Complete list of Singapore credit card airline and hotel transfer partners

While Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles are probably the two most popular mileage programmes in Singapore, there’s a much bigger world out there.

Cardholders can transfer their points to 17 airline and five hotel loyalty programmes, or 25 airlines and eight hotels if we include HeyMax (which is a bit of a special case). It’s a far cry from the scene when I first started collecting miles more than 10 years ago!

But not all partners represent a good use of your points, and with so many to choose from, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. In this guide, I’ll explain the various transfer options available by bank, as well as some important things you should know.

Where can you transfer your credit card points?

The following table summarises the various airline and hotel loyalty programmes available to cardholders in Singapore. 

HeyMax (21 airlines, 8 hotels) has the most partners. It’s technically not a card issuer, though you can earn 1 Max Mile per S$1 spent on the Chocolate Visa Debit Card. However, most cardholders will be capped at earning 1,000 miles per month, as spending beyond the first S$1,000 earns just 0.4 mpd.

Next up is HSBC (16 airlines, 4 hotels), which grew its portfolio exponentially with the launch of the TravelOne Card, before rolling it out to all cardholders. Next comes Citibank (10 airlines, 1 hotel), American Express (8 airlines, 2 hotels), and OCBC (6 airlines, 3 hotels).

Beyond that, the rest of the banks have rather limited options, mainly featuring Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles.

Important things to know

Not all transfer ratios are the same

For the majority of banks in Singapore, all airlines share the same transfer ratios. Not only does this make things simpler, it also means you can take the headline earn rates at face value. 

For example, when the Citi PremierMiles Card advertises 1.2 mpd on local spend, we know this applies regardless of which of the 10 airline partners you choose, since they all share the same transfer ratio.

But when the HSBC TravelOne Card advertises 1.2 mpd on local spend, we need to take a step back and ask “for which programme?” Depending on which mileage programme you transfer to, the actual earn rate could be anywhere from 0.6-1.2 mpd (for KrisFlyer, it’s actually 1 mpd)!

Here’s a summary of the arrangement for each bank.

There are two banks where the ratios are not uniform across programmes: HSBC and OCBC.

HSBC

✈️ HSBC Airline Partners
Mileage Programme	HSBC Points : Partner
	50,000 : 10,000
	35,000 : 10,000
	35,000 : 10,000
	35,000 : 10,000
	35,000 : 10,000
	35,000 : 10,000
	30,000 : 10,000
	30,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000

🏨 HSBC Hotel Partners
Hotel Programme	HSBC Points : Partner
	30,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 5,000
	25,000 : 10,000
	25,000 : 10,000

OCBC

✈️ OCBC Airline Partners
Mileage Programme	90°N Miles & VOYAGE Miles : Partner	OCBC$ : Partner
	1:1 (VOYAGE) 1,000 : 1,000 (90°N)	25,000 : 10,000
	1,000 : 1,000	10,000 : 4,000
	1,000 : 900	10,000 : 3,600
	1,000 : 900	10,000 : 3,600
	1,000 : 750	10,000 : 2,900
	1,000 : 700	10,000 : 2,800

🏨 OCBC Hotel Partners
Hotel Programme	90°N Miles & VOYAGE Miles : Partner	OCBC$ : Partner
	1,000 : 500	10,000 : 2,000
	1,000 : 1,000	10,000 : 4,000
	1,000 : 1,000	10,000 : 4,000

Minimum transfer amounts may be different

Even if a bank has the same transfer ratio for all partners, the minimum transfer amount may vary depending on partner.

There are two banks where the minimum transfer amounts differ across programmes: Maybank and OCBC.

Look for sweet spots

At the risk of stating the obvious, 1 KrisFlyer mile is not the same as 1 Asia Mile, and 1 Asia Mile is not the same as 1 Qatar Avios etc. etc. Think of them as different currencies, each with their own rules, redemption partners, and award pricing.

These differences give rise to what we call “sweet spots”, routes where the price with one particular frequent flyer programme is much lower than others. 

