New HeyMax First membership: Fly now, earn later

HeyMax has launched a new feature called HeyMax First, which is basically a “Fly now, earn later” facility. Members receive Max Miles upfront, redeem them however they like, then earn back the deficit at their own pace.

It’s a novel solution that flips the script for earning and burning. Instead of earning miles now and hoping that a lucrative redemption opportunity will pop up later, HeyMax First takes the uncertainty out of the situation by allowing users to redeem now, then earn the miles later.

While there are some costs involved, HeyMax will be waiving the first year’s membership fee for the first 10,000 sign-ups. Moreover, when you earn back the miles you borrowed, the access fee — what you pay for borrowing those miles — will be refunded in full.

The waitlist has just opened, and members will start getting access from Q2 2026.

Get 200 Max Miles when you sign up for a HeyMax account and complete one transaction

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Join HeyMax First

Overview: HeyMax First membership

Let’s start by clearing up what will likely be the biggest misconception: HeyMax First is not a lump-sum deposit to your HeyMax account.

Rather, think of it as a credit line you can draw from as needed, and pay back later as you earn Max Miles through shopping at partner merchants, buying vouchers, using linked cards, referring friends etc.

HeyMax First offers four tiers of membership, each with a different-sized credit line (referred to as a “miles pool”).

Each tier has two kinds of fees.

Membership fee

The membership fee ranges from S$99 to S$1,999 per year. It will be waived in the first year, for the first 10,000 members who sign up. However, the membership fee must be paid from the second year onwards.

Do note that the first 10,000 members will be selected at HeyMax’s discretion, and not purely on a first-come, first-served basis. I imagine they’ll be doing some “credit checks” on the back end, so a user with a long track record of HeyMax usage has a much better chance of being selected than a newly-created account. 

Access fee

In addition to the membership fee, users will pay an access fee every time they wish to draw down from their miles pool, which ranges from 2.3 to 3 cents per mile.

Withdrawals can be made in blocks of 10,000 Max Miles. For example, a Gold member has a pool of 100,000 miles to draw from. He can withdraw 50,000 Max Miles by paying a fee of S$1,350 (50,000 x 2.7 cents each).

Here’s the critical bit: unlike the membership fee, the access fee is refundable.

The access fee can be reclaimed in blocks of 10,000 Max Miles, as you earn them from day-to-day HeyMax activity. Going back to our Gold member example, once he earns 10,000 Max Miles, he can reclaim S$270 (10,000 x 2.7 cents each). This amount will be transferred via PayNow to the member’s designated bank account.

So in theory, the membership fee — which, remember, is waived in the first year for the first 10,000 members — is the only unavoidable component.

Is there a deadline to earn back the miles?

Yes and no.

Technically speaking, there is no deadline to earn back the “miles advance”. So long as your HeyMax First membership is active, you can continue to earn back the borrowed Max Miles at your own pace.

However, the requirement to maintain an active HeyMax First membership effectively sets a deadline by which you must earn those Max Miles back, or else pay another year’s membership fee.

To put it another way, if your membership year is drawing to a close and you still haven’t earned back the Max Miles you borrowed, you have two options:

• Renew your membership for another year, by paying the membership fee
• Cancel your membership, in which case any outstanding access fee is forfeited, and you will not be able to rejoin HeyMax First in the future

What can you use the Max Miles for?

Anything you like.

While point 6 of the FAQs seems to suggest that you must use the HeyMax Flight Search tool to find an award flight before drawing down your miles pool, that’s not actually the case.

Max Miles from HeyMax First can be redeemed for airline miles, hotel points, FlyAnywhere or even gift cards, if you were so inclined. Obviously some of those options wouldn’t make sense, but the point is that there is no restriction on how you can use the Max Miles.

Which tier should you sign up for?

With HeyMax waiving the membership fee for the first 10,000 sign-ups, choosing the Reserve tier is a no-brainer— it offers the biggest miles pool and the lowest access fee. 

That said, be careful not to overextend yourself. At the end of the first year, the last thing you want is to be forced to choose between forfeiting up to S$23,000 of access fees (based on withdrawing 1,000,000 Max Miles at 2.3 cents per mile), or paying the second year’s S$1,999 membership fee. Remember: just because you have a credit line of 1,000,000 Max Miles doesn’t mean you have to utilise all 1,000,000 Max Miles!

But if you do things sensibly, choosing the Reserve tier minimises the amount of cash you need to float to HeyMax in return for the miles. To put it another way, borrowing 100,000 Max Miles will cost S$2,700 for a Gold member, versus S$2,300 for a Reserve member. 

What happens when you renew HeyMax First?

Renewing your HeyMax First membership does not give you a “fresh batch” of miles per se. Rather, it allows you to continue using the credit line that you were granted when you initially registered. 

For example, John is a Gold member who has drawn down 40,000 Max Miles from his 100,000 Max Miles credit line. Renewing his membership for a further year does not mean he has a 200,000 Max Miles credit line now. He’s still a Gold member, with a net credit line of 60,000 Max Miles to draw from.

