Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer members in Thailand now have the ability to earn miles faster as the program just launched a new set of credit cards in cooperation with UOB Thailand.
The Thai credit card market isn’t exactly great for miles & points enthusiasts, and UOB has pretty much cornered the market with its products, leaving most other issuers at arm’s length.
So far, the best product was (still is IMHO) the UOB Privimiles card that allows collecting Privimiles at favorable rates based on spending with the card.
Today, a Facebook ad caught my eye that Singapore Airlines & UOB are holding an event at the CentralWorld department store this weekend to launch the new card product.
You can find the two card products on UOB’s website here.
Two different cards are available under the new portfolio, one Mastercard World and a more premium version that comes as a Mastercard World Elite.
Here is a comparison of the two cards:
The earning ratio with these cards isn’t bad at all if you consider that 1 USD is ~ 35 THB. Of course, the most favorable rate is for SIA / Scoot purchases.
The UOB Krisflyer World Card has a first Year Annual Fee Waiver and a THB 4,000 Annual Fee for the following years:
The UOB Krisflyer World Elite Card carried a THB 5,000 Annual Fee for the first year & THB 10,000 Annual Fee for the following years:
After spending 300,000 Baht, the account will be upgraded to KrisFlyer Gold; members can use a limousine service at participating airports 3x per year and have 6x lounge access at participating airports.
As always with credit cards, it depends on how much money the cardholder anticipates spending over the course of a year and if the benefits (aside from the signup bonus) are significant enough to spend on the annual fee.
Conclusion
Two new Singapore Airlines KrisFly credit card products issued by UOB Thailand are now available to be applied for and have somewhat interesting signup offers for eligible applicants.
I think the Privimiles card from UOB Thailand is still a better fit for most people. That being said, for foreigners, it’s extremely difficult to obtain a credit card in Thailand and without a work permit it’s pretty much impossible to get one. Even with an Elite Visa, a bank will usually not issue you a credit card.
Credit: Source link