Getting in on the SQ Miles Game

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I was inspired to write this post by the TurtleInvestor’s Project Singapore Airline Suites post. This is something Mr.C and I like to do for fun, while all the investments are running around in their hamster wheels making money and when we’ve caught up on our fav reads and family time, we think and talk about easy ways to make money, make a difference, get some valuable freebies among other things (not necessarily in that order!).

Mr.C got me interested on the miles game, I was happily ignorant prior to that. I spent my free time with my friends blowing up cash and not maximizing that past-time by putting the spend on the right cards or on any card at all! Between the two of us, I was the spender however Mr.C is the one who chalked up more miles than me from his very selective application of credit cards – the details over here at how credit cards are just throwing free money at you!

Do we have a goal in mind? I suppose at some point, it would be great to fly anything other than Economy for the experience of it. I’m not sure if I would agree to it as I’d rather put the miles into getting us from point A to B more often vs the experience, however I’m easily convinced by Mr.C. In addition, we have 2 young ones (any day now for #2!). We are not paying full fare for the rugrats to be on such expensive seats! That would mean Mr.C and I would have to split and there’s no fun in that!

So I leave the planning for miles utilization to Mr.C whilst I keep a lookout on the statements that SQ sends via email ever so often with glee. Most of Mr.C and my travels are on budget airlines since we foot the bill, or rather we take a look at what’s the best value. If it is long distance, then we will do a full service airline. We are partial to Star Alliance members however we do a thorough analysis against the pricing of the tickets + value of the miles. In the rare occasion that we have to travel for work, it does tend to be on SQ. In fact this year I had a trip that my client footed and it was on Business Class! My first time on Business though it was the red eye at 2am both to and fro. I was tired and I just found out I was pregnant and dealing with the joys of the 1st trimester. I welcomed the flatbed however managed none of the other comforts of business.

That said, most of our miles come from credit card spend which goes to show that you don’t need to be a jet-setter to build up miles, nor a massive spender. Again, we only spend on what we need so it’s perfectly fine that we can take time to build up the miles balance. When there’s no sign-up bonus, my spend on AMEX that goes direct into my Krisflyer account monthly as miles only comes up to say 200 miles. We put all my spend on cards that I am trying to build up for the sign-up bonus, if not it’s on the card that provides the most miles per dollar. Again, this is spend that would happen anyway so why not get some miles out of it?

To-date, we have redeemed the miles and gotten good value out of them. Before 2014, I can’t quite recall where the redemptions went to. 2014 I did a round trip to Melbourne for a personal seminar. I used all my miles 1 way and all of Mr.C’s miles on the way back. This was right after our New York family trip so the miles came in rather timely! We almost did a family trip to Chiang Mai in August this year just on miles (there was a 50% promo on miles!) however I was advised against travelling due to my specific situation this pregnancy. SQ was a real darling and reimbursed us for every single cent and mile!

At the time of writing, we both have about 90,000 miles each. That’s good for a 1 way First Class ticket to most places in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. That’s pretty sweet! None expiring soon so we’ll just keep up with the mile hike. Mr.C does not have his statements so this trendline starts rather abruptly for him, immediately plotted at 43,000 miles which is the last that the Krisflyer portal shows whereas you will see how slowly mine built up and how in the recent year it has shot up by way of selected credit card usage (primarily) and 3 company paid trips.

Would you like to ensure your money is working as hard as possible for you? That the money you spend on purchases has a secondary purpose, in this case building up points for miles? Then I would suggest spending some time to discover the best credit cards to use. It doesn’t have to be a very frequent affair nor one that makes you lose hair. MoneySmartSg has done the comparisons and you are free to then just make the application.

My default favourite care is the American Express Krisflyer card which I have held since 2013 except when there’s a card that’s providing better miles out there, which can be the case every now and again. I have cancelled my other cards when I no longer intend to use them exclusively, except my AMEX. Why do I like AMEX Krisflyer? I’ve never experienced customer service as theirs anywhere else, which will be a post for another day. If the below spend is something you can hack, you stand a chance to get 21,500 miles:

  • 1,500 miles via my referral link when you spend $50 within the 1st 3 months of having the card (I get a thank you from AMEX too, no cost to you but all the thanks to you 🙂 )
  • Bonus of 5,000 KrisFlyer miles the very first time you charge to your Card.
  • Receive 15,000 KrisFlyer miles on your first S$6,000 spend upon card approval
  • Samsonite Sigma 76cm Expandable Spinner on your next S$4,000 spend in the first 3 months upon card approval

This offer is subject to change according to AMEX’s promotion but is accurate at the time I posted it.

Granted we’re new to the miles game, so we’re always open to suggestions, tips and tricks! Let’s hear it in the comments 🙂

Author: Ms.K

Ms.K is everything that Mr.C is, without the natural interest in investing and company financials! The activity planner for the family, the driver of random ideas and soon to be ‘retiring’ in to full time motherhood – Ms.K has no idea what she’s in for but remains super excited!
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3 Replies to “Getting in on the SQ Miles Game”

  1. Thanks for the plug Ms. K! To be honest, I mostly travel on Scoot when I pay out of my own pocket, and I see it as good value for money. The miles game is fun – especially when it is a family affair.!

    1. It is fun! Especially when you approach things as a game, just in this case you win actual cash/get value that you can use. I’m not one for board games but I love looking for ways to hack my finances. 😀 I think people who say “too much effort” or “end up spending more” just haven’t had the chance to learn about miles hacking. Like the first time I told Ms. K and her brother about me signing up for a card to get a luggage bag (come to think of it, I’ve only bought 1 luggage bag my whole 30+ years…rest were free) and they kinda went….”okay, not interested…need to spend time to fill up the application form etc etc”. Now Ms. K’s a convert! Haha.

      Ms. K’s going to get a large bump in miles soon because she can meet the min spend on her new card with CocoJr#2’s hospital bill, which is an unavoidable expenditure anyway.

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