HSBC TravelOne Card
Earn 1.2 miles per dollar on local spend and 2.4 miles per dollar for foreign currency spend
4 Dragon Pass visits per calendar year
HSBC TravelOne Card Overview:
The HSBC TravelOne credit card is a travel credit card that lets you earn and redeem miles easily and flexibly. You can earn up to 2.4 miles per dollar on foreign currency spend, and 1.2 miles per dollar on local spend. You can also redeem your miles instantly with a wide range of airline and hotel partners via the HSBC Singapore mobile app. Moreover, you can enjoy travel privileges such as complimentary travel insurance coverage, four airport lounge visits, and exclusive deals from Mastercard
Local Earn Rate | 1.2 miles per dollar |
Foreign Currency Earn Rate | 2.4 miles per dollar |
Foreign Currency Fees | 3.25% |
Min. Miles Transfer | 25,000 points (10,000 miles) |
Transfer Fee | Waived Indefinitely |
Points Pooling | Yes |
Lounge Access | 4x Dragon Pass |
Airport Limo | No |
Points Expiry | 37 months |
Eligibility & Fees:
- Minimum Age: 21 years old
- Minimum Annual Income: The amount of Total Relationship Balance—combined value of your deposits, investments, and insurance with HSBC, based on average monthly balance over the last 3 months— will determine the income requirement
- Less than S$50,000 TRB
- Salaried (locals/PRs): S$65,000
- Self-Employed/Commission-based (locals/PRs): S$65,000
- Foreigners: S$65,000
- S$50,000 and above TRB
- Salaried (locals/PRs): S$30,000
- Self-Employed/Commission-based (locals/PRs): S$40,000
- Foreigners: S$65,000
- Less than S$50,000 TRB
- Annual fee: S$196.20 (inclusive of GST), first year free waiver
Key Benefits:
- Earn 1.2 miles per dollar on local spending
- Earn 2.4 miles per dollar for foreign spending
- No minimum monthly spend requirement and no maximum spending cap
- Enjoy complimentary travel insurance with coverage of up to S$150,000 for overseas medical expenses when you pay the full cost of your airfare using your HSBC TravelOne Credit Card.
- Air miles and hotel points redemptions will be processed either instantly or within one business day. This can be done through the HSBC Singapore mobile app. You can refer to the step-by-step summary to guide you through the process.
- HSBC just announced that the transfer fees will be waived indefinitely!
- Points are earned every $0.50 spent (this helps you earn miles faster)
How to Best Optimise it:
Utilize 4x Complimentary Airport Lounge
- You are entitled to 4 complimentary lounge visits per year to over 1,300 global airport lounges for primary cardholders. But since it is issued according to the calendar year, you can get a total of eight visits during your first membership year. For example, if your card is approved in May 2025, the following will apply:
-
Upon approval: 4x visits (valid until 31 December 2025)
-
Starting 1 January 2026: 4x visits (valid until 31 December 2026)
-
- Note that unused complimentary lounge visit cannot be rolled over to the following year, so make sure to utilise it within the calendar year
Make Use of Complimentary Travel Insurance
-
You are entitled to complimentary travel insurance when you use your HSBC TravelOne Card to purchase air tickets or pay for taxes and surcharges on a ticket redeemed with airline miles. This insurance covers S$75,000 for accidental death, S$150,000 for overseas medical expenses, and up to S$1 million for emergency medical evacuation, along with protection for travel inconveniences such as flight delays and lost luggage.
Use HSBC’s Free Entertainer Program
- You can get 1-for-1 discounts for dining places etc., and 15% discounts for selected restaurants with HSBC’s ENTERTAINER programme
Take Advantage of Mastercard Benefits
- Priceless™ Specials: explore exclusive perks and a world of privileged access with handpicked offers and benefits from Mastercard.
Best for Redeeming Miles with Airlines Other Than Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer
- With 20 transfer partners (including 8 new ones), HSBC now has the most options in Singapore for using points. See “Transfer Partners” below.
