Credit Card Offers HSBC Star Alliance Credit Card: Fast-Track to Star Alliance Gold Status

Fast track to Star Alliance Gold status with the HSBC Star Alliance credit card!​

Learn more and apply for this card:

HSBC Star Alliance Credit Card Guide

The HSBC Star Alliance credit card is the first of its kind, allowing Australian cardholders to earn Star Alliance Points and Gold status.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

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What are the main benefits of this card?

1. Signup bonus: Fast Track to Star Alliance Gold Status, when you spend $4,000 or more on eligible purchases in the first 90 days from account opening
2. Keep your Star Alliance Gold status each subsequent year that you spend at least $60,000 on your card
3. Earn 1 Star Alliance Point per $1 on eligible purchases, up to $3,000 per statement period and 0.5 Star Alliance Points per $1 spent on eligible purchases thereafter, uncapped
4. No annual fee in the first year and $450 p.a. thereafter

Why we like the HSBC Star Alliance credit card

Launched in 2022, the HSBC Star Alliance credit card is the first of its kind anywhere in the world. You'll earn Star Alliance Points which are transferable to a choice of seven Star Alliance member airlines at a time of your choosing. You can also earn Star Alliance Silver or Gold status just by spending on the card, with no flying required!

Once you qualify for the welcome offer and are fast tracked to Star Alliance Gold status with any of the seven participating carriers, you’ll soon be enjoying perks like airport priority lanes and lounge access when flying across the whole Star Alliance network. It is the largest airline alliance in the world with 25 member airlines, including Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines, United and Turkish Airlines.

Please note that the welcome offer is not available to existing HSBC customers transferring from another HSBC credit card, or if you have previously held a HSBC Star Alliance credit card within the last 18 months. Refer to the full T&C’s for more information:

HSBC Star Alliance Credit Card Guide

The HSBC Star Alliance credit card is the first of its kind, allowing Australian cardholders to earn Star Alliance Points and Gold status.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

AFF members are welcome to discuss this card in this thread.

 

[Bjet]

That's GREAT news but I only carry one frequent flyer credit card. That's enough for me!

 

[exceladdict]

Following with interest.

 

[kyle]

Why oh why does it have to be HSBC...

 

[Kangol]

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.

Depending on if/when you cancel - before or after your birthday, Citi Rewards is 0.8 KF miles per dollar, up to 10k per statement period.
Both Citi and St G currently have a 150k bonus, giving you 60k and 75k KF miles respectively. Annual fee and card "requirements" are different, however.
As always, YMMV.

 

[SYD]

Some coverage here this morning…

Star Alliance & HSBC Are About To Launch The First, Universal Airline Alliance Credit Card In Australia

Star Alliance & HSBC Australia to unveil the first alliance-wide loyalty credit card.

loyaltylobby.com

 

[Jacques Vert]

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

Shouldn't that be... ($3K*.8 + $2K*.4) ?

 

[levelnine]

Shouldn't that be... ($3K*.8 + $2K*.4) ?

You are correct. I forgot to convert the Star Alliance points to KF miles. Worsens the card vis-a-vis StG by about 2,400 KF pa.

 

[SYD]

Slightly OT, but I was pondering if the 1st year Fastrack would then give you a lower requal bar for retaining *A Gold (similar to QF and VA status requal) by actual flying and then ditch the card.

Apart from NZ (not recommended) maybe only Eva for the moment? But not with VA reciprocal benefits…

Which loyalty program will get you Star Alliance status fastest? - The Points Guy

If your goal is to book desirable flights, Oneworld, SkyTeam and Star Alliance could be right up your alley. Here's a round-up of airline loyalty programs and pros and cons

thepointsguy.com

 

[gphamor]

2 questions : If points already in a program are transferred to the Card, do they expire?
And can you use the card for ANY kind of purchase in Oz in order to build up pints on the Card?

 

[SYD]

2 questions : If points already in a program are transferred to the Card, do they expire?
And can you use the card for ANY kind of purchase in Oz in order to build up pints on the Card?

I don’t recall seeing the ability to transfer pts from a FF back to the *A card. That would be an interesting feature.

