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Back in March 2019, DBS added Qantas Frequent Flyer as a transfer partner for its DBS Points. The following month they added a promotional 20% bonus rate for transfers, with each block of 5,000 DBS Points converting into 12,000 Qantas Points instead of the usual 10,000.

That offer ended in June, but it’s back again for October and this time it’s even better – a 25% bonus is on offer giving you 12,500 Qantas Points for every 5,000 DBS Points converted.

Transfers are subject to the usual S$26.75 fee.

The minimum transfer quantity is 5,000 DBS Points to 10,000 Qantas Points, with the 25% bonus (+2,500 Qantas Points in that example) credited by the 14th of the following calendar month.

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The table below shows when you would receive the bonus points based on a few transfer examples.

In addition to the popular DBS Altitude card, you can also transfer points from the DBS Woman’s World Mastercard under this offer (see our review of that card here).

Joining Qantas Frequent Flyer (QFF)

If you don’t already have a QFF membership, it’s free to sign up if you live in Singapore (unlike in Australia where it will set you back AU$99.50).

Once you’re a member you can log in and search award availability for flights on Qantas, Emirates and oneworld airlines even if you don’t have sufficient miles in your account for the itinerary.

QFF redemption rates

It’s worth noting that many award prices using Qantas Frequent Flyer Points increased in price last month. Though some Economy Class redemptions became a bit cheaper, our readers will be more interested in using these points for First and Business Class redemptions, which all became more expensive.

For example a Business Class redemption from Singapore to Sydney went from 60,000 to 68,400 points for a Classic Flight Reward, with First Class increasing from 90,000 to 102,600, so arguably the 25% bonus deal may not be as attractive as it first looks.

Here’s the Qantas distance based award chart for redemptions, valid for its own services, also including Emirates and a few other partners like American Airlines and Fiji Airways:

As you can seen you’re looking at the following rates for non-stop Qantas / Emirates flights from Singapore:

• Perth: 57,000 points in Business Class
• Brisbane / Dubai / Melbourne / Sydney: 68,400 points in Business Class, 102,600 points in First Class
• London: 94,900 points in Business Class, 142,300 points in First Class

Here’s the distance based award chart if you’re using QFF points to fly on a oneworld airline (except American), and some other partners too:

It’s useful for Emirates

As we mentioned above, QFF points are useful not only for Qantas and oneworld redemptions, but also for Emirates First and Business Class awards, with good availability generally made available to QFF members.

It’s difficult to earn Emirates Skywards miles directly in Singapore through credit card spending (the Standard Chartered X card and the non-KrisFlyer Amex cards are the main options), so using Qantas points for Emirates redemptions is a good option since you can also convert from Citi into QFF if you wish.

Emirates flies to three non-stop destinations from Singapore; Brisbane, Dubai and Melbourne. That’s not to mention further connections from the carrier’s Dubai hub.

Avios is better for Asia-Pacific redemptions

Even if you take 20% off the award rates in the QFF oneworld award chart (that’s what you’re effectively getting with a 25% transfer bonus), this still doesn’t come close to the excellent rates you can secure for short distance redemptions in Asia-Pacific on oneworld carriers using British Airways Avios points instead.

Here are some examples:

Cathay Pacific Business Singapore – Bangkok

• Avios: 16,500
• Asia Miles: 25,000
• Qantas: 30,000

Cathay Pacific Business Singapore – Hong Kong

• Avios: 22,000
• Asia Miles: 25,000
• Qantas: 43,800

Qantas Business Perth – Melbourne

• Avios: 22,000
• Asia Miles: 30,000
• Qantas: 41,500

Even with 20% off, the Qantas award rate still makes for an expensive option on these routings versus the Avios scheme.

Transfer time

If you do want to take advantage of the 25% transfer bonus from DBS Points to QFF Points, be aware that the bank is quoting a transfer time of “approximately 7 working days”.

Generally however, we find that transfers from DBS take one to four days.

After that you’ll be waiting until the 14th of the subsequent month for the 25% bonus ‘top-up’ to credit into your QFF account, so this isn’t great for a redemption you may be looking to jump on now. Think of it as a longer-term strategy, perhaps for a future Emirates redemption.

Note that this offer is not applicable to DBS customers enrolled in the S$42.83 annual program for automatic points conversions from selected cards, which is only for transfers to the KrisFlyer program – see our review of the DBS Altitude card for full details.

Full details

See the DBS landing page for this offer for full details, including terms and conditions and a step by step redemption guide.

(Cover Photo: Qantas)