- For example, you can use just 25K miles to redeem a one-way business class ticket with Infinity Mileagelands on Eva Air to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, or Korea, instead of 35K to 40K miles on Singapore Airlines for the same flight class and destination.
What to Avoid:
Exclusion List:
- 4829 – Money Transfer
- 4900 – Utilities – Electric, Gas, Water and Sanitary
- 5199 – Nondurable Good
- 5960 – Direct Marketing – Insurance Services
- 6010 – Financial Institutions – Manual Cash Disbursements
- 6011 – Financial Institutions – Automated Cash Disbursements
- 6012 – Financial Institutions – Merchandise, Services, and Debt Repayment
- 6050 – Quasi Cash—Customer Financial Institution
- 6051 – Non-Financial Institutions – Foreign Currency, Non-Fiat Currency (for example: Cryptocurrency), Money Orders (Not Money Transfer), Travelers Cheques, and Debt Repayment
- 6211 – Security Brokers / Dealers
- 6300 – Insurance Sales, Underwriting, and Premiums
- 6513 – Real Estate Agents & Managers – Rentals
- 6529 – REMOTE STORED VALUE LOAD – MEMBER
- 6530 – REMOTE STORED VALUE LOAD – MERCHANT
- 6532 – PSP-MEMBER-PAYMENT TRANSACTION
- 6533 – PSP-MERCHANT-PAYMENT TRANSACTION
- 6534 – MONEY TRANSFER-MEMBER
- 6536 – MONEYSEND – INTRACOUNTRY
- 6537 – MONEYSEND – INTERCOUNTRY
- 6538 – MONEYSEND FUNDING
- 6540 – Non-Financial Institutions – Stored Value Card Purchase/Load
- 6555 – Mastercard Imitated Rebate
- 7299 – Other Services–Not Elsewhere Classified
- 7349 – CLEAN/MAINT/JANITORIAL SER
- 7399 – Business Services Not Elsewhere Classifie
- 7511 – Quasi Cash – Truck Stop Trxns
- 7523 – Automobile Parking Lots and Garages
- 7801 – Government Licensed On-Line Casinos (On-Line Gambling) (US Region only)
- 7995 – Betting, including Lottery Tickets, Casino Gaming Chips, Off-Track Betting, and Wagers at Race Tracks
- 8062 – Hospitals
- 8211 – Elementary and Secondary Schools
- 8220 – Colleges, Universities, Professional Schools, and Junior Colleges
- 8241 – Correspondence Schools
- 8244 – Business and Secretarial Schools
- 8249 – Vocational and Trade Schools
- 8299 – Schools and Educational Services (Not Elsewhere Classified)
- 8398 – Charitable Social Service Organizations
- 8651 – Political Organizations
- 8661 – Religious Organizations
- 8999 – Professional Services (Not Elsewhere Classified)
- 9211 – Court Costs, Including Alimony and Child Support
- 9222 – Fines
- 9223 – Bail and Bond Payments
- 9311 – Tax Payments
- 9399 – Government Services (Not Elsewhere Classified)
- 9402 – Postal Services – Government Only
- 9405 – Intra-Government Purchases – Government Only
- 9754 – GAMBLING-HORSE RACING DOG RACING STATE LOTTERIES
and such other categories of transactions which HSBC may exclude from time to time.
Past Buffs/Nerfs:
Nerfs:
- Effective 01 October 2025, the minimum income requirement will change depending on your total relationship balance with HSBC; existing cardholders will not be affected by this
Is it Worth it:
Advantages:
- 4 complimentary Lounge visits
- Travel Insurance coverage of up to US$100,000
- Points pooling with other HSBC Cards is now possible!
- No transfer fee (extended to 31 Jan 2025)
- After the first 10,000 miles, there is a minimum conversion block of just 2 miles (It is best to just use it to avoid orphan miles)
- Since it expires by the end of 37-month period, you have about 3 years to plan your travel itineraries! Can’t use it after 3 years? You could transfer to Krisflyer first and enjoy another 3 years of miles validity
Disadvantages:
- The earn rate is very low as compared to HSBC revolution card with the same points validity period. Might be difficult to earn miles fast enough.