You’d expect to earn pts on everyday spend in Oz and overseas but there’ll probably be exclusions for Government entities and some utilities. We’ll need to check the fine print.

 

[oz_mark]

2 questions : If points already in a program are transferred to the Card, do they expire?
And can you use the card for ANY kind of purchase in Oz in order to build up pints on the Card?

I don't think you can transfer from an airline program to the card,

 

[Bolt]

Depending on if/when you cancel - before or after your birthday, Citi Rewards is 0.8 KF miles per dollar, up to 10k per statement period.
Both Citi and St G currently have a 150k bonus, giving you 60k and 75k KF miles respectively. Annual fee and card "requirements" are different, however.
As always, YMMV.

If I'm reading this right, a St George Amplify Signature Rewards card has a sign up bonus of 150K Amplify points, and you earn 1.5 Amplify points per $1 spent. You need to spend $12K within 2 years. So you'd get 150K+18K=168K reward points once you meet the spend. When do they release the bonus points? It would suck to have to wait for 2 years. So, then you take those 168K Amplify points and convert only 100K of them at a rate of 2 Amplify points for 1 KrisFlyer Miles to meet the miles requirement of 50k miles for Frequent Flyer Elite Gold status. You don't need to fly because there's no other requirements besides earning miles. ...And you get all that in the first year for $179?

The Singapore Airlines web site says "You will be upgraded within the next day* and your membership will last until the end of the 12th month." It sounds like it's better to transfer the miles in January?

 

[Kangol]

If I'm reading this right, a St George Amplify Signature Rewards card has a sign up bonus of 150K Amplify points, and you earn 1.5 Amplify points per $1 spent. You need to spend $12K within 2 years. So you'd get 150K+18K=168K reward points once you meet the spend. When do they release the bonus points? It would suck to have to wait for 2 years. So, then you take those 168K Amplify points and convert only 100K of them at a rate of 2 Amplify points for 1 KrisFlyer Miles to meet the miles requirement of 50k miles for Frequent Flyer Elite Gold status. You don't need to fly because there's no other requirements besides earning miles. ...And you get all that in the first year for $179?

The Singapore Airlines web site says "You will be upgraded within the next day* and your membership will last until the end of the 12th month." It sounds like it's better to transfer the miles in January?

Amplify Signature rewards credit card

All the benefits of Amplify Platinum card our highest uncapped points earn rate, two complimentary airport lounge passes per year.

www.stgeorge.com.au

^Amplify Signature Bonus Amplify Points Offer: The bonus Amplify Points promotion is available when you apply and are approved for a new Amplify Rewards Signature credit card between 31st May 2022 and 31st December 2022 and spend the minimum amount of $12,000 on eligible purchases within the first 12 months from card approval in one or more transactions. Eligible purchases do not include interest, fees and charges, cash, or ATM cash advances, cash equivalent transactions, gambling transactions, a purchase from or payment to a local, state or federal government or government related agency, BPAY or similar transactions (such as Post Billpay), refunds and balance transfers debited from the card account. Existing customers who currently hold an Amplify, Amplify Platinum or Amplify Signature card issued by St.George, Bank of Melbourne or BankSA, or who have held one in the last 12 months, are not eligible for this offer. The bonus Amplify Points will be added to your points balance within 12 weeks of the eligible spend criteria being met.

It says you:
1) need to spend 12k within one year (12 months)
2) will get the bonus within 12 weeks of meeting the eligible spend

Currently the card fee is $139 for the first year, not $179.

I'm not sure what you mean about "meeting the miles requirement" for *A Gold on the St George card. St George doesn't offer this.

This part of the discussion was about non-Amex cards earning SQ KF miles.
St George and Citi are the top 2.
So depending on how long you keep the card, when you sign up in relation to your birthday and how much you intend to spend, it would determine which of those 2 are better for your individual situation.

 

[Bolt]

It says you:
1) need to spend 12k within one year (12 months)
2) will get the bonus within 12 weeks of meeting the eligible spend

Currently the card fee is $139 for the first year, not $179.

Perfect. I probably had out of date information from a different promo.

