HSBC Star Alliance credit card in Australia

I wish they would just make 1 Star Alliance point = 1 airline mile. The conversion rate of 1 > 0.8 is confusing. Why can't they just say that you earn 0.8 points per dollar (which is effectively what you're getting up to the monthly spend threshold) and then make it a 1:1 conversion?

Other than that, looks like a very promising product and will be following with interest.
 
Mattg said:
I wish they would just make 1 Star Alliance point = 1 airline mile. The conversion rate of 1 > 0.8 is confusing. Why can't they just say that you earn 0.8 points per dollar (which is effectively what you're getting up to the monthly spend threshold) and then make it a 1:1 conversion?

Other than that, looks like a very promising product and will be following with interest.
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my guess would be psychology ..... marketing ..... and economics ;)
 
blacksultan said:
Is there any difference between having krisflyer gold and having krisflyer providing recognition as gold by virtue of being gold With another star alliance member ?
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Not as far as I am aware there could possibly be better reward seats but do not know, I am SQ *G and MrsM is TK *G and there seems to be no difference. Most real benefits of KF seem to kick in at the PPS and Solitaire levels, I am not at that level but have several work acquaintances who are.
 
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Mattg said:
I wish they would just make 1 Star Alliance point = 1 airline mile. The conversion rate of 1 > 0.8 is confusing. Why can't they just say that you earn 0.8 points per dollar (which is effectively what you're getting up to the monthly spend threshold) and then make it a 1:1 conversion?

Other than that, looks like a very promising product and will be following with interest.
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We've only seen a conversion rate to one of the participating airlines. I can't imagine that Air New Zealand will transfer at the same rate.

I suspect the earn of 1 Star Alliance Point will be fairly constant, and the conversions to airline miles/points will vary.
 
oz_mark said:
We've only seen a conversion rate to one of the participating airlines. I can't imagine that Air New Zealand will transfer at the same rate.

I suspect the earn of 1 Star Alliance Point will be fairly constant, and the conversions to airline miles/points will vary.
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1250 points for 10 airpoints dollars - pretty low.
 
oz_mark said:
We've only seen a conversion rate to one of the participating airlines. I can't imagine that Air New Zealand will transfer at the same rate.

I suspect the earn of 1 Star Alliance Point will be fairly constant, and the conversions to airline miles/points will vary.
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Star Alliance Rewards

rewards.staralliance.com rewards.staralliance.com

They're all 1=0.8, except Air NZ for obvious reasons.
 
mandja said:
Great question - currently the answer is.....yes. VA does recognize *A Gold (incl KF gold)
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Not quite true - VA recognises the status of a few *A airlines, as they have partnerships with them, like Singapore Airlines, Air Canada, ANA and recently United Airlines, but VA aren’t a part of *A, and don’t recognise Star Alliance status more broadly than the specific partners (and specific routes for some).

Cheers,
Matt.
 
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levelnine said:
Is this the best non-Amex card in Australia for ongoing *A earn?
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I wouldn’t have thought within cooee of St G Amplify if you can conjure significant spend (.825pts/$ uncapped) - but maybe I have totally misread something
 
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levelnine said:
Is this the best non-Amex card in Australia for ongoing *A earn?
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Well, the St George Amplify Signature awards the equivalent of 0.75 KrisFlyer miles per $1 spent, uncapped. Edit: You also get a 10% birthday bonus.

The Star Alliance card will award the equivalent of 0.8 KrisFlyer miles per dollar, or 0.8 miles with another *A airline of your choice, but only up to the first $3,000 spent per month.

So, the HSBC Star Alliance credit card will be the best card for someone spending $3,000/month or less (in terms of earning points).

Another factor is the Star Alliance status that you can get with this card. To earn Star Alliance Gold, you'd need to spend $60,000/year - that's $5,000/month. So, if you're going for status, you're in a way sacrificing a better earn rate on any amounts spent above $3,000 in a month.
 
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I won’t be taking this up right now as I have *A Gold until end of 2023 with SQ.

The status is invaluable traveling in Y in Europe. Senator Lounges for LH etc.
If it’s still available when my SQ status is dropping then I would definitely take it up.
 
Mattg said:
Well, the St George Amplify Signature awards the equivalent of 0.75 KrisFlyer miles per $1 spent, uncapped.

The Star Alliance card will award the equivalent of 0.8 KrisFlyer miles per dollar, or 0.8 miles with another *A airline of your choice, but only up to the first $3,000 spent per month.
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Thanks!

So let's say you can miraculously divide your $60K annual spend evenly across all 12 months.

If my maths is correct ...

With the birthday bonus, St George earns 49,500 KF per year.

This card earns 40,800 KF per year ($3K*.8 + $2K*.5).

The St George annual fee is $279 ongoing and this card is $450 ongoing.

Assuming you value KF at 2c per point, you're buying *A Gold for about $345 per year vis-a-vis St George.

Fairly cheap, though I consider the bigger opportunity cost to be the lost sign up bonuses (unless one has credit card spend large enough to meet the $60K here and other sign up bonuses).
 
Also wondering what would be the exclusion period if the card gets cancelled and if the SUB is going to be 12-month *A gold again. Might change to *A bonus points only in 18 months time.
 
Interesting card. Maybe launching here because of a lack of star alliance airlines based here so there isn't so much 'infighting' of who gets the points?
I'd join first year but it's a tough sell after.
 
Revenge said:
Good find, interesting info.
Also interesting that there is an exhaustive list of participating *A airlines (AC, NZ, Eva Air, SQ, South African, Thai, UA), not all *A airlines.
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How are you accessing this site? It's asking for a username and password, with a 401 error if that is skipped.
 
That's GREAT news but I only carry one frequent flyer credit card. That's enough for me!
 

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