Singapore Airline’s Kris Flyer programs is one of my favourites out there. Especially for redemptions on Singapore Airlines in business and first-class.
Check out our ultimate Singapore KrisFlyer guide here!
Not only is award space rather good, but the redemption costs are also significantly lower compared to Qantas, for example. The lower prices aren’t just limited to the number of points you require; you will especially notice it when it comes to paying “taxes” or “fuel surcharges”. My recent flight from Perth to Paris, for example only cost me $90 in taxes (business & first class); a similar Qantas Frequent Flyer redemption would have been closer to the $600 mark (one way).
That said, my focus is generally on earning Kris Flyer miles, but it is harder since there aren’t that many big sign-up deals like we see with Qantas. This means you will need to optimise either Velocity Frequent Flyer points (they can be transferred to Kris Flyer of 1.55 VA for 1 KF) and aim for the best cards to earn you points on daily spending.
Below you will find the best cards in Australia to earn Kris Flyer points. Since I aim to show you the best cards and not just the ones Flight Hacks receives a commission for, I will include all brands, but won’t link out to the specific offers (you can Google this yourself). For the brands we do partner with, there will be an affiliate link, if you chose to sign up with one of the deals, Flight Hacks might earn a small commission if you’re approved and I appreciate the support!
In this post:
- 1) Citi Diners Club + World Mastercard
- 2) American Express Platinum
- 3) American Express Platinum Edge
- 4) American Express Explorer
- 5) ANZ Rewards Black Visa
- 6) St George Amplify Signature Visa
- 7) Westpac Altitude Black Mastercard
- 8) Citi Prestige Infinite Visa
- Australian Flexible Rewards Programs Transfer Rates
1) Citi Diners Club + World Mastercard
This card combo is slightly odd and also uncommon, but it happens to earn an outstanding 1.29 Kris Flyer points per $1 spend. Since this is a combo with a World Mastercard (Mastercard earns at a rate of 0.75 points per dollar, unfortunately), acceptance will be excellent.
Applying is done through a paper form (found on the Diners Club website). Although the cards are branded (and I assume issued) by Citi Bank, you won’t find any reference to this product on the Citi Bank website.
The way you earn the 1.29 points per dollar isn’t direct either. The card earns 2 points per dollar, but transfer rates to Kris Flyer direct are 2:1. We can get around this by sending points to Velocity first at a rate of 1:1 and then transfer it to KrisFlyer (instantly) which results in a direct earn of 1.29 Kris Flyer miles per dollar.
2) American Express Platinum
At the moment I hold this as my primary card. Yes it’s expensive, but I’m able to use this card to its full potential, and this helps justify the fee. Of course, this card isn’t for everyone but if you’re serious about luxury travel or you want to use this card to pay for business expenses, points rack up fast and uncapped at a rate of 1.125 Kris Flyer per dollar spent.
Right now you can get up to 150,000 bonus points when you sing up which equals 75,000 Kris Flyer miles.
Read our full care review here: American Express Platinum valuation
Or, apply here
3) American Express Platinum Edge
I consider this card the staple in any serious point hackers wallet. The yearly $200 travel credit entirely offsets the $195 annual fee. The magic happens at the supermarket and petrol stations where the Edge will earn 1.5 Kris Flyer miles per dollar. Even if you already have an Amex card, it’s worth getting this as well just to increase points earn in specific categories.
Read our full card review here: American Express Platinum Edge Review
Or, apply here
4) American Express Explorer
The Explorer card could be in second place but to be a perfect card combo is Platinum charge + Platinum Edge. Alternatively, if the Platinum charge card is out of your budget, the Explorer is a worthy alternative and will earn you 1 Kris Flyer mile per $1 on pretty much everything. Combine it with an Edge to snap up those extra points from supermarket and petrol spent.
Read our full review here: American Express Explorer Review
Or, apply here
5) ANZ Rewards Black Visa
The ANZ Rewards Black visa offers an effective earn rate of 0.66 Kris Flyer miles earned per $1 spent. The Rewards program provides a 3:1 transfer ratio to Kris Flyer so with the current 100,000 sign up bonus, you could get 40,000 Kris Flyer miles.
One hack you can apply is the same as the Diners Club one mentioned above. However, this only works during an ANZ transfer bonus, which seem to happen at least once a year. What you do is save up the points in your ANZ Rewards account and then when the bonus period occurs (a most recent one was up to 50% bonus!) you want to transfer them to Velocity Frequent Flyer. This means you could potentially increase your earn rate to 0.96 Kris Flyer miles per $1!
So even though the initial earn rate is lower compared to the St George Signature card below, chances are very high that you can increase the earn rate if you pay attention. Just keep in mind that the earn rate on the ANZ black reduces when you hit the $5,000 mark (per month), so if you’re a big spender, St George might work out better.
6) St George Amplify Signature Visa
The Signature Visa from St George linked to their Amplify program will allow you to transfer points at a rate of 2:1
Since St George is part of Westpac, I would expect this to last since Westpac Altitude has a sad transfer rate of 3:1.
Points are earned (uncapped!) at an effective rate of 0.75 Kris Flyer miles per dollar spent. St George Signature Visa also comes with an annual birthday bonus of 10% which bumps the effective earn rate to 0.825
7) Westpac Altitude Black Mastercard
One of the worst performers is no doubt the Westpac Altitude Black, which means a low 0.41 Kris Flyer miles per dollar spent. I would only go for this card if the bonus were high enough and since the earn rate is so low, there’s little reason to keep it.
8) Citi Prestige Infinite Visa
Unfortunately, Citi has seen a significant devaluation, and redemption rates are now at an all-time low of 0.4 Kris Flyer miles per $1. Luckily there are some generous bonus offers available for Citi Rewards cards, which could make this card worth a second look.
Australian Flexible Rewards Programs Transfer Rates
The cards above are all part of what we like to call a “flexible rewards program” this means points earned within that program can be transferred to a range of airline partners (in this case we are focussing on Singapore Airlines Kris Flyer). The effective transfer rates are as follows:
- American Express Membership rewards 2:1
- Amplify Rewards 2:1
- Westpac Altitude 3:1
- ANZ Rewards3:1
- Citi Rewards 3:1
Note that while some transfer rates are the same, this may not always be the case of the earn rates.
Fore more sign up bonus offers check out our frequent flyer credit card page!
