My AMEX HighFlyer Card is up for renewal, and after five long years, I’ve decided it’s time to say goodbye.
It’s a bittersweet moment, because in its early days, this card was almost too good to be true. No annual fee, generous welcome offers, an Accor Plus Explorer membership, two lounge visits, 1.8 mpd on almost everything, and free miles on AXS payments and CPF top-ups— which other card can boast that?
Sadly, it hasn’t aged well, and following a massive nerf in April 2025, there’s very little reason to hold the AMEX HighFlyer Card anymore (except perhaps for the first year, if a lucrative welcome offer is available). That’s especially the case if you have the option of putting business expenses on consumer cards instead.
But hey, as Sun Tzu once said, “don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” And in recognition of the good times we’ve had, here’s a look back at just how amazing the AMEX HighFlyer Card used to be.
Why I’m not renewing the AMEX HighFlyer Card
Before we get into that though, why am I not renewing my AMEX HighFlyer Card?
Because there’s simply no point anymore. The AMEX HighFlyer Card has a S$400 annual fee, which gets you:
- 6,000 HighFlyer points (worth S$90 at a value of 1.5 cents/mile)
- Accor ALL+ Explorer membership (worth S$299)
- 1.2 mpd on general spending and 2 mpd on SIA Group spending
- “Over S$8,850 in business savings” including Meta and Google Ads, AWS, Mailchimp and Shopify (which are practically worthless in my opinion, because they’re not for direct payment- you’re forced to sign up with specific marketing agencies)
That might be acceptable in the first year, where the welcome bonus provides an additional value boost. But from the second year onwards, it’s absurdly overpriced.
During my cancellation call, I wasn’t offered the option of a fee waiver. But even if I were, I wouldn’t be eligible to receive the renewal HighFlyer points or the Accor ALL+ Explorer membership, which would leave me with nothing more than a mediocre general spending card.
| ❓ What about Accor Plus? |
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Back when the AMEX HighFlyer Card’s annual fee was S$304.59, one argument for renewing was that an Accor Plus Explorer membership cost S$418, so paying for the HighFlyer Card was a cheaper alternative. But with the annual fee now S$400, and Accor Plus rebranding to the S$299 ALL Accor+ Explorer, that argument doesn’t hold anymore. |
A tribute to the AMEX HighFlyer Card
It wasn’t always this way though.
When the AMEX HighFlyer Card first launched in 2019, it was unlike any other corporate card at the time. Most corporate cards were designed with businesses in mind, prioritising cashflow, convenience and control. Rewards and benefits, if any, were an afterthought.
But the AMEX HighFlyer Card combined the features that companies would value with those that employees wanted, such as lounge access and dining privileges. With two Priority Pass visits and a complimentary Accor Plus Explorer membership, the resulting product could have easily passed for a consumer card. Oh, and did I mention the first year’s annual fee was waived, making those perks effectively free?
Cardholders earned a beefy 1.8 mpd on all spending, 30% more than what the typical consumer card had to offer. Even better, this applied to practically everything, even charitable donations, school fees, insurance premiums, hospital bills, utilities and GrabPay top-ups.
Yes, GrabPay top-ups. While banks were excluding GrabPay top-ups left and right (even American Express, for its consumer cards in March 2020), it was business-as-usual for the AMEX HighFlyer Card. I spent the entire S$5,000 for the 30,000 HighFlyer points welcome bonus on GrabPay top-ups alone.
What did I do with GrabPay? I used it to pay my income tax, insurance premiums, MCST fees, utility bills and many other things via AXS. It was like CardUp or Citi PayAll, without the fees. There was even a brief period where you could earn miles for topping up your CPF. What a time to be alive!
The only downside I can think of is that cardholders were capped at converting a maximum of 30,000 HighFlyer points per year to a given KrisFlyer account, which limited the rate at which you could “cash out” (that limit has since been revised to 150,000 points). You could, however, transfer points to up to five nominee accounts, which mitigated this somewhat.
With all this awesomeness, it’s no wonder everyone wanted an AMEX HighFlyer Card. There was just one small hitch— it’s a corporate card, not a consumer card. You needed an ACRA registration number to apply.
There was no minimum business size, however, so one of the most common questions was how to register one’s side hustle. Tuition teachers, home bakers, babysitters, music instructors, door-to-door beauty technicians…I wouldn’t be surprised if ACRA saw an upsurge in grassroots entrepreneurship during this period!
But the AMEX HighFlyer Card was always living on borrowed time, and little by little, the party started winding down.
It started in early 2023, with the removal of the first-year fee waiver. Even then, I’d argue the card was still worth paying for, thanks to its welcome bonus, Accor Plus Explorer membership, and ability to earn points on GrabPay.
Then came a bombshell: GrabPay removed support for AXS transactions, killing off a huge use case for the AMEX HighFlyer Card.
Still, it wasn’t quite game over yet. You could continue earning miles on education, hospital bills, insurance premiums, and utilities—at least wherever the GrabPay Mastercard was accepted.