I'm not sure what you mean about "meeting the miles requirement" for *A Gold on the St George card.

I mean, by converting the points to KrisFlyer, you could earn *A Gold (KrisFlyer Elite Gold), right?

 

[Bolt]

Hold up, I just found the gotcha. Wow they can make these loyalty programs convoluted! A KrisFlyer Mile that you earn on a credit card isn't the same as a Krisflyer Elite Mile that you need to achieve Krisflyer Frequent Flyer status such as KrisFlyer Elite Gold and KrisFlyer Elite Silver. I'd liken this to the different between frequent flyer points and status points in Australia.

There was a promotion in Feburary 2022 where if you transferred 250,000 Krisflyer miles, you would earn 50,000 Krisflyer elite miles as well, but not sure if this is still going on. Source:

Earn Singapore Airlines Gold Status Without Flying

Singapore Airlines has launched a lucrative new promotion that makes it possible to earn Silver or Gold status in the airline's KrisFlyer frequent flyer

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[daft009]

I mean, by converting the points to KrisFlyer, you could earn *A Gold (KrisFlyer Elite Gold), right?

KF miles aren't status miles

 

[daft009]

There was a promotion in Feburary 2022 where if you transferred 250,000 Krisflyer miles, you would earn 50,000 Krisflyer elite miles as well, but not sure if this is still going on. Source:

Earn Singapore Airlines Gold Status Without Flying

Singapore Airlines has launched a lucrative new promotion that makes it possible to earn Silver or Gold status in the airline's KrisFlyer frequent flyer

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

That ended. Was a covid special promo

 

[ozstamps]

Interesting to see this one appear.

If a $A1000 spend ends up earning 1000 United miles that is pretty good as to BUY them off UA is near 3c ozzie apiece with the bad exchange rate.

I am a lifetime Star Gold via flying 2 million real miles with United. And am Virgin Platinum so already have Virgin lounge access etc, but for some it is clearly a pathway to that.

Earlier posts had a note saying existing Star Golds would be offered 'some other entitlements' to compensate in those cases - has any of that detail been outlined yet?

Also, I spend a lot of money overseas on cards and now get charged an outrageous 3% or 4% 'foreign use fee' PLUS a bad fake exchange rate. So each $A1000 spend loses me about 5%. Anyone know what HSBC usual gouge is on their own house issued cards for spending offshore?

Thanks in advance for input.

 

[djtech]

The appeal might be having Mileage Plus or Aeroplan miles that are 'more valuable' than Singapore Krisflyer. I don't have a valuation system for the relative value of the different *A currencies but it might be enough to justify earning 0.2 miles less with this card than another Krisflyer earning Master or Visa.

 

[dairyfloss]

Interesting to see this one appear.

If a $A1000 spend ends up earning 1000 United miles that is pretty good as to BUY them off UA is near 3c ozzie apiece with the bad exchange rate.

I am a lifetime Star Gold via flying 2 million real miles with United. And am Virgin Platinum so already have Virgin lounge access etc, but for some it is clearly a pathway to that.

Earlier posts had a note saying existing Star Golds would be offered 'some other entitlements' to compensate in those cases - has any of that detail been outlined yet?

Also, I spend a lot of money overseas on cards and now get charged an outrageous 3% or 4% 'foreign use fee' PLUS a bad fake exchange rate. So each $A1000 spend loses me about 5%. Anyone know what HSBC usual gouge is on their own house issued cards for spending offshore?

Thanks in advance for input.

You would earn 800 UA miles for your A$1,000 spend on the *A card, so at a 0.03c value you're getting A$24 worth?

I'm with HSBC Premier and the World MC overseas trx fee is good for this type of card, at 2%. Platinum cards are 3%. They have Low Rate cards that are 0% too. You can find more in the card schedules on this page: HSBC Credit Card Terms and Conditions - HSBC AU. Given the annual fee, I'd expect the *A card to carry similar fees to their World MC product.

FX rate generally very close to market for the date of the transaction. I checked a statement for recent XPF transactions in Noumea, and the variance to XE rate for that date is just 0.32%.

Cheers,
Matt.