Sorry, COVID-19, what? With borders reopened in most parts of the word, you can finally dust off your air miles credit card. It’s definitely the most glamorous of all the credit cards. Every time you use one, you’re reinforcing your image as a globetrotting, wander lusting, jet-setter.
But more importantly, you earn frequent flyer miles at the same time. As the borders reopen, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to swap your air points for a free air ticket?
Trouble is, if you just sign up for the first air miles card you see and only use it when you remember it exists, chances are you’ll never collect enough points to even make it to KL. Collecting air miles needs to be done strategically with the right card.
Here are the best credit cards for air miles in Singapore, plus some useful info on how they work so you can game the system.
Contents:
Best air miles cards in Singapore 2023
Citi PremierMiles Card
DBS Altitude Card
OCBC 90°N Card
HSBC Revolution Credit Card
Amex KrisFlyer Card
UOB KrisFlyer Card
Maybank Horizon Card
UOB PRVI Miles Card
Entry-level vs premium miles cards in Singapore
What are air miles and how do they work?
What should you look out for in a miles card?
MoneySmart tip: Use a rewards credit card as a miles card
1. Best air miles cards in Singapore 2023
Best for
Best air miles credit cards
Miles that don’t expire
Citi PremierMiles, DBS Altitude, OCBC 90°N
Earning KrisFlyer miles
Amex KrisFlyer, UOB KrisFlyer
Everyday spending
UOB KrisFlyer, Maybank Horizon, HSBC Revolution
One-off expenses
UOB PRVI Miles, Amex KrisFlyer
Petrol
Maybank Horizon, DBS Altitude
Dining
UOB KrisFlyer, UOB PRVI Miles
Online shopping
UOB KrisFlyer, OCBC 90°N, HSBC Revolution
Overseas spending (foreign currency)
UOB PRVI Miles, DBS Altitude
2. Citi PremierMiles Card
Apply and Spend $500 to get an Apple iPad 10.2-inch 64GB, 9th Gen (worth $503.65) OR a Samsung 32-inch Smart Monitor M5 (worth S$634) OR a Hinomi H1 Pro Ergonomic Chair (worth S$599) OR S$300 Cash via PayNow. T&Cs apply.
Valid until 16 May 2023
Key Features
S$1 = 1.2 Citi Miles on Local spend (no min. spend)
S$1 = 2 Citi Miles on Foreign currency spend
Bonus: Earn additional 2 Citi Miles on qualifying foreign currency spend while overseas between 1 March and 30 June 2023. Bank T&Cs apply.
Annual Fee Applies
Earn 10,000 Citi Miles upon renewal of annual membership and payment of annual fee
Citi Miles never expire
Priority Pass membership gives you access to more than 600 airport lounges twice a year
Priority Pass membership is on application basis and is reserved for the Principal cardmember only, limited to 2 complimentary visits per calendar year
Complimentary Travel Accident Insurance up to S$1,000,000 coverage, Medical Assistance Programme and Travel Inconvenience Coverage
With Citi PayAll, you can earn and accumulate Citi Miles, Citi ThankYou PointsSM or Cash Back quickly when you pay your big-ticket bills such as rent, insurance premiums, education expenses, taxes, utilities and more
At MoneySmart, we strive to keep our information accurate and up to date. This information may be different from what you see when you visit a financial institution, service provider, or specific product site. MoneySmart shall not be liable to compensate the Customer should the information is not as updated as our Partner.
If the thought of spending thousands of dollars in just a couple of months makes you blanch, you need a card with miles that don’t expire so you can take your time to slowly accumulate them. This is especially the case if you’re a fresh grad or a generally frugal person without any big expenses coming up. Enter the Citi PremierMiles Card!
While the earn rate of such cards is typically not that great, the Citi PremierMiles offers a fairly attractive earn rate: 1.2 miles for every $1 of local spending, and 2 miles for every $1 spent on foreign currency spending. From now till 30 June 2023, every $1 of qualifying foreign currency spend will earn you an additional 2 Citi Miles.
The card gives you a welcome gift of 30,000 Citi Miles when you apply and spend $800 in 2 months, and charges an annual fee of $194.40, payable from the end of your first year.
