The 'Best credit cards for air miles accrual' master thread

[Splatted]

CitiPremier Miles has a new promotion:
01 Jul - 31 Dec 2010, 2 miles for every $1.00 Spent above $4,000/month

6. UOB Infinite Visa
- 1 mile earned for every $1 spent (UNI$5 with every $10 spent)
- Min income $350k annually, but you can get it with a min fixed deposit of $150k with UOB
- $1500 annual fee, applicable for waiver (not sure conditions, i managed to get it waived on application)
- Pros: 1-1 Hyatt restaurant offer (only lunch on weekdays + Sat)
- Other benefits like access to the Fairmount Spa are similar to the Platinum/Solitare UOB cards, but these have much lower mileage accural rates
- UOB like Citi has many good general restaurant discounts island wide

Possible for you to do one on the Amex Platinum Rewards System? They have a great concierge for travel / other errands and discounts with Cathay Pacific is substantial (friend has 6.5k biz class ticket round trip to Montreal via HK on CX), Feed at Raffles benefits
- Amex Platinum Charge Card (class below the black card) Annual fees 1-1.5k which are not waivable under any circumstances

bank employee?

[sundaymorningstaple]

Probably, but as long as she doesn't keep coming back with more from the same bank, I'll leave it as it's not much different that aster's first post is it. Granted with that being her first post it is pretty bloody obvious. At least she didn't say "PM me for more details"..........

Give here enough rope & maybe she'll hang herself?

tic.....toc.....?

[daybreakk]

3. Citi PremierMiles Visa

Mileage accrual: 1 mile for every $0.83 spent (every $1 gives 1.2 miles). 10,000 miles extra for each annual membership renewal, plus another 10,000 miles if you spend more than $50,000 in any membership year.

Requirements: min. income $80,000.
Cost: First year free, then $180 for main, supplementary always free. Annual fee waiver available in exchange for 10,000 miles renewal bonus.
Miles conversion fee: $25 per conversion.

Pros: Bonus miles for annual card renewal and spend >$50,000.
Cons: Unsure of any annual fee waiver conditions.

4. Citi Platinum Visa/MasterCard

Mileage accrual: 1 mile for every $0.50 spent (every $5 gives 5 Citi Dollars which equal 10 miles) at supermarkets (Carrefour . Cold Storage . Giant . Market Place . NTUC Fair Price . Shop N Save . Singapore Meidi-Ya) and department stores (Tangs . Isetan . John Little . Marks & Spencer . Metro . OG . Robinsons . BHG . Takashimaya Department Store).

1 mile for every $2.50 spent elsewhere.

Requirements: min. income $30,000 ($60,000 for foreigners).
Cost: First year free, then $150 for main and $80 for supplementary. Annual fee waiver if you charge $15,000 or more per year, BUT applicable to main card only.
Miles conversion fee: $25 per conversion.

Pros: Great for shopping at supermarkets and department stores.
Cons: Great ONLY for shopping at supermarkets and department stores. Points might be allocated on every $5 spent, rounded down to next $5 (someone please confirm).


Hey guys, I have question for this 2 card and this new citibank card citi rewards card.

https://www.citibank.com.sg/SGGCB/APPS/ ... bId=Credit Cards&path=/prod/det/cc_citirewards.htm

They said 10x much sgd spent. mean 1SGD = 10 citi dollars. (from what i understand above, 1 citidollars = 2 citi miles, which mean 1 SGD = 20 citimiles) is that right? then in that case this card is far better than the premiermiles leh.

Can you all tell me if i understand correctly?

[adidas168]

Hi,

Citi Rewards Card only allows you to earn 10x citidollars with every dollar spent on Shoes, Clothes and Bags. Only those merchant register or classified as such categories will let you earn 10x. For the rest of the merchants, you earn 1 citidollars to 1 dollar spent.

The conversion from Citidollar to Miles is 5 Citidollars to 1 Krisflyer mile.

[JayCee]

I've got the citibank premiermiles card and for every dollar on that I can convert it to one Kris flyer mile, so far managed to get 50K miles like this and hoping to get a few more by August so I can pay for my honeymoon flights with them

[ScoobyDoes]

I've got the citibank premiermiles card and for every dollar on that I can convert it to one Kris flyer mile, so far managed to get 50K miles like this and hoping to get a few more by August so I can pay for my honeymoon flights with them

And here they said romance was dead.

Pfffft.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Honeymoon on the cheap?

[JayCee]

So how does using airmiles to pay for a flight instead of money cheapen a honeymoon or mean it lacks romance? Please explain the logic behind that one to me as it makes no sense at all, where you go and what you do on your honeymoon is what matters, not how you pay for it.

