Which credit card has the best airport limo option?

Banks know that holders of miles earning or other premium credit cards value the option of complimentary airport transfers.

The majority of these cards will offer you airport dropoff, not pickup I wondered for the longest time why they didn’t let you choose between one or the other before realising that pickup involves a lot more “dead” time for the driver (in needing to wait at the arrivals area with uncertainties about flight delays or how long it will take the passenger to clear immigration and pick up his or her luggage). Dropoff, on the other hand, is simple. The driver waits for you for a maximum of 15 minutes at your pickup spot. Any later and he’s gone.

Although this service is free, this isn’t free free, of course. As with all things, there are strings attached requiring particular minimum spends and capping the number of times you can use the benefit.

Here’s a summary of how the different cards stack up. Disclaimer: Your limo will look nothing like in the cover photo. It’s more like a car service outsourced to a third party, most likely an MPV or a Mercedes E Class type vehicle.

Card Qualifying Spend (QS)Rides per QSMax Uses
UOB PRVI Miles AMEXS$1K FCY spend per quarter (excludes online)22 per quarter, 8 per year
Citi PrestigeS$12K spend per quarter22 per quarter, 8 per year
HSBC Visa Infinite S$2K spend per month1 (2 free per year, 4 free for HSBC Premier customers)24 per year (includes free trips)
Maybank Visa Infinite S$3K spend per month28 per year
OCBC VOYAGES$3K spend per month (S$5K from 1 Jun 20)12 per month

One other thing that struck me while researching this was just how few cards had the benefit. I don’t know why but when I started researching I was under the impression this benefit would be much more widespread. I believe quite a few cards used to offer the benefit so long as you charged your air tickets to that card, but that benefit has been slowly enhanced away.

The following miles cards do not offer an airport limo benefit

  • DBS Altitude (it used to offer in the past)
  • ANZ Travel Card (you can redeem your Travel$ for a limo pickup but it’s spending the equivalent of 3,400 miles on something other cards offer for free)
  • Citibank Premiermiles
  • Standard Chartered Visa Infinite

Surcharges- take note

Yes, it’s free, but the T&C of almost all the limo programs hits you with surcharges such as

  • A S$10 surcharge for pickups from Sentosa
  • A S$10 surcharge for pickup between 12am and 6am
  • A S$10 surcharge if the driver has to wait for you for more than 15 minutes
  • A S$10 surcharge if you want a 7 seater vehicle and a S$20 surcharge for a 9 seater vehicle

You will likely also face surcharges for late amendments/cancellations. The actual surcharges will differ depending on your card issuer. I’m quoting the above from the UOB T&C but this is a fairly common feature for all airport limo services.

Have I missed out any other cards with airport limo?

(If you liked this post you may want to check out this post on complimentary lounge access with credit cards)


T&Cs for your reference

Citibank Prestige:  https://www.citibank.com.sg/global_docs/pdf/Airport_terms_and_condition.pdf
HSBC Visa Infinite:  https://www.hsbc.com.sg/1/2/personal/cards/hsbc-visa-infinite-credit-card/hsbcvi/hsbc-vi-tncs
OCBC Voyage:

Click to access voyage-card-privileges-terms.pdf

Maybank Visa Infinite:  http://info.maybank2u.com.sg/pdf/cards/maybank-visa-infinite-card-tnc.pdf
CIMB Platinum Mastercard:  https://www.cimbbank.com.sg/content/dam/cimbsingapore/personal/cards/terms-and-conditions/tnc-platinum-mastercard-20160218.pdf
UOB PRVI:
http://www.uob.com.sg/assets/pdfs/limousine_booking_tnc.pdf

Aaron Wong
Aaron Wong
Aaron founded The Milelion to help people travel better for less and impress chiobu. He was 50% successful.

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Cle

ANZ Travel Signature used to offer for $2,500 spend in a month for pickup/drop off. but they have taken it away early this year. Sigh.

dave

limos are a good perk, but i find it annoying having to book in advance. also with uber x and grab economy, the value of these rides fall to about $15sgd.

the ‘limos’ from UOB tend to be big Merc Vans which are not luxurious at all, or basic Merc E Classes. Again not luxurious at all.

Jt0503

Agreed. With Citi prestige you need to book a certain number of days in advance, which means calling the concierge while you are on holiday and paying for a LONG overseas call just to arrange for the pick up. Completely not worth it.

louist

I don’t understand this particular point – if you’ve already flown overseas, wouldn’t you usually have your return flight details already? I guess it might be a problem if you frequently travel at the last minute, but is that really the norm?

Plus, Citi Prestige concierge allows you to just email them with the requests. I’ve found it very convenient – can easily arrange my transfers with just a simple email. No need to waste time waiting on the phone anymore.

kt85

not if you stay in the west. Cabs cost to the airport cost about 35 – 40 sgd.

kt85

for the uob privi, the min. spend for a quarter is based on a calendar quarter? for e.g. oct to dec, jan – mar.

kt85

also, is the pick up for UOB privi miles just for the amex version? or VISA/MC also can?

Tabea

UOB only refunds the 45 dollars in the end of the next quarter; in fact so far in my experience at the very end of the next quarter. So e.g. For a Limo ride on 1st Jan you could be waiting until june 30 for the rebate.

Zac

OCBC voyage is airport drop and pick-up. The handy part is the 3 months validity. Similar to ANZ last time. At least gives some time/options for stock-piling hehe

dave

let it be a call or email, still rather old fashioned and redundant to book a damm cab to or from the airport. i can probably book a helicopter or plane in another country via an app now.

i really wonder if they’ll save themselves money making a deal with uber/grab/comfort delgro instead. this way they can credit us back immediately when they see the appropriate transactions.

its pathetic we need to wait 5/6 months for a refund.

summer

DBS Treasures has airport pickup … we haven’t paid for a cab back from Changi for the past eight years. Not sure what the qualifying bank balance/credit card is, though. Maybe you can tell us.

summer

i think it’s called asia treasures

summer

ok thanks, didn’t realize.

Raja kamarul bahrin

HSBC Infinite had removed the unlimited limo benefit and replaced it with 1 complimentaray limo drop off per $2000 spending up to a max of 22 limo drop off in a year. As of May 2017, I have garnered maximum limo service allowable, thus I am stopping the use of my HSBC Visa Infinite until 2018.

Maybank Infinite had amended with $3000 spend in a month gives you 2 limo or 2 Jet Quay Terminal service for the following month.
Limo and Jet Quay Terminal Services has to be booked in pairs and not combine one from each.

Harish

Hi Aaron

Looks like CIMB Platinum Mastercard has suspended the complimentary one-way airport limo transfer.
Can you confirm?

Jo

Dear Aaron,

Thank you so much for your research.

I have 750k Voyage Miles and I am keen to sell it as I don’t really travel.

Can you advise me where should I sell it to ?

Thank you so much

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