For example, suppose I want to fly from Singapore to Bangkok in Business Class on Singapore Airlines. I could redeem this flight through:

Note how the cost ranges from 20,000 to 50,000 miles, though you get exactly the same flight. To the extent that your credit card points can be converted at the same ratio to all programmes, of course you’d pick the one with the lowest redemption costs!

It’s beyond the scope of this article to highlight all the sweet spots out there, suffice to say that understanding and finding these are key to stretching your miles.

To add further complexity, a sweet spot can be offset by a poor transfer ratio. Going back to our previous example, Air Canada Aeroplan may require fewer miles for the Singapore to Bangkok award, but transfers take place at a rate of 35,000 points = 10,000 miles, versus 25,000 points = 10,000 miles for other partners. Once you’ve adjusted for that, the sweet spot might not be so attractive anymore!

British Airways Club and Qatar Privilege Club are effectively the same

Both British Airways and Qatar Airways use Avios as their frequent flyer currency. Members can make free, instant 1:1 conversions between programmes. 

Therefore, if a bank offers British Airways Club, it effectively offers Qatar Airways Privilege Club (and vice versa). Take note of this if you have a HSBC card, as it’d be silly to transfer points to Qatar Privilege Club at a 3.5:1 ratio when you could do it via British Airways Club at a 2.5:1 ratio!

Which alliance is the airline part of?

The benefit of transferring miles to a frequent flyer programme that’s part of an alliance is the ability to redeem them for flights on any member airline. For example, Asia Miles can be used not just for Cathay Pacific flights, but for flights on oneworld partners like American Airlines and Qatar Airways.

Here’s a rundown of the three major airline alliances and their members.

Star Alliance
Aegean Airlines Air Canada Air China Air India Air New Zealand All Nippon Airways Asiana Austrian Airlines Avianca Brussels Airlines Copa Airlines Croatia Airlines EgyptAir	Ethiopian Airlines EVA Air LOT Polish Airlines Lufthansa Shenzhen Airlines Singapore Airlines South African Airways SWISS TAP Air Portugal THAI Airways Turkish Airlines United Airlines

oneworld
Alaska Airlines American Airlines British Airways Cathay Pacific Fiji Airways Finnair Iberia Japan Airlines	Malaysia Airlines Oman Air Qantas Qatar Airways Royal Jordanian S7 Airlines (suspended) SriLankan Airlines

SkyTeam
Aeroflot (suspended) Aerolineas Argentinas Aeromexico Air Europa Air France China Airlines China Eastern Airlines Delta Garuda Indonesia	Kenya Airways KLM Korean Air Middle East Airlines SAS Saudia TAROM Vietnam Airlines Virgin Atlantic Xiamen Air

But there’s more than just the three main alliances. Frequent flyer programmes can also have non-alliance partners, where agreements are worked out bilaterally. For example, KrisFlyer members can also redeem miles for Alaska Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Garudan Indonesia, Virgin Atlantic, and Virgin Australia, despite the fact that none of them are part of Star Alliance. 

FFP	Non-Alliance Partners
	Alaska Airlines Malaysia Airlines Garuda Indonesia	Virgin Atlantic Virgin Australia
	Air Canada Air China Air New Zealand Austrian Airlines Bangkok Airways	Gulf Air LATAM Lufthansa Shenzhen Airlines SWISS
	Aer Lingus Air Nostrum Fiji Airways	Jetconnect QantasLink Sun-Air Vueling
	Air New Zealand Air Serbia Air Canada Air Europa Air France ANA American Airlines Asiana Brussels Airlines El Al Garuda	Gulf Air Hainan Airlines KLM Korean Air Malaysia Airlines Oman Air Royal Air Maroc Saudia SAS SriLankan Airlines
	Air Canada Air Mauritius Azul Bangkok Airways Condor Copa Airlines easyJet GOL Japan Airlines	Jetstar Korean Air Malaysia Airlines Qantas S7 Airlines South African Airways TAP Air Portugal United Airlines
	Air Corsica Air Mauritius airBaltic Aircalin Bangkok Airways Chalair Copa Airlines	GOL Japan Airlines Malaysia Airlines Transavia Twin Jet WestJet Winair
	Air France Air New Zealand Air Tahiti Nui Aircalin Bangkok Airways China Airlines China Eastern El Al	Emirates IndiGo Jetstar KLM LATAM Solomon Airlines WestJet
	Bangkok Airways JetBlue LATAM MEA	Oman Air RwandAir Virgin Australia

