Best Credit Cards for Air Tickets (Miles vs Cashback)

Suitesmile rating:

✍️ Short summary
This card, which is also available to men, gives you a strong earn rate of 4 miles per dollar on online spending, up to S$1,000 per calendar month, with no minimum spending requirement. This covers a wide range of spending categories like online shopping, flights, hotels, food delivery and ride-hailing.

The biggest drawback of this card is its short points expiry term of just 1 year. Cardholders should set yearly reminders to transfer out the points before they expire.

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💸 Annual fee
S$196.20
(First year waived, always request for a waiver after that)

💼 Income requirement
S$80,000/year
(Not strict. Many readers with lower income have reported that you can get an approval by applying without SingPass, then entering an annual income above S$80k, before uploading your actual proof of income that is under S$80k.)

🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%

⏰ Miles expiry
1 year from transaction

🫱‍🫲 Transfer partners
KrisFlyer, Asia Miles, Qantas Frequent Flyer

💯 Transfer ratio
1 point = 2 miles

🧮 Transfer block
5,000 points (10,000 miles)

💲Transfer fee
S$27.25 per transfer

🤗 Points pooling
Points from this card can be combined with those from other DBS cards and transferred out together at once.

❓How/When points are credited
Earn 1 base point per S$5 spent, plus 9 bonus points for eligible online transactions (equivalent to 4 mpd in total). Base points are credited immediately when the transaction is posted, while bonus points are credited around the middle of the following calendar month.

📜 Terms & conditions

Suitesmile rating:

✍️ Short summary
This card, which is also available to men, gives you a great earn rate of 4 miles per dollar on 1 pre-selected bonus category, up to S$1,000 per calendar month. No minimum spending is required.

Cardholders will only earn 0.4 mpd on other categories and spending above S$1,000 per calendar month.

Cardholders can choose/change a preferred bonus category every quarter.

The 7 bonus categories available are:

1. Beauty & Wellness (e.g. cosmetic stores, hair salons, spas)
2. Fashion (e.g. clothing, shoes stores)
3. Dining (e.g. restaurants, food delivery)
4. Family (e.g. supermarkets, children clothing stores)
5. Travel (e.g. flights, hotels, duty-free stores)
6. Transport (e.g. public transport, taxi, petrol)
7. Entertainment (e.g. bars, night clubs, cinemas)

Cardholders may check existing selected bonus category by calling UOB.

There are 3 main versions of the UOB Lady’s Card (UOB Lady’s Card, UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card, UOB Lady’s Solitaire Metal Card). Each UOB customer can only hold one at a time.

Before converting UOB UNI$ to miles for the first time, you’d need to enrol in the UOB Rewards Frequent Flyer Conversion programme. It’s best to do this early to avoid delays on your future miles conversions.

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💸 Annual fee
S$196.20
(First year waived, request waiver every year after that)

💼 Income requirement
S$30,000/year (S’porean/PR aged 55 and below),
S$15,000/year (S’porean/PR aged 56 and above),
S$40,000/year (Foreigner)

🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%

⏰ Miles expiry
2 years from transaction

🫱‍🫲 Transfer partners
KrisFlyer and Asia Miles

💯 Transfer ratio
1 UNI$ = 2 miles

🧮 Transfer block
5,000 UNI$ (10,000 miles)

💲Transfer fee
S$27 per transfer

🤗 Points pooling
UNI$ from this card can be combined with those from other UOB cards and transferred out together at once.

❓How/When points are credited
Earn 1 base UNI$ per S$5 spent, plus 9 bonus UNI$ for eligible transactions on the bonus category (equivalent to 4 mpd in total). Base and bonus points are credited immediately when the transaction is posted.

