Earning FREE Air Miles with Credit Cards to Experience Biz Class or First Class

Over the years I have taught many how to experience First Class and Business Class with various airlines to destinations all over the world. Most of My Air Miles Disciples have experienced Singapore Airlines Suite Class and Emirates First Class and a few The Apartment with Etihad, The Suite with ANA, First Class JAL Europe to Japan and etc.

Prior to covid-era, My Air Miles Disciples and I could easily earn both Singapore Airlines Suite Class and Emirates First Class to Europe from thin air (not requiring us to spend a sen on anything)h within 2 years. Post Covid, we still can earn FREE Air Miles from thin air but very limited and maybe only for a Business Class ticket.

However, if you are a BIG Spender you still can earn FREE Air Miles from your transactions. For example, one can easily earn a FREE Singapore Airlines Suite Class one way to Sydney by paying for a Rolex Gold Watch with the right credit card.

In this article I will just show how one with spending of RM5K per month can experience one way Business Class to Australia (68.5K KrisFLyer Miles) OR Return Business Class Hong Kong/Taiwan (68K KrisFlyer Miles) OR even one way Singapore Airlines Suite/First Class to Shanghai (58.5KvKrisFlyer Miles).

So first, which credit card(s) to get? I will tell you now that you do not need Premier Credit Cards to experience Business Class if your spending if RM5K per month. Basically you only need 2 credit cards!!!

The first Credit Card to get is the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer American Express® Platinum Credit Card.

Click here to read Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer American Express® Platinum Credit Card Review 2025

If you had read the review above, you will know that you will earn 1 KrisFlyer Mile for every RM2.50 and RM2 for over the counter and online transactions respectively.

Previously in one of my article where I also touched on the Maybank KrisFlyer AMEX, I mentioned that it is best your Statement Date is on 27th or 28th of the month as you may have issues if your Statement Date falls on 29th or 30th and 31st. Having said this, a Bro told me he has to check monthly if the KrisFlyer Miles are credited after his Statement Date on the 15th as sometimes he has to call Maybank and have the KrisFlyer Miles credited manually.

Today we can pay almost all our essential expenses with AMEX including Water and TNB! We can also pay with AMEX for other essential expenses such as TELCO (CelcomDigi & Maxis), Unifi, Petrol (BHP, Petronas & Shell), Groceries (AEON, Jaya Grocer & Speed 99) and Food (certain restaurants and Grab Food). And for non essential goods, we can use AMEX at Lazada and Shopee too. We can also use AMEX for airline tickets and even Private Hospital bills.

So assuming you do spend RM5K a month with the Maybank KrisFlyer AMEX, i.e. RM2.5K over the counter and RM2.5K online (excluding Government, FPX, Jompay and topping up eWallet), you will then earn 2,250 KrisFlyer Miles per month or 27K KrisFlyer Miles per year! Within 2.5 years, you would have earned 67,500 KrisFlyer Miles!!! Once again, you need less than 60K KrisFlyer miles to experience Suite Class or First Class one way to or from Shanghai with Saver Option. However for flights to Shanghai, in the past 2 years Singapore Airline have changed aircraft last minute where one may have booked a Suite Class on Airbus A380 but then later the aircraft was changed to Boeing 777 which offers First Class only. Having said this, Singapore Airlines are getting new planes very soon.

Now why did I mentioned 2.5 years in the above said paragraph? You see, the KrisFlyer Miles are auto credited into your KrisFlyer Account (that is why your Statement Date should not fall on 29th or 30th or 31st) and the moment it is credited, you have maximum 3 years to redeem for a flight. I.e. the KrisFlyer Miles expire 3 years from the day it is credited into your KrisFlyer Account. Therefore I would recommend that you redeem your FREE ticket months before expiry and not last minute where you will stupidly be under tremendous stress for nothing.

Another side benefit of owning credit cards is FREE Access to Airport Lounges and the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer American Express® Platinum Credit Card gives you 5X complimentary access!

Now you may say that not all places accept AMEX, which is true especially if you are outside Klang Valley BUT i have shown you earlier that AMEX can be accepted for almost all kind of transactions! If you are still stubborn and say AMEX is not good, it is your lost.

The next credit card which may benefit you is the CIMB eCC where you can earn 12X Bonus Points on 28th of every month FOR SELECTED Transactions. Assuming you can spend RM1668 on the 28th with the CIMB eCC to earn 12X Bonus Points, you will then earn the max 20K monthly CIMB Bonus Points.

The current conversion rate is 5K KrisFlyer Miles for every 75K CIMB Bonus Points, it means you can earn 1 KrisFlyer Mile for every RM1.25 spend which is way better than Maybank Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer American Express® Platinum Credit Card.

So if you can spend RM1668 per monnth with the CIMB eCC on 28th of every month, you only need to spend less than RM3188 per month with the KrisFlyer AMEX to earn more than 68K KrisFlyer Miles in less than 2.5 years.

Read and understand the TnC as to how you can earn 12X CIMB Bonus Points. I will tell you one thing, the CIMB eCC is useless for topping up eWallets on any day.

Both the above Maybank Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer American Express® Platinum Credit Card and CIMB eCC are mentioned in my article The Best Credit Card in Malaysia 2025 and it is to your benefit that you read this said article.

Click here to read The Best Top Credit Cards in Malaysia 2025

Click on the button below to Page 4 to learn about Earning FREE Air Miles for Hotel Rooms with Enrich Points