How do upgrades and downgrades work?

HeyMax First members have the option to upgrade to a higher tier, or downgrade to a lower tier.

Upgrades

Upgrades can be performed at any time.

Members will simply pay the difference in membership fee, after which they will have access to the larger miles pool. Any outstanding access fees can be reclaimed at the rate which was originally paid, with the earliest drawdown returned first. 

For example:

• John was initially a Gold member, with a drawdown of 40,000 Max Miles
• He subsequently upgrades to Platinum, and pays an additional S$400 membership fee (difference between S$699 and S$299)
• He then takes a further drawdown of 60,000 Max Miles
• When the time comes to reclaim the access fee, 40,000 Max Miles will be reclaimed at the Gold rate of 2.7 cents per mile, and 60,000 Max Miles at the Platinum rate of 2.5 cents per mile

If you qualified for the first year membership fee waiver and upgrade during the first year, the membership fee waiver extends to the new tier as well (i.e. there is no upgrade fee). However, the end date of your membership year remains the same.

For example:

• John became a Gold member on 1 June 2026
• On 15 October 2026, he upgrades to Platinum
• His Platinum membership will be valid until 31 May 2027

Downgrades

Unlike upgrades, downgrades cannot be performed mid-year. 

Members can choose a lower tier from the next renewal, so long as they have a lower drawdown than the new tier’s miles pool. Any outstanding access fees can be reclaimed at the rate which was originally paid, with the earliest drawdown returned first. 

For example:

• John is a Gold member with a drawdown of 20,000 Max Miles
• He can downgrade to become a Silver member, as the miles pool for Silver (30,000 Max Miles) is larger than his current drawdown
• When the time comes to reclaim the access fee, 20,000 Max Miles will be reclaimed at the Gold rate of 2.7 cents per mile

When would HeyMax First be useful?

HeyMax First is designed for moments when you find yourself thinking “I wish I had more Max Miles”.

Consider the case of a couple planning their honeymoon, but find themselves short of the necessary miles. With HeyMax First, they can get the miles upfront, lock in the tickets, then gradually earn back the shortfall, knowing their plans are already secured. 

However, what I see as the key benefit of HeyMax First is having a credit line on standby, ready for drawdown when opportunities arise.

Award space suddenly appears

Award space often follows a famine and feast pattern — there may be long periods where nothing good is available, and then a brief moment where a lot of seats suddenly pop up.

When that happens, it’d be helpful to have a ready stash of miles that you can quickly convert to snap up your awards.

Devaluations

If a loyalty programme announces an upcoming devaluation, you might want to lock in some flights at the current prices. Again, having a credit line would be useful if you’re just shy of the miles required for a redemption, or if there’s a particular sweet spot award you’d like to book several of. 

Transfer bonuses

HeyMax occasionally offers transfer bonuses, which can be opportunities to get outsized value for your Max Miles.

For instance, HeyMax recently ran an uncapped 20% transfer bonus for converting Max Miles to Accor Live Limitless, which worked out to a value of 3.56 cents per Max Mile. I know of many people who drained their accounts for this, and probably wish they had more Max Miles handy!

Speed is everything

Of course, the ability to act quickly on opportunities hinges on whether the airline or hotel programme is a direct transfer partner.

To recap, HeyMax’s partners fall into two categories: direct transfers, and Cash For Miles.

Direct points transfers offer greater convenience, with instant in-app conversions (except Asia Miles) and minimum conversions of 1,000 miles.

Cash For Miles is comparatively more cumbersome:

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

If the partner you want is using Cash For Miles, then the utility of a standby credit line is reduced, because you still won’t be able to transfer miles quickly.

Therefore, the usefulness of HeyMax First will increase as HeyMax onboards more direct transfer partners, so fingers crossed that happens soon.

What about the upfront cost?

HeyMax First is a pretty clever idea from the company’s perspective, because users are basically making an interest-free loan to HeyMax, in return for upfront miles.

How much of a loan? That depends on the extent of the drawdown, but could potentially reach as high as S$23,000, for a Reserve member who maxes out his credit line.

It’s also worth remembering that repayments are in blocks of 10,000 Max Miles, which will limit the pace at which you can recover your access fee.

So ultimately, everyone will have to weigh the opportunity cost when deciding whether HeyMax First is worth it, but if you can get the first year’s membership fee waived, then it’s essentially “costless” to have this credit line on standby.

HeyMax First FAQs

HeyMax has published a full set of FAQs about HeyMax First, which can be found here.

Conclusion

Get 200 Max Miles when you sign up for a HeyMax account and complete one transaction

Sign up here

Join HeyMax First

HeyMax First offers a simple proposition: redeem now, earn later.

This could be useful not just for those planning a bucket list vacation that requires more miles than they currently have, but for those who want a standby credit line for unexpected redemption opportunities or transfer bonuses.

While HeyMax First does come with a membership fee and access fee, the former is waived for the first 10,000 sign-ups, and the latter is refundable when the deficit is earned back. 

All in all, I think this is a very interesting idea, and I’m curious to see how it evolves.