cabin at much lower cost. Extra Guide: How to redeem tickets from airlines
For best use of these credit cards points/miles, the best frequent flyer programs for flight redemption are Singapore Airlines Krisflyer program (for SQ flight) and British Airways Avios program* (for BA and oneworld airlines flight).
*Only applicable for Citibank card a. Singapore Airlines Redeeming tickets from Singapore Airlines is simple. You will need a Krisflyer account before hand. At their main booking, just tick the box at "redeem flight awards" and put in the necessary details to search for your flight and the miles required.
Taken from Singapore Airlines Website
b. British Airways
Step 1. Sign up for British Airways Avios program. After which, under "Executive Club" tab, click on "Spending miles"
Taken from British Airways Website
Step 2.
Click on "Book a reward flight"
Taken from British Airways Website
Step 3.
Key in the necessary details to search for available flight and the miles required.
Taken from British Airways Website
Feel free to leave any questions in the comment box below
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12 Comments
Latha
21/12/2015 05:17:22 pm
Quick question...
Reply
They Are Judged
22/12/2015 08:26:24 am
It's 1citimile = 1 avios ^^
Reply
Flyingdude
28/3/2016 11:02:05 pm
what are your reasons for deeming executive club to have the best loyalty program?
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They Are Judged
29/3/2016 10:43:31 am
Hi flying dude,
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Ben
26/5/2016 10:54:26 am
Hi, thanks for the great guide. Because i am still new to this and planning to apply for one miles credit card soon and unsure which to pick. Typically, how does miles work between each airline? I went to check out DBS Altitude card and they mention like 3 miles earned for every 1SGD spent on the following airlines. So how will these 3 miles be used? Does it mean the 3 miles can be transfer as 3 Qmiles for Qatar airways/3 Kris Flyer Miles for SQ ? So far I'm quite clear about Citimiles based on their website, which is 1 Citimiles = 1 Qmiles/1 KF miles. Also because I will be travelling to Peru South America from Singapore next year most likely using Qatar or BA, not SQ(as they don't fly there), just want to get a credit card and take this opportunity to collect miles. So any advice? Thanks!
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They Are Judged
26/5/2016 05:19:17 pm
Hi Ben,
Reply
30/7/2016 07:11:00 pm
Online banking, offers minimal interactivity. Unlike in a branch, where the comfort of two way interaction facilitates the consummation of a variety of transactions, the one way street of ebanking has only managed to enable the more routine tasks, such as balance enquiry or funds transfer.
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11/9/2016 02:01:29 am
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