Miles Strategy for UOB Cardholders
May 21, 2020
Would you like to experience business class while travelling long distances? After saving my miles for a really long time, I finally managed to accumulate enough to fly business class when travelling to London a couple of months back.
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| We both wanted the window seat so S took the seat behind (and it was super hard to chit chat lol) |
My personal miles strategy (please take it with a pinch of salt as I’m sharing these based on what worked for me) is to consolidate it all within one bank (UOB for my case) so that I can accumulate and combine all my rewards points (also known as UNI$) across the different cards I use. In this way, you’d get to save on your miles’ conversion fee - it costs $25 each time you convert your UNI$ or rewards points to miles.
UOB Preferred Platinum Card
UOB Preferred Platinum Card
Earn Rate: 4 miles per dollar spent
Used for: Mobile contactless payment, online shopping & entertainment
Examples: Everything that allows PayWave (e.g. NTUC/Retails Shops) | Buying tickets on SISTIC / Online Shopping
Maximum Cap: $1,000 per month
UOB Lady’s (Solitaire) Card
Earn Rate: 4 miles per dollar spent
Used for: Food and Travel (You can choose 1 or 2 categories every quarter to earn 4mpd)
Examples: All restaurants or food expenses | Airline & Hotel Bookings
UOB PRVI Miles Card
Earn Rate: 1.4 miles per dollar spent
Used for: Everything Else
Examples: Recurring Bills (StarHub/SP)
4 miles x 3 cents = 16 cents
My strategy is built up mainly from reading The Mile Lion so do check them out if you prefer to diversify across different cards! They even have a guide on what card to use for different categories. What do you think? Let me know your thoughts or if you have a different strategy to share. Always happy to learn!
Psst, you can also check out my business class flight experience on my Instagram Stories here. Perhaps you’d be able to get some motivation to convert to Team Miles? Hehe. Meanwhile, stay home and stay safe! xx
Used for: Mobile contactless payment, online shopping & entertainment
Examples: Everything that allows PayWave (e.g. NTUC/Retails Shops) | Buying tickets on SISTIC / Online Shopping
Maximum Cap: $1,000 per month
UOB Lady’s (Solitaire) Card
Earn Rate: 4 miles per dollar spent
Used for: Food and Travel (You can choose 1 or 2 categories every quarter to earn 4mpd)
Examples: All restaurants or food expenses | Airline & Hotel Bookings
Maximum Cap: $1,000 or $3,000 per month
This card is also linked to UOB One Account so you can get a higher interest rate for it if you spend a minimum of $500 monthly! Sadly, unlike DBS Women’s Card, this card is strictly for the ladies only.
Earn Rate: 1.4 miles per dollar spent
Used for: Everything Else
Examples: Recurring Bills (StarHub/SP)
Maximum Cap: None
Special Earn Rate (PRVIMiles):
6 Miles: Agoda/Expedia/UOB Travel
4.4 Miles: Bus/Train Spend via mobile contactless
On the side, I also use Citibank Rewards Card and Citibank PremierMiles Card for certain situations.
- I use it at retailers that rewards SMART$ instead of UNI$. This means that you get cash back in the form of SMART$, instead of rewards points/miles in the form of UNI$
- For purchases less than $5. As UOB rewards UNI$ by blocks of $5, anything less than that won’t earn you miles
If you are planning to travel on business class with your miles, the value of one mile is around 3 cents.
This translates to about a 16% return on every dollar you spend! I personally feel that it’s way better than any cash back card which usually provides around 5% return, just that it comes with delayed gratification.
*Do take note that if you use your miles for purchasing an economy class ticket though, the value of one mile goes down to around 1.9 cents.
*Do take note that if you use your miles for purchasing an economy class ticket though, the value of one mile goes down to around 1.9 cents.
To see how many miles are required for preferred travel destination, do refer to SQ Awards Chart ( do take note that it changes from time to time)
Psst, you can also check out my business class flight experience on my Instagram Stories here. Perhaps you’d be able to get some motivation to convert to Team Miles? Hehe. Meanwhile, stay home and stay safe! xx
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