During my freshman year, I found out that some people always flew in business classes. They told me a little secret they use to make their business class tickets more affordable for them. The secret? Credit card miles. Here’s what you need to know about miles and how they can upgrade your flight.
What are Credit Card Miles?
Credit card miles are a form of reward programme created by airlines and credit card companies that uses a point system called miles to reward you for every dollar you spend using their services (like booking a flight or spending via credit card). These miles can be exchanged for:
- Airline tickets and upgrades,
- Accommodation(hotels/resorts)
- Other transport modes (car rentals)
- Travel activities (Tour Packages/Attraction Admission Tickets)
- Merchandise via airline shops like KrisShop
- Cash
- Gift vouchers
How Do I Accumulate Miles?
There are a few ways you can collect miles to spend on your following holidays. Once you find the correct miles card suitable for your everyday use, you can start ruling the skies.
Local Spending
Not all of us travel overseas all the time. Therefore it’s more effective to collect miles while spending money locally on dining and transport costs like taxis and petrol. For that, you can consider the Maybank Horizon Visa Signature Card.
Maybank Horizon Visa Signature Card
The Maybank Horizon Visa Signature Card makes it great for local spending because it allows for 3.2 miles per S$1 local spending on dining, petrol, taxis, and grab. If you want to use this card overseas, they provide 2 miles per S$1 spent on air tickets, travel packages, and foreign currency transactions.
The annual fee is waived with a minimum spend of S$18,000 annually. And unlike similar cards that unlock reward rates with a S$600 monthly spend, You only need to spend S$300 monthly to unlock reward rates. All these benefits make it suitable for accumulating miles locally.
Foreign Spending
Miles tend to be heavily associated with travelling, so it would make sense to be using a miles card for foreign currency transactions. The DBS Altitude Visa Card provides greater flexibility for you if you spend a lot overseas.
DBS Altitude Visa
Pros
- Great for online travel bookings
Cons
- Those willing to pay an annual fee for more bonus miles
- Affluent travellers who are willing to pay a high fee for luxury travel perks
The DBS Altitude Visa Card provides greater flexibility for you if you spend a lot overseas. Other than being able to earn up to 2.2 miles per S$1 spent on overseas expenses and up to 1.3 miles per S$1 local spend, you can also waive the S$192.60 annual fee if you spend S$25,000 annually. This makes it suitable if you want to spend and be rewarded when travelling from destination to destination.
You also receive travel perks such as complimentary travel insurance, lounge visits, dining, and golfing privileges.
Online Spending
What if there is a way to collect miles via online shopping? Nowadays with the rise of ecommerce and more and more people shopping online, getting miles from purchasing something from the web can be extremely useful to them.
If you are someone who shops online often and uses Singapore Airlines often, the HSBC Revolution Card can really benefit you by providing up to 4 miles per S$1 spent on online shopping on platforms like Lazada, Amazon, Shopee, Taobao and more!
HSBC Revolution Card
HSBC Revolution Credit Card
Great for social spenders who shop online with no annual fee.
Pros
- Great rewards for online shopping and contactless payments
- No-fee card
Cons
- Lacks rewards for frequent travellers who spend large amounts overseas
- Not suitable for low budgets
The HSBC Revolution Card is great for social spenders who shop online and prefer to avoid annual fees. In addition to offering 4 miles (10 points) per S$1 spent on all online and contactless payments, this card also has no annual fee. There is, however, a monthly cap of S$1,000.
What Should I Spend My Miles On?
Air Tickets
This is self-explanatory as miles are initially designed for booking airline tickets or upgrading your seats from economy to business or first class. For example, KrisFlyer miles can be redeemed on airlines such as Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, Scoot and Tigerair. The UOB PRVI Miles American Express Card is great for people who are frequent flyers.
UOB PRVI Miles American Express Card
UOB PRVI Miles American Express Card
High spenders and frequent travelers looking to rapidly accrue miles should consider UOB PRVI Miles card.
Pros
- Great for rapid miles accrual
- Awards high spend on airlines & hotels
- Annual fee waiver with Amex card
Cons
- Doesn't fit infrequent travellers with mostly local budgets
- Lacks luxury perks & privileges
With the UOB PRVI Miles American Express Card, you can earn up to 6 miles per S$1 spent on major airlines & airports and book selected airlines on Expedia and UOB Travel. If you spend about S$50,000 per year, you can get a bonus of 20,000 miles. UOB PRVI Miles Card even offers a few travel perks, like free airport transfers, travel insurance, and dining privileges with American Express Essentials.
Hotels
Accommodation is the second most expensive expense for overseas travel, and you can use credit card miles to book hotels. AsiaMiles allows you to redeem miles to book hotels in chains such as Sofitel, Ibis, Mecure etc. KrisFlyer Vroom lets you book hotels and car rentals by redeeming Krisflyer miles. You can also use frequent flyer miles on sites such as Expedia.
In fact, you can also earn credit card miles whenever you book a hotel using the Citi PremierMiles Visa Card provides you with the best miles per dollar spent.
Citi PremierMiles Visa
Citi PremierMiles Card
Best miles credit card for average consumers.
Pros
- Frequent traveler perks
- Low fees
- Flexible miles redemption
Cons
- Lacks luxury perks
- Not suitable for occasional travel
The Citi PremierMiles Card is one of the best cards to book a hotel, especially on travel platforms such as Kalgo and Agoda. They provide up to 10 miles per S$1 spent when you book a hotel via Kaligo and 7 miles per S$1 when you book your hotel on Agoda. If you like to collect miles by booking for travel expenses, this is the card for you.
Conclusion
Miles is a great way to save on expenses when you travel overseas. The best thing about miles is that you accumulate better miles per dollar spent overseas, making it more helpful in spending abroad. Credit cards also maximise your miles accumulation via booking for travel expenses, where the miles can be used for a future booking of the same travel expenses. But regardless of where you are, there will be different miles credit cards that you can maximise via daily spending on transport, shopping online, or dining.
Want to know which miles credit card is the best for you? We have a comparison page that you can use to make your decisions! Otherwise, check out our full curation of the best credit cards in the market today!
Compare Best Credit Cards in SingaporeFind Out More
Read More:
-
- A Guide to Redeeming Miles From Credit Card Rewards in Singapore
- 7 Effective Tips To Accumulate Air Miles Fast
- How to Reduce Your Singapore Credit Card Fees to Effectively Zero
- 6 Ways You Can Supercharge Your Credit Card Rewards
- Top 5 Tips for Using Credit Cards Overseas
- How To Maximise Credit Card Rewards And Beat Inflation
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