📜 Terms & conditions

📜 Chosen Category MCCs and FAQs

Suitesmile rating:

✍️ Short summary
This card gives you a strong earn rate of 4 miles per dollar on two categories:

1. Overseas (incl. online in foreign currencies)
2. Local Contactless (e.g. PayWave, Google Pay, Apple Pay), SimplyGo (bus/mrt), Fuel (excl. SPC, Shell)

To receive the bonus earn rate, a minimum spending of S$1,000 per statement month is required on that particular category, with a category cap of S$1,200 in the same period. You may also enjoy the bonus earn rate on just 1 category in any statement period.

These categories offers broad coverage on spendings like shopping (in-person and online), foreign currency (in-person and online), dining, groceries, flights, hotels, food delivery and ride-hailing.

However, the huge catch is the minimum spending amount that has to be met on that particular bonus category (not general card spend like other cards). For example, if you want to earn 4 mpd on foreign currency spending, you have to spend at least S$1,000 per statement month on foreign currencies.

All other spending earn just 0.4 mpd (uncapped).

Before converting UOB UNI$ to miles for the first time, you’d need to enrol in the UOB Rewards Frequent Flyer Conversion programme. It’s best to do this early to avoid delays on your future miles conversions.

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💸 Annual fee
S$218
(First year waived, request waiver every year after that)

💼 Income requirement
S$30,000/year (S’porean/PR aged 55 and below),
S$15,000/year (S’porean/PR aged 56 and above),
S$40,000/year (Foreigner)

🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%

⏰ Miles expiry
2 years from transaction

🫱‍🫲 Transfer partners
KrisFlyer and Asia Miles

💯 Transfer ratio
1 UNI$ = 2 miles

🧮 Transfer block
5,000 UNI$ (10,000 miles)

💲Transfer fee
S$27 per transfer

🤗 Points pooling
UNI$ from this card can be combined with those from other UOB cards and transferred out together at once.

❓How/When points are credited
Earn 1 base UNI$ per S$5 spent, plus 9 bonus UNI$ for eligible online and contactless transactions (equivalent to 4 mpd in total). Base and bonus points are credited immediately when the transaction is posted.

📜 Terms & conditions

Suitesmile rating:

✍️ Short summary
This card, which is also available to men, gives you a great earn rate of 4 miles per dollar on 2 pre-selected bonus categories, up to S$750 per calendar month each (total S$1,500). No minimum spending is required.

Cardholders will only earn 0.4 mpd on other categories and spendings above the bonus limit.

Cardholders can choose/change a preferred bonus categories every quarter.

The 7 bonus categories available are:

1. Beauty & Wellness (e.g. cosmetic stores, hair salons, spas)
2. Fashion (e.g. clothing, shoes stores)
3. Dining (e.g. restaurants, food delivery)
4. Family (e.g. supermarkets, children clothing stores)
5. Travel (e.g. flights, hotels, duty-free stores)
6. Transport (e.g. public transport, taxi, petrol)
7. Entertainment (e.g. bars, night clubs, cinemas)

Cardholders may check existing selected bonus category by calling UOB.

There are 3 main versions of this card (UOB Lady’s Card, UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card, UOB Lady’s Solitaire Metal Card). Each UOB customer can only hold one at a time.

Before converting UOB UNI$ to miles for the first time, you’d need to enrol in the UOB Rewards Frequent Flyer Conversion programme. It’s best to do this early to avoid delays on your future miles conversions.

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💸 Annual fee
S$414.20
(First year waived, request waiver every year after that)

💼 Income requirement
S$120,000/year

🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%

⏰ Miles expiry
2 years from transaction

🫱‍🫲 Transfer partners
KrisFlyer and Asia Miles

💯 Transfer ratio
1 UNI$ = 2 miles

🧮 Transfer block
5,000 UNI$ (10,000 miles)

💲Transfer fee
S$27 per transfer

🤗 Points pooling
UNI$ from this card can be combined with those from other UOB cards and transferred out together at once.

