In 2017, Air Miles credit cards are a great way to save on your travel spending. By comparing the best travel credit cards in Malaysia, you can maximise your value for money during your next trip. When picking a card that suits your needs there are various things that you need to pay attention to:

1. Choosing the right airline carrier for your travel rewards

Before you start to collect airlines it would be a good idea to pick an airline that matches your travel preferences. Like most people, you will likely have a few favourite destinations. Depending on the airline they might have different rates for different destinations, for example to their home airport. Different airlines also have different levels of service and comfort, which airline are you most comfortable with? If you are not sure yet, you pick a rewards card which allows you to redeem air miles. That way, you can decide on a case by case basis, which airline you want to fly with.

2. What is the redemption rate of your air miles card?

The rate at which rewards points can be exchanged for air miles varies for different credit cards. Different airlines also might require a different amount of air miles for the same location. These differences might be quite significant. The Maybank World Mastercard offers you a great redemption rate with 5x Treats Air Miles on overseas spending.

3. Keep an eye on the expiry dates of your air miles

Once you start to accumulate a significant amount of air miles, it is important to keep an eye on your expiry dates. It would be a shame if you had been saving air miles for a nice trip, only to have them expire just days before you leave. Usually, air miles expire 36 months from the moment you receive them. 

4. Understand the difference between overseas spending and local spending

The rate at which you collect air miles on your spending differs between overseas and local spend. Local spend usually gives you more air miles per ringgit spend than overseas spending. Be aware of this when looking at credit card rewards promotions. It might be that a promotion is only applicable to overseas spending, which could be irrelevant to you. An excellent choice is the Standard Chartered Word Miles Mastercard which grants you 3 WorldMiles per RM 2 spent overseas and 1 WorldMiles per RM 3 spend locally.

5. Be aware of air miles spending tiers

The rate at which you collect air miles can be different for varying levels of spending. You might get 1 mile for the first 500 RM spend and 2 for the next RM 1000 spend. By doing this, the bank tries to encourage you to spend more money. It might be useful to be aware of tiers and adjust your spending accordingly, but don’t start overspending just to get more air miles, that is a bad idea. To have a closer look at different spending tiers, you may find some of the best air miles cards here.