Back in October last year, HSBC offered a 20% bonus on Rewards points conversions to the Air France-KLM Flying Blue programme, exclusive to those holding the bank’s TravelOne credit card, with no upper transfer limit.
Since then the bank has rolled out its full list of 21 transfer partners, most of which were originally exclusive to its TravelOne card customers, to all its credit cards.
Now there’s a new transfer bonus running for the month of August 2024, and this time instead of being restricted to a single partner a total of six FFP and hotel loyalty programmes are included, though arguably these aren’t the most valuable ones on HSBC’s list – like KrisFlyer, BA Avios or Asia Miles.
HSBC Travel Bonus Points Campaign
From 1st August to 31st August 2024, HSBC cardholders can transfer their Rewards points into the following six partner programmes, with a bonus of 20%, 30% or 50% over the usual transfer ratio.
HSBC Transfer Bonus
1 – 31 August 2024
| FFP | Regular Transfer Ratio |
Bonus Transfer Ratio |
 |
35,000 10,000
35,000
10,000 |
35,000 12,000
+ 20% 35,000
12,000 + 20% |
 |
25,000 10,000
25,000
10,000 |
25,000 12,000
+ 20% 25,000
12,000 + 20% |
 |
50,000 10,000
50,000
10,000 |
50,000 13,000
+ 30% 50,000
13,000 + 30% |
 |
25,000 10,000
25,000
10,000 |
25,000 13,000
+ 30% 25,000
13,000 + 30% |
 |
25,000 10,000
25,000
10,000 |
25,000 15,000
+ 50% 25,000
15,000 + 50% |
 |
25,000 5,000
25,000
5,000 |
25,000 7,500
+ 50% 25,000
7,500 + 50% |
The transfer blocks shown above reflect the minimum quantity of HSBC Rewards points you can transfer into these loyalty programmes (e.g. 50,000 points for JAL or 25,000 points for Qantas).
Over and above the minimum transfer level, you can ‘optimise’ transfers to the nearest whole point, rather than having to redeem in same-sized subsequent blocks, like with other banks such as Citi and UOB.
There is no upper cap on the number of points you can transfer with the bonus included under this campaign.
Transfers must be made on the HSBC SG mobile app, the only way to now redeem your HSBC Rewards points. If you don’t have the app on your device, you can download it via the links below.
Here’s HSBC’s step-by-step summary of how transfers to airline and hotel partners work via the app.
Note that the bonus rate does not reflect in the HSBC app when you initiate your transfer – the regular year-round ratio will still be displayed.
The bonus points or miles from this campaign may be reflected separately to the originally-transferred points (at the regular transfer rate) in your loyalty programme account, as two transactions, but both will be credited at the same time.
Full terms and conditions for the promotion are available here.
Which programmes are worth transferring to?
Because HSBC has variable transfer ratios from its Rewards points to loyalty partners, many of the options are lousy value, even with a bonus in play.
If you can find Classic Award space, Qantas Frequent Flyer can be a good way to redeem Business Class flights between Singapore and Australia or the UK, especially with a 30% bonus.
- Singapore – Sydney / Melbourne / Brisbane in Business: 68,400 points + S$118
- Singapore – London in Business: 94,900 points + S$82
These rates become equivalent to 52,616 points and 73,000 points respectively with the HSBC 30% transfer bonus.
Flying Blue has a semi-dynamic award chart for redemptions on its own flights, like Air France and KLM services, with starting rates for redemption seats depending on your city pair and cabin class.
If you can find availability for those, there are some great deals to be had, like:
- AF Singapore to London in Business (via CDG): 70,000 miles + S$291
- AF Singapore to Paris in Premium Economy: 40,000 miles + S$199
With a 20% bonus on offer, you could be heading to Europe in Business Class for the equivalent of only 58,334 miles during this promotion, so do check the award space if that’s of interest.
There’s still no point transferring to Qatar Privilege Club
Even with a 20% bonus on offer, there remains no point in transferring HSBC Rewards points into the Qatar Airways Privilege Club.
