Thanks aster, hmm, I'd say about 3k+ on average? I only fly coach normally in Asia-Pac region

Since there is a cap for the bonus miles earned on SQ Amex Gold card I would say go with the DBS Altitude AMEX or Citi PremierMiles Visa.

Ahh... btw, I go through a travel agent for the bookings, I don't do it online, will that make a different reg. choice of card?

Nope, but all the more you should not stick with SQ Amex as it offers double miles only for tickets booked directly online.

This still stands true today.

You are pretty much right on the border between these two cards. If you're going to break the 7k barrier then you might as well go for the Citi PremierMiles Visa card as it is more widely accepted than Amex, and you earn points/miles for every $1 spent, whereas with the DBS card you are credited for every $5 spent, so $5 generates the same amount of points as a $9.99 purchase.

Ah ok, that's good to know, thanks guys, I'll apply for the card - quick question - my spending month to month kinda goes something like 12k one month, then 3k another, then 5k another, then 13k again, something like that... so sometimes less than 7k, sometimes more, so Citi Premiermiles is most suitable?

Whoa, I believe that Citi no longer gives 2 miles per $1 for spend above $4,000 per month. In the small print they stated that this is valid until 31 Dec, 2010, but with DBS boosting all spend above $1,000 in a given month we all expected Citi to stay in the game.

Maybe I'm blind and someone wants to double-check this, but is seems that there is only one clear winner now - DBS Altitude Amex:
http://www.dbs.com/sg/personal/cards...e/default.aspx

And some interesting insurance (up to $1M) if you purchase your tickets using this card. Here's a link to the T&Cs:
http://www.dbs.com/sg/personal/cards..._insurance.pdf

Since DBS gives extra miles for all monthly spend >$1,000 , I wonder how they would go about things if someone's first purchase of the month was worth several thousand?

Would they treat the entire purchase at the regular rate of miles since at the time of purchase the $1,000 barrier has not been crossed yet?

I assumed that citibank would still give the same benefits but I was wrong I guess I need to do some research before coming back with a reply. Since amex is not that widely accepted worldwide there needs to be an alternate card to rack up spends on.

I'm not sure on the limitations on the Maybank Horizon Platium card, but if you can get the offer of 5 points per $1 on travel (equals to 2 miles per $1), then you could consider using this card for your flights.

After taking the flights out, most of your monthly spends would be under $7k, so the DBS Altitude would be the better option, whether Citi chooses to continue with its PM promotion or not.

So, in summary, I would consider getting the Maybank for flights/travel, and getting the DBS for everything else.

Ok thanks guys, will apply for the DBS Altitude Amex

Ok the conclusion of my research:
- Citi Premiermiles card seem to be giving out only 20k bonus miles and no longer additional miles for above 4k monthly spends.
- Get UOB Signature Card and use it for local spends for places that don't accept Amex. You earn 1 mile per $1.25 of spend.
- Get the Maybank Horizon Platinum and use it for all overseas and ticket spendings. You will earn 2 miles for every $1 spent.

why use the UOB signature card when the citi pm has a $1 to 1.2 mile conversion ratio?

Personal preference maybe :p

I find that citibank has a very annoying website which is why I seldom use their cards.

Back in the day DBS Altitude Amex and the DBS Treasures Amex (for those with at least 200k there) had the same high ratio of miles:dollars spent.

Nowadays, with the Altitude card giving the most miles of any card in Singapore for overall spend, I'm surprised they haven't bumped up the Treasures card to equal that (unless I missed info about the "raise"). :)