Best Australian Credit Cards to Earn KrisFlyer Miles in 2024

Singapore Airlines flight attendant offers champagne to premium economy passenger
Singapore Airlines Premium Economy. Photo: Singapore Airlines.

Looking for a great credit card that can help you to earn Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles in Australia? You’re not alone – the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program is one of the most popular overseas frequent flyer programs for Australian frequent flyers!

The KrisFlyer program offers access to good award availability on Singapore Airlines flights from Australia to Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South Africa. This includes award seats in Business Class and, on some routes where this is offered, Premium Economy & First Class.

Singapore Airlines regional Business Class.
Singapore Airlines A350 Business Class. Image: Singapore Airlines.

KrisFlyer miles can also be redeemed to fly across the Star Alliance network, as well as with other partners including Virgin Australia, Virgin Atlantic, Alaska Airlines and Vistara.

The following airlines are part of Star Alliance:

Star Alliance airlines in 2020
Star Alliance member airlines.

There are no fuel or carrier surcharges when redeeming KrisFlyer miles to fly with Singapore Airlines, and award flight prices are highly competitive. In fact, you could even book a round-the-world ticket in Business Class for just 280,000 KrisFlyer miles!

Unfortunately, KrisFlyer miles expire after 3 years – regardless of your account activity. But by earning points through a credit card, you can prevent your KrisFlyer miles expiring. Simply keep your points with your credit card’s rewards program, then transfer the points to KrisFlyer as you need to use them. This avoids having unused KrisFlyer miles sitting in your account for a long period of time.

Singapore Airlines A350 at Munich Airport
A Singapore Airlines Airbus A350. Photo: Emily Rusch on Unsplash.

Earning KrisFlyer miles via Australian credit cards

Many Australians collect Qantas or Velocity Frequent Flyer points by default. Although there are more ways to earn points in Australia with our two major frequent flyer programs, it’s still easy to earn KrisFlyer miles in Australia via credit card spend.

There are no longer any direct-earn or co-branded KrisFlyer credit cards in Australia. (There was once a Singapore Airlines Westpac Platinum credit card, but this has been discontinued.) Nonetheless, almost every major Australian bank loyalty program lets you transfer points earned on their credit cards to KrisFlyer.

You can transfer credit card reward points from the following Australian credit card loyalty programs to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer:

Credit Card Rewards ProgramConversion Rate (Bank:KrisFlyer)
Amex Membership Rewards3:1
Amplify Rewards (St.George/Bank of Melbourne/Bank SA)3:1
ANZ Rewards3:1
Citibank Rewards2.5:1
CommBank Awards3:1 (subject to change)
Diners Club Rewards2:1
HSBC Rewards Plus (Premier card only)2:1
NAB Rewards3:1
Star Alliance Rewards1.25:1
Suncorp Bank Rewards2.5:1
Westpac Altitude3:1

Transferring points from Velocity to KrisFlyer

It’s also possible to convert Velocity Frequent Flyer points to KrisFlyer miles at a 1.55:1 rate. For example, you could convert 155,000 Velocity points into 100,000 KrisFlyer miles. Transfers are instant and you can do this as many times as you like – you just need to convert at least 5,000 points at a time.

So, as an alternative to earning KrisFlyer miles, you could earn Velocity points and then transfer them into KrisFlyer. This could work out to be better value as there are credit cards that earn Velocity points in Australia at a higher rate.

The best Australian credit cards for earning KrisFlyer miles in 2024

We’ve put together a list of the top-earning personal credit cards in Australia for KrisFlyer miles, based on their earn rate for everyday spend.

All of the cards listed below earn credit card points that you can transfer to KrisFlyer miles. For easy comparison, we’ve listed the equivalent amount of KrisFlyer miles earned per $1 spent on everyday purchases after accounting for the conversion rate.

Without further ado, here is our list of the best KrisFlyer personal credit cards in Australia in 2024!

Note: If you’re viewing this article on a smartphone, the table below may look better if you rotate your device horizontally.

CardLoyalty programAnnual feeKrisFlyer miles earned per $1More information
HSBC Star Alliance credit cardHSBC Star AllianceStar Alliance Rewards$4500.8 (up to $3,000/month)Read the guide button
Amex Platinum card (personal) artAmex PlatinumAmex Membership Rewards (Ascent Premium)$1,4500.75Read the guide button
HSBC Premier World cardHSBC Premier (with Premier status)HSBC Rewards Plus$00.75 (up to $120,000/year)
Amex Explorer credit cardAmex ExplorerAmex Membership Rewards (Gateway)$3950.67Read the guide button
ANZ Rewards Black cardANZ Rewards BlackANZ Rewards$3750.67 (up to $5,000/month)Read the guide button
Suncorp Clear Options Platinum cardSuncorp Clear Options PlatinumSuncorp Rewards$1290.5
St George Amplify Signature cardSt.George Amplify SignatureAmplify Rewards$2950.5Read the guide button
NAB Rewards Signature cardNAB Rewards SignatureNAB Rewards$2880.5 (up to $15,000/month)Read the guide button
ANZ Rewards Platinum cardANZ Rewards PlatinumANZ Rewards$950.5 (up to $2,000/month)Read the guide button

Some cards also offer bonus points

The St.George Amplify Signature card also comes with a “birthday bonus”. The birthday bonus gives you an extra 10% of the Amplify points you’ve earned over the past year in your birthday month.

