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.

 

[blacksultan]

Thanks for your feedback RE expiry on points- I wasn’t aware of this. Will do some searching regarding the lounge benefits on with kris as opposed to aero. Not huge with churning on cards purely for the impact it has on credit scores etc etc. but perhaps I should be. My wife isn’t working so I would say I am the only one that can get cards

Interested in suggestions on perhaps a “better” card for us though. The lounge benefits and status are a huge plus.

Try Amex platinum charge . Can send you a referral link if you like .

 

[Foreigner]

Now that I have card and it's activated, I need to complete the *A registration. Any suugestions as to which program to choose? I am more likely to fly SQ. Are there sign-on bonus with any of the other programs?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Now that I have card and it's activated, I need to complete the *A registration. Any suugestions as to which program to choose? I am more likely to fly SQ. Are there sign-on bonus with any of the other programs?

You might consider the long term game.

Will you earn enough SQ points elsewhere given the hard expiry of krisflyer points after three years?

Any other star alliance program will give you lounge access and all the other benefits of star, but many don’t have a points expiry provided you earn or burn every so often.

Will you be buying points? Aeroplan are quite cheap for example given pricing is CAD rather than USD.

You might be flying SQ, but how about the cost of redemptions? SQs are quite high.

Yes, you can redeem SQ F through their own program, but J isn’t so exclusive anymore, again, Aeroplan lets you redeem SQ long haul J at substantially cheaper prices than via SQ (just 45k from australia to all of SEA).

If you are earning and boring regularly on SQ in premium cabins, do you need star gold via HSBC in SQ?

 

[Brissy1]

I was approved for this card on 30 May 2024 and the first statement was generated on 6 June. Based on other users' cancellation experience, in order to avoid the second year's fee does this mean I need to cancel when:

1. the twelfth statement is issued (for me, on approx 6 May 2025), or
2. before 30 May (true anniversary date), or
3. before actual generation of the thirteenth statement (June)?

If (2) or (3), does that mean you can actually earn a 13 month's worth of points?

My experience in post 1122. If you phone them I'd be interested in whether you're advised the same.

 

[Foreigner]

Thanks very much for this. I’ll look at AC.

Elsewhere I read tying to UA Gold doesn’t get access to United’s clubs when flying domestically.

 

[I love to travel]

Thanks very much for this. I’ll look at AC.

Elsewhere I read tying to UA Gold doesn’t get access to United’s clubs when flying domestically.

Correct. If you want to use it in the US, other programs are better. A word of caution though on Aeroplan, they are slowly but surely moving towards dynamic pricing on partner awards so they are riskier than Krisflyer IMHO.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Correct. If you want to use it in the US, other programs are better. A word of caution though on Aeroplan, they are slowly but surely moving towards dynamic pricing on partner awards so they are riskier than Krisflyer IMHO.

Perhaps riskier in terms of pricing… but many times I was looking to use residual SQ points and the seats displayed on Aeroplan simply didn’t show up on Krisflyer. (yes, looking at the star alliance and partner airlines tabs).

SQ’s availability was way down compared to say UA or AC.

 

[Foreigner]

Thank you both. I’ve registered and enrolled for AC on the *A rewards program

 

[blacksultan]

You might consider the long term game.

Will you earn enough SQ points elsewhere given the hard expiry of krisflyer points after three years?

Any other star alliance program will give you lounge access and all the other benefits of star, but many don’t have a points expiry provided you earn or burn every so often.

Will you be buying points? Aeroplan are quite cheap for example given pricing is CAD rather than USD.

You might be flying SQ, but how about the cost of redemptions? SQs are quite high.

Yes, you can redeem SQ F through their own program, but J isn’t so exclusive anymore, again, Aeroplan lets you redeem SQ long haul J at substantially cheaper prices than via SQ (just 45k from australia to all of SEA).

If you are earning and boring regularly on SQ in premium cabins, do you need star gold via HSBC in SQ?

there is a sign on bonus with sa airways until May end .
besides you can choose any airline as your preferred .
but transfer points to any of the other airlines at any stage whenever you like .

 

[infrequent_flyer]

I'm going to be travelling through Singapore (mixture of Econ and Business) next year to a number of countries next year with SA and ANA most likely. This card piqued my interest due to the instant gold status which will help with the Econ flights.