3. DBS Altitude Card
Valid until 30 Jun 2023
Key Features
Earn up to 10 miles per S$1 spend on all your spend
Base earn rate: 1.2 air miles per S$1 local spend
Base earn rate: 2 air miles per S$1 overseas spend charged in foreign currency
Earn miles that never expire
At MoneySmart, we strive to keep our information accurate and up to date. This information may be different from what you see when you visit a financial institution, service provider, or specific product site. MoneySmart shall not be liable to compensate the Customer should the information is not as updated as our Partner.
DBS Altitude is another card that lets you accumulate air miles that never expire. The card rewards you with 3 air miles for every $1 spent on online flight and hotel transactions, 2 miles for every $1 spent overseas (at point of sale) and 1.2 miles for every $1 spent locally.
Earn rates are even better when it comes to specific flight and hotel bookings: Get 10 miles per $1 spent on online hotel bookings with Kaligo, and 6 miles per $1 spent on flight and hotel bookings with Expedia. As you might have guessed, this is a card that is best used for travel bookings and overseas spending rather than locally.
To sweeten the deal, DBS Altitude also has additional card privileges that you can opt in to earn an additional mile on all your expenses. However, you’ll be charged an admin fee of 2% of your expenses. For instance, if you spend $2,000 locally, on top of the 2,400 base miles you’ll earn, you’ll earn an additional 2,000 miles, (bringing your miles earn rate to 2.2 miles per dollar) with a $40 admin fee charge. If you do the math, that equates to paying $0.02 for 1 mile, which is a pretty good deal if you’re looking to clock in those miles quick without increasing your overall expenditure.
The DBS Altitude Card’s annual fee is $194.40, but can be waived. If you do pay the annual fee and renew your card, you’ll receive a present of 10,000 miles from DBS.
4. OCBC 90°N Card
Valid until 30 Jun 2023
Key Features
1.3 Travel$ with every S$1 spent on Local Currency
Travel$ that do not expire – Convert Travel$ to loyalty points at 9 airline and hotel partner programmes.
Get cash rebates at up to 2.1% from your earned Travel$. No minimum spend and no caps
All online purchases on your OCBC 90°N Card come with e-Commerce Protection, which safeguards you against non-delivery or defective goods or if the seller fails to reimburse you.
If you’re looking for a non-expiring air miles card to use on overseas online shopping sites, OCBC 90°N card is a good candidate.
In general, you earn 2.1 miles for every $1 spent in foreign currency and 1.3 miles for every $1 spent locally. For bookings made on Agoda, you’ll earn 7 miles per $1 spend in foreign currency, and 6 miles per $1 spend in SGD. Do note that points are awarded in blocks of $5 spent. That is to say, even if you spent $4.90 locally, you will not earn any points until you meet the $5 minimum spend.
If you’re big on streaming services, go for the OCBC 90°N Visa card to enjoy an earn rate of 15 Travel$ per $5 (3 miles per $1) for your Disney+, Spotify, Netflix, Viu, and Audible subscriptions.
The OCBC 90°N’s annual fee is $54—that’s a lower annual fee than many other cards on this list.
5. HSBC Revolution Credit Card
Valid until 31 Aug 2023
Key Features
10X Reward points (equivalent to 4 miles or 2.5% Cashback) on online purchases and contactless payments.
1X Reward point for all other types of spending.
No min. spend required.
No annual fee
Receive complimentary access to ENTERTAINER with HSBC app, with over 1,000 1-for-1 deals on dining, lifestyle and travel worldwide.
Cap of 10,000 rewards points per calendar month on eligible purchases. Other terms apply.
Technically speaking, the HSBC Revolution Credit Card is a rewards card and not a miles card, in that you earn points not miles. Here’s how it works: You earn 10X Reward points on online purchases and contactless payments, and can then convert these reward points to miles, equivalent to 4 miles. So all in all, you’re earning 4 miles per $1 spend—a very decent earn rate!
