DBS has launched a new promotion with Expedia over the next seven weeks, offering its Altitude Visa and American Express cardholders an enhanced earn rate of 8 miles per S$1 spent on hotel and flight bookings between now and the end of April 2023.
This is a 33% enhancement on the regular year-round 6 mpd rate for these transactions, and could come in handy if you’re making travel plans for later in the year, or even into 2024.
The enhanced earn rate still falls under your collective S$5,000 cap for bonus miles earning with the Altitude cards per calendar month, so the maximum total miles earning under the offer is 80,000 per primary card:
- S$5,000 spend in March (40,000 miles)
- S$5,000 spend in April (40,000 miles)
This would have to be achieved with at least two separate bookings, in each of the two calendar months (a single S$10,000 booking won’t work).
Spend made by supplementary cardholders will be combined with that of the principal cardholder for the purposes of this offer.
If you’re holding both the DBS Altitude Visa and the DBS Altitude Amex, you can potentially take advantage of the cap in both months on both cards, for a combined spend of S$20,000, worth up to 160,000 miles with the bonus running.
How it works
To benefit from the enhanced earn rate at Expedia using your DBS Altitude card, you’ll have to book through the dedicated microsite at www.expedia.com.sg/dbsmiles.
| Spend category | Earn rate |
| All online flight & hotel transactions | 3 mpd |
| Expedia transactions | + 3 mpd |
| Expedia bonus 10 Mar – 30 Apr | + 2 mpd |
| Total | = 8 mpd |
Bookings can be made for any future travel date, but must be charged to your DBS Altitude card between 10th March 2023 and 30th April 2023.
Eligible hotel bookings are those where you make payment to Expedia at the time of booking (not applicable if you choose a rate to pay later at the hotel), though with this deal unfortunately a large exclusion list now applies.
Strangely that’s not mentioned in the DBS T&Cs but does appear in the Expedia T&Cs.
Those exclusions didn’t apply last time this offer came round, so on the hotel side this may now work best for those who prefer to stay at independent / boutique hotels, rather than the big chains.
Update: Expedia has removed the hotel brand exclusion list from its T&Cs list. All hotels and brands are eligible, provided you make full prepayment at the time of booking, as with the last deal.
Eligible flight bookings are those made with one of the following airlines:
- Air India *NEW*
- Air Macau
- Air Mauritius
- Cambodia Angkor Air
- China Eastern Airlines
- China Southern Airlines
- EVA Air *NEW*
- Finnair
- flydubai *NEW*
- Garuda Indonesia
- Hawaiian Air
- IndiGo *NEW*
- Korean Air
- Lao Airlines
- Myanmar International Airways
- Qatar Airways
- Saudi Arabian Airlines
- Shenzhen Airlines
- Sichuan Airlines
- Thai Airways International
- Turkish Airlines
- Xiamen Airlines
This is a very similar list to last time the offer was running, but recently Air India, EVA Air, flydubai and IndiGo have been added as eligible carriers.
Obviously some popular carriers including Singapore Airlines are missing from the list, but there are still potentially some useful options including Korean Air, Thai Airways, Finnair (check out the new Business Class!), Turkish Airlines and Qatar Airways.
Package bookings comprising an eligible hotel and an eligible flight, as defined individually above, booked in a single transaction on the dedicated microsite, will also be eligible.
It probably goes without saying, but your booking(s) must be charged to your DBS Altitude card for the bonus miles to apply – use of the microsite with payment by any other card will not count!
When do the bonus miles credit?
Initially your transactions will earn 3 mpd, comprising 1.2 mpd (SGD) or 2 mpd (FCY) upfront, with the remaining 1.8 mpd (SGD) or 1 mpd (FCY) credited by the middle of the following calendar month.
The bonus 5 mpd element (3 mpd year-round + 2 mpd promo bonus) will be credited within 60 days following the end of the promotion period, which is by 29th June 2023.
Full terms and conditions for the promotion are available here (DBS) or here (Expedia).
Check Kaligo hotel rates too
Don’t forget DBS Altitude cards boast a year-round 10 mpd earn rate for Kaligo hotel bookings, also capped at S$5,000 spend per calendar month within the sam collective bonus earning category.
Technically this offer ends on 31st March 2023, but in our experience it’s always extended and is a de-factor year-round deal.
Kaligo rates aren’t always too competitive, but surprisingly they sometimes can be, so do check that out before committing to Expedia.
The additional 2 mpd may even make a slightly higher charge worth paying, and there is no brand exclusion list to worry about with Kaligo.
For further details, check out our full review of the Altitude cards.
| DBS Altitude | |||
 |
First year free |
1.3 mpd local |
2.2 mpd FCY |
| READ OUR REVIEW | |||
| DBS Altitude | ||
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First year free |
1.3 mpd local |
2.2 mpd FCY |
| READ OUR REVIEW | ||
Summary
If you’re making travel plans for 2023 or even 2024 and can lock in your bookings between now and 30th April 2023, do check the prices through Expedia with your DBS Altitude cards, which will net you 8 mpd if your flight, hotel or package fall into the eligible categories.
Some nice enhancements during this offer include flights on Air India, EVA Air and IndiGo, but unfortunately an extensive hotel brand exclusion list is now mentioned at the Expedia T&C side.
Update: Expedia has removed the hotel brand exclusion list from its T&Cs list. All hotels and brands are eligible, provided you make full prepayment at the time of booking, as with the last deal.
Remember that any hotel bookings must be prepaid directly to Expedia, while flights must be operated by an airline on the eligible list.
Most importantly, don’t go too mad! Only cumulative bookings of up to S$5,000 per DBS Altitude card made during March and a further S$5,000 per card during April will get the bonus, a cap also shared with your other bonus category spend.
(Cover Photo: Airbus)