Why? Because HSBC cardholders can convert their points into two Avios programmes:
- British Airways Executive Club (BAEC): 2.5:1 ratio
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club (QRPC): 3.5:1 ratio
Since you can link your BAEC and QRPC accounts (both are free to open) and make unlimited instant free 1:1 transfers of any amount between them, whenever you like, there would be no sense in transferring into QRPC when a BAEC transfer year-round will get you 40% more Avios points.
Even if you wish to redeem using the QRPC programme, simply transfer to British Airways at a 2.5:1 ratio, and then instantly transfer the whole amount to QRPC.
During this 20% bonus promotion for HSBC > QRPC transfers, you’ll still get 17% more miles with a transfer at the year-round BAEC rate!
See this guide if you haven’t linked your Avios accounts yet – it’s pretty simple.
Full list of HSBC transfer partners
Here’s a full list of the 21 transfer partners HSBC now has in its repertoire, with the year-round transfer ratios.
HSBC FFP Transfer Partners
= Good transfer ratio
= Lousy transfer ratio
| FFP |  |
Transfer Ratio | |
 |
 |
25,000 10,000
25,000
10,000 |
|
 |
35,000 10,000
35,000
10,000 |
||
 |
25,000 10,000
25,000
10,000 |
||
 |
30,000 10,000
30,000
10,000 |
||
 |
35,000 10,000
35,000
10,000 |
||
 |
35,000 10,000
35,000
10,000 |
||
 |
 |
25,000 10,000
25,000
10,000 |
|
 |
25,000 10,000
25,000
10,000 |
||
|
50,000 10,000
50,000
10,000 |
||
|
25,000 10,000
25,000
10,000 |
||
|
35,000 10,000
35,000
10,000 |
||
 |
|
25,000 10,000
25,000
10,000 |
|
 |
25,000 10,000
25,000
10,000 |
||
 |
 |
25,000 20,000
25,000
20,000 |
|
 |
25,000 10,000
25,000
10,000 |
||
 |
35,000 10,000
35,000
10,000 |
||
 |
40,000 10,000
40,000
10,000 |
||
HSBC Hotel Transfer Partners
| FFP | |
Transfer Ratio | |
 |
|
25,000 5,000
25,000
5,000 |
|
|
25,000 10,000
25,000
10,000 |
||
 |
25,000 10,000
25,000
10,000 |
||
 |
30,000 10,000
30,000
10,000 |
||
Instant transfers
One great new feature HSBC customers now benefit from following the May 2024 expansion of the partner list is that in most cases you’ll see the miles or points in your loyalty account immediately upon transferring in-app.
Your miles/hotel points redemptions are processed instantly for most partners.
HSBC
There’s a little caveat, however, with a sneaky “or within one business day” get-out clause for the bank, plus if you’re transferring to the following programmes it will take longer, up to two weeks in some cases:
- Club Vistara: 5 working days
- Hainan Fortune Wings Club: 5 working days
- JAL Mileage Bank: 10 working days
In our experience transferring HSBC Reward points from the TravelOne card to KrisFlyer, the conversion was indeed instant.
No conversion fees till 2025
Currently HSBC is waiving the transfer fee to all its frequent flyer programmes and hotel loyalty partners, which allows you to make unlimited free transfers, subject to the minimum conversion block.
This benefit is in place until at least the end of January 2025.
For HSBC Credit Cardholders, the redemption fee for miles/hotel points redemptions will be waived up till 31 Jan 2025.
HSBC Rewards Programme T&Cs
Summary
HSBC cardholders can transfer their Reward points to six of the bank’s 21-strong partner list with a bonus of 20%, 30% or 50% between now and the end of August 2024.
Unfortunately it’s the less valuable schemes participating this time round, rather than the likes of KrisFlyer, British Airways and Asia Miles, so the bonus doesn’t move the needle far enough to be worth it in most cases, with the possible exception of Qantas Frequent Flyer and Air France-KLM Flying Blue.
Let’s hope HSBC offers bonus transfer rates in future for some other partners too, where the value might be better.
(Cover Photo: Boeing)