Although the SCB X Card doesnโt have the best earn rates, perks or even a sign up bonus anymore, it does have a wide variety of transfer partners. In addition to KrisFlyer, your 360ยฐ Rewards Points can be transferred to nine other FFPs and two hotel loyalty programs.
Unfortunately, most of the other FFPs donโt have very favorable transfer ratios. While transfers to KrisFlyer, EVA Air, FlyingBlue, and Qantas use a rate of 2,500 points: 1,000 miles, other programs have a much worse ratio of 3,000/3,500 points: 1,000 miles.
SCB is offering a 100% transfer bonus for Emirates Skywards
The good news is thatโs set to change for Emirates Skywards, albeit temporarily. From 24 Feb to 8 Mar 2020, SCB is offering a 100% transfer bonus for Emirates Skywards conversions.
Instead of the usual 3,500 points: 1,000 miles, youโll receive double the miles (i.e 3,500 points: 2,000 miles), with no cap.
All transfers must be made by 11.59 p.m SGT on 8 Mar 2020 to be eligible for the bonus.
As a reminder, the SCB X Cardโs usual local/overseas earn rate of 1.2/2.0 mpd assumes youโre transferring to KrisFlyer. If youโre transferring to Emirates Skywards with this 100% bonus, your equivalent local/overseas earn rate becomes 1.7/2.9 mpd.
If youโre still holding on to your 360ยฐ Rewards Points from the original โ100,000 milesโ sign up bonus, that stash is now worth about ~153,000 Skywards miles โ none too shabby.
360ยฐ Rewards Points | Skywards Miles (with bonus) | |
Base points: For spending S$6,000 @ 3 points per S$1 | 18,000 | 10,286 |
Bonus points: For hitting S$6,000 spending | 175,000 | 100,000 |
Annual fee points: For paying the S$695.50 annual fee | 75,000 | 42,857 |
Total | 268,000 | 153,142 |
Is it targeted?
Hereโs where itโs a bit confusing. The T&C has wording which suggests this is a targeted offer:
This offer is only valid for the recipient of this email and is not transferable |
I didnโt receive the email, and when I go to the rewards portal, I see the usual 3,500: 1,000 rate.
However, I know of other people who did receive the email, and they still see the usual 3,500: 1,000 rate too. The following line in the T&C leads me to believe the portal wonโt show the bonus by default.
Bonus Skywards Miles will be awarded together with original transferred Skywards Miles according to standard transfer lead times. |
tl;dr: If you received the email, youโre safe. If you didnโt, youโd best check with customer service before transferring anything over.
Where do I find the Emirates Skywards transfer option? |
The most fuss-free way of finding Emirates Skywards (or any transfer partner that isnโt KrisFlyer) is to go via the mobile app. Thatโs because SCBโs desktop rewards portal is a mess. If you insist on using it, follow these steps.
First, click on your X Card in the i-banking portal. Then, resist the urge to click โRedeem Rewards Nowโ, and instead click on โCard Detailsโ at the top of the page. After that, an expanded list will appear. Click on โView My Rewardsโ. Youโll be shown a list of the cards you have. Click โTransfer Rewardsโ, and youโll see the full list of transfer partners (except KrisFlyer- for that youโll need to use the old rewards portal; read this for more info) |
A primer on Emirates Skywards
I take it that Emirates Skywards is unchartered territory for most of you. Thatโs fine, itโs fairly new to me too.
Letโs do a quick primer on the program, its rules, partners, and some sample award costs that can help you decide whether itโs worth transferring points over.
Award Types
Emirates Skywards has three levels of awards- Saver, Flex, and Flex Plus. Saver awards are the cheapest, but with the least availability and most restrictive rules. Flex Plus awards are the most expensive, but have more availability and more flexible rules.
Whatโs confusing is that Flex awards are only available for First Class travel, while Saver awards are only for Business and Economy. There are also restrictions on one-way awards; these can only be booked in the most expensive Flex Plus bucket. Hence, one-way Emirates awards will always be more than 50% of the miles required for a round-trip.
