Citibank running a PayAll promotion targeted at Citi Prestige cardholders, earn 1.6 mpd if you spend at least $15,000 through PayAll
Citibank is running yet another promotion, this time targeted at Citi Prestige cardholders through their PayAll facility.
Citi Prestige PayAll promotion
To recap, Citi PayAll is a payment facility to payees who traditionally don’t accept credit card payments (such as private landlords, education institutions, income tax, etc). Citi charges a 2% fee for PayAll payments, so that effectively means that you are paying 2 cents per 1.3 miles (i.e. 1.54 cent per mile) earned on your Citi Prestige card.
The promotion mechanism
From 24 Feb to 31 Mar 2020, Citi Prestige cardholders can earn up to 11,000 additional miles on top of the usual 1.3 mpd when using the Citi PayAll facility.
There are simply two tiers:
Spend $15,000, get an additional 4,500 miles, or
Spend $30,000, get an additional 11,000 miles.
Note that there’s a 2% fee on the PayAll facility, so to clock $15,000 or $30,000 spend, there will be a $300 or $600 fee respectively.
The additional miles lowers to cost to buy miles from 1.54 cents per mile to about 1.2 cents per mile, making it a pretty good deal. Note that this 1.2 cent valuation is if you spend exactly $15,000 or $30,000, and that rate will increase if you spend over this threshold.
For example:
If you spend $20,000, you will get the base rate of 26,000 miles plus a bonus of 4,500 miles for a total of 30,500 miles, at a fee of $400. That works out to 1.31 cents per mile.
If you spend $50,000, you will get the base rate of 65,000 miles plus a bonus of 11,000 miles for a total of 76,000 miles, at a fee of $1,000. That works out to 1.32 cents per mile.
Note that all spend must be made between 24 Feb 2020 and 31 Mar 2020. For the avoidance of doubt, the payment must be transferred and posted to your account within this date to qualify as a spend.
Final thoughts
I’m really not sure who is Citibank targeting with this promotion, given that it has a very high spending threshold for limited types of payment.
Off the top of my head, I’m not sure who has a $15,000 tax bill to pay or even a $15,000 rent to pay. This is also not the month for school fees payment in a typical year as well.
The only way to clock this spend is if you can have an agreement with your landlord to pay your rent upfront for a period of, say, half a year.
Continue to earn 4.4 miles per dollar spent on your daily commute, up to $80 per month
UOB has been running a 4.4 mpd promotion for SimplyGo mobile transactions charged to the UOB PRVI Miles Mastercard or Visa since October 2019.
The offer has been extended once before, to end on 29 Feb 2020. But once again the offer has been extended another time, this time to 30 Jun 2020.
Note that registration for this promotion is required. If you have registered for the promo previously, you do not need to re-register.
How to register? SMS ‘PRVI’ and last 4 alphanumeric digits of your NRIC or Passport Number (e.g. PRVI 789A) to 77862
The promo
Earn 4.4 miles per dollar spent on SimplyGo transactions charged to your UOB PRVI Miles card.
Note that only the transactions made on your mobile wallet (e.g. Apple Pay, Samsung Pay) will count towards this offer, the spending using your physical card will not earn you this reward.
The 4.4 mpd is broken down as follows:
UNI$3.5 per S$5 spent on locally (i.e. 1.4 mpd)
UNI$7.5 per S$5 spent on eligible transit transactions (i.e. 3 mpd)
Note that there’s a cap of $80 per month for this offer per account. If you have a supplementary card, the cap is shared with the principal cardholder. And if you are holding both the Visa and Mastercard versions, both cards will also count towards a single combined cap of $80.
Bonus UNI$ earned between 1 Mar 30 and 30 Jun 20 will only be credited by 30 Sep 2020.
If you have been one of the first adopters for this promo, the bonus UNI$ earned from between 1 Oct 2019 and 31 Dec 2019 will be credited by 31 Mar 2020. Bonuses from 1 Jan 2020 and 29 Feb 2020 will be credited by 31 May 2020.
The full set of terms and conditions can be found here.
