DBS has launched an exciting new promotion for DBS Altitude Cards, which runs from 1 December 2021 to 28 February 2022. Cardholders will enjoy an uncapped 5 mpd on all overseas in-person transactions, and a capped 5 mpd on online flight & hotel transactions.
It’s an excellent opportunity to rack up some bonus miles on your upcoming VTL trip (well, assuming it actually happens), especially if you see yourself spending big.
Earn up to 5 mpd with DBS Altitude Cards
From 1 December 2021 to 28 February 2022, DBS Altitude AMEX and DBS Altitude Visa cardholders (collectively referred to as DBS Altitude cardholders) who spend at least S$2,500 in a calendar month will earn bonus miles on the following eligible spend:
| Regular | Bonus | Total | |
| Overseas Point of Sale Trxns | 2 mpd | 3 mpd | 5 mpd |
| Online Flight & Hotel Trxns | 3 mpd | 2 mpd | 5 mpd |
The maximum spend on which bonus miles can be earned for online flight & hotel bookings is capped at S$5,000 per calendar month.
However, there is no cap on the bonus miles for overseas point of sales transactions. In other words, it’s an uncapped 5 mpd for three months- sensational stuff.
Bonus miles will be credited within 60 days from the end of each calendar month of the promotion period. In other words:
| Spending Month | Bonus Credited By |
| December 2021 | ~February 2022 |
| January 2022 | ~March 2022 |
| February 2022 | ~April 2022 |
Eligible Spend
Here’s how DBS defines eligible spend:
- Online Flight & Hotel Transactions: Online retail transactions made at merchants with main business activity classified as flights and/or hotels.
- Overseas Spend Point-of-Sale Transactions: Card transactions made overseas at point-of-sale in foreign currency. Card transaction made overseas but effected / charged in Singapore dollars and online transactions effected in foreign currencies at merchants with payment gateway in Singapore will not be treated as Overseas Spend Point-of-Sale Transactions
Online Flight & Hotel Transactions should be pretty intuitive- any major airline or hotel will qualify.
Overseas Spend Point-of-Sale Transactions is a mouthful, but it’s basically any in-person transaction made in foreign currency. Paying at a gas station in Germany would count; buying something on Amazon USA would not.
Qualifying Spend
A minimum spend of S$2,500 in a calendar month must be charged to your DBS Altitude Card in order for you to be eligible to earn bonus miles.
You only need to meet the minimum spend in months you wish to participate. For example, you could spend S$2,500 in December 2021 and earn 5 mpd on eligible spending in that month. There’s no need for you to also hit S$2,500 in January 2022 or February 2022 (but of course you won’t earn 5 mpd on eligible spending in those months).
Qualifying spend excludes the following:
- posted 0% interest-free instalment plan monthly transactions (“IPP”)
- posted My Preferred Payment instalment plan monthly transactions (“MP3”)
- interest, finance charges, cash withdrawal, cash advance, balance transfer
- AXS payments (except Pay+Earn)
- SAM online bill payments
- bill payments via internet banking and all fees charged by DBS and any transaction that is subsequently cancelled, voided, refunded or reversed (“Refunded Transactions”) for any reason
- Refunded Transactions will be deducted from the Minimum Spend Requirement, when
computing any DBS Points.
For avoidance of doubt, anything not listed above will count towards qualifying spend, even transactions that are usually excluded from rewards like government payments, insurance premiums, charitable donations and the like.
Eligible spend (see previous section) counts as qualifying spend, so you could clock S$2,500 purely on overseas spend point-of-sale transactions if you so wish.
You can track your qualifying spend in the DBS PayLah! app under the “Rewards” page (from 1 January 2022 onwards). The promotion tracker will be updated within three working days after each minimum spend requirement is reflected in the transaction history.
Terms and Conditions
The full T&C of this offer can be found here. DBS has also provided a list of FAQs.
Is it worth it?
DBS credit cards charge a 3.25% foreign currency transaction fee, so earning 5 mpd is like paying 0.65 cents per mile. That’s certainly a great price, although it has to be said you could be earning 4 mpd on overseas spend for free with the Amaze Card + Citi Rewards/DBS Woman’s World Card.
