HeyMax announces major overhaul of Max Miles redemptions

HeyMax has just announced several major updates to the Max Miles loyalty programme, some of which take effect immediately, and others in two weeks’ time. These changes are part of an ambitious road map which aims to grow its ecosystem to 50 airline and hotel partners by 2027, up from the current 28.

The good news is that there’s no devaluation to conversion rates. Max Miles can still be converted to all partners (except Shangri-La Circle) at a 1:1 ratio, with no expiry or transfer fees.

However, there will be some friction during the transition period, as HeyMax introduces a temporary minimum conversion requirement of 10,000 Max Miles, and suspends instant points transfers (though the latter has already been unavailable for several weeks now, as some of you may have noticed).

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I had a call yesterday with Joe Lu (the CEO of HeyMax) to better understand the changes. In this post, I’ll walk you through what’s happening, as well as my take on it.

Changes to FlyAnywhere

	Till 6 Apr 25	From 7 Apr to 7 Jul 25
Value Per Mile	1.8¢	2¢
Redemption	Entire airfare must be paid with Max Miles	Partial redemptions of Max Miles allowed (min. 1,000)

Effective immediately, HeyMax users can redeem Max Miles via FlyAnywhere at a value of S$0.02 each, 11% higher than the usual S$0.018.

HeyMax will also allow partial redemptions starting from just 1,000 Max Miles (S$20), versus the previous system which required users to cover the entire airfare with Max Miles.

All other rules remain unchanged:

• Redemptions can be made on behalf of anyone you wish
• Requests can be submitted for any flight booked within the past one month (whether or not it’s been flown)
• Only commercial tickets are supported; if you book an award ticket, you cannot submit a request to redeem Max Miles for the cash component
• Both budget and full service carriers are supported, with no airline restrictions
• Tickets in foreign currency will be converted into SGD at the current spot rate to calculate the Max Miles deduction
• If you use a non-cash instrument to pay for part of your commercial ticket, e.g. United TravelBank or some other airline credits, Max Miles can only be redeemed for the remaining component paid in cash

I personally think that FlyAnywhere is a great little feature to have, though it’s best used for Economy Class flights, or budget carrier redemptions which normally wouldn’t be possible through traditional frequent flyer programmes.

Since you’re booking your own travel, you have the freedom to choose whichever channel offers the lowest fare, whether it’s the airline’s website, an OTA, or a traditional travel agency. You can also utilise other tricks like booking through a cashback portal, with a special promo code, or with a special discount (e.g. the British Airways AARP discount).

 Moreover, since you’re basically buying a commercial ticket, you’ll also be eligible to earn frequent flyer miles and elite status credits such as PPS Value or Elite miles, where applicable.

Both the boosted value and partial redemptions are being positioned as trial measures, which will run from 7 April to 7 July 2025. HeyMax will decide at a later time whether to make these changes permanent.

Changes to Max Miles redemptions

Before I cover the changes to Max Miles redemptions, let’s quickly recap how they currently work.

How redemptions currently work

HeyMax has two models for converting Max Miles to airline miles or hotel points: direct points transfers, and cash-for-miles.

All conversions are at 1:1 ratio with no conversion fees, and each option has its own unique list of partners.

Direct points transfers are straightforward— you visit the points transfer portal, choose the programme, then enter the number of Max Miles you wish to redeem.

Direct points transfers are processed immediately for all partners except Hainan and JAL, and have a minimum conversion block of 1,000 Max Miles (with subsequent conversions in blocks of 100 Max Miles).

Cash-for-miles is slightly more complex— you fill out a form, and HeyMax customer service will send a single-use virtual Visa debit card to purchase the miles or points yourself via the programme’s official portal (not Carousell!).

Cash-for-miles has a longer lead time, because you need to wait up to five business days for the virtual Visa debit card to be issued. There may also be a further wait for the miles or points to be credited after purchase, depending on programme. The minimum conversion block here is 10,000 Max Miles (with subsequent conversions in blocks of 1,000 Max Miles).

How redemptions are changing

About two weeks ago, the HeyMax portal for direct points transfers went down. Users were still able to redeem Max Miles by filling in a manual redemption form, but this took up to 10 business days to process.

HeyMax has now confirmed that all airline and hotel partners are shifting to the cash-for-miles model, and from 21 April 2025, the minimum conversion amount will be increased to 10,000 Max Miles (and 1,000 Max Miles after that, or whatever the programme’s minimum block is).

HeyMax has taken pains to emphasise that this is a temporary measure, and their goal is to migrate all partners back to a direct transfer arrangement as soon as possible. This will happen in batches, with the first wave expected to take place within the next 2-3 months. Partners which have been migrated to the direct transfer arrangement will have 1,000 miles minimums and instant redemptions restored.

