Beginner’s Guide to the Miles Game

Have you read about travellers who travel in Business or First Class using miles and paying only a fraction of the actual ticket price? What are they hiding? Is it a scam? Is it sponsored?

In this beginner’s guide to the Miles Game, I’ll share an introduction, highlight some common challenges beginners may face, tips and how to get started as well as hard truths to be aware of.

What is the Miles Game?

In a nutshell, the “Miles Game” is a term used to describe the Earning and Redeeming of miles to fly cheaper and/or in greater comfort (Business/First Class).

Typically, paid Business Class flights cost 5 times more than Economy Class. However, when redeeming miles for Business Class flights, award rates are usually only about twice more than Economy Class.

Personally, this is the biggest reason to get into the Miles Game. It gives me travel experiences that I wouldn’t comfortably afford on a regular basis. Although I now travel in Business and First Class most of the time, I never pay full price for those flights.

How to Earn Miles?

There are 3 key ways to accumulate miles:

1. Use the best miles cards for all your spending
2. Buy miles during a sale
3. When paying for a flight, credit it to a frequent flyer program (FFP) of choice

1) Earning miles through credit cards

By using the best cards for miles, “players” of the Miles Game can earn miles organically through normal day-to-day spending like groceries, dining and online shopping (i.e. without spending more than they usually would).

New credit card applicants should also take advantage of credit card sign-up promos, where they can receive free gifts in the form of cash, miles or other products like gadgets and luggages, just by meeting the minimum spending requirement.

Pro tip: Credit cards that are marketed as “Miles” or “Travel” cards tend to be really poor for spending, due to abysmal earn rates. However, feel free to take advantage of sign up promos and free airport lounge access on these cards, but only use them (for spending) as a last resort, when you’ve maxed out miles cards with better earn rates.

Miles earned on different cards have varying quirks/annoyances that you have to be familiar with. For example, some credit card miles expire in 1 year (bad), while others don’t expire (good).

Some cards come with annual fees, while others are free for life. Miles from certain cards can be transferred to only 2 FFPs (bad), while some can be transferred to as many as 10, giving you superb flexibility.

The good news is that you can find all these key details in easy-to-read format, in Suitesmile’s credit card pages. Here’s a quick look at the 2 best miles cards in Singapore right now:

To stay on the winning side, cardholders should pay all credit card bills on time and keep track of their card details (e.g. miles/points expiry, annual fee due date etc.). Feel free to use the Google Sheet template linked below.

📄 Google Sheet template to track your cards

Annual fees on most credit cards are waived automatically for at least 1 year. When an annual fee is due (for subsequent years), ask for an annual fee waiver. Remember, you should do this every year. Most (if not all) Singapore credit cards are not worth the annual fees; it basically negates your effort in picking the right cards for your spending and meeting the minimum/maximum spending per month.

If the bank doesn’t want to grant the annual fee waiver, here’s what you should do:

1. Raise an appeal (request for a waiver again through the phone)
2. If that fails, pay your bill in full (except for the annual fee amount)
3. Transfer out your miles/points
4. Call again to cancel the card (you can re-apply for it a few months later)

2) Buy miles on demand

Travellers can also buy miles to save on flights, especially in Business or First Class.

This is useful for travellers who don’t have the time to deal with the tracking of credit cards (as described above) or those who just want to top up their miles balance, before making an award redemption.

However, keep in mind that not all FFPs offer a no-questions-asked way of buying miles.

3) Credit paid flights

When flying on a paid flight (mostly non-budget carriers), travellers can credit the flight to an FFP of choice.

This need not be the FFP of the airline that you are flying in. For example, when flying in a paid Singapore Airlines flight, you can credit the flight to its partner’s FFP, EVA Air Infinity MileageLands.

The amount of miles that are credited depends on the cabin, fare class and distance that you travel in.

How to Redeem Miles?

Once enough miles have been earned, they can be redeemed for airline tickets. Redeeming miles for a flight is also called an award booking.

Like credit cards, FFPs have some quirks and annoyances.

Miles in each FFP can be redeemed for flights on its own airline or on its partners. For example, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles can also be redeemed for flights on Turkish Airlines, its Star Alliance partner.

Unfortunately, redeeming miles has a learning curve too. It is not as simple as redeeming miles for any flight you want, on any airline, on any date, to any destination.

