Comparison of the frequent flier miles credit card in Singapore

windroar

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Not really. When playing the miles game, it's sometimes a long game. Many of these cards have no expiry for the points, and you can take as many years as you want to accumulate enough miles for that ticket.


As I showed in the calculations, even long haul economy isn't really worth it. You are getting a value of about 1.2c per mile, or equivilent of about 1.92c per $ (using UOB PRVI Miles' 1.6 mile/$). In this case, you are better off with cashback cards.

based on citi pm's conversion of 1.2, need to spend at least $80k to get a long haul biz class ticket
if i spend $10k/yr i will need to wait at least 5 yrs
over the years, many things could happen
I'd be more happy with near term cashbacks
and take budget airline business class seats
 

innumerabilis

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based on citi pm's conversion of 1.2, need to spend at least $80k to get a long haul biz class ticket
if i spend $10k/yr i will need to wait at least 5 yrs
over the years, many things could happen
I'd be more happy with near term cashbacks
and take budget airline business class seats

You can pay the annual fee of $192.60 and get 10 000 miles. Do the same for ANZ Travel and DBS Altitude, you can get a total of 32 000 miles for $588.80 which is 54.35 miles / $.

A one-way ticket to Paris CDG on Biz Saver costs 80k miles. After 15% discount for online redemption, that is 68k. If you pay in miles from only annual fee, that is 68k miles (S$1251.2) plus S$280.9 in taxes/fuel/etc, which works out to S$1532.1.

The same journey in cash will cost S$5200.90 from skyscanner/SIA website.
 
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windroar

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You can pay the annual fee of $192.60 and get 10 000 miles. Do the same for ANZ Travel and DBS Altitude, you can get a total of 32 000 miles for $588.80 which is 54.35 miles / $.

yup, tats 5 yrs and 5 yrs of extention, ie another out of pocket $1000 cash for 50k miles
total 100+k miles then qualify for a long haul biz class
 

innumerabilis

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I added in the calculation for Paris. It doesn't take 5 years, only 3 years. If you spend enough to earn 4k miles (or perhaps get the bonus 5k miles from applying for Amex Krisflyer), it will only take 2 years. Yes, your out of pocket expense is S$1532.10, but in return you get something that is worth S$5000+.
 
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windroar

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I added in the calculation for Paris. It doesn't take 5 years, only 3 years. If you spend enough to earn 4k miles (or perhaps get the bonus 5k miles from applying for Amex Krisflyer), it will only take 2 years. Yes, your out of pocket expense is S$1532.10, but in return you get something that is worth S$5000+.

u mean based on spending 10k per year in 3 years I can fly paris biz class? from wat i gather flying paris biz class requires 80k miles
 

zumaba

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I added in the calculation for Paris. It doesn't take 5 years, only 3 years. If you spend enough to earn 4k miles (or perhaps get the bonus 5k miles from applying for Amex Krisflyer), it will only take 2 years. Yes, your out of pocket expense is S$1532.10, but in return you get something that is worth S$5000+.

S$5k for a biz ticket to Paris? Better leave such a biz deal to biz ppl :)
 

taediumv

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What about Amex PPS plat? My friend got 35k krisflyer miles everytime annual renewal comes. That's a one way ticket to Europe on coach!
 

Suleyman

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how about Business to let say Korea/Japan ?

I have yet to do the maths on this, but you will get better value than a short haul flight (like BKK), but certainly not as good as US/EU.

Does the Maybank Horizon have miles expiry?

Yes. Unless you have Rewards Infinity, in which case, the points do not expire. Under the new rules, you need to have $24k spending in the previous year to qualify for RI.

based on citi pm's conversion of 1.2, need to spend at least $80k to get a long haul biz class ticket
if i spend $10k/yr i will need to wait at least 5 yrs
over the years, many things could happen
I'd be more happy with near term cashbacks
and take budget airline business class seats

Why use PM's rather abyssmal rate of 1.2 miles? You can get more from PRVI Miles or ANZ Travel for general spending, and even as high as 4 miles/$ from specialised cards (like UOB Preferred for dining, or Citi Rewards for shopping).

As pointed out, some cards give you bonus points for renewal, and there are also various offers for bonus points by cards along the way. The recent 50,000 MR points (equivalent to 31,000 miles) from Amex is a good example.

I believe that using rather average spending, a business class tix to US or EU is doable in about 3 years. However, if you believe that earning short term cash back would be more valuable, then please take that route instead.

What about Amex PPS plat? My friend got 35k krisflyer miles everytime annual renewal comes. That's a one way ticket to Europe on coach!

You need to be PPS to get that card. Not possible unless you fly Business regularly.