But until then, you’ll need to buffer additional lead time for Max Miles transfers to be completed. The process will also be a lot more manual, requiring several steps:

1. Submit a redemption request
2. Wait for a virtual Visa debit card to be issued (up to five business days)
3. Visit the airline/hotel’s portal to purchase miles/points
4. Wait for the miles/points to be credited (may be instant, but could take a few days)

Unfortunately, the suspension of instant conversions will limit your ability to take advantage of unexpected redemption opportunities, like those Flying Blue error fares on Christmas. 

The 10,000 minimum conversion block will result in more orphan points, though you have the next two weeks to cash out with the current 1,000 minimums if you wish. Requests can be submitted in the HeyMax app, and will take up to five business days to be processed. 

I should also mention that not every airline and hotel programme has a seamless process for members to purchase miles or points. With some, like Air Canada Aeroplan or Qatar Privilege Club, it’s a very straightforward task that can be done completely online. With others, like Royal Orchid Plus, the process is more clunky, requiring members to call up customer service or submit a manual form. 

Fortunately, most of the partners you’d want to redeem miles for — like Air Canada Aeroplan, British Airways Executive Club, Flying Blue, Qatar Privilege Club — do make miles purchases very simple.

Special arrangement for Accor Live Limitless

Since Accor Live Limitless (ALL) does not sell its points to the public, HeyMax will handle redemptions in a different way.

Instead of converting Max Miles to ALL points, you will need to complete a stay at any Accor hotel, then submit your post-stay invoice to HeyMax for reimbursement. Reimbursement will be made with three business days for the room rate, taxes, and incidentals like restaurants, spa treatments and activities.

ALL’s standard redemption rate is 2,000 ALL points = €40, and HeyMax will use the day’s spot rate to calculate reimbursements. Mind you, this “pay first, reimburse later” model has two big advantages:

• Members can earn credit card rewards on the full amount of their stay
• Members can earn ALL points on the full amount of their stay

If you were to convert Max Miles into ALL points and use them to offset the cost of a stay, you’d only earn credit card rewards and ALL points on the nett amount. 

New and suspended partners

HeyMax will be adding transfers to EVA Air and Garuda, while suspending transfers to Air Asia and JAL.

GarudaMiles were interesting…once upon a time, but for me the real attraction here is the underrated EVA Air Infinity MileageLands, whhich offers great value sweet spots between Singapore and Europe/North America. 

I don’t really care abou the loss of Air Asia, but JAL Mileage Bank is a surprisingly valuable programme. The main issue was that conversions could take up to 10+ days to complete, which made it difficult to jump on award seats without doing speculative transfers. Hopefully the programme will return with faster conversions in the near future.

Will there be devaluations?

Here’s the elephant in the room: when partners are migrated back to the direct transfer system, will the 1:1 ratios continue or will there be a devaluation?

I put the question across to Joe, who said “we are aiming to maintain (a) 1:1 ratio, because it’s a key thing that customers love about their miles”.

There’s no devaluation of Max Miles. And we have no plans to devalue. Everything we’re doing is focused on delivering more value back to you over time. This ultimately means better value for you as a Maxer. 

-HeyMax

I certainly hope so, because the 1:1 ratio is precisely what makes Max Miles so valuable. If HeyMax followed the lead of HSBC and OCBC by introducing different transfer ratios for different partners, the programme would become more complicated, and the opportunities for outsized value would be nerfed.

Over the past year, I’ve derived excellent value from my Max Miles by converting them at a 1:1 ratio to programmes like Accor Live Limitless and World of Hyatt. I’m also relishing the opportunity to explore AAdvantage for its great value First and Business Class awards to Japan, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg, really. There’s tons of other sweet spots that Max Miles open up, which will only grow as the ecosystem expands.

Keeping the 1:1 ratio is crucial to preserving the value of Max Miles, and I think HeyMax is well aware of that.

Conclusion

HeyMax will be making some big changes to its Max Miles loyalty programme, with the goal of growing to 50 airline and hotel partners by 2027 (it’s not known which programmes are on the horizon, but I’d certainly give my vote to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club).

While transfer ratios will not be devalued, this transition will bring some temporary disruptions to the regular redemption process, such the suspension of instant transfers, and a new minimum transfer amount of 10,000 Max Miles. For what it’s worth, users can still cash out their Max Miles at the current minimum of 1,000 for the next two weeks, before the larger block comes into effect on 21 April 2025.

I understand that people get jittery every time a company makes changes to its loyalty programme (and I don’t blame them— just look at Chope), so I’ve emphasised to Joe the importance of overcommunicating during this period. 

With any luck, the transition will move smoothly, and Max Miles v2.0 will be even more seamless and versatile than today.