I'm considering between either choosing SA or AC and from the last few pages I've read AC seems to be the better choice due to them extending the status for the following year if you keep the card and pay the annual fee, e.g. if I apply for the card and hit the spend in Jan 26, I'll get the gold status for calendar year 27 as well provided I still have the card open.

With AC gold, I can also get into any Star Alliance gold lounge which covers the SA lounge anyway, I guess my question is are there any upside from going SA over AC for the status? I won't be redeeming too much via SA directly so I don't think that's a plus for my situation

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I'm going to be travelling through Singapore (mixture of Econ and Business) next year to a number of countries next year with SA and ANA most likely. This card piqued my interest due to the instant gold status which will help with the Econ flights.

I'm considering between either choosing SA or AC and from the last few pages I've read AC seems to be the better choice due to them extending the status for the following year if you keep the card and pay the annual fee, e.g. if I apply for the card and hit the spend in Jan 26, I'll get the gold status for calendar year 27 as well provided I still have the card open.

With AC gold, I can also get into any Star Alliance gold lounge which covers the SA lounge anyway, I guess my question is are there any upside from going SA over AC for the status? I won't be redeeming too much via SA directly so I don't think that's a plus for my situation

Correct. With AC it gives you status for the remainder of the current year, plus the full year after. And I think possibly a couple of extra months after that as well!

 

[infrequent_flyer]

Correct. With AC it gives you status for the remainder of the current year, plus the full year after. And I think possibly a couple of extra months after that as well!

That's mightily generous of them, thanks for confirming! Looks like between my partner and I we have the potential to get 4 years of Star Alliance Gold out of this if we time it right

 

[MEL_Traveller]

That's mightily generous of them, thanks for confirming! Looks like between my partner and I we have the potential to get 4 years of Star Alliance Gold out of this if we time it right

It does come with a hefty annual fee!

But for me, the ability to get though to the aeroplan contact centre with pretty no wait it worth the price, especially if putting together complex itineraries that can’t be booked on line.

I don’t know if the aeroplan contact centre has improved in the last year, but often wait times for general (no status) could exceed two hours… if you were lucky enough to be able to join the queue in the first place! Many times it would simply say the call volume was too high and disconnect the call!

 

[Foreigner]

I spent $4,300+ today. Hoping to get AC Gold tier confirmation soon

 

[infrequent_flyer]

It does come with a hefty annual fee!

But for me, the ability to get though to the aeroplan contact centre with pretty no wait it worth the price, especially if putting together complex itineraries that can’t be booked on line.

I don’t know if the aeroplan contact centre has improved in the last year, but often wait times for general (no status) could exceed two hours… if you were lucky enough to be able to join the queue in the first place! Many times it would simply say the call volume was too high and disconnect the call!

yikes that's a massive wait... just out of curiosity, apart from the obvious benefits that comes with the card (Lounges, extra baggage, priority queue etc) do you earn AC points? afaik the cards that earn AC points are the Star Alliance card and the Comm Bank Awards card (pretty low rate), so I was wondering whether it's mainly worth earning VFF points to fly on a Star Alliance Airline and take advantage of the lounges, baggage benefits

There's also the purchase of AC points which seems to be popular and admittedly I haven't looked into it much

 

[MEL_Traveller]

yikes that's a massive wait... just out of curiosity, apart from the obvious benefits that comes with the card (Lounges, extra baggage, priority queue etc) do you earn AC points? afaik the cards that earn AC points are the Star Alliance card and the Comm Bank Awards card (pretty low rate), so I was wondering whether it's mainly worth earning VFF points to fly on a Star Alliance Airline and take advantage of the lounges, baggage benefits

There's also the purchase of AC points which seems to be popular and admittedly I haven't looked into it much

You earn some points via CC spend, but the real advantage of aeroplan are the miles sales. Europe return business class for ~$4400, plus actual taxes, for travel on the likes of Singapore Airlines etc. Or more adventurous routings such as via Mauritius on Air Mauritius.

 

[infrequent_flyer]

You earn some points via CC spend, but the real advantage of aeroplan are the miles sales. Europe return business class for ~$4400, plus actual taxes, for travel on the likes of Singapore Airlines etc. Or more adventurous routings such as via Mauritius on Air Mauritius.

yeah that makes sense, cheers for the info! will be adding this card to my rotation for sure