Do note that partner awards may only be available on selected routes. For example, Asia Miles allows redemptions on SWISS, but only for flights between Zurich and Berlin, Brussels, Florence, Geneva, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Stuttgart, and Venice.

Moreover, you may not be able to book all partner awards online, so if you don’t see what you want on the website, try calling up customer service. 

Check the respective websites for the full details and restrictions.

A word about fuel surcharges

Fuel surcharges are basically junk fees that airlines tack onto award tickets, in an attempt to squeeze some additional cash out of members. It’s an absurd concept if you think about it, kind of like going to a restaurant and having to pay an “ingredient surcharge”.

The good news is that Singapore Airlines no longer imposes fuel surcharges, ever since March 2017. The bad news is that KrisFlyer will continue to pass them on wherever applicable, and these can be substantial on carriers like Lufthansa.

Unfortunately, most mileage programmes will pass on fuel surcharges, with the exception of American Airlines AAdvantage, Air Canada Aeroplan, Alaska Mileage Plan, Avianca LifeMiles and United MileagePlus.

Qatar Privilege Club does not charge fuel surcharges for Qatar Airways flights, but has an “award segment fee” that costs US$180 to US$250 per segment in Business Class- just as bad as a fuel surcharge if you ask me. 

All you can do in that case is focus on redemptions on airlines with modest or no fuel surcharges, such as Finnair, Qantas (excluding departures from Europe) or United, or originate from countries that ban or regulate fuel surcharges such as:

• Australia
• Brazil
• Hong Kong
• New Zealand
• Philippines
• South Korea
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• Turkey
• Vietnam

Flights originating from these countries should have considerably lower fuel surcharges.

What about hotels?

You may have noticed that I haven’t addressed hotel loyalty programmes at all in this post. There’s a reason for that: it almost never makes sense to convert credit card points to hotel programmes.

For example, suppose you’re a Citi cardholder with 25,000 ThankYou points. You could convert that to 10,000 KrisFlyer miles, or 10,000 IHG points. I personally value a KrisFlyer mile at 1.5 cents, and an IHG point at 0.67 cents (since you can easily buy them at 0.5 cents when they go on sale). Therefore, by choosing the IHG points, you’re taking a haircut of more than 50%!

Fundamentally, the problem can be summarised this way:

• On a 1:1 basis, most hotel points are worth less than airline miles
• Most banks in Singapore offer the same conversion ratios to hotel points as airline miles

There have been some cases when I converted credit card points to hotel programmes, but they were almost always exceptional. For example, I cashed out my entire StanChart X Card welcome bonus on Accor Live Limitless points, because of an excellent 100% transfer bonus offered at the start of COVID (giving me the equivalent of 3 cents per mile). Likewise, back in 2018 American Express offered a transfer bonus of 3 Hilton points per MR point, which was clearly an error. It was still honored, however.

If you really want hotel points, you’re better off buying them when they go on sale.

Conclusion

KrisFlyer and Asia Miles are useful programmes, but you shouldn’t limit your horizons to just these two. Over the past few years we’ve seen banks adding more and more “exotic” partners to their rosters, which can open up great redemption opportunities.

Before you decide on yet another KrisFlyer or Asia Miles transfer, think about where you want to go, which programme offers best value for that particular route, transfer bonus opportunities, as well as alliance and non-alliance partners. It’s not always a straightforward exercise, but can be the difference between taking one free trip or several!

Which programmes do you usually transfer your credit card points to?