In Singapore, you can transfer your points from your bank into airline frequent flyer miles. Every credit card has a different transfer ratio, even within the same bank.
Apart from a handful of co-branded credit cards like the UOB KrisFlyer Card or the American Express KrisFlyer card, earning airline miles from credit cards involves first earning the bank’s loyalty points, then transferring them over to a frequent flyer program’s miles.
Before we dive into transferring your points to frequent flyer miles, we have to talk about some concepts that apply generally to all banks.
Points Pooling
An important concept here is points pooling. This means that when you’re redeeming, and you earn points across different credit cards from the same bank, you can redeem them all at once as if they are in the same stash.
There are several benefits to this:
- You can save on the points redemption fee. Usually they cost between S$25 to S$27.
- You can avoid having orphaned points or points expiring because you can redeem them all at once.
For the banks that support points pooling, the points earned from different credit cards can still expire at different times. Not every bank supports point pooling, and we will clearly mark out those that do in this article.
For banks that do not support points pooling, they might have a different transfer ratio for different credit cards.
Minimum Transfers
For all banks, there is usually a minimum transfer needed. This means that you need at least a certain number of points earned on the card before you can transfer them to your frequent flyer program.
Transfer Fee
Apart from a few select credit cards, most credit cards require you to pay a transfer fee for transferring your points from a bank to a frequent flyer program. This can usually range from $25-$27 each time.
This single fee applies regardless if you are transferring only 10,000 points or 100,000 points. Therefore, it’s usually more advantageous to transfer a large amount of points over at once.
DBS
| Points Pooling | Yes |
| Points Currency | DBS Points |
DBS Credit Cards
| Credit Cards | Expiry |
|---|---|
 DBS Altitude Card | No expiry |
| DBS Woman’s Mastercard | 12 months |
 DBS Woman’s World Mastercard | 12 months |
 DBS Vantage Card | 36 months |
DBS Transfer Ratio
| Frequent Flyer Program | Ratio (Bank:FFP) |
|---|---|
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 5000 : 10000 |
| Cathay Pacific Asiamiles | 5000 : 10000 |
| Qantas Points | 5000 : 10000 |
| AirAsia BIG Points | 500 : 1500 |
Citibank
| Points Pooling | No |
| Points Currency | Citi ThankYou Points, Citi Miles |
Citibank has two different points currencies: the Citi ThankYou points and Citi Miles. For each of the point currencies, they have a slightly different mechanism in the way they transfer over to frequent flyer programs.
Citibank Credit Cards
| Credit Card | Points Currency | Expiry |
|---|---|---|
 Citi Prestige | Citi ThankYou Points | No expiry |
 Citi Rewards | Citi ThankYou Points | 60 months (from when your card is approved or renewed) |
 Citi PremierMiles | Citi Miles | No expiry |
Citi ThankYou Points Transfer Ratio
| Frequent Flyer Program | Ratio (Bank:FFP) |
|---|---|
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 25000:10000 |
| Cathay Pacific Asiamiles | 25000:10000 |
| Air France / KLM Flying Blue | 25000:10000 |
| Qatar Airways Privilege Club | 25000:10000 |
| Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles | 25000:10000 |
| Avianca LifeMiles | 25000:10000 |
| Etihad Guest | 25000:10000 |
| EVA Air Infinity Mileagelands | 25000:10000 |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | 25000:10000 |
| Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus | 25000:10000 |
| GarudaMiles | 25000:10000 |
| Malaysia Airlines Enrich | 25000:10000 |
Citi Miles Transfer Ratio
| Frequent Flyer Progmra | Ratio (Bank:FFP) |
|---|---|
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 10000:10000 |
| Cathay Pacific Asiamiles | 10000:10000 |
| Air France / KLM Flying Blue | 10000:10000 |
| Qatar Airways Privilege Club | 10000:10000 |
| Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles | 10000:10000 |
| Avianca LifeMiles | 10000:10000 |
| Etihad Guest | 10000:10000 |
| EVA Air Infinity Mileagelands | 10000:10000 |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | 10000:10000 |
| Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus | 10000:10000 |
| GarudaMiles | 10000:10000 |
| Malaysia Airlines Enrich | 10000:10000 |
HSBC
| Points Pooling | Yes |
| Points Currency | HSBC Points |
| Credit Card | Expiry |
|---|---|
 HSBC Travel One | 37 months |
 HSBC Revolution | 37 months |
 HSBC Visa Infinite | 37 months |
 HSBC Premier Mastercard | No expiry |
HSBC Transfer Ratio
| Frequent Flyer Program | Ratio (Bank:FFP), lower better |
| British Airways Executive Club | 25000:10000 |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | 25000:10000 |
| EVA Air Infinity MileageLands | 25000:10000 |
| Air France / KLM Flying Blue | 25000:10000 |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | 25000:10000 |
| Etihad Guest | 25000:10000 |
| Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles | 25000:10000 |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 30000:10000 |
| Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus | 30000:10000 |
| United Airlines MileagePlus | 35000:10000 |
| Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Club | 35000:10000 |
| Qatar Airways Privilege Club | 35000:10000 |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | 35000:10000 |
| Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles | 35000:10000 |
| JAL Mileage Bank | 50000:10000 |
HSBC boasts some of the largest number of frequent flyer program partners out of all the banks in Singapore. However, it also has some of the most complicated transfer ratios as different programs have different ratios.
We value HSBC points very highly as a result of this large variety of partners.
UOB
UOB has a very limited number of transfer partners, mainly Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific.
However, it also offers one of the largest selections of credit cards that allow you to earn bonus miles easily. The cards also have points pooling, making redeeming your points a lot easier than other credit card issuers.
It’s because of these reasons that we earn a significant number of points on UOB cards.
| Points Pooling | Yes |
| Points Currency | UNI$ |
| Credit Card | Expiry |
|---|---|
 UOB Preferred Platinum | 24 months |
 UOB Visa Signature | 24 months |
 UOB PRVI Miles | 24 months |
 UOB Lady’s Card (Solitaire) | 24 months |
 UOB Visa Infinite | 24 months |
UOB Transfer Partners
| Frequent Flyer Program | Ratio (Bank:FFP) |
|---|---|
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 5000:10000 |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | 5000:10000 |
Final Thoughts
Earning miles from banks is typically a 2-step process: first earning the bank’s points currency, then transferring them to an airline’s frequent flyer program.
By understanding each bank’s transfer ratio and what programs they offer, you can better know which program to prioritise when you are earning and redeeming your points.
