Yahoo Finance Best 3 Credit Cards for Frequent Flyers in Singapore
With Christmas and Chinese New Year done and dusted, I need a holiday to recover from my holiday. With a good rest in the Bahamas, this hangover ought to clear up by October. Plane tickets are more overpriced than uranium in Iran though, and I’m not paying full price; this is the sort of thing I accumulate frequent flyer miles for. If you haven’t got any, and you’re a frequent flyer, you’ll want to check out these top credit cards:
1. American Express® Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Ascend Credit Card
Pretty much the flagship card of the Amex suite, the American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Ascend card is the staple of savvy travellers today. Overshadowing its predecessor, the KrisFlyer Gold card, the card boasts a wide range of travel benefits on top of the allowing you to accumulate miles fast. Benefits of the card include:
Multiple sign up bonuses for air miles
Monthly accelerator that allows you to collect miles faster
Free travel insurance of up to $1m when you book your flights with the card
Points don’t expire
Complimentary night’s stay at a range of over 80 hotels, and complimentary lounge access to any participating SATS Premier and Plaza Premium Lounge.
The Amex Ascend card is one of the most hassle free ways to accrue points, with your KrisFlyer miles transferred directly to your account without conversion fees or charges. What people often overlook with other cards is that expenditure is first accrued as rewards points, and then need to be converted into miles. That’s not all though. You still have to convert those miles into KrisFlyer miles. Confused? Better to stick to something simple.
The sign up bonus for this card is not something to be overlooked as well. You can either choose to waive the annual fee or pay the fee and enjoy the following bonuses:
Pay the fee ($256.80): Earn 15,000/35,000 Bonus KrisFlyer miles when you spend $5,000/$10,000 in the first 3 months upon Card approval
Waive the fee: Earn 3,000/6,000 Bonus KrisFlyer miles when you spend $3,000/$5,000 in the first 3 months upon Card approval
To top that off, you get 5,000 bonus KrisFlyer miles the first time you charge to your card. If altogether that seems like a lot of miles, it is! If you’re looking to start collecting air miles fast, then this is definitely a top contender. And with the card requiring a minimum income of $50,000 p.a., it’s the lowest barrier to entry on this list (and compared to most other frequent flyer cards as well).
If you are interested in the American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Ascend Credit card, you can apply here.
2. Citi PremierMiles Card
The Citi Premier Miles Card is a close second to the Amex Ascend card. It’s accumulation of bonus miles is almost as fast, but it also boasts other lifestyle benefits like a wide range of dining and lifestyle discounts. With a minimum income requirement of $80,000 p.a., the card is slightly harder to qualify for than the Amex Ascend card. This card offers:
Fast accumulation of frequent flyer miles, especially with overseas spend
Free travel insurance of up to $1m when you book your flights with the card
Good dining discounts
Save up to 14% at Shell and Esso stations
Up to 10% rebate at over 800 merchant outlets including Burger King, Cold Storage, Shell and Starbucks.
This card gives you 1.2 Citi miles for every $1 you spend. You also get 10,000 Citi miles when you more than $50,000 a year. If you are someone who spends overseas regularly, the card rewards you by giving you 2 Citi miles for every $1 spent. So if your lifestyle is comparable to, say, a Bond villain, you’ll get serious mileage out of this card.
The additional lifestyle benefits to this card differentiate it from the Amex Ascend card. With 6% rebate all year at TANGS, and 10% cash rebates at over 800 retail outlets, it becomes more than just a travel card. As with most of the other Citibank cards, you also enjoy savings of up to 14% at Esso and Shell stations.
If you are interested in the Citi PremierMiles Card, you can apply here.
3. ANZ Travel Visa Signature Credit Card
The ANZ Travel Visa Signature Credit Card may not be the first card you think of when it comes to frequent flyer cards, but with an accumulation rate of 1.4 miles for $1 spent locally, and a whopping 2.8 miles for every $1 spent in Australia and New Zealand, this becomes an automatic contender for people who travel to those places regularly. Benefits include:
Earn 2.8 air miles per S$1 spent on your holidays at selected partners or in Australia and New Zealand.
Get 12,000 bonus miles upon annual renewal of your card
Free travel insurance of up to $1m when you book your flights with the card
Save 15% on fuel at Caltex
This card is perfect if you regularly travel to Australia and New Zealand for work, or visit friends or family studying there. Given that Australia is such a popular choice for overseas study, this card definitely makes sense if you have lots of friends over there. But that aside, at a accumulation rate of 1.4 miles for $1 spent locally, it’s no pushover when it comes to local spend either.
If you are interested in the ANZ Travel Visa Signature Credit Card, you can apply here.
Got a favourite frequent flyer card? Comment and tell us about it!
Image Credits:
Shai Barzilay
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