Saver | Flex | Flex Plus | |
Applicable Cabins | Y, J | F | Y, J, F |
Available For | Return | Return | One-way/Return |
Maximum Stay | 3 months | 3 months | 12 months |
Ticket Validity | 12 months | 12 months | 12 months |
Stopovers | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Open Jaw | Permitted | Permitted | Permitted |
Refund | US$75 | US$50 | Free |
Date Changes | US$25 | Free | Free |
Other Changes | US$25 | Free | Free |
Validity
Emirates says that Skywards miles are valid for three years from the date theyโre earned.
In reality though, the validity can be up to 4 years, thanks to a very strange expiry policy: In the calendar year that Skywards miles are set to expire, they expire at the end of the month in which you were born.
Wait, what? What does the month of my birth have to do with the validity of my miles? Everything, apparently. If your miles were earned in June 2016 and your birthday is in August, your miles will expire on 31 August 2019.
By that same token, if your miles were earned on 1 January 2016 and your birthday is in December, your miles expire on 31 December 2019, giving you almost 4 years of validity. If your miles were earned on 31 December 2016 and your birthday is in January, your miles expire on 31 January 2020 (Iโd have thought itโd be 31 January 2019 since the calendar year of expiry should be 2019, but thatโs not what other people are saying online- someone enlighten me if you know better!)
Itโs a strange system, but itโs right there in black and white in the FAQs.
Award searching & booking
You can search for awards even if your Skywards balance is zero.
However, one quirk Iโve noticed about Emirates Skywards is that the online system doesnโt let you redeem a given award if you have just enough miles. For example, if you have a 100,000 miles balance and try to redeem an award costing 100,000 miles, youโll get an error message saying your balance is insufficient.
In this case, youโll either have to transfer a bit more than you need, or call up customer service to get the redemption done.
Sample Emirates award costs
Emirates does not publish an award chart; youโll have to use its Miles Calculator feature to price specific routes.
Emirates also imposes hefty fuel surcharges on redemptions, which is confusing because itโs a well-known fact that water coolers in the UAE dispense free crude oil (source: Wikipedia). On the other hand, I suppose it takes a lot of fuel to lug around that shower in the sky.

These fuel surcharges tend to detract from the value of the program. Hereโs some sample award prices out of Singapore:
Business (Saver) |
First (Flex) |
|||
OW | RT | OW | RT | |
SIN-DXB | 72.5K +S$346 | 105K + S$686 | 98.75K +S$346 | 157.5K + S$686 |
SIN-MEL | 62.5K + S$406 | 90K +S$825 | 85K + S$406 | 135K + S$825 |
SIN-DXB-JFK | 131.25K + S$830 | 190K + S$1.6K | 178.75K + S$830 | 262.5K + S$1.6K |
SIN-DXB-LHR | 103.75K +S$593 | 150K + S$1.5K | 141.25K +S$593 | 225K + S$1.5K |
SIN-DXB-ZRH | 103.75K + S$584 | 150K + S$1.2K | 141.25K +S$584 | 225K + S$1.2K |
SIN-PEN | 27.5K + S$53 | 40K +S$53 | 37.5K + S$53 | 60K +S$53 |
SIN-DXB-GRU | 137.5K + S$782 | 200K +S$1.6K | 187.5K +S$782 | 300K +S$1.6K |
If you try to price these awards out for yourself and your numbers donโt match mine, itโs probably because youโre looking at a different award bucket. Use the flexible dates option to see how award prices differ by day. |
Remember that you canโt compare these directly to KrisFlyer redemption rates unless you divide the mileage amounts by 1.43, and even then youโll want to take note of the difference in cash outlays.

If youโre hoping to redeem Emirates First Class, you definitely want to get the A380 because this is the only aircraft with the onboard shower. The A380 is operated on the SIN-DXB route, as well as numerous routes out of DXB such as New York JFK, Frankfurt, and Zurich.
Iโd say that Singapore to Dubai in one-way First Class for 98,750 Skywards miles (~69,000 KrisFlyer miles equivalent) + S$346 might be worth a look if taking a shower in the sky is on your bucket list. Be careful what flight you book, as not all the SIN-DXB flights are on the A380.
If you want the chance to take two showers (because why not), then Singapore to New York via Dubai is also another possibility at 178,750 Skywards miles (~125,000 KrisFlyer miles equivalent) + S$830. This will also let you experience the Emirates First Class lounge in Dubai, which by all accounts is absolutely massive.
