Maybank adds Malaysia Airlines Enrich as a points transfer partner (but don’t bother)

Maybank Singapore has added Malaysia Airlines Enrich as a points transfer partner, bringing the total airline partners it has to four:

• Malaysia Airlines Enrich
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Asia Miles
• AirAsia BIG

This option can now be found on the TREATS portal.

To transfer TREATS points into Malaysia Airlines Enrich, you first have to add your frequent flyer account to your TREATS profile by means of a manual form. Send it to rewardsform@maybank.com.sg and within a few days, you’ll be able to perform points transfers online. There is a S$26.75 fee per transfer, which is waived for Maybank Visa Infinite and Maybank World Mastercard cardmembers.

Although more transfer partners are normally a welcome thing, this is one program you’ll want to stay far away from. Here’s why.

The earn rate is terrible

TREATS points can be transferred to Malaysia Airlines Enrich at a rate of 3,500 TREATS Points to 1,000 Enrich Miles. Do note that this is worse than transferring to Asia Miles (5,000 TREATS: 2,000 miles) or KrisFlyer (12,500 TREATS: 5,000 miles). In other words:

What this means is that “4 mpd cards” aren’t “4 mpd” cards if plan to transfer your TREATS to Enrich:

	If Asia Miles or KrisFlyer chosen	If Enrich Chosen
Maybank Horizon Visa Signature on petrol, taxi, dining or public transport (min S$300 spend)	3.2 mpd	2.29 mpd
Maybank World Mastercard on petrol	4.0 mpd	2.86 mpd

The inferior earn ratio might be offset if Enrich miles were inherently more valuable than their Asia Miles or KrisFlyer counterparts, but they aren’t. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

Redemptions through Enrich are poor value

Back in 2017, Malaysia Airlines Enrich underwent a massive devaluation, which saw awards on MH metal priced dynamically based on revenue fares, and partner/oneworld award charts gutted.

Here’s a sample one-way Business Saver redemption through Enrich- the same route would cost 92,000 miles for a Singapore Airlines Business Saver award (both programs do not impose fuel surcharges on their own metal).

Redeeming Enrich miles for travel on partner airlines (oneworld and others) does not yield good value either. The distance-based award chart prices one-way flights at more than 50% the cost of a return flight:

If you’re combining travel on Malaysia Airlines with oneworld partner airlines, it gets even more expensive.

Malaysia Airlines has partner redemption agreements with Emirates, Air France, and Etihad as well. However, Enrich members can only access Business and Economy Class seats on Emirates. 

Although there are no such restrictions for Etihad awards, the redemption rates charged by Enrich are just flat out uncompetitive. For example, Abu Dhabi to Sydney would cost about 136K miles through Etihad Guest. Through Enrich, you’ll need 172K miles.

Add the fact that fuel surcharges will be the same across programs, and there’s really no compelling reason to use Enrich.

Conclusion

When you choose to transfer TREATS points to Enrich, you lose out twice: once on the earn side, and again on the burn side. The earn rate is lower thanks to the inferior transfer ratio; the burn rate is terrible thanks to Enrich’s dynamic pricing for MH awards and poor value partner chart.

With this double whammy, it’s best you save your TREATS points for Asia Miles or KrisFlyer transfers instead.