One way to extract value out of your travels is to make use of the lounge access provided by your credit cards before you catch your flight. Have a proper meal at the airport before heading to a lounge for a second course and some drinks.
Credit cards provide different benefits and are largely segmented into the mass, affluent and high net worth segments based on the minimum income required. This article is limited to the mass and affluent segment in exploring the lounge access benefits due to lack of data transparency in the high net worth segment cards.
S$30k per annum minimum income segment
There are a total of 5 cards in this segment that provides for lounge access, all with limits in placed on the number of complimentary visits.
ICBC Global Travel MasterCard – Most Generous at up to 6 visits to DragonPass lounges
The most generous card in this segment is actually a rebate card from ICBC bank (ICBC Global Travel MasterCard). The card provides you with options to either airport lounges and/or high-speed railway lounges by awarding you with 6 DragonPass points. Airport lounges will consume 1 point while High Speed Railway lounges will consume 0.5 point which means you can get access of up to 6 airport lounges or up to 12 high speed railway lounges provided by DragonPass. What’s more, besides having the lowest annual fees (S$150) among the other cards in this segment, their annual fees are waived for your first 3 years!
Citi Premiermiles Visa Signature | DBS Altitude Visa Signature | SCB Visa Infinite – Ties at 2 visits to Priority Pass lounges
Lounge provider: All 3 cards provide access to any Priority Lounges around the world.
Annual fees: The next best cards in this segments are provided Citi, DBS and SCB banks. Both Citi Premiermiles and DBS Altitude have the same annual fee of S$192.60 and are first year waived. There have been reports that subsequent years of annual fees are waivable as well. If you are paying for the annual fee, DBS Altitude will net you 10,000 miles while Citi Premiermiles does not provide for any miles. In contrast, SCB’s new X Visa Infinite has a much higher annual fee of S$695.50 and fees are strictly non-waivable. However, it is the lowest minimum income card (usual $120k min income cards) that opens up access to visa infinite benefits such as 4th night free hotel stay for every 3 paid nights.
Welcome offer: Citi Premiermiles earn 26,500 miles with minimum $9,000 spend in the first 3 months or 6,400 miles with minimum $6,400 spend in the first 3 months. DBS Altitude earn 50% more miles (capped at 10,000 miles) with minimum $6,000 spend in the first 3 months. SCB X earn 30,000 miles with minimum $6,000 spend in the first 60 days
MayBank Horizon Visa Signature – Unattractive spend based lounge access
The most unattractive card in this segment in my opinion is the MayBank Horizon Visa Signature that grants you one access if you spend a minimum of S$1,000 in the prior 3 months of your visit to the lounge. Not only the access is limited to once per month, you will only have selected access to Ambassador Transit Lounge in Singapore and Plaza Premium Lounges across 3 cities – Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong. Works if you are only intending to access the lounge on your departure out of Singapore.
Annual fee of the card is low at S$180 and you can have it waived for 3 years.
>S$30k to <S$120k per annum minimum income segment
There are only 2 cards in this segment that can provide you with lounge access, both with limits in placed on the number of complimentary visits.
American Express Krisflyer Ascend – Good miles acquisition card
The Amex Krisflyer Ascend doubles the number of complimentary lounge access provided from the bulk of the S$30k category cards though the annual fee of S$337.05 is higher and non-waivable. In addition to the 4 lounge accesses, you also will get 1 night stay in selected Hilton properties and be complimentary upgraded to Hilton Honors Silver membership.
The card also provides generous welcome bonus which can translated to miles purchase at a cheap rate. Earn up to 40,500 Krisflyer miles in bonuses (52,500 krisflyer miles if including base miles earn on S$10,000 spend) which translates to purchasing the miles at 0.83 cents per mile or 0.64 cents per mile (including base miles earned) which are well below the 2 cents per mile valuation.
- 5,000 Krisflyer miles (first time charge)
- 15,000 Krisflyer miles (spend S$10,000 in first 3 months)
- 3,000 Krisflyer miles (first 2 approved supplementary cards)
- 7,500 Krisflyer miles (referral bonus: spend S$1,000 in first 3 months)
Click here to be referred for this card to earn an additional 7,500 Krisflyer miles.
MayBank World MasterCard – Still an unattractive spend based lounge access
Similar to its S$30k version (MayBank Horizon Visa Signature), MayBank World MasterCard grants you one access if you spend a minimum of S$1,000 in the prior 3 months of your visit to the lounge. Although the access is also limited to once per month, an improvement over its S$30k version is the access to all the Plaza Premium Lounges worldwide rather than being restricted to just 3 cities.