Here’s the catch—you need to pay HSBC a fee in order to convert your points to miles. HSBC calls it their Mileage Programme, and you need to pay $40 (before GST) to join the programme for a year. The good thing is that this $40+ fee covers you for unlimited points-to-mile conversions for a full year. Here are the rates:
Singapore Airlines Krisflyer: 25,000 HSBC Rewards points = 10,000 SQ Krisflyer miles
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles: 25,000 HSBC Rewards points = 10,000 Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
Another plus point of the HSBC Revolution Credit Card is that there is no annual fee. So, assuming you want to use this card for miles, the only “annual fee” you’ll need to pay is the $40 mileage programme fee—still lower than most other miles cards.
Do note that HSBC Reward points come with an expiry date (as do the miles you can redeem them for). HSBC Rewards points earned expire after 37 months.
6. Amex KrisFlyer Card
Key Features
1.1 KrisFlyer miles = S$1 for all eligible card spend
2 KrisFlyer miles = S$1 in foreign currency spent overseas in June & December with no cap
2 KrisFlyer miles = S$1 for eligible purchases made on singaporeair.com, SingaporeAir mobile app and KrisShop with no cap
3.1 KrisFlyer miles = S$1 for eligible Grab Singapore transactions, capped at S$200 per month
Receive 5,000 KrisFlyer miles upon first spend on card, applicable for first-time American Express Singapore Airlines Credit Card applicants only
Spend S$12,000 or more on eligible purchases on singaporeair.com within the qualifying period and receive S$150 cashback on your next purchase on singaporeair.com
First year annual fee waiver
Up to S$350,000 Travel Inconvenience & Travel Accident Benefits
At MoneySmart, we strive to keep our information accurate and up to date. This information may be different from what you see when you visit a financial institution, service provider, or specific product site. MoneySmart shall not be liable to compensate the Customer should the information is not as updated as our Partner.
The Amex KrisFlyer card is ideal if you’re collecting points for Singapore Airline’s KrisFlyer programme. There’s no need to redeem your points — all miles accumulated each month are automatically credited to your KrisFlyer account. Just be aware that KrisFlyer miles have a shelf-life of 3 years.
The basic earn rate is nothing to shout about. You get 2 miles for every $1 spent in foreign currency on eligible purchases during June and December every year, and 1.1 miles for every $1 spent on eligible local purchases. On the plus side, there’s no cap to these earnings.
What’s interesting is that they also reward you with 3.1 miles for every $1 spent on Grab in Singapore, valid for up to $200 worth of spending per month. That’s an easy way to get a decent earn rate on your commutes, even if the cap is rather low.
The card’s welcome bonuses are also quite attractive—you get 5,000 free miles the first time you use your card. If you charge $12,000 or more to your Card between 1 July 2022 and 30 June 2023, you’ll also get $150 cashback at Singapore Airlines.
The annual fee is $178.20, and it can be waived for the first year.
6. UOB KrisFlyer Card
Valid until 31 May 2023
Key Features
$1 = 3 KrisFlyer Miles for spend on everyday spend categories with S$800 min. annual spend on Singapore Airlines Group
$1 = 3 KrisFlyer Miles on Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, Scoot and KrisShop purchases
$1 = 1.8 KrisFlyer Miles on Dining, Online Shopping and Travel, and Transport Card Transactions with a min sum of S$500 charged on Singapore Airlines Related Card Transactions in a year
$1 = 1.2 KrisFlyer Miles on all other spend
At MoneySmart, we strive to keep our information accurate and up to date. This information may be different from what you see when you visit a financial institution, service provider, or specific product site. MoneySmart shall not be liable to compensate the Customer should the information is not as updated as our Partner.
Most air miles cards let you earn more on your travel spending, but the UOB KrisFlyer card is one that offers a decent rate on everyday local spending. This stylish-looking card offers 3 KrisFlyer miles per $1 spent on dining, online shopping, online travel and transport card transactions.
The catch is, to qualify for this earn rate, you must spend at least $500 per year on Singapore Airlines-related transactions (including KrisShop).
You also get 3 miles per $1 spent on Singapore Airlines, Scoot and KrisShop purchases, and 1.2 miles per $1 on other spending.
This is a great card to use for eligible everyday spending so long as you are prepared to spend $500 at Singapore Airlines or KrisShop within the next year.