❓How/When points are credited
Earn 1 base UNI$ per S$5 spent, plus 9 bonus UNI$ for eligible transactions on the bonus category (equivalent to 4 mpd in total). Base and bonus points are credited immediately when the transaction is posted.

📜 Terms & conditions

📜 Chosen Category MCCs and FAQs

Suitesmile rating:

✍️ Short summary
This card gives you an uncapped 3 mpd earn rate on Singapore Airlines, Scoot, KrisShop, Kris+ and Pelago.

Cardholders can also receive an uncapped 2.4 mpd earn rate (1.2 base + 1.2 bonus) on everyday spending categories like dining, online shopping, online food delivery, ride-hailing and public transport, as well as travel spending made on selected websites like airbnb.com, booking.com and expedia.com. To receive the 1.2 mpd bonus, cardholders have to spend at least S$1,000 on Singapore Airlines, Scoot, Pelago or KrisShop collectively in a card membership year.

All other transactions earn 1.2 mpd, including foreign currency spending which comes with 3.25% in fees (very poor!).

On top of that, cardholders can also get priority check-in and boarding, free standard seat selection and one-time booking flexibility waiver on Scoot bookings made through flyscoot.com/KrisFlyerUOB.

While this card makes all the right headlines, cardholders should know that bonus miles (1.2 mpd) are only credited within 2 months, after the end of the card membership year. This can be a dealbreaker for many who do not want to wait up to 14 months to receive the bonus miles! The delayed miles crediting can also force you into paying the annual fee (instead of cancelling the card), if a waiver is not granted.

Another obvious point to note is that the miles earned on this card can only be transferred to KrisFlyer, albeit with no transfer fee.

Flexibility is very important in the Miles Game and unfortunately, this card offers very little of that. I recommend maximizing the limits of other 4 mpd cards first, before using this one.

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💸 Annual fee
S$196.20
(First year waived, get 10,000 miles with subsequent annual fee payments but not worth it; always request waiver)

💼 Income requirement
S$30,000/year (S’porean/PR aged 55 and below),
S$15,000/year (S’porean/PR aged 56 and above),
S$40,000/year (Foreigner)

🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%

⏰ Miles expiry
3 years from the time they are credited into KrisFlyer account.

🫱‍🫲 Transfer partner
KrisFlyer only

🧮 Transfer block
N/A

💲 Transfer fee
No transfer fee

🤗 Miles/Points pooling
Miles earned from this card cannot be combined with those from other UOB cards and can only be transferred out separately.

❓ How/When miles are credited
Earn 6 base miles per S$5 dollar spent, plus 6 bonus miles for eligible transactions (equivalent to 2.4 mpd in total). Base miles are credited into your KrisFlyer account at the end of each calendar month; bonus miles up to 2 months after the end of card membership year (up to 14 months).

📜 Terms & conditions

Suitesmile rating:

✍️ Short summary

Cardholders can receive an uncapped earn rate of 2.8 miles per dollar on foreign currency transactions, when spending at least S$800 per calendar month.

On top of that, cardholders can also receive 2.8 miles per dollar on flight bookings, when spending at least S$800 per calendar month. However, this bonus earn rate is capped at S$10,000 per calendar month.

Other whitelisted transactions in SGD earn 1.2 mpd, and non-whitelisted ones just 0.24 mpd.

Miles earned on this card expire after just 1 year, and can only be transferred to 3 Frequent Flyer Programs. Because of its poor flexibility and minimum spending requirement, this card is best used for more-expensive flight bookings in Singapore Dollars and school fees in foreign currencies.

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💸 Annual fee
S$196.20
(First 3 years waived)

💼 Income requirement
S$30,000/year (S’porean/PR),
S$45,000/year (Malaysian),
S$60,000/year (Foreigner)

🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%

⏰ Points expiry
1 year from transaction
(No expiry if you also hold the Maybank World Mastercard)

🫱‍🫲 Transfer partners
KrisFlyer, Asia Miles and Enrich

💯 Transfer ratio
2.5 points = 1 mile

🧮 Transfer blocks
KrisFlyer: 25,000 points (10,000 miles)
Asia Miles & Enrich: 12,500 points (5,000 miles)

💲Transfer fee
S$27.25 per transfer

🤗 Points pooling
Points from this card can be combined with those from other Maybank cards and transferred out together at once.

