Air miles can be a frequent traveller’s best friend, but can also be a tricky thing to handle. On one hand, the idea of being able to redeem a FREE holiday is an amazing temptation to spend, but on the other hand, the amount of money you need to spend also significantly increases the further you want to go.
For most people, a trip to, say, Kuala Lumpur or Thailand doesn’t warrant spending their air miles on it. It’s on this basis that air miles cards have grown to be one of the most popular credit cards for the longest time in a bank’s stable of products.
The State of Air Miles Credit Cards in Singapore
These days, it isn’t good enough to have an air miles credit card that allows you to earn air miles without any added benefits. The days of air miles cards being tied to only one frequent flyer program are long over as well, with travellers having such a wide slew of flight options that brand loyalty these days isn’t what it used to be when it comes to flying.
The evolution of demand for an air miles credit card also comes in tandem with changing consumer behaviour when it comes to planning for a holiday. A study commissioned by Google and conducted by Ipsos MediaCT showed that 65% of leisure travellers and 69% of business travellers begin their research online before deciding on where or how they wish to travel.
Furthermore, this initial online behaviour naturally also leads to more people utilizing online travel agencies (OTAs) such as Expedia to make their bookings, either as a function of convenience or superior customer experience.
The Air Miles Credit Card That Understands
- Local Spend
- S$1 = 1.2 Miles
- Overseas Spend
- S$1 = 2 Miles
- Hotel Transactions at Kaligo
- S$1 = 10 Miles
With travel getting much more affordable over the past few years, this has naturally led to an increase in the number and frequency of Singaporeans going overseas for work or play.
Knowing this, DBS has revamped one of their popular cards in an effort to align themselves with travellers’ needs and behaviour. What this has resulted in is the fastest miles earn rate in the market.
How fast? Here’s what it looks like:
- $1 = 3 miles for spend on all online flight and hotel transactions
- $1 = 2 miles for overseas spend
- $1 = 1.2 miles for all local spend
Now, given that when it comes to planning for a holiday, your travel and hotel bookings are probably going to be the biggest one-off expense in the grand scheme of your lovely holiday, this is a great way for travellers, both leisure and business alike, to accrue miles.
And unlike dealing directly with frequent flyer programs whose miles expire, DBS points don’t have an expiry date. So there’s no real time pressure to use your air miles at all, and you can always just convert your points to miles when you have enough to redeem for a longer haul flight that you wish to take at no cost.
What About Those Peripheral Benefits?
As I mentioned earlier on, earning miles fast is great, but it’s not the only thing that people look for in an air miles credit card. With consumer preferences having become rather… fickle, the need for a more encompassing product offering has also increased.
With regards to frequent flyer programs, DBS has partnered KrisFlyer, Asia Miles and Air Asia, allowing customers to redeem miles for flights on Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific and more than 25 other partner airlines, as well as at over 60,000 hotels worldwide.
Complimentary travel insurance of up to $1 million for you and your family when you charge your full travel fare to your card, together with the DBS Altitude Butler service, a dedicated 24-hour concierge service, serves to help make the travel experience a lot smoother. Never underestimate the power of being able to travel with peace of mind. If you are truly a lazy holiday planner, the butler service can also assist with your leisure plans, such as the purchasing and delivery of tickets for concerts or sporting events; sourcing for hospitality packages and charter services, amongst other things.
Wait… There’s More
As an added bonus, DBS Altitude Visa Signature Credit Card is doubling the amount of miles you can earn from now till 31st July 2017.
Yes, that means $1 = 6 miles for all spend on flight and hotel bookings online, $1 = 4 miles for overseas spend and $1 = 2.4 miles for local spend with a cap of 3,000 bonus miles. This is a great kickstart to building up your air miles in your account. To add to this, you just need to spend above S$2,500 per calendar month (which shouldn’t be too hard with the current GSS!).
If you are interested in getting the DBS Altitude Visa Signature Credit Card, you can apply here.
This article was brought to you by the DBS Altitude Visa Signature Credit Card.