Transfer Partners:
Here are the list of their current transfer partners:
- You should choose the ones with conversion rate of 25:000 to 10:000 for the best value. Since I find that conversion to hotel partners isn’t always worthwhile, so I’m sticking to airline partners.
Airline Partner | Conversion Ratio |
 | 50,000:10,000 |
 | 35,000:10,000 |
 | 35,000:10,000 |
 | 35,000:10,000 |
 | 35,000:10,000 |
 | 35,000:10,000 |
 | 30,000:10,000 |
 | 30,000:10,000 |
 | 25,000:10,000 |
 | 25,000:10,000 |
 | 25,000:10,000 |
 | 25,000:10,000 |
 | 25,000:10,000 |
 | 25,000:10,000 |
 | 25,000:10,000 |
 | 25,000:10,000 |
With the recent update with the conversion rate, transferring to Singapore KrisFlyer will offer less value compared to other transfer partners.
Hotel Partners | Conversion Ratio |
 | 30,000:10,000 |
 | 25,000:10,000 |
 | 25,000:10,000 |
 | 25,000:5,000 |
Frequently Asked Questions:
- How is my miles calculated?: For every S$1, you can get 1.2 miles per dollar on local spend, and 2.4 miles per dollar on overseas spend.
- Let’s say you spent S$100 locally (S$100 x 1.2 miles per dollar = 120 miles earned)
- Where do I redeem: You can redeem here
- When is the miles credited: This usually credits when the transaction posted, usually takes 1 business day
- When does points expire: Points expire in 37 months
- Update on Mileage Programme Annual Fee:
- In line with the upcoming updates on the rewards system, HSBC Cardholders who already paid for the Mileage Programme Annual fee last June 2023 will be receiving a full refund. All cash or points will be credited on your account by 31 July 2024
- Starting on May 28, 2024, point redemptions will only be made through the HSBC Singapore app.
- Rewards points that are set to expire on May 31, 2024, will automatically be extended by HSBC by one month (June 30, 2024)
- Points will be pooled across all credit cards, but if you’re planning to cancel a credit card, make sure to redeem all points you’ve earned, or you won’t be able to use them later.
All rewards points expire at the end of a 37-month period, although this is in comparison with a non-expiring cards with almost similar earn rates:
Cards | HSBC TravelOne | Citi PremierMiles |
Local Earn Rate | 1.2 miles per dollar (3× Reward points) | 1.2 miles per dollar |
Foreign Earn Rate | 2.4 miles per dollar (6× Reward points) | 2 miles per dollar |
Lounge Access | 4x Dragon Pass | 2x Priority Pass |
Transfer Partners | SIA, Air Asia, Asia Miles, British Airways, Etihad Guest, EVA, Flying Blue, Qantas, Vietnam Airlines, Accor, IHG, One Marriott, Bonvoy | SIA, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Etihad, EVA Air, Flying Blue, Qantas, Qatar Airways, THAI, Turkish Airlines, IHG |
Transfer Fee | Free (until May 31, 2024, after which it will be 10,000 points) | S$27.25 |
Min. Transfer Block | 25,000 points(10,000 miles) | 10,000 Citi Miles(10,000 miles) |
Final Thoughts:
One of the biggest selling point of this card is the fact that it has twice more than the usual lounge passes that you can acquire in other similar earn rate entry level credit cards. Although the lounge passes can only be used by the principal cardholder, I can still say that it’s a pretty good deal comparing to their competitors. Also, they have a wide range of selection of transfer partners so you would really have the liberty to choose the airline/hotel of your choice. But not all transfer partners are created equal, so pick wisely.
💳 Credit cards change their T&Cs every so often and it is difficult to stay updated. That’s why I created a Telegram Broadcast where you can receive timely bite-sized updates to get the most out of your spending.
💡 We believe in always paying our credit card bills on time and in full. It is only by doing that, can we fully maximise our credit card benefits.