The card charges an annual fee of $194.40 which can be quite hard to escape. But on the plus side, from now till 31 Jul 2023, you can get the first year’s annual fee waived and receive a welcome gift of up to 31,000 miles:
Gift for New-to-UOB Credit Card applicants who apply for KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card: 3,000 miles
Welcome Miles for first-time applicants: 5,000 miles
Miles earned with minimum S$2,000 spend in the first 60 days: 6,000*
When you renew your membership and pay the annual fee, you’ll also receive 10,000 miles. So while the UOB KrisFlyer card may not have the highest earn rates, they certainly offer lots of bonus miles as incentives.
7. Maybank Horizon Card
Key Features
Earn 3.2 air miles (8X TREATS Points) for every S$1 spent on dining, petrol, taxi fares and hotel bookings at Agoda.com/horizon
Earn 2 air miles (5X TREATS Points) for every S$1 spent on air tickets, travel packages and foreign currency transactions
Complimentary lounge access with minimum spend of S$1,000 in a single transaction on a retail purchase, accompanying guest(s) enjoys 20% off walk-in rates for lounge access.
Complimentary Travel Insurance up to S$1,000,000
3 years annual fee waived
Here’s a card that doesn’t get much attention but is actually excellent for local spending. You earn 3.2 air miles whenever you spend on restaurant dining, petrol, public transport (including Grab and taxi) and hotel bookings at Agoda. And that’s just local spending.
When you are overseas, you’ll earn 2 miles for every dollar spent on air tickets, travel packages and foreign currency transactions. This last category includes foreign currency spending online, which you don’t need to go overseas to indulge in.
The earn rate for overseas spending is so-so, but the card offers one of the best rates for local spending.
The main drawback? You need to spend at least $300 in a calendar month in order to qualify for the miles. That’s a bummer considering most air miles cards don’t have minimum spending requirements.
The card’s annual fee is $180, but waived for 3 years instead of the usual one year. If you spend at least $18,000 in a year you can get subsequent annual fee payments waived.
8. UOB PRVI Miles Card
Valid until 31 May 2023
Key Features
Earn 6 miles with every S$1.00 spent on major airlines and hotels booked through Expedia, UOB Travel, and Agoda
Earn 2.4 miles for every S$1.00 spent overseas (including online shopping from overseas websites), and 1.4 miles for every S$1.00 spent locally
Choice to redeem for miles, cash rebate or vouchers
No minimum spend and no cap on earned miles
Complimentary Public Conveyance Personal Accident cover of S$500,000 and up to S$50,000 Emergency Medical Evacuation & Repatriation including illness due to COVID-19. T&Cs apply.
At MoneySmart, we strive to keep our information accurate and up to date. This information may be different from what you see when you visit a financial institution, service provider, or specific product site. MoneySmart shall not be liable to compensate the Customer should the information is not as updated as our Partner.
This card offers one of the best rates for general overseas and local spending, at 2.4 miles per $1 spent overseas and 1.4 miles per $1 spend locally. You also get 6 miles per $1 spent on Agoda, Expedia and UOB Travel, as well as 1.4 miles per $1 spend on bus and train rides. All this, with no minimum spend and no cap the miles you earn.
You can get better rates from some other cards that offer accelerated earning in specific categories like dining and hotel bookings, but as far as general spending goes, this card delivers.
This card is a good one to use if you’re anticipating a big expense like a wedding banquet, as the 1.4 mile per $1 rate is among the highest you’ll be able to get on such miscellaneous local spending, with no cap.
Up to 31 May 2023, UOB is also rewarding you with up to 50,000 miles for spending at least $1,000/month for 2 consecutive months and pay the annual card fee. It’s a pretty steep spending requirement, but also a pretty generous bonus mile reward. If you get the annual credit card fee waived, you can still get up to 30,000 miles with the same spending requirements.
Entry-level vs premium miles cards in Singapore
All of the above credit cards are entry-level ones, meaning you can sign up once your annual income hits about $30,000.
But premium air miles credit cards for those more well off tend to offer better air miles earn rates and/or sign-up bonuses.
For instance, the Standard Chartered Visa Infinite X Metal Credit Card gives you a whopping 30,000 mile bonus when you sign up for the card. The catch? You must be earning at least $80,000 and prepared to fork out an annual fee of $695.50.