Besides the 35k miles, the earning rate on that card is crap.
 

avsquare

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Personally I took the route of UOB Amex + DBS Altitude Visa. Not a hardcore collector where I have multiple cards for specific uses, but the above 2 should serve most purposes well (actually I had the other UOB Amex that used to give 10x for shopping, but oh well it changed to dining).

I'm not keen in 5hittybank, everything's 5hitty there and they cocked up my account bad. Didn't think of ANZ - service sucked, call center sucked and of course.. ANZ used to be one of my ex company's business partners and I can't say much.. but I'll siam them for good.
 

taediumv

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I have yet to do the maths on this, but you will get better value than a short haul flight (like BKK), but certainly not as good as US/EU.



Yes. Unless you have Rewards Infinity, in which case, the points do not expire. Under the new rules, you need to have $24k spending in the previous year to qualify for RI.



Why use PM's rather abyssmal rate of 1.2 miles? You can get more from PRVI Miles or ANZ Travel for general spending, and even as high as 4 miles/$ from specialised cards (like UOB Preferred for dining, or Citi Rewards for shopping).

As pointed out, some cards give you bonus points for renewal, and there are also various offers for bonus points by cards along the way. The recent 50,000 MR points (equivalent to 31,000 miles) from Amex is a good example.

I believe that using rather average spending, a business class tix to US or EU is doable in about 3 years. However, if you believe that earning short term cash back would be more valuable, then please take that route instead.



You need to be PPS to get that card. Not possible unless you fly Business regularly.

Besides the 35k miles, the earning rate on that card is crap.

Which Amex gave 50k MR upon renewal? I got only 40k MR when I renewed the plat charge.
 

Suleyman

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Which Amex gave 50k MR upon renewal? I got only 40k MR when I renewed the plat charge.

It was not for renewal. It was a promo that Amex was running.

You got 10k MR for an online charge of at least $20 at a participating merchant. You can do this five times for 50k MR. I bought 5x$20 worth of Courts vouchers online for my 50k MR. :)

I think it was open to all Amex (non-cobranded) holders.
 

avsquare

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It was not for renewal. It was a promo that Amex was running.

You got 10k MR for an online charge of at least $20 at a participating merchant. You can do this five times for 50k MR. I bought 5x$20 worth of Courts vouchers online for my 50k MR. :)

I think it was open to all Amex (non-cobranded) holders.

Oh dear, I missed this :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Even Amex Rewards also eligible?
 

swordspirit

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Not really. When playing the miles game, it's sometimes a long game. Many of these cards have no expiry for the points, and you can take as many years as you want to accumulate enough miles for that ticket.



As I showed in the calculations, even long haul economy isn't really worth it. You are getting a value of about 1.2c per mile, or equivilent of about 1.92c per $ (using UOB PRVI Miles' 1.6 mile/$). In this case, you are better off with cashback cards.

Try booking sg to Frankfurt and paris to Singapore. Tell me is it still 1.2c then.
 

innumerabilis

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u mean based on spending 10k per year in 3 years I can fly paris biz class? from wat i gather flying paris biz class requires 80k miles

Yes that's right. Did you read my calculations? Online redemption of miles has a 15% discount, so it is 68k miles. The 3 different miles cards give you a total of 32k miles per year if you pay the annual fee. Add in a 4k miles spending and you can do it in 2 years.

S$5k for a biz ticket to Paris? Better leave such a biz deal to biz ppl :)

Not sure what you are trying to say here. S$5k is what it costs for a one way biz SQ ticket to Paris if you use no miles and pay only cash. Of course could possibly get it cheaper via special promo, corporate rate discount, etc.
 
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windroar

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Why use PM's rather abyssmal rate of 1.2 miles? You can get more from PRVI Miles or ANZ Travel for general spending, and even as high as 4 miles/$ from specialised cards (like UOB Preferred for dining, or Citi Rewards for shopping).

As pointed out, some cards give you bonus points for renewal, and there are also various offers for bonus points by cards along the way. The recent 50,000 MR points (equivalent to 31,000 miles) from Amex is a good example.

I believe that using rather average spending, a business class tix to US or EU is doable in about 3 years. However, if you believe that earning short term cash back would be more valuable, then please take that route instead.

do u also use the miles card to spend on places like supermarkets (many cards give 5% rebates) and esso petrol (citi divd 5%)?
 

windroar

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Personally I took the route of UOB Amex + DBS Altitude Visa. Not a hardcore collector where I have multiple cards for specific uses, but the above 2 should serve most purposes well (actually I had the other UOB Amex that used to give 10x for shopping, but oh well it changed to dining).

I'm not keen in 5hittybank, everything's 5hitty there and they cocked up my account bad. Didn't think of ANZ - service sucked, call center sucked and of course.. ANZ used to be one of my ex company's business partners and I can't say much.. but I'll siam them for good.

ah! reminds me of my experience with ANZ here
 
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