❓How points are credited
Earn 5 base point per S$5 spent, plus 30 bonus points for eligible online transactions (equivalent to 2.8 mpd in total).

📜 Terms & conditions

Suitesmile rating:

✍️ Short summary
Earn uncapped 2.8 miles per dollar on foreign currency spending, when you spend at least S$800 per calendar month on the card.

Earn uncapped 3.2 miles per dollar on foreign currency spending, when you spend at least S$4,000 per calendar month on the card.

Cardholders can also earn uncapped 4 miles per dollar on fuel spending. Given the high amount of cashback (over 20%) that you can get with other cards, this card is best used at Sinopec fuel stations, where all members get between 20% to 23% fuel discounts, regardless of the type of card used.

On top of that cardholders can also receive 4 mpd on non-fuel purchases at the fuel station.

Cardholders also get 4 mpd at selected merchants.

All other transactions earn just 0.4 mpd.

Miles/Points earned on this card are pretty flexible, as they do not expire. Holding other Maybank cards? Having this card will also remove the expiry term of miles/points earned on all your other Maybank cards.

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💸 Annual fee
S$261.60
(First year waived)

💼 Income requirement
S$80,000/year

🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%

⏰ Points expiry
Points earned on this card never expire

🫱‍🫲 Transfer partners
KrisFlyer, Asia Miles and Enrich

💯 Transfer ratio
2.5 points = 1 mile

🧮 Transfer block
KrisFlyer: 25,000 points (10,000 miles)
Asia Miles & Enrich: 12,500 points (5,000 miles)

💲Transfer fee
No transfer fee

🤗 Points pooling
Points from this card can be combined with those from other Maybank cards and transferred out together at once.

❓How points are credited
Earn 5 base point per S$5 spent, plus 30/35 bonus points for eligible foreign currency spending (equivalent to 2.8/3.2 mpd in total). Base and bonus points are credited immediately when the transaction is posted.

📜 Terms & conditions

Suitesmile rating:

This card gives you a strong 5% cashback on selected spending categories like flights, hotels, dining, shopping (in-person & online), food deliveries, entertainment and foreign currencies (overseas & online), when spending at least S$500 and up to S$1,600 per calendar month.

But oldies beware, this card is only available to those aged 21 to 39 years old.

Qualifying transactions:
Only whitelisted Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) for each spending category qualify for the bonus earn rate. Unsure about the MCC? Check before making the payment.

However, if you’re spending in a foreign currency, it doesn’t matter what the MCC is, provided it doesn’t fall under the general exclusions stated in the t&c. What’s great is that typically-excluded spending categories like Medical and Education qualify for 5% cashback, when paying in a foreign currency.

All other transactions earn just 0.2% cashback (uncapped).

Cardholders can reduce the foreign currency fee by about 1% by pairing this card to Amaze. IMPORTANT: Only do this for the non-foreign currency bonus categories (flights, hotels, dining etc.) made in foreign currency (not SGD).

If you’re into the Miles, check out the highly-rated Maybank XL Rewards Card.

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💸 Annual fee
S$87.20
(First 2 years waived)

👶 Age requirement
21 to 39 years old

💼 Income requirement
S$30,000/year (S’porean/PR),
S$45,000/year (Malaysian),
S$60,000/year (Foreigner)

🤑 Foreign currency fee
3.25%

❓When cashback is credited
Cashback amount will be credited to the card at the end of the next calendar month.