As an Emirates First Class passenger departing Singapore, youโll also have access to the amazing Qantas First Class lounge in Terminal 1. Just be sure to note your departure timing, as the Qantas lounge only opens from 2.30 p.m to midnight.


Alternatively, if youโre really lucky you might be able to snag an award seat on Emiratesโ new B77W, which features floor to ceiling doors, a โzero-gravityโ seat, and virtual windows for the centre suites. Award space on the new First Class only appears 48-72 hours before departure, so youโll need to be able to travel on short notice.

This cabin product is only available on selected flights to:
Route | Flights | Sample RT pricing |
Brussels | EK 183/184 EK 181/182 |
135,000 miles |
Frankfurt | EK 43/44 | 135,000 miles |
Geneva | EK 89/90 EK 83/84 |
135,000 miles |
Kuwait | EK 855/856 | 45,000 miles |
London Stansted | EK 33/34 | 135,000 miles |
Riyadh | EK 819/820 | 45,000 miles |
Seychelles | EK 705/706 | 112,500 miles |
Tokyo Haneda | EK 312/313 | 187,500 miles |
Vienna | EK 125/126 | 135,000 miles |
Other redemption partners
Emirates Skywards miles can also be redeemed on:
- Air Mauritius
- Alaska Airlines
- Bangkok Airways
- Copa Airlines
- easyjet
- GOL
- Japan Airlines
- JetBlue
- Jetstar
- Korean Air
- Malaysia Airlines
- Qantas
- S7 Airlines
- South African Airways
- TAP Portugal
Note that only selected partner airlines (namely Qantas and easyjet) can be booked online. For all other partners, youโll need to call up customer service or fill in an online form.
Hereโs a few potential routings that may interest you:
- Singapore to Melbourne/Sydney on Qantas for 60,000/90,000 miles in one-way Business/First Class
- Domestic USA flights on JetBlue from 7,500 miles in one-way Economy (connecting flights price as two separate awards, so look for non-stops)
- Domestic Brazil flights on GOL from 4,500 miles in one-way Economy
- Singapore to North America on JAL for 125,000/185,000 miles in round-trip Business/First Class
Itโs highly recommended you look for award space before calling up Skywards or sending in the form. Refer to this guide for how to search for award space on oneworld/Star Alliance, or learn how to use the KVS Tool.
Conclusion
The main pain point with Emirates Skywards is the fuel surcharge youโll pay on awards. Assuming youโre willing to look past that for the chance to get naked (legally) at 30,000 feet, then this transfer bonus may be the opportunity youโve been waiting for. The transfer bonus also makes some of Emiratesโ partner redemptions look comparatively good value, even if youโre looking at short haul Economy.
Iโd give this one serious thought, considering the only other Emirates Skywards transfer partner in Singapore is American Express, and the earn/burn rate through that program is very poor.
Being naked, means take showers, or, get service while you are naked?
Not sure if itโs still the case, but ex HKG used to have very low fuel surcharges for EK redemptions. When they start getting to $500+ you might consider routing out of HKG. Maybe more award space too if travel to/from HKG is down.
My experience with the transfer. Had the full sign-up bonus and wanted to transfer 308k SC points but the app only showed 88k Emirates Skyward Miles (SKM). Called up the hotlineโฆ CSM didnโt know this promo existed, wasnโt sure of the rules and just said itโs only 88k SKM instead of 176SKM with 100% promo. After checking with her supervisor, she finally confirmed that it would only show the normal point transfer on the SC Mobile app but reflect the bonus miles on the Emirates account. The text prompt said it may take about 5 days but viola it wasโฆ Read more ยป
thanks for the data point! yes, i reached out to CS as well and they were clueless about the promo, surprise surprise. they later got back saying the bonus will be credited from the emirates side
Anything to help the awesome MileLion community, you help us so muchโฆ thanks again! ๐
I have the SC VI as well, and the 360ยฐ points pool together when I tried to transfer on the app. Wonder if the VI will get the bonus also. If the bonus comes from emirates side, maybe they wonโt be able to tell which card the points come from.
Just took the plunge and made the transfer. Was instantaneous and the points from the SC VI got the bonus too!
Thank you for updating, great to know!