OCBC VOYAGE offering additional welcome miles for Milelion readers

I recently wrote about the OCBC VOYAGE card, recapping some of the main changes to the product since it first launched and laying out some of the best use cases for VOYAGE Miles.

If you’ve been considering applying for the card, here’s some good news: OCBC VOYAGE is currently offering two special sign up offers for customers who get their cards approved through The Milelion.

Get 20% additional VOYAGE miles when you sign up

The first 10 customers who are approved for a VOYAGE card through The Milelion will receive 18,000 VOYAGE Miles with the payment of the S$488 annual service fee in the first year. This represents a 20% bonus on the regular 15,000 VOYAGE Miles normally offered.

How valuable are VOYAGE miles? I dedicated an entire post to this topic (well worth a weekend read I promise you) but to summarize- the value of a VOYAGE mile depends not on airline, or cabin class, or time of the year, but rather on where you fly to. That’s to say, a VM will command a different valuation for flights to Sydney versus flights to London.

In my analysis of VOYAGE miles, I found that they could command a value as high as 2.97 cents when redeemed for destinations like London, Rome, Cardiff, Johannesburg, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires. On the lower end, VOYAGE miles had a value of about 2.16 for destinations in Australia.

In that respect, the value of the 18,000 VMs will range between $389 and $535, depending how you redeem them. I would certainly advocate redeeming VMs through the VOYAGE concierge for revenue tickets rather than converting them to KrisFlyer miles (although you could at a 1:1 ratio if you were so inclined). That’s because the true value of VOYAGE is its ability to unlock tickets on any airline, any flight and any route, which is what makes 1 VM worth more than 1 KrisFlyer mile.

Do remember that the other key benefits of the VOYAGE card include:

• Complimentary airport transfer with a minimum spend of S$3K a month
• Unlimited access to more than 80 Plaza Premium lounges around the world
• the VOYAGE concierge which provides additional lifestyle and trip-related assistance like event bookings, personal shopping, itinerary planning and even emergency medical services if required

In the final analysis, whether or not you find the annual service fee worth paying depends on how you value the above benefits- but you can clearly get more than your $488’s worth.

Keen to apply but worried that you’ll be outside the first 10 successful applicants? When you leave your details in this link for a callback, the customer service rep who calls will be able to advise you on the total number of applications received to date. This is of course distinct from the number of approved applications (eg 10 could apply but only 5 may be approved), but at least you’ll have an idea of where you stand.

Earn bonus miles on foreign currency spending

The VOYAGE card currently earns 2.3 VOYAGE miles for every S$1 of foreign currency spending. Customers who apply for a VOYAGE card through The Milelion will enjoy an incremental bonus on foreign currency spending according to the following monthly spending tiers:

• Spend $1,000 or less: 2.3 VM/$1
• Spend $1,001-$3,000: 2.4 VM/$1
• Spend $3,001-$10,000: 2.5VM/$1
• Spend $10,001 or more: 2.3 VM/$1

The bonus VMs are awarded on the incremental spending, which is to say that someone who spends say $5,000 would earn 2.3 *1,000 + 2.4*2,000 + 2.5*2,000= 12,100 VMs in total.

The promotion period runs from 7 Sept to 31 December 2018, and you can read the full T&C here.

Conclusion

For those who are looking for a product that offers something different from your traditional miles card, the VOYAGE is certainly an interesting choice. Do remember that the Premier and Private banking versions earn 1.6 VM/S$1 on local spending, which makes them among the best general spending cards in Singapore. The VOYAGE card has a minimum income requirement of $120,000 per annum.

Apply for an OCBC VOYAGE card here