And considering the honeymoon will be to the maldives, it will be neither of the things that you both suggest, so if I can save a bit of money on the flight why not, especially considering the rest of the wedding is costing an arm and a leg and includes flights for various people to come to Singapore.

If I don't have the miles we'll still go and just pay in the usual way, but if I do have enough miles I'll use them, either way we'll still have a great time

[ozroadrunner]

This topic has been extremely helpful.. but most of the offers/cards that have been discussed have expired last year.

What is the best card in Sg to earn airline miles? Thanks!

[sundaymorningstaple]

This month? Next Month? 6 months from now?

[ozroadrunner]

mainly looking for a fairly good credit card with good travel miles as rewards..

But in regards to specific limited offers - next month onwards...
Thanks.

[aster]

This topic has been extremely helpful.. but most of the offers/cards that have been discussed have expired last year.

What is the best card in Sg to earn airline miles? Thanks!

I've just updated the first post in this thread so most things should still be valid.

In the meantime two things have changed: DBS upped it's mileage-earnings ratio to go a step above everyone else, and Citibank followed. Unfortunately Citi could only keep up pace until the end of 2010, so right now the stand-out card is definitely the DBS Altitude Amex one.

Now if you were going to get several cards I would also recommend the Citi Platinum card which gives more miles for department store/supermarket spend, or the Maybank one which gives the most miles for spend abroad.

[londonbowler]

Like many expats, I travel a lot as part of my job and have a large number of office expenses. I put these on my personal card and am reimbursed. I want to save some money and maximize my air miles earned from credit card use, particularly because of the high level of reimbursed expenses. I want to focus on air miles as most credit card rewards add up to a 0.5% rebate or worse. If Singapore Air miles are booked in advance, you can get an effective rebate of 1-2%.

I plan to use the credit cards below and let me know what you think.


1) DBS Altitude American Express

Miles conversion:
S$0.83 = 1 mile (S$5 = 3 points = 6 SQ miles) for first S$1,000 per month
S$0.63 = 1 mile (S$5 = 4 points = 8 SQ miles) after first S$1,000 per month

Use:
- use as main credit card due to highest conversion, although points are earned in S$5 blocks and the actual rates are lower because of this (for example, a S$9.99 purchase is still only 6 or 8 miles and you lose on average S$2.50 in spending per transaction)

- can obtain waiver of initial annual fees

- must pay S$42.80 per year as a miles conversion fee

- it's an AMEX so some stores will not accept it


2) Maybank Horizon Platinum Visa

Miles conversion:
S$2.50 = 1 mile (S$1 = 1 treat point = 0.4 SQ mile)
S$0.50 = 1 mile for air tickets and overseas (non-S$) spending
S$0.25 = 1 mile for EZlink top ups and some restaurants like Din Tai Fung and Crystal Jade

Use:
- use as main card when overseas due to high conversion and reported low exchange rate

- use for air tickets, EZlink auto top-up and specified restaurants

- can obtain waiver of initial annual fees

- no fees for conversion of points to Krisflyer miles

- is a Visa, can be used for stores that do not accept Amex


3) American Express Platinum Reserve

Miles conversion:
S$1.28 = 1 SQ mile (S$1.60 = 2 rewards points from permanent 2x points, 8 points = 5 SQ miles)
S$0.13 = 1 SQ mile from platinum partners due to 10 + 10x program
S$0.26 = 1 SQ mile from 5x partners including supermarkets

Use:
- use only when shopping at a platinum partner for 20x points

- also use for strong discounts (up to 50% at Swissotel and Fairmont Hotel restaurants, free entry for Butter Factory, Stereolab and Pump Room) and for Internet purchases that may be disputed (Amex Platinum customer service is excellent)

- no waiver of annual fees but can get gifts

- S$25 fee for conversion of rewards points to SQ miles


4) Citi Premiermiles Visa
S$0.83 = 1 SQ mile (S$1 = 1.2 SQ mile)

Use:
- use only when Amex not accepted and no special Maybank Horizon rewards

- can obtain waiver of initial annual fees

- S$20 fee for conversion of rewards points to SQ miles

- unsure if it is worth keeping this card with the first three as usage as a backup card may be low and not a lot of points will be accumulated

[strancho]

can anyone recommend a good hotel reward card (denominated in Singapore dollars)?

thank you,

[paulgibson]

For every credit card i have, i have never ever paid annual fee for the last few years. However just recently when i tried to get a waiver for my UOB credit card, i was refused even after speaking to the supervisor. I got so mad i canceled my card and closed up my UOB bank account! Anyone else had the same issue?