Miles on certain FFPs have a fixed expiry term of 3 years (bad), while the expiry term on others can be easily extended with account activity (good). On top of that, some FFPs/airlines pass on hefty fuel surcharges on award bookings.

There is also the bigger “headache” of award availability. FFPs have the freedom to decide the flights that can be redeemed with miles.

Because of high demand, travellers who can only fly during public/school holidays may need to make their award bookings as early as one year in advance! Travellers who are redeeming miles for the entire family may also face difficulties in finding award availability, especially in premium classes.

Related: What Type of Traveller are you? Is your Travel Pattern a Good Fit for the Miles Game?

FFPs also have different award charts, that tell you how many miles are required for flights to each destination. The easiest way to find out the best ways to redeem your miles is by checking the tables in Suitesmile’s sweet spot articles.

Here are the steps to redeem miles for an award flight:

1. Find out the cheapest ways to fly to your destination
2. Sign up for frequent flyer accounts on the FFPs’ websites (it’s always free)
3. Check for award availability on the FFPs’ websites
4. Transfer credit card miles/points to a preferred FFP
5. Wait for transferred miles to appear in your FFP account (typically 2 to 7 days)
6. Book the award flight with your miles and pay the taxes/fees that come with it

IMPORTANT: Stay in the know

To “win” the Miles Game, travellers should stay up-to-date with the latest travel hacking deals, hacks and news. The easiest way to do this is by subscribing to Suitesmile on Telegram or WhatsApp (it’s free), where you can receive notifications (remember to turn it on) on the latest happenings in the travel hacking world. Even if you don’t have time to read Suitesmile’s concise articles, take 2 seconds to read the headlines!

Allow me to emphasize: this is absolutely crucial. You need to stay updated on what’s happening in the miles and travel world, else you’d just be “collecting” miles blindly (e.g. earn miles slowly, make poor redemptions, allow miles to expire).

Want to take your travel hacking game to the next level? Join Suitesmile Chat. Brilliant minds in this group occasionally share insane hacks and deals that aren’t for mainstream travellers.

KrisFlyer is NOT the only FFP

If I receive a mile for every Singapore-based newbie who thinks that the Miles Game = KrisFlyer, I would have enough miles to fly to the moon and back.

Don’t get me wrong, KrisFlyer isn’t a bad FFP when used for the right purposes. But just be aware that there are other FFPs out there that can also give you great value and travel experiences (a lot of times, better).

It’s a big big world out there. Widen your horizons, don’t limit yourself with narrow vision.

Related: Best ways to fly to Japan/S. Korea, Europe and North America using miles

Don’t be blinded by Miles

Miles influencers tend to (unfairly) spread an immense amount of hate towards cashback cardholders to fit their agendas. The truth is, fanboys don’t make good decisions. Listen to opinions, but remember to always have a mind of your own, as every traveller is unique.

For example, if your spending pattern fits the Maybank Family & Friends and DBS yuu cards, take the 8% and 18% cashback! Miles are NOT priceless. 8% beats 4 mpd, 18% beats 10 mpd.

Remember, credit cards are not the only way to accumulate miles, you don’t need to exclusively use miles cards to be a great travel hacker. Use your huge cashback rewards to buy miles when a good sale comes along. Plus, you can earn even more miles/cashback when using the right cards to buy miles. 😉

If your spending pattern fits these cashback cards, there is no miles card better than them:

Stay disloyal

As contradicting as it sounds, true winners of the Miles Game do not stay overly-loyal to any loyalty programs, airlines or even banks.

Take advantage of the best deals/hacks as they come and enjoy them while they last. When they start to suck, leave them and move on to the next better one. There is really no benefit in being emotionally-attached to billion-dollar corporations.

Bottom line

There are many other tricks/quirks/hacks regarding credit cards and the Miles Game but I’ve laid out all the basics that a newbie should be aware of, before embarking on this mostly-rewarding (sometimes painful) journey.

Yes, it requires effort (more so in the beginning), to win the Miles Game. If it’s too easy, everyone will be flying in Business Class. But as we know, that’s not possible as there aren’t enough premium seats to accommodate mainstream travellers. The hard truth is, most “players” of the Miles Game will end up losing.

So, are you up for it? Check out other useful articles to learn travel hacking.