It’s also worth noting that the American Express Platinum Edge credit card offers triple points on groceries and fuel from eligible retailers, plus double points on international transactions. This lets you earn the equivalent of 1 KrisFlyer mile per dollar spent at major supermarkets and petrol stations in Australia (usually 0.33 KrisFlyer miles per $1 on everyday spend), plus double points on international transactions.

The Citi Prestige card only awards the equivalent of 0.4 KrisFlyer miles per $1 on everyday transactions. But you can earn double points (0.8 KrisFlyer miles per $1) with major supermarkets and petrol stations, or triple points for certain other spend categories.

If you want to maximise the points you earn from credit cards, you may also be interested in credit card sign-up bonus offers.

Looking for a credit card to earn KrisFlyer miles? Here are some current offers…

American Express Explorer Credit Card
Earn
2

American Express Membership Rewards points on everyday purchases

Signup Bonus

50,000 bonus Membership Rewards Points

Annual Fee
$395 p.a.
Go to offer
HSBC Star Alliance Credit Card
Earn
1

Star Alliance Rewards Star Alliance Rewards Points on everyday purchases

Signup Bonus

Fast Track to Star Alliance Gold Status

Annual Fee
$0 in the first year, $450 p.a. thereafter
Go to offer
American Express Platinum Card
Earn
2.25

American Express Membership Rewards points on everyday purchases

Signup Bonus

150,000 bonus Membership Rewards points

Apply by 14th Jan 2025

Annual Fee
$1,450 p.a.
Go to offer
ANZ Rewards Black credit card
Earn
2

ANZ Rewards Points on everyday purchases

Signup Bonus

180,000 extra ANZ Reward Points + $150 back to your new card

Annual Fee
$375 p.a. ongoing
Go to offer
The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.
________________________

Community Comments

Loading new replies...

I asked a similar question here:

The St George cards looked good. AMEX also, but I wasn‘t eligible.

Reply Like

click to expand...

Ozbargain has some cards with current or expired deals to get a sense of what's on offer.

St George Amplify rewards as mentioned. Open a transaction account, and drop $500 in there and make 5x payments in first month to get $40. Then in your account, go to credit card products and the Amplify Platinum is 130k points = 65k KF miles with $0 annual fee.

I just applied for St Georges tonight, but realised that I forgot in the past month about the extra $40 and didn't jump through the hoops.

ANZ Platinum or Black if you have the salary for it. Waiting for my pay rise 1st April to apply for that.

Amex Explorer is good even after devaluation. I'm waiting for the next promo as they recently had a really good one for MR points, and trying hard to ignore the decent offer for QF points now running. But again, waiting for my pay rise to qualify.

Westpac Rewards Platinum I think I got about 35k or 38k KF miles.

Suncorp Reward Points - about 52k miles for $129 annual fee.

Now that news of velocity transfers coming back, the Citi Rewards Flybuys Card is an option for about 33k KF miles.

I opened an HSBC account which I use for 2% cashback on all tap payments under $100 then got a link to 120k HSBC points when I got a credit card with them. I now am deciding to use my 130k points (inc spend) for $600 cashback to pay off my credit card, or about 65k velocity miles or about 42k KF.

You can also buy velocity points from the Ozbargain classifieds and then convert them, haven't done it though. I think cost would end up being 1.22 cents per KF mile.

Also regular flybuys promos, never bothered about flybuys before 2021, but then I went hard on the promos and got 82,000 points. Could convert to Velocity for 41k miles, then again to KF for 26,453 KF miles. For some reason Coles is no longer targeting me for weekly spends.

Reply 1 Like

click to expand...

St George Amplify rewards as mentioned. Open a transaction account, and drop $500 in there and make 5x payments in first month to get $40. Then in your account, go to credit card products and the Amplify Platinum is 130k points = 65k KF miles with $0 annual fee.

I just applied for St Georges tonight, but realised that I forgot in the past month about the extra $40 and didn't jump through the hoops.

You don’t need the St George transaction account to get the CC signup bonus. But there is a reduced annual fee of $49.

Here’s the article quoted in the other thread:

Reply 1 Like

click to expand...

With the St George Amplify cards, where does it say you can transfer to KF?
I'd like to apply but can't find any info. They just keep referring to gift cards.

Reply Like

You can transfer at a 2:1 ratio. I churned that 130k amplify pt offer in January and transferred all to KF.

Reply Like

Thanks NoName. So 65k KF?
Can I ask how long it took takes for those points to come through and then to transfer over to KF?

Reply Like

Points credited to Amplify as soon as I reached the spend criteria. When I transferred them to KF they were there almost immediately.

Reply Like

Points credited to Amplify as soon as I reached the spend criteria. When I transferred them to KF they were there almost immediately.

Best to be careful, sometimes they come almost instantly, but don't depend on it - other times it's taken up to 4 days when I have done transfers.

EDIT - to clarify, I 'm referring to St George Amplify points to KF account

Reply Like

Now that news of velocity transfers coming back, the Citi Rewards Flybuys Card is an option for about 33k KF miles.

Where's this news?

Is there a date this is happening?

Reply Like

Hi,

I have a home loan with st george, and i think i can get one of the amplify cards with no fee. Will I get the bonus points?

Thanks.

Reply Like