Nonetheless, you’re still limited by the underlying cards’ respective 4 mpd caps- S$1,000 per statement month in the case of Citi Rewards, and S$2,000 per calendar month in the case of DBS Woman’s World Card. If you’re planning to plonk down big money overseas, the DBS Altitude’s uncapped 5 mpd might be the better option.
What can I do with DBS points?
Bonus miles are awarded in the form of DBS points, which do not expire for DBS Altitude cardholders.
DBS Points can be transferred to the following frequent flyer programs at a ratio of 1 point= 2 miles (except AirAsia, where the ratio is 1:3). Transfers cost a flat S$26.75, regardless of the number of points converted.
| 💳 DBS Transfer Partners | |
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| For a full list of transfer partners, refer to this article | |
In my opinion, it’s only worth transferring miles to KrisFlyer or Asia Miles. AirAsia BIG is more of a rebates program than a traditional frequent flyer scheme, and Qantas Frequent Flyer doesn’t have any real sweet spots that I’m aware of.
Conclusion
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| Apply Here | Apply Here |
| Card Review | |
This is a great deal for DBS Altitude cardholders, allowing them to earn an uncapped 5 mpd every time they swipe their card overseas. The minimum spend of S$2,500 may pose a bit of a hurdle, but assuming you can clear that, it’s one of the best offers we’ve seen in recent times.
Let’s just hope this Omicron situation gets resolved soon, however, as the prospects for December travel are looking bleaker by the day…
This is a great offer if we can get to use it. Everything going on the card on the trip. Fingers crossed.
Overseas spend through apple pay will be included? I am already overseas but did not bring the card…
spending through apple pay is conceptually the same as using the physical card.
Do OTA bookings count as eligible online flight and hotel transactions?
Doesn’t presenting the DBS Altitude card for payment upon hotel check out count as an “in-person” spend?
I have the same question too!
er, yeah, it does. someone’s thinking clearer than me.
updated!
No end in sight with a new variant popping up every few months each supposedly more threatening than the last.
At some point people will just have to say screw it, if you tio you tio, if you up lorry you up lorry.
If I phone the seller and they manually process the payment using the cc number, expiry and cvv does that count as a POS transaction? I have a $20,000 overseas bill coming up and it’d be nice to get 5mpd.
I have the same question- did anyone provide and answer?
I didn’t bring my card when I went overseas and the merchant I was at did not accept Apple Pay, but their POS terminal allowed for manual entry of CC, expiry, so I gave them the cc number on the spot. Those transactions were reflected in the Paylah counter, so I guess it will work as long it is in FC.
If possible, I would suggest doing a small amount first to confirm if you can split the payments.
I thought DBS Woman’s World still has a 3.25% foreign currency fee, and only gives you 1.2mpd on those FC spending? Did I miss something?
you might want to read up on how the amaze card works: https://milelion.com/2021/08/24/one-month-with-the-amaze-card-yes-its-impressive/
PSA which should be at the top of this article. DBS via the product manager have said to me that the only overseas transactions they will honor for this campaign are chip with pin transactions. Paywave or any other contactless transactions like Apple Pay and Google Pay or any manually processed transactions which do not use the chip in a POS terminal will not earn bonus points. I assume mag stripe with signature may also work but I’d be very wary.
Reply from DBS:
For the DBS Altitude Card Travel Spend Campaign, Overseas Spend Point-of-Sale Transactions via mag stripe with signature, paywave or contactless transactions via Apply Pay & Google Pay (where the DBS Altitude Card is linked) will be eligible to earn the Bonus Points once the criteria of the campaign are fulfilled. The transactions has to come in with foreign currency transaction code. Do note that transactions that are in DCC are not allowed (i.e. converted to SGD at point of sale)
What about for hotel banquet installment payments whereby they send you an online payment link for you to pay with your cc? Would that be considered an online hotel transaction?
it *should*, but there’s no way to guarantee it. since it’s such a big ticket transaction, ask them if they’d let you pay $1 first just to test- then check the MCC using the dbs virtual assistant.
So… Grabpay topups would count to the $2,500 min spend?
Having a lot of hassle with dbs getting the right points credited for my 5k overseas spend in December.
Just even getting the offer terms validated with the phone rep is problematic.
They have come back with excuses twice so far on the one call…..
Anyone in the same boat?