If you are new to the Miles Game, I strongly suggest reading the following articles first:
- Beginnerโs Guide to the Miles Game and How to Get Started
Not sure where to start? Hereโs a quick guide on the basics of the Miles Game and some challenges that you should be aware of. - What Type of Traveller are you? Is your Travel Pattern a Good Fit for the Miles Game?
The Miles Game is not for everyone. Complete this 13-point checklist, before you embark/continue on this journey!
Have you been earning credit card miles/points for better travel experiences? Do you often find yourself wondering which Frequent Flyer Programs (FFPs) you should transfer credit card miles/points to?
“Where should I transfer my credit card miles to?” and “Should I transfer to xxx FFP?” are two of the most frequently asked questions that I see in Suitesmile Chat.
To provide a more comprehensive answer than “it depends”, I feel that it would helpful to have an article to address it.
Why is it important to have Award Goals?
Having award redemption goals will give you a rough idea of what you want to do with your miles, and influence how you earn them. I’m not saying that you should have fixed travel plans for the next 2 to 3 years; just some goals to aim towards. And feel free to change/adjust those goals along the way!
What can go wrong if you don’t have Award Goals?
Getting into the Miles Game aimlessly can lead to a number of problems:
- Lack of award availability (credit card miles/points only transferable to 1 or 2 FFPs)
- Making poor value award redemptions (e.g. KrisFlyer Advantage rates)
- Miles expiring before getting the chance to use them
Here’s a quick example:
Jenny knew that she wants to visit Amsterdam in the first week of December 2024, a super-peak travel period, for Singapore departures. In the past year(s), she’s been accumulating flexible miles, for a greater chance of finding a Business Class award seat during this period.
Pro Tip: KrisFlyer members looking to book Saver Business/First Class award seats, on Singapore Airlines, to popular destinations like Japan, Istanbul and Europe, typically need to make their bookings 10 to 12 months in advance.
As her employer can only confirm her annual leave application 3 to 4 months in advance, she is only able to plan for the trip in August 2024.
As Jenny is a Suitesmile reader (๐), she is well aware of the cheapest ways to fly to Europe using miles/points.
She first looked at KrisFlyer, and found zero availability to Amsterdam, and other European cities.
If Jenny had been dumping all her credit card miles/points into KrisFlyer, she would be left with very little options:
- Make a Waitlist booking and hope (approval/rejection up to 2 weeks before flight)
- Keep her miles in KrisFlyer for a future trip (if there is availability before miles expire)
- Make an Economy or Premium Economy Class booking
- Pay for the flight
As Jenny has flexible miles in her credit cards, she searched other FFPs and found award availability, for the same travel period!
| Frequent Flyer Program | Airline | Miles Required (Business) | Taxes/Fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Privilege Club | Qatar Airways | 75k | S$300 |
| Infinity MileageLands | Singapore Airlines | 80k | S$65 |
| Asia Miles | Cathay Pacific | 84k | S$313 |
| Flying Blue | Air France | 125k | S$310 |
Finding out your award goals
To decide on award goals, ask yourself these questions:
- Where do I want to travel to, in the next 2 to 3 years?
- Am I aware of the FFPs that my credit card(s) can transfer to?
- Am I aware of the amount of miles (and taxes/fees) required from different FFPs for those routes?
- Am I okay with booking an award flight 10 to 12 months in advance?
- Are there any award sweet spots that offer better value for those routes?
- Which cabin class am I aiming for (Economy/Business/First)?
- How’s the general award availability like, to/from that city?
- What’s my travel pattern like?
- How many passengers do I want to redeem for (solo/couple/family)?
- Which airline(s) do I want to fly with?
- Am I okay with having layovers (non-direct flights)?
- Am I okay with repositioning?
A few more things to note
Keep miles/points in your card
The general advice is to keep your miles/points in your credit cards for as long as possible, until you are ready to transfer to an FFP and make an award booking. This is because, every FFP has its own quirks and annoyances.
This is, of course, much easier with cards like Citi PremierMiles and Citi Prestige, where miles are ultra-flexible and never expire.
Here’s a list of Singapore cards with flexible miles (longer expiry term, many transfer partners).
๐ก Click on the + Card Summary buttons below to view the key details of each card.