📜 Terms & conditions

Suitesmile rating:

✍️ Short summary
This card is only available to those aged 21 to 29 at application. Spend at least S$500 per calendar month to unlock 5% cashback (1% base + 4% bonus) on your 2 highest-spending local categories.

1. Dining
2. Travel
3. Shopping
4. Transport
5. Entertainment
6. Wellness

Bonus cashback is capped at S$30 per category per calendar month (S$750 spend per category). All categories are MCC-sensitive. All other eligible local spend earns 1% cashback with no cap and total cashback is capped at S$150 per calendar month.

Alternatively, switch to miles in the DBS digibank app to earn 1.3 miles per dollar (as DBS Points) on all eligible local spend, with no cap and no minimum spending. Only one switch is allowed per calendar month, and the preference in effect on the 10th of the following month decides that month’s rewards.

Foreign currency transactions come with no foreign transaction fee but earn no cashback or miles. They do count towards the S$500 minimum spend.

From the 4th month after your 30th birthday month, bonus cashback ends and the card earns uncapped 1.7% cashback on local spend with no minimum spending, or the same 1.3 mpd.

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💸 Annual fee
S$196.20
(First 5 years waived, always request for a waiver after that)

🎂 Age requirement
21 to 29 years old

💼 Income requirement
S$30,000/year (S’porean/PR),
S$45,000/year (Foreigner)

🤑 Foreign currency fee
None
(but no cashback/miles on foreign spend)

⏰ Miles expiry
Miles earned from this card do not expire

🫱‍🫲 Transfer partners
KrisFlyer, Asia Miles, Qantas Frequent Flyer, AirAsia rewards

💯 Transfer ratio
1 point = 2 miles (KrisFlyer, Asia Miles, Qantas)
500 points = 1,500 AirAsia Points

🧮 Transfer block
5,000 points (10,000 miles)

💲Transfer fee
S$27.25 per transfer

🤗 Points pooling
Points from this card can be combined with those from other DBS cards and transferred out together at once.

❓How/When cashback and points are credited
Base cashback is credited by the end of the following calendar month, and bonus cashback within 60 days of the month-end. DBS Points are calculated per transaction as the amount divided by S$5, multiplied by 3.25 points and rounded down (equivalent to 1.3 mpd).

📜 Terms & conditions

Suitesmile rating:

✍️ Short summary
This card gives you uncapped 1% cashback on almost everything.

Cardholders can also receive a bonus 1% cashback (total 2%) on travel-related (e.g. flights, hotels, travel agencies) and foreign currency spending when they spend at least S$2,000 per statement month.

Cardholders are also entitled to 3 free airport lounge visits (via DragonPass) per card membership year.

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💸 Annual fee
No annual fee, ever

💼 Income requirement
S$120,000/year

🤑 Foreign currency fee
3%

❓How/When cashback is credited
1% base cashback will be credited within the same statement month, while the +1% additional cashback will be credited by the following statement month.

📜 Terms & conditions

Suitesmile rating:

✍️ Short summary
Mari Credit Card gives you 1.5% cashback, great foreign exchange rates with no foreign transaction fees and it does not come with an annual fee.

Cardholders can receive 1.5% cashback on any currency spending; uncapped for SGD transactions, up to S$1,500 per calendar month (till 31 Dec 2026) for foreign currency transactions. No minimum spending is required.

The existence of this card also means that the opportunity cost of using Miles credit cards for foreign currency spending is now about 4.75%, as those cards come with around 3.25% in FX fees and no cashback.

Cardholders can also earn 1.5% Shopee coins when transacting with Mari Credit Card Instant Checkout on Shopee, but there are better miles and cashback cards for Shopee spending!

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💸 Annual fee
No annual fee, ever

💼 Income requirement
S$30,000/year (aged 55 and below),
S$15,000/year (aged 56 and above)

🤑 Foreign transaction fee
No foreign transaction fee

❓How/When cashback is credited
Cashback amount is credited into the card immediately when the transactions post.

📜 Terms & conditions