Until one day you couldn’t. In April 2023, American Express added GrabPay top-ups to the HighFlyer’s exclusion list, along with public hospitals, insurance, and utilities.
Game over: AMEX HighFlyer Card & True Cashback Card nerf GrabPay top-ups
Later that year, charitable donations and education were excluded too, removing any real difference between the exclusion list of American Express cards and their bank-issued counterparts.
The final straw came when American Express “enhanced” the card in April 2025.
 Changes to AMEX HighFlyer Card(w.e.f 23 Apr 25) |
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| ❌ Nerfed | ✅ Buffed |
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The 1.8 mpd for general spending was cut to 1.2 mpd, the 2.5 mpd for the SIA Group was cut to 2 mpd, and the spending bonuses for the SIA Group were removed. The Priority Pass visits were eliminated, and if you were lucky enough to get an annual fee waiver, you’d no longer receive the Accor Plus Explorer membership. To top it off, they had the audacity to hike the annual fee by 30% to S$400!
Fast forward to today, and if you have the option of using consumer cards for your business spending, then there’s really no compelling reason to hold an AMEX HighFlyer Card. Its earn rates are mediocre, its benefits are threadbare (you’re better off buying an Accor ALL+ Explorer membership outright), and there’s very little in it for employees.
So yes. The AMEX HighFlyer Card basically became a corporate card. Life’s funny that way.
Conclusion
Once upon a time, the AMEX HighFlyer Card was probably the best deal in the miles game. Today, it’s pretty much the business edition of the AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend, which was never particularly attractive to begin with (outside of its generous welcome offers). Hopefully, everyone made hay while they could.
Farewell, AMEX HighFlyer Card. You had a good run; say hello to the Imagine while you’re up there.
Are you still holding on to the AMEX HighFlyer Card?
Just wondering, if I have my Accor plus explorer by way of Amex High Flyer and it’s valid until the end of Jan 2026, how can o cancel my Amex HF and keep my Accor plus explorer membership? Will Accor send a renewal or do I have do proactively pay right I cancel my Amex HF or wait until expiry date is near?
cancel highflyer = cancel accor plus.
If you get fortunate you might keep your ALL. Cancelled mine in Aug 2024 and got to enjoy my ALL benefits till end Aug 2025. Suspect they don’t talk to each other.
oh interesting. i read a few #dp from dbs vantage cardholders that their membership was cancelled as soon as they cancelled the card. well I guess I’ll find out soon too
aren’t there a lot of miles to be made when booking SQ flights on the Highflyer portal? or that has also been removed?
yes and no. the highflyer card gives you 2.5 mpd on SIA bookings, plus an extra 1 mpd for certain fare classes. but the 5 mpd from highflyer is independent of you holding the highflyer card (https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/sg/corporate/highflyer/highflyer-programme/).
you might as well book those flights with a 3/4 mpd card if you have it
Time to wind up my sole proprietorship as well!
From a personal card user’s point of view, it certainly makes no sense to use this card anymore. However, from a small business point of view, it is still a viable way to collect miles on corporate expenses for the organisation, because the alternatives are not attractive. In fact, it’s a not a bad thing that Amex now gives you the option to have the fee waived if you don’t want the Accor membership.
I’ve been using it to pay for TikTok, Shopee ads, which wouldn’t earn any points with other cards. Or are they other cards that do? What am I missing?
Just helping add data to this post. I called the Amex customer service today and they offered me a 16000 miles (not 6k, 16k) + the Accor Plus membership. The lady also offered to let me waive the annual fee based on my past year’s business spend. For information, I also asked about whether advertising spend (for me, I spend on Google Ads and Meta Ads for my business) is excluded from consumer cards (the Plat Charge, Reserve and normal Platinum), and the reply from the customer service was that they give MR points for that. My decision to withdraw… Read more »
Was offered 20000 miles + Accor Plus membership. Took the fee waiver instead
I also cancel this card this year. I have got my gold krisflyer thru this card. But is only for the first year only. As for the Accor, I better pay direct is cheaper than their annual fee and got my 30 nights free. My platinum tier remained. Yes, no point keeping this card. No unlimited lounge, no more krisflyer gold accelerated, the Accor now is not like last time automatic. Have to go thru long process which made me cancel immediate. In the past Accor was automatic renewed even before I pay annual fee. This time it delay 2… Read more »
I also cancelled mine last month. Continuing to get Accor. From DBS Vantage card.
Thought Highflyer now awards 8 Highflyer points for SQ bookings.
you can still earn 5 highflyer points for sq bookings without the highflyer card, + 3-4 mpd from a different credit card
Does anyone know why my Accor only gave +10 nights when the Oct refresh came by? Isn’t it supposed to be +30?
What’s a better alternative to the Amex Highflyer card that is also a corporate card? If I cancel this now I will need a better replacement that is an also a corporate card.
i’m not aware of anything better. the amex highflyer card, for all its flaws, is still a good CORPORATE card. but if you can use personal cards for business spending, it’s not even worth considering.