How UOB calculates bonus UNI$ for this offer
Most UOB cardholders will know by now that UNI$ Are only awarded on blocks of $5 spend, so how does UOB award bonus UNI$ in this case? The answer lies in the fine print.
For Visa cards, UNI$ are earned based on the accumulated spend on SimplyGo transactions per calendar month, and awarded on the 7th calendar day of the following month.
For Mastercard, accumulated fares are posted to the credit card account every 5 days or 21 transactions or S$15, whichever comes first.
Final thoughts
After all the good things running out since last month (e.g. GrabRewards devaluation, end of OCBC 90N bonus miles, and more), it’s pretty heartening to hear offers like this hanging around a little longer.
Although it’s going to be tough to accrue enough miles from taking public transport, but if you max out the offer each month, you are looking at at least another 960 miles for the next four months, so why not?
Standard Chartered bank is offering a 100% conversion bonus for its cardmembers for transferring points into Emirates Skywards miles from now until 8 March 2020.
Standard Chartered Bank X Infinite Visa card
While the promotion is targeted at the X Infinite Visa cardholders, as long as you have a Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) credit card that allows you to earn points, you are eligible for the promotion.
Emirates Skywards programme
Emirates Skywards miles aren’t usually good value due to the number of miles required for redemptions and the fuel surcharges that come with it. Moreover, Emirates doesn’t belong to any alliances, so your options are pretty much limited.
However, with this offer, the awards become a lot more sensible. you can make a number of redemption options that are comparable to what you might normally spend on Singapore Airlines’ Krisflyer.
Emirates A380 business class cabin
If you have been converting your SCB 360 Rewards points to Krisflyer all these while, your effective mpd of 1.2 for Krisflyer is now worth 1.7 mpd if you are converting them to Emirates Skywards. Overseas transactions, which gives you 2 mpd if you are converting to Krisflyer, will be effectively 2.9 mpd for Emirates Skywards under this promotion.
For those lucky enough to lap up the 100,000 miles sign-up bonus (in the form of 250,000 360 Rewards points) last year, if you have kept your points, you can now change them for 140,000 Emirates Skywards miles – more than enough for a one-way business class trip to Europe.
Note that Emirates Skywards miles have a validity of 3+ years. Miles earned or transferred expires at the end of your birthday month after the third year mark from the time they are earned.
For example, if your birthday is in June and you earned the miles in February 2020, your miles will expire on 30 June 2023.
What can I use Emirates Skywards miles for?
The obvious answer will be for Emirates flights. Apart from Dubai, Emirates also flies to Melbourne from Singapore, as well as Penang from April 2020.
For 17,500 miles, you can redeem a one-way economy class ticket to Penang from Singapore, but don’t – it’s poor value. Instead, opt up for 27,500 miles in business class, or if you are feeling fancy, 37,500 for first class.
If you want to fly further, you can also opt for business class or first class tickets to Melbourne, at 62,500 and 85,000 miles respectively. This option is operated by a Boeing 777-300ER, so the business class is a 2-3-2 configuration, similar to this one that I took from Dubai last year.
Emirates B777-300ER business class
Emirates doesn’t belong to any alliances, but they have a handful of partners you can use the miles on, including Qantas.
Qantas redemptions to Sydney or Melbourne are most useful in business or first class, at 60,000 and 90,000 miles respectively, plus fuel surcharge and taxes.
Qantas first class suite
One shortcoming of using Emirates Skywards programme is the high fuel surcharges you have to shell out.
Final thoughts
If you are a holder of this card and a fan of Emirates, this represent excellent value for redemptions on Emirates, given that there isn’t really many options to redeem Emirates flights from this part of the world.
With the 100% bonus, this offer has also become a much more attractive way of redeeming Emirates tickets, and in some cases, cheaper than using Krisflyer miles to redeem a similar itinerary on Singapore Airlines. The obvious downside is the huge fuel surcharge that comes with redemption, but in some cases, such as a first class experience on the A380, it’s definitely worth every cent.
Register for the promotion and book a flight from now until 25 Feb 2020, 9pm Singapore Time.
