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

[Strong Eagle]

paulgibson, Limit your tag line to two lines or us mods will do it for you.

Thank you.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Actually, edit it to either a single line of text or a single hyperlink according to here:

http://forum.singaporeexpats.com/ftopic38617.html

* Keep any and all signatures limited to one line or one icon, no blatant selling allowed.

Thanks - moderator

[JR8]

I'd be interested to know, for all this apparent effort, do you ever get to actually book any 'free flights'?

I earned Airmiles on my credit card. When the bank stopped the scheme after a decade+ I decided I might as well use the accrual on something/anything (previous attempts to book flights had come up with nothing, though I do tend to travel quite last minute).

Well, it got me a whole two cases of wine, that I sent to my parents. On the back of a spend of who knows £75-100k? And then I had to pay a £30 admin fee due to account activity (due to the fact I'm abroad).

Felt more like I was working to make the card-issuer money, than them offering me any kind of freebie or bonus.

[aster]

What airline have you been earning air miles on?

I put my miles to pretty good use, have redeemed 5 seats in biz in the last year.

[JR8]

What airline have you been earning air miles on?


It was Airmiles (as in the trademarked BA ones) on a Coutts & Co (subsid of Natwest and now RBS) card

I put my miles to pretty good use, have redeemed 5 seats in biz in the last year.

Oh that's nice, makes it worthwhile. I've got a heck of a lot more mileage (cough) out of miles earned on flying, than via credit cards.

[aster]

I used to get way more by flying but now the CC rules thanks to being able to charge my Serviced Apartment to my card.

[JR8]

I used to get way more by flying but now the CC rules thanks to being able to charge my Serviced Apartment to my card.

I had a colleague who lived in the Oriental Hotel.

[sonrisa]

we just moved here and are checking out the Singapore Airlines Westpac Gold card for use to book flights mainly. Any experience or knowledge as to whether or not this is a good card for that? Annual fee is $120 but may try to get that waived as others have done.

[Z13]

I'm currently going through the HELL of trying to select my local cards.

In Australia- its simple.
My Visa & MC get me 1 QF point per dollar.
My AMEX's gets me 1.5 QF points per dollar.

I get that I'll probably have more luck finding a card that has a partnership with Kris Flyer (Star Alliance)- but why cant it be that simple??

I really don't care about picking through bonus schemes, ie: if you buy a particular handbag at a particular store, you get 10X points.

Just give me a simple dollar / point conversion into a frequent flyer program with a decent cap limit.

Anyone know if it can be that simple here or am I kidding myself?

[JayCee]

Citibank platinum premier miles card gives 1.2 citimiles for S$1 spent, 1 citimile = 1 Kris flyer mile. Simple enough?

[Z13]

Citibank platinum premier miles card gives 1.2 citimiles for S$1 spent, 1 citimile = 1 Kris flyer mile. Simple enough?

Thanks Jaycee, seems simple- is that MC & Visa only?

Will speak to them direct, but not sure if you know if there's a cap?

[aster]

I think it's Visa. No cap.

If you spend more than $1,000 per month then you might want to look at the DBS Altitude Amex. 1.2 up to $1k, then 1.6 on spend above that (no cap).

[chronos30]

Aster - given the Amex Platinum reserve has such a great earn rate - can you please update with that info?

LondonBowler - do you know where we can find a list of merchants that awards the Amex 10+10 rewards? The Amex website lists the standard 10x Rewards partners only (or is that any platinum card holder automatically earns 10+10 with any 10x merchant?)

Also - for cards giving a good earn rate for foreign spending (like Maybank Platinum Visa) - does anyone know what the admin fees are for spending on non-SGD transactions? Most cards have some kinds of admin fees +charges (foreign transaction admin charge + forex fees) which can amount to 3-5% of the transaction (which would roughly negate a 6% earn rate, for example).

Thank you.

[aster]

Aster - given the Amex Platinum reserve has such a great earn rate - can you please update with that info?

I have NEVER heard of an Amex card worth getting apart from the sole exception to that rule: Altitude Amex from DBS.

And now even that is no longer worth getting as DBS just issued a new Altitude... VISA card.

So FORGET Amex. Any earnings that seem even half-decent are usually just a short promo for like the first 90 days, and their list of 10x merchants is so meaningless to someone like myself that I found myself laughing. Forget it.

[Splatted]

I'm not eligible for most of the above cards, as my income is on the lower side.

One thing I want to comment on, is how frustratingly difficult it is to make heads & tails out of all the rewards programs available nowadays.

I must have 6 or 7 citibank cards, and even after I'm explained how they work, I still don't understand how my point accumulation correlates with actual dollar amount spent.

Back in Australia, with Amex, everything was more transparent. I could actually click online and view line by line everything I had purchased, and exactly how many points each purchase generated.

In Singapore, I'm still confused. Is my 10X rewards giving me a better deal than my 5% rebate... who knows? And one shop even advised me that I get zero, unless I'm spending over $20 on a single receipt. great