Back in June 2020, FlexiRoam announced a tie-up with Mastercard, which offers selected Mastercard customers a complimentary data roaming package valid across 170+ countries worldwide.
Depending on which card you have, this offers up to 3GB of roaming data– perhaps not enough to watch Netflix on the train, but certainly sufficient for most other purposes.
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| Benefit Details |
In this post, I’ll walk you through which cards are eligible for the FlexiRoam benefit, how to activate your plan, and potential pitfalls to take note of.
Which Mastercards are eligible for FlexiRoam?
The following Mastercards offer complimentary FlexiRoam packages, with a maximum of one redemption per calendar year per eligible card.
World Elite Mastercards
For World Elite Mastercards, the benefit is standardised: a 3GB FlexiRoam data package, valid for 15 days.
Unfortunately, it’s not particularly easy to get a World Elite Mastercard. Most of the options require you to earn at least S$120,000, or have a privilege/private banking relationship.
| Card | Annual Fee |
 Citi Prestige |
S$545 |
 Citi Private Client Debit Card |
N/A |
 Citi ULTIMA |
S$4,238 |
 DCS Imperium |
S$3,584 |
 OCBC Premier World Elite Debit Card |
N/A |
 UOB Lady’s Solitaire Metal Card |
S$599 |
Selected World Mastercards
Selected World Mastercards offer a FlexiRoam perk, but because this is an issuer-sponsored benefit (as opposed to a network-sponsored one with World Elite Mastercard), the package differs from card to card.
| Card | Annual Fee | Data Plan |
 OCBC 90ยฐN Mastercard |
S$196.20 | 3x 1GB 5-day pass |
 HSBC Premier Mastercard |
N/A | 3GB 10-day pass |
Amaze used to offer this perk as well, but it was discontinued from October 2023.
How to activate your package
To enjoy your complimentary FlexiRoam data package, you’ll need to first download the FlexiRoam app (Android | iOS).
Create an account using your email address or phone number, then on the homepage, tap the ‘Check Eligibility’ button on the Mastercard redemption banner.
You’ll be prompted to enter your 16-digit card number and email address to redeem your plan.
After verification, tap ‘Redeem Starter Pack’ to add your free plan(s) to your account. You can later find them on the home page, under ‘View My Plans’.
After redemption, you have a certain period to activate your free data plan (after which the 5/10/15 day validity period begins).FlexiRoam’s FAQs say six months, but in practice it seems to be up till the end of the current calendar year. In other words, you can redeem the plan now and activate it later.
FlexiRoam will also, “with the help of AI, intelligently select and provide a SIM card or eSIM based on your device compatibility”, but really, if you really need AI to tell you whether you need an eSIM or physical SIM for your phone…
eSIMS will be available immediately, while physical SIMs will be shipped for free to your home address (you can top up extra for expedited shipping).
Mastercard cardholders will also enjoy a 15% discount on any subsequent FlexiRoam data plans purchased with Mastercard.
Warning: FlexiRoam account locks
A word of warning: FlexiRoam has very sensitive anti-fraud measures.
For example, one MileChat member learned the hard way that FlexiRoam caps each account at 3x complimentary Mastercard redemptions per year. Attempt to add more, and your account will be locked.
Also, take care when entering your card number on the Mastercard redemption screen, because FlexiRoam will lock your account if you make too many incorrect attempts. I learned this the hard way when I was guess and checking my Mastercards to see which ones had the perk. After just two ineligible cards, my account was locked and I had to contact customer service with photo ID to get it back to normal. Following that, I tried another ineligible card, and my account was locked once again.
My guess is this benefit sees a fair amount of abuse, hence the trigger happiness with blocking.
Conclusion
Mastercard customers may be eligible for a complimentary FlexiRoam global data roaming package, which offers up to 3GB for a period of up to 15 days.
Depending on your data needs, this can save you from having to buy a separate data roaming plan on your trips, so check whether you have an eligible Mastercard and redeem your plans.
Are you aware of any other Singapore-issued Mastercards with a FlexiRoam benefit?
Do other countries’ World Elites work?
it’s a global benefit, so yes it should.
I have just checked some of my cards. The HSBC Premier Mastercards from Singapore/Hong Kong/China (World not World Elite) have this benefit. But the World Elite from HSBC China/USA, and Chase USA don’t offer this.
Correct:
These cards work:
HSBC SG Premier Mastercard (World)
HSBC HK Premier Mastercard (World)
HSBC CN Premier Mastercard (World)
HSBC CN Premier Travel Mastercard (World Elite)
World Elite from HSBC USA and Chase USA doesn’t work
just FYI – I tried my US issued World elite Mastercard and it said itโs not eligible
Wonder if I can activate multiple plan back to back. Eg. Activate a 3 GB plan today and when I used up my current plan, activate another 3 GB plan (using another card) on the next day.
The article states that you can redeem 3 per year, and that you’ll have the entire calendar year to activate the SIM so I don’t see why not.
CIMB World Mastercard is eligible. Personally used it. But my account was locked out when I tried different World Mastercards to see which are eligible.
Hi.OCBC Premier World Elite Debit Card is also not part of this programme. I checked with bank. neither is the OCBC 90ยฐN Card
It is mentioned on OCBC website though. When did you check with the bank?
I used the OCBC 90ยฐN Card for this in May. It worked.
Any idea how will the benefit be renewed each year? Does it appear automatically in the app or you have to remember to re-input your cc number again?