For the minority of you who are Qantas Frequent Flyer members, Qantas is running its double status credits promotion again. The promotion runs until 25 Febuary 2020 9pm Singapore Time, for travel between 28 February 2020 and 14 February 2021.
How to register for the promotion
The mechanics are fairly simple: 1. Register for the promotion here. Needless to say, you need to be a Qantas Frequent Flyer member first. You will receive an email confirmation, after which you are good to book your flights.
2. Book your flight between 20 to 25 February 2020. Your flight(s) must be between 28 February 2020 and 14 February 2021. Note that the deadline for booking is 11.59pm AEDT (Sydney time), so that means 9pm Singapore time.
3. Only Qantas-operated flights with a Qantas flight number (QF XXXX) are eligible for the promotion. So if you booked an Emirates-operated flight with a QF flight number, or a Qantas flight with a codeshare number, tough luck.
4. Travel and wait for your bonus status credits to come in!
Now the fine print…
Only flights booked after you registered for the promotion will count. So be sure to receive the confirmation email before you start booking.
Confirmation email for your registration
You can book as many flights as you want during this promotion and all of them will qualify for bonus status credits.
Unlike the previous promotion, you will have to fly on a Qantas-operated flight this time round to qualify for this bonus. This means a flight that is operated using a Qantas aircraft, using a Qantas crew with a Qantas flight number.
What does this do for me? Can I use them for flights?
As with many other Oneworld programmes, Qantas has two separate currencies: Qantas points which you can use to redeem for award flights and use them as cash, and Status Credits which accumulate towards a higher membership tier, opening up benefits such as lounge access.
While you can get points pretty easily through non-flight activities, such as transferring from credit cards (DBS and Citibank are transfer partners here in Singapore), status credits are hard to come by as you will need to physically fly in order to accumulate them.
So how many status credits will I need?
For Qantas, 300 credits will get you Silver (oneworld Ruby), 700 credits to Gold (oneworld Sapphire) and 1,400 credits to Platinum (oneworld Emerald).
So of course, silver is rather lame in my opinion, with the only re benefit being the 50% bonus Qantas Points you will earn with every flight.
Gold is where the real deal begins. With Gold and oneworld Sapphire, you will get access to Qantas business lounges (except when travelling domestically in Australia, you will get Qantas Club access instead), as well as oneworld business lounges, such as the incredibly good Cathay Pacific lounges in Hong Kong.
Best part of being a QFF Gold member based in Singapore is that if you are flying Jetstar Asia (3K), you can also access the Qantas Singapore lounge before your flight.
You also get 75% more points on all eligible flights, so that’s pretty awesome if you ask me.
Platinum is where you probably want to be if you are a serious flier. However, it’s gonna be really hard to hit 1,400 status credits in a single year unless you visit London five times a year in Business class. That’s way too much money to spend on prestige, but if you have that kind of money, you will get access to oneworld First Class lounges, including Qantas’ flagship First lounge in Sydney and their latest first class lounge right here in Singapore. You will also enjoy 100% bonuses on all Qantas points earned.
Qantas Singapore First Lounge
How many status credits will I earn under this promo?
This promotion offers 100% bonus, so that is pretty hefty. If you can clock just 350 status credits before the 100% bonus, that will launch you straight to gold.
Flying business class on Qantas from Singapore to Sydney and back? That’s 120 status credits one way, so giving you a total of 480 status credits with the double status credits promotion.
If you don’t mind taking a little detour, plan your trip with a transit via Melbourne, and you will get 160 status credits each way for a total of 640 roundtrip, after the bonus. That’s just a little shy of gold.
My strategy– keeping it around $5 per status credit
As most of my travel are spent on my own dime, I often try to find flights that work out to around $5 per status credit. Qantas flights are typically expensive for the number of status credits they offer, but with this double status credit promotion, it comes close to that sweet spot of $5 per SC.
My flight was about $1,700 roundtrip to Sydney (via Melbourne) and I’ll be netting 320 status credits, translating to an average of $5.31 per SC. Still a little off the mark, but good enough.
