Link Rewards removes Linkpoints transfers to Asia Miles

If you’re an avid earner of Linkpoints (or hope to be with the new Trust Link Credit Card), here’s a development to take note of. 

Link Rewards has removed Asia Miles as a transfer option, eliminating a quick and easy way to keep your Asia Miles balance active, as well as an opportunity for conversions between KrisFlyer and Asia Miles (albeit at a truly abysmal rate).

Link Rewards removes Asia Miles

Link Rewards previously offered two-way conversions between Linkpoints and Asia Miles at the following ratios:

Linkpoints	Asia Miles
290	110

Asia Miles	Linkpoints
800	400

However, the conversion option was removed at some point in the past few weeks, with the transfer page now returning a 404 error.

I phoned up Link Rewards to find out what was going on, and was informed by a customer service officer that Asia Miles transfers had been “removed, with no plans to reinstate”. Indeed, Cathay Pacific has also removed all references to Link Rewards from their website as well.

For context, 100 Linkpoints is equal to a S$1 rebate, so transferring Linkpoints to Asia Miles was equivalent to buying Asia Miles for 2.6 cents each– way too expensive for most people. 

That said, it wasn’t completely useless. Linkpoints transfers to Asia Miles were free of charge, and would count as qualifying activity that extended the life of your entire Asia Miles balance by a further 18 months. Therefore, making the minimum transfer could be justified under certain circumstances.

With the removal of Link Rewards transfers, there aren’t a whole lot of ways for someone in Singapore to make a small top-up an Asia Miles account:

• Transfer American Express Membership Rewards points (450 points = 250 Asia Miles/ 400 points= 250 Asia Miles for Platinum Charge and Centurion cardholders)
• Convert Esso Smiles points (150 Smiles = 100 Asia Miles)
• Buy a small item or gift card on Cathay’s online store

Remaining LinkPoints transfer partners

LinkPoints has been culling its partner list of late; in addition to Asia Miles, transfers to Grab Rewards have also been discontinued.

This leaves Air Asia Rewards, Park Rewards and KrisFlyer as its three remaining transfer partners. All transfers are free of charge

Air Asia Rewards

Linkpoints	airasia Points
1,000	420
2,000	880

airasia Points	Linkpoints
1,050	210
2,200	450

Park Rewards

Linkpoints	Park$
1,000	300
2,000	650

Park$	Linkpoints
300	280
600	600

KrisFlyer

Linkpoints	KrisFlyer Miles
100	50
200	100
1,000	500
2,000	1,070
5,000	2,680

KrisFlyer Miles	Linkpoints
3,000	1,950

Conclusion

Linkpoints can no longer be transferred to Asia Miles, which removes a poor value yet simple way of making a small top-up to an account. It remains to be seen if the partnership is reinstated in the future, but based on what the customer service officer told me, I wouldn’t count on it.

Any other ways of making a small top-up to an Asia Miles account?