Citi Prestige
Unlimited free airport lounge visits for two, 4th night free on hotel bookings
๐ Sign-up bonus
Citi PremierMiles
Earn 1.2 mpd on local spend, 2.2 mpd on foreign currency
๐ Sign-up bonus
HSBC TravelOne
Earn 1.2 mpd on local spend, 2.4 mpd on foreign currency
๐ Sign-up bonus
Points pooling
There is also a common argument about miles/points pooling โ the ability to combine miles/points from different cards of the same bank.
Having miles/points that do not pool can lead to “wasting” about S$25 in transfer fees, when converting to miles individually from each card. It can also lead to members having “orphan” miles that cannot be transferred out, if they do not meet the minimum transfer block (typically 10k miles).
Personally, I see it as a small cost of being in the Miles Game. I wouldn’t lose sleep over an additional S$25 in conversion fee or the occasional 5,000 “orphan” miles, when I know that in the long run, most of my credit card miles are flexible and give me fantastic award redemption options in future.
Points pooling information can be found by clicking on the + More info buttons in Suitesmile’s credit card pages.
What are my Award Goals?
I enjoy trying out Business/First Class products of different airlines, and I have a wish list of products that I would like to fly in.
I should also mention that as a blogger/content-creator, there’s an additional incentive in sharing reviews/photos of more airline products, instead of simply flying from point A to point B in any Business Class.
Related: Suitesmile’s Airline Seat Reviews
On top of getting new flying experiences, I would also like to redeem miles for future Business/First Class trips to regions like:
- North Asia (Infinity MileageLands/Flying Blue)
- Oceania (KrisFlyer)
- Europe (Asia Miles/Privilege Club/Infinity MileageLands/Flying Blue)
- Central Asia (Privilege Club)
Additional note: I am comfortable flying with budget airlines, for flights under 3 hours. I do not see much value in redeeming miles or paying 2 to 3 times more for a full-service airline on short flights.
Bottom line
There is no perfect FFP for everyone, and there is no one FFP that would suit all of a traveller’s needs.
It is very important to have a rough idea of what you want to do with those miles; not just using the highest “mpd” cards to earn as much of them as possible, while ignoring how flexible those miles are. Miles are pretty much useless, when there is no award availability on your preferred travel dates.
I hope that this article answers your question of “Which FFP should I transfer my credit cards miles to?”.
Hi I’m curious – if the principle is to keep the points as long as possible in the card, how do you then take advantage of sign-up bonuses?
Having read quite a few of your articles, I have the goal of Biz class from SIN to Istanbul.
Which transfer partner will be most ideal?
My spending mostly goes to Online, Contactless, Public Transport.
I currently only have Citi Rewards as a catch-all, & HSBC Revolution for online transactions. Beyond $2K, I wonder if it makes sense to have a 3สณแต bank card like UOB Lady Solitaire since my annual spend is perhaps $25K-$30K max?
I also don’t have a 4MPD card that can optimize for MRTs, Grab + occasional flight purchases. What would be your recommendation? Thank you so much!
Hi Dylan,
Which sign-up bonuses are you referring to?
The best way to fly Business to Istanbul is with KrisFlyer miles: https://suitesmile.com/blog/2024/08/14/sweet-spots-best-ways-to-redeem-singapore-airlines-krisflyer-miles/
However, Istanbul is a popular destination, and you can usually only find Saver award availability 10-12 months ahead, as mentioned here: https://suitesmile.com/blog/2024/08/17/compilation-of-singapore-airlines-krisflyer-tips-tricks-secrets-to-stay-ahead-of-the-game/
You already have the 2 best CCs for high earn rates and flexible miles/points. Plus, they give you 4 mpd on Grab transactions.
The UOB Lady’s card’s great for hotel/flight expenses.
For public transport, I’d use the SC Smart card, but only as a cashback card, due to very low spending (on buses/MRTs) and the lack of other good SC cards to complement it.
Hope that helped!
Thanks so much for this article! I recall asking this qn in the telegram chat and to have it turn in into an article is a blessing. Have learnt so much from your blog, and glad that you continue to provide value for us miles chasers
Is there a way to check for availability ? I seem to have a hard time getting any award tickets on preferred airline/program.
Do you transfer from CC>program miles before or after you found an ideal route to redeem?
You can check for award availability on the respective FFP’s website.
For partner oneworld award space, you can find them much faster through the calendar view on aa.com. For star alliance, use united.com or lifemiles.com.
There are also third-party tools like seats.aero.
I always transfer from CC>FFP after finding award availability on a preferred route.