It’s been a long while since Qantas offered an open status credit promotion, since the last one back in August 2018. Qantas has been experimenting with targeted status credit promotions since, and sadly most offshore members are not included in the targeted promotions.
This promotion is probably timely, given the global slowdown in air travel given the ongoing Covid-19 issue, so this will help to give that much needed boost to bring people back in the air. And hey, it’s never too early to plan for year-end holiday right now.
The service is a downgauge from the daily A380 service, along with 15% capacity reductions across Asia services to Australia
Qantas will be operating its newest fleet – the Boeing Dreamliner 787-9s – on the Singapore-Melbourne route from an unspecified time until May.
The service is a response to the on-going Covid-19 crisis, which have seen airlines around the world slashing capacity as people think twice about international travel during this period of time.
What is changing?
The current QF35/36 service between Singapore and Melbourne is operated by an A380, which can carry up to 484 passengers. This will be replaced by the Boeing Dreamliner 787-9 from 30 March up to 24 May, which will carry 236 passengers in three classes.
The second daily Melbourne service, operated as QF37/38, operated using an A330, will only be cancelled on selected days in the month of March. Details below:
Betwen 9 and 29 Mar 2020:
Sector
Flight no.
Arrival
Departure
Duration
Aircraft type
Day of ops
SIN – MEL
QF36
2015
0635(+1)
7h 20m
A380
Daily
SIN – MEL
QF38
2340
1010
7h 30m
A330
Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sun
MEL -SIN
QF35
1215
1815
8h
A380
Daily
MEL – SIN
QF37
1720
2215
7h 55m
A330
Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sun
Between 30 March and 24 May 2020:
Sector
Flight no.
Arrival
Departure
Duration
Aircraft type
Day of ops
SIN – MEL
QF36
2015
0535(+1)*
7h 20m
B787-9
Daily
SIN – MEL
QF38
2330
0900*
7h 30m
A330
Daily
MEL -SIN
QF35
1215*
1815
8h
B787-9
Daily
MEL – SIN
QF37
1555*
2205
7h 55m
A330
Daily
*flight departs & arrives one hour later between 30 Mar & 4 Apr due to daylight savings time
Qantas Dreamliner Premium Economy cabin
The change of aircraft also means that there will not be any first class service to Melbourne for now, given that Qantas only has first class on the A380 fleet.
First class passengers on Qantas will now have to fly via Sydney
For first class customers out of Singapore or transferring from London, this will mean that they will have to fly via Sydney if they wish to retain their first class seat. The transfer experience in Sydney is pretty horrific though, so I’m not sure if that’s actually worth the hassle, plus the additional three hours of journey time.
Qantas is also slashing Hong Kong capacity
Qantas currently operates four daily services between Hong Kong and Australia – 2 daily flights to Sydney, and one each to Brisbane and Melbourne.
Given the current situation, Qantas will be slashing almost half the flights. Services between Sydney and Hong Kong will be reduced to one daily, while flights to Brisbane and Melbourne from Hong Kong will be reduced to 4 and 5 times weekly respectively.
What Qantas says
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce had said the outbreak had led to a drop in demand for flights across the region.
We have a lot of flexibility in how we respond across the Group. We can extend these cuts, cut deeper if we need to, or add capacity back in. Maintaining our strategic position is also key.
We know demand into Asia – particularly, China – will rebound, and we’ll be able to ramp up when it does.
In the meantime, we’ll minimise the impact of reduced flying on our people by using annual leave – tapping into what is a significant balance across Qantas.
And we’ll take advantage of having the equivalent of 18 aircraft on the ground by bringing forward maintenance.
When you combine the capacity action we’re taking, with the drop in fuel price since Coronavirus escalated, we expect to mitigate the total impact on our bottom line to somewhere between $100 million and $150 million in the second half.
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce
Final thoughts
While the virus has brought about a global reduction of capacity, there are some upsides to these changes. The Qantas Dreamliner is finally coming to Singapore, and it boasts one of the world’s best premium economy cabins so if you are looking to splurge a little – here’s your chance!
Shanescape 