Annual fee of the card is lower than the Amex at S$240 and you can waived it in your first year.
≥S$120k to <S$250k per annum minimum income segment
There are a total of 8 credit cards in this segment that have the lounge access benefit out of which 5 of them provides you with unlimited access. Finally!
American Express Platinum Charge | Citi Prestige World MasterCard | HSBC Visa Infinite | MayBank Visa Infinite | OCBC Voyage Visa Infinite – The 5 unlimited access cards
King of the 5
The king of credit cards in this segment will be the American Express Platinum Charge that provides you with an enormous suite of benefits that justify its high S$1712 non-waivable annual fee. The card provides unlimited access to not only one but 5 different type of airport lounges – Priority Pass, Plaza Premium, American Express, Centurion and Delta Skyclub. For priority pass, you and another supplementary cardholder may have unlimited access out of which each of you can bring in one guest free of charge. For the rest of the lounges, you and up to 2 supplementary card will have unlimited access out of which each of you can also bring in one more guest free of charge.
Rest of the 4
Citi Prestige, HSBC Visa Infinite and MayBank Visa Infinite provides unlimited access to Priority Pass lounges while OCBC Voyage provides unlimited access to Plaza Premium lounges.
MayBank stands out among the four by providing a first year waiver on its S$600 annual fee though it has a higher minimum income required of S$150k per annum versus the S$120k per annum of the other 3 cards. Citi Prestige and HSBC Visa Infinite are strictly non-waivable though there are reports that the OCBC Voyage are able to be waived with the forgo of miles earn on payment of annual fee.
Citi Prestige World MasterCard may provide the greatest value proposition out of the other 3 cards as they provide you with a complimentary night stay when you book a minimum consecutive four night stay at any hotel or resort. You may recoup your annual fees paid by making 2 or 3 bookings. In addition, you will earn 25,000 miles for your annual fee renewal.
SCB Priority Visa Infinite | SCB Visa Infinite | UOB Visa Infinite – Limited Access cards
The 3 cards have a higher minimum income requirement of S$150k per annum (vs their S$120k per annum peers) but provides only a limited access which are relatively unattractive.
Both the SCB version provides access to Priority Pass while UOB Visa Infinite provides access to Dragon Pass.
SCB Priority Visa Infinite is catered to their priority customers and number of access is dependent on the AUM in their account. The threshold of S$200k is the amount required to be made a priority customer with SCB and the maintenance of this threshold will earn you 24 complimentary visits in a year while a fall below threshold will still net you 4 complimentary visits. Annual fee is at S$321 and it is waivable in your first 2 years.
SCB Visa Infinite is catered for a wider audience with a higher annual fee of S$588.80 and is strictly non-waivable. Welcome bonus will earn you 35,000 miles but renewal bonus only earns you 25,000 miles which does not justify a renewal in my opinion. Only 6 free accesses are granted which puts it on par with S$30k per annum ICBC Global Travel MasterCard on lounge accesses.
UOB Visa Infinite top the list of being the most miserable affluent card on lounge access as the non-waivable S$542 annual fee only provides you with 4 free accesses in a year.
Conclusion
Unlimited Lounge Access
Unlimited access lounge card is only provided at the S$120k per annum income tier and the King of the card is the American Express Platinum Charge card that provides you with unraveled benefits to justify its high S$1712 annual fee.
The next bests will be the Citi Prestige World MasterCard due to its 4th night free hotel stay feature and if you are only looking to trial the lounge access, MayBank Visa Infinite card will be a good fit as you can have the S$600 annual fee waived in its first year.
Limited Lounge Access
For cards that provides limited lounge access, ICBC Global Travel MasterCard top the list with 6 access with the first 3 years of annual fee waived.
If you are concern about opening an ICBC bank account as the service experience maybe pre-historic, you may consider getting both DBS Altitude and Citi Premiermiles card with their annual fees waived. Combination of the 2 cards will provide you with 4 lounge accesses.
If you are looking to acquire miles fast with upcoming major spending items, you can consider the American Express Krisflyer Ascend that not only allow you to acquire miles at 0.83 cents per mile or 0.64 cents per mile (including base miles earned) which are well below the 2 cents per mile valuation, it also provides you with 4 lounge accesses. The S$337.05 annual fees can also be justified with the free Hilton one night stay in addition to the mile acquisition exercise.
Do note that all the recommended cards are only for the purpose of getting the lounge access and you should not be putting your regular spending to these cards as their earn rates are all sub-optimal. You may refer to this article to find out more on the optimal credit card strategy to accumulate air miles.