Unless you’re spending on a cobrand card like the AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend or KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card, you’re technically not earning miles — you’re earning credit card points.
This is an important distinction, because points must first be converted into miles, and that process takes time. With some banks, the wait could be negligible. With others, it could take several weeks!
There’s nothing more frustrating than spotting the award seats you want, only for them to disappear while your miles are in transit. So here’s a bank-by-bank rundown of how long you can expect transfers to take.
How fast are credit card points transfers?
In the table below, I’ve summarised the expected processing time for credit card points transfers to KrisFlyer (processing times may differ for other frequent flyer programmes).
| Speed | Banks |
| ⚡Instant |
|
| 🐇Within 1 day |
|
| ⏰ 1-3 days |
|
| 🐢 Slow |
|
One big caveat: this is based on my personal experience, supplemented with data points sourced from the MileLion community.
Processing times can vary depending on factors like the day you initiate the conversion, and whether it’s your first-ever transfer (more on these later). Moreover, it may change over time. For example, transfers from Citi used to be reliably completed within the same day, but since mid-2023, they can take up to three days.
If your experience says different, do share it in the comments.
Instant
| Bank | Min. Transfer (KrisFlyer) |
Conversion Fee |
| American Express | 250 miles |
Free |
| DBS (yuu Points) |
56 miles^ | Free |
| HSBC | 10,000 miles* | Free |
| *Transfers beyond this amount are in blocks of 2 miles ^Transfers beyond this amount are in blocks of 1 mile |
||
As the name suggests, points transfers from American Express, HSBC or DBS (yuu Points only) are completed instantly, or practically instantly. If you don’t see the miles in your KrisFlyer account, logging out and in again usually solves it.
All three also happen to offer free conversions, which makes them ideal candidates for when you need a quick top-up to your KrisFlyer account.
However, it’s important to know that HSBC offers a slightly inferior transfer ratio for KrisFlyer of 30,000 points to 10,000 miles, versus 25,000 points to 10,000 miles for other partners such as Asia Miles, Etihad Guest and EVA Air. So unless you’re willing to take the 17% haircut, it might be better to save your points for transfers elsewhere.
Within 1 day
| Bank | Min. Transfer (KrisFlyer) |
Conversion Fee |
| Maybank | 10,000 miles |
S$27.25 |
| OCBC | 1 mile (VOYAGE Miles) 1,000 miles (90°N Miles) 10,000 miles (OCBC$) |
S$25 |
Maybank and OCBC transfers are usually credited by the following calendar day, though occasionally you might get lucky and see the miles on the same day.
| ❓Why don’t I see KrisFlyer on the TREATS app? |
| If you don’t see KrisFlyer miles as a redemption option on the Maybank TREATS app, it’s probably because you haven’t linked your KrisFlyer account yet. To link your account, follow the steps here. Then log out and in again, and the option should appear. |
1-3 days
| Bank | Min. Transfer (KrisFlyer) |
Conversion Fee |
| Citi | 10,000 miles | S$27.25 |
| DBS (DBS Points) |
10,000 miles | S$27.25 |
| Standard Chartered | 10,000 miles | S$27.25 |
| UOB | 10,000 miles | S$27 |
Citi, DBS, Standard Chartered and UOB usually complete points conversions within two days at most, though there could be situations where you’re unlucky and slip into the third day (most probably because you initiated the transfer over the weekend).
Slow
| Bank | Min. Transfer (KrisFlyer) |
Conversion Fee |
| Bank of China | 10,000 miles |
S$30.56* |
| *A maximum of 100,000 KrisFlyer miles can be converted in a single transfer |
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BOC — who else? — has the most frustrating conversion process of all. There is no online rewards portal, so to transfer points, you must fill out a PDF form and email it to BOC. Once that’s done, you should expect to wait 2-3 weeks for your miles to be credited.
That’s not all: BOC caps each transfer at 100,000 KrisFlyer miles. If you want to convert more than this, you will need to submit a separate form— and pay an additional S$30.56!
Important things to note
The first transfer may take longer
If this is the first time you are transferring points between a given bank and frequent flyer programme, you will usually need to wait a little longer.
For example, DBS quotes a processing time of up to 10 working days for the first transfer, and five working days subsequently (though as I mentioned earlier, KrisFlyer miles transfers are usually converted within three days at most). This is to allow for verification checks to be performed on the back-end.
Other banks, such as Maybank or UOB, require you to perform a one-time account linkage before any points can be converted. In the case of UOB, the linking takes a few days to be processed, so it’s advisable that you do it as soon as you receive your card, so that there’s one less thing to do when converting your points.
Transfers are usually faster on working days
It seems strange for a supposedly automated process, but the day you initiate the conversion matters too. Conversions initiated on a weekend or public holiday will usually require more time to complete.
Name mismatches may delay transfers
If the name on your frequent flyer account does not match the name on your bank account, the transfer may be delayed, or even fail.
It’s usually much easier to update your name with a frequent flyer programme than a bank, so make sure they match before you do any transfers.
Conclusion
If you need a speedy credit card points transfer, it’s best to keep points handy with American Express, HSBC or DBS (on the yuu Card).
Otherwise, Maybank and OCBC should usually process conversions within 24 hours, after which it’s a wait of up to three days with Citi, DBS, Standard Chartered and UOB, or even multiple weeks with Bank of China!
Don’t forget, there are also other ways of topping up a KrisFlyer account instantly, such as Kris+, Atome+ points or CapitaStar STAR$. Be sure to check out all your options here.
Have you done a credit card points transfer to KrisFlyer lately? Post your data points!
