Citi PremierMiles Card offering “enhanced” Pay with Miles value

Citi has a longstanding feature known as Pay with Points, which allows cardholders to offset their purchases in full or in part with Citi Miles or ThankYou points. I’ve written about this before, but long story short: it represents terrible value, and there’s almost no reason why you should ever consider using it. 

But Citi has now launched a new promotion that boosts the value of Pay with Points for Citi PremierMiles Cardholders. I came across the promotional video on Facebook, and I must say it’s…quite something.

Does the upsized rate on offer make it worth considering?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Nooooooooooooo.

Citi “enhances” Pay with Miles value

From 15 April to 15 July 2025, Citi PremierMiles Cardholders can offset airline, hotel and travel agency purchases with Citi Miles at an enhanced rate of 100 Citi Miles per S$1, instead of the usual 165 Citi Miles.

Airline, hotel and travel agency purchases are defined as follows.

For example, a hotel booking of S$800 can be offset with 80,000 Citi Miles, instead of the usual 132,000 Citi Miles. 

If you’re a longtime reader of this website, my sincere hope is that you’re laughing by now, because this is just comically poor value.

If you’re accepting a value of 1 cent per mile, then the Citi PremierMiles Card effectively becomes a 1.2% cashback card. Why on earth would you accept that, when you could earn 1.5-2% cashback — which could be spent on anything you want — with other cards on the market (and before someone points out that the Citi PremierMiles Card earns 2.2 mpd on FCY spending, or a 2.2% rebate, remember that it comes with a 3.25% FCY transaction fee).

💳 General Spending Cashback Cards (without minimum spends)
	Annual Fee	Cashback
DCS Ultimate Platinum Card Apply	S$196.20 (FYF)	2% (capped at S$200 per month)
Mari Credit Card	N/A	1.7%
UOB Absolute Cashback Apply	S$196.20 (FYF)	1.7%
BOC Visa Infinite Apply	S$381.50 (FYF)	1.6%
Citi Cash Back+ Card Apply	S$196.20 (FYF)	1.6%
OCBC Infinity Cashback Apply	S$196.20 (FYF)	1.6%
ICBC Chinese Zodiac Card Apply	S$150 (F3YF)	1.6%
Maybank FC Barcelona Card Apply	S$130.80 (F2YF)	1.6%
AMEX True Cashback Card Apply	S$174.40 (FYF)	1.5%
SC Simply Cash Card Apply	S$196.20 (FYF)	1.5%
FYF= First Year Free, F2YF= First 2 Years Free, F3YF= First 3 Years Free

Terms & Conditions

The T&Cs of this promotion can be found here. 

What should you do with Citi Miles instead?

Citi Miles are one of the most useful credit card points currencies in Singapore, thanks to their versatility. Points can be converted at a 1:1 ratio to 11 frequent flyer programmes and one hotel loyalty programme, with a S$27.25 admin fee. 

Frequent Flyer Programme	Conversion Ratio (Citi: Partner)
	10,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000
	10,000 : 10,000

That’s why redeeming Citi Miles at just 1 cent each is a poor choice—especially when you could get much better value by transferring them to programmes like EVA Air Infinity MileageLands, Qatar Privilege Club or Flying Blue.

But what if you have an orphan balance?

Since Citi Miles can only be converted in blocks of 10,000, is it reasonable to cash them out at 1 cent each if you don’t have enough to meet the minimum conversion requirement?

Well, I should point out that you can transfer Citi Miles to KrisFlyer via Kris+ in blocks of 4,000 Citi Miles, instantly and without any conversion fees. While you’ll only receive 3,400 KrisFlyer miles, a 15% haircut compared to regular transfers, I’d sooner accept that than a mere 1 cent per Citi Mile.

Citi Miles		KrisPay Miles
4,000 Citi Miles	⇒	3,400 miles

Moreover, there are relatively simple ways of topping up your account to the next conversion block. For instance, Citi PayAll is currently offering 1.8 mpd on tax payments and 1.6 mpd on non-tax payments, so you could make bill payments and purchase enough Citi Miles to make a transfer.

The upshot is that there’s very little reason to accept a value of 1 cent per mile, unless perhaps you’ve decided to cancel your Citi PremierMiles Card and want to extract some value from whatever minimal balance you have left. 

Conclusion

Citi PremierMiles Cardholders are now able to offset airline, hotel and travel agency expenses with Citi Miles at a rate of 100 Citi Miles = S$1. 

While better than the usual rate, it’s not something that most people should be considering, as accepting 1 cent per mile means you’d have been better off spending on a cashback card in the first place.