Air Miles Features
Every S$1 local spend gives you 3 360°Rewards Points, equivalent to 1.2 KrisFlyer Miles
Every S$1 overseas spend in foreign currency gives you 5 360°Rewards Points, equivalent to 2 KrisFlyer Miles
Transfer your points to mileage transfer partners such as Asia Miles or Singapore Airlines’ Krisflyer frequent flyer programme in blocks of 2,500 points each time. Subject to S$25 (excl. tax) transfer fee
What are air miles and how do they work?
Air miles are part of frequent flyer programmes (FFP), the best-known one here being Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer programme. KrisFlyer miles can be used on many partner airlines, including all of Star Alliance.
Technically, you can buy miles with cold hard cash. That’s what some people do — buy KrisFlyer miles because they have nothing better to spend their money on.
But why do that when a credit card will help you earn them for free, right? When you spend on an air miles credit card, you can accumulate frequent flyer miles either directly or by earning points (which you then convert to miles).
Once you’ve got your miles, you can put them towards your next holiday’s airfare. Woohoo!
Here’s a look at the bigger and more well-known FFPs in Singapore:
FFP
Airline
Notes
KrisFlyer
Singapore Airlines
Offered by all air miles cards (pay conversion fee).
Possible to earn directly (no conversion fee) with these SQ co-branded cards.
KrisFlyer miles can be used with SQ, Scoot, Star Alliance and SQ partner airlines.
Asia Miles
Cathay Pacific
Offered by many air miles cards (pay conversion fee).
Asia Miles can be used with CX, British Airways, Japan Airlines, Qantas, Lufthansa, Swiss and many others.
Miles & More
Lufthansa
Europe’s largest FFP, not available through air miles cards in Singapore.
But most Miles & More airlines are under Star Alliance, so you can use KrisFlyer miles.
What should you look out for in a miles card?
Here are some factors you need to consider when evaluating miles cards:
Miles expiry date: Borders may largely be open now, but you never know when the next pandemic wave may hit and if travel restrictions will kick into high gear again. Or, maybe you just don’t travel frequently and need miles that don’t expire, such as those for the Citi PremierMiles Card and DBS Altitude Card. On the other hand, KrisFlyer miles expire in 3 years from the date they are credited to your account. If your card requires you to accumulate and then convert miles, you’ll also want to check the expiry date so you can convert them as late as possible.
Flexibility to redeem miles for other rewards: For a while, COVID-19 totally wrecked our ability to travel, and many of us might have started to wonder if we could spend our miles on something else. That’s why checking what else you can redeem miles for in an important consideration. See if you can use them to redeem other rewards or convert them to cashback. If you’re under the KrisFlyer programme, you can use your mile to make purchases at the online KrisShop.
Ease of earning miles without travelling: Many cards reward you more handsomely for spending overseas, but earning high rates for local and/or online spending will help you accumulate more miles faster while still in Singapore. The Maybank Horizon Card is a good option for high local spending earn rates.
MoneySmart tip: Use a rewards credit card as a miles card
Before you rush to sign up for an air miles card, you should also know that rewards credit cards are a viable alternative to air miles cards.
So what’s the secret? Well, you actually earn rewards points (rather than miles) with many air miles cards. You can earn those same points with a rewards card as well, and later convert them to miles. In fact, you can think of air miles cards as simply a subset of rewards cards as the points-collecting mechanism is usually the same.
Broadly speaking, air miles cards reward travel-related spending, while rewards cards reward general local spending e.g. shopping and dining.
Good rewards credit cards offer high bonus points for the latter, making it possible to earn air miles more quickly. For example, the HSBC Revolution Credit Card we discussed above earns you the equivalent of 4 miles per $1 on online shopping and contactless payments.
However there are usually reward caps on these—for example, the HSBC Revolution card limits you to 10,000 reward points per month, which may not be a large enough cap for heavier spenders. The best card (or combo of cards) really depends on your actual spending habits.
So if you want to be really thorough, check out some of the best rewards credit cards in Singapore as well.
Apply for the best air miles credit cards in Singapore and get attractive gifts for certain cards!
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