Worth It? $695.50 for 40,000 Miles

I have a deal for you mile chasers, and it’s not for everyone: how does $695.50 for 40,000 miles sound?

That works out to be almost 1.74 cents per mile. I’ve previously mentioned that you should earn miles at about 1 to 1.25 cpm if you can help it, and redeem at a higher value, which is why this deal isn’t for everyone. If you are unable to redeem at a rate of at least 2 cents per mile, this deal wouldn’t make sense at all.

Below is what the deal is all about, and how to get more value from your miles.

What’s the deal?

Here’s how to get the deal:

1. Apply for the X Card here
2. Pay the annual fee of $695.50
3. No minimum spending required (and get a cool metal card)

If you were already planning to get the Standard Chartered X Card, this is a no-brainer since signing up through here gets you 10,000 more miles than doing it directly with StanChart.

This works even if you are an existing cardholder of StanChart.

Economy class isn’t going to make sense for this

To redeem at 2 cents per mile or higher, economy flights aren’t going to cut it:

	Miles + Tax Required	What I would pay	Value per mile
BKK Economy	25,000 + $85	$250	0.66 cents
Tokyo Economy	50,000 + $100	$700	1.20 cents
SFO Economy	76,000 + $100	$1,200	1.45 cent

What about business class?

A ticket to SFO on business class over a staggering $6,000 when there’s a promotional price, but costs only 190,000 miles. That’s over 3 cents per mile, isn’t it?

Well, yeah, if you’re already paying $6,000+ for your business class ticket to the US, this deal is a no-brainer.

If you’re the sort who wouldn’t really pay for a business class ticket anyway, then your value isn’t that high.

Nevertheless, having 40,000 miles more pushes you much closer towards your business class flight. Say you want to go to Tokyo, and you already have 60,000 miles earned efficiently at 1 cent per mile or lower, getting another 40,000 miles at $695.50 basically puts your business class ticket at about $1,300. Not too shabby for what is usually a $3,000+ flight.

Round-the-world ticket, perhaps

Miles have an ability to increase in value, and nothing shows this quite like a round-the-world (RTW) ticket. You can get a RTW trip on Singapore Airlines business class to 7 different cities for 240,000 miles!

Such a trip would normal cost tens of thousands of dollars, and even if you were only willing to pay a relatively low amount of $5,000 to $6,000, your miles are easily worth more than 2 to 2.5 cents each with this.

Rather than just getting a business class return trip to the States for 190,000 miles, you just need another 50,000 more to add 6 cities to your itinerary. That’s pretty massive value even if you don’t end up going to all 6 cities.

So if you have already clocked almost 200,000 miles for a trip to the US on business class, consider getting a RTW ticket instead. This deal easily pushes you towards the required miles.

Other ways of “buying miles”

If you pay your annual fee with most 1.2/1.4 mpd cards at a tune of almost $200 for 10,000 miles, you’re essentially buying miles at 2 cents per mile.

If you do it through ipaymy with a 1.4 mpd, it’s roughly 1.3 to 1.6 depending on the fee and promo code used.

Of course, just because there are other avenues of buying miles doesn’t automatically mean you can buy an infinite number of miles, so the X Card may still provide you with a lump sum of miles you may lack towards your next trip.

Conclusion

Taking economy or budget? Don’t bother.

Already paying for your business class ticket? Apply now.

Have intentions of going for a RTW ticket on business or even first class? Here’s a nicer button for you:

Keep up to date on the best cashback/mile cards, financial products, attractive deals, and more tips to maximise your financial wellbeing by subscribing to my Telegram channel.

Subscribe to the channel, then join the group chat. You would often benefit from the tips shared exclusively in the group chat!

Disclaimer: I may receive an affiliate/referral fee when you sign up for services/products on this site, and such fees keep the site running. I would only recommend services/products I would personally use or recommend to my own friends and family, but I do not provide any warranty or guarantee for the quality of these services/products. Thank you for supporting my site!

Please exercise due diligence when signing up for any service/product as I will not be liable for any personal loss, financial or otherwise. Content published here are my sole views and personal opnion, and none of the information here constitutes personal financial advice nor represents the views of my employer(s).