If you’ve been quietly accumulating your DBS Points in Singapore with a Qantas Frequent Flyer redemption in mind, there’s some bad news to report – because the bank has just left you high and dry.
The Qantas option vanished from the list of conversion choices on the DBS rewards portal in late September 2026, but the bank’s first official word on the change didn’t come until around 7pm on 1st October 2026. That’s when it published revised DBS Rewards terms and conditions, with Qantas Points simply deleted from the conversion table – by which point its removal was already a done deal.
The rest of the bank’s website then caught up progressively over the following two days, with the last references to Qantas disappearing by late on 3rd October.
While DBS’s own terms and conditions do allow changes to transfer partners without notice, abrupt removals like this are certainly bad form.
When American Express devalued its transfer ratios earlier this year, cardholders were given a month’s notice to move their points at the old rates. Even BOC, hardly a byword for customer-friendly points administration, gave Elite Miles cardholders more than three weeks’ warning before it dropped Asia Miles in July 2025.
What’s left for DBS Points?
With Qantas gone, the DBS conversion list now runs to just three frequent flyer programmes.
| DBS Points Transfer Partners (from October 2026) |
|||
| FFP | DBS Points | Miles | |
 |
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer |
5,000 | 10,000 |
 |
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles |
5,000 | 10,000 |
 |
AirAsia Rewards |
500 | 1,500 |
 |
Removed |
||
On paper AirAsia makes up the numbers as a third option, but we wouldn’t even count it.
While the 500 : 1,500 ratio looks generous at first glance – three AirAsia points for every DBS Point, versus two miles with KrisFlyer or Asia Miles – the reality is that AirAsia points aren’t really frequent flyer miles at all.
They’re effectively a cashback scheme, used to pay for AirAsia flights at a fixed value of around S$0.003 (0.3 cents) per point.
That means converting 5,000 DBS Points gets you 10,000 KrisFlyer miles, typically valued at around S$180. The same 5,000 DBS Points would get you 15,000 AirAsia points, worth roughly S$45 towards an AirAsia booking.
Fees make it worse still. DBS has charged its standard S$27.25 conversion fee on AirAsia transfers since 1st March 2026, having previously waived it. That’s already a big dent in S$180 of KrisFlyer value, but it wipes out well over half of your S$45 in AirAsia points.
You’d need to convert more than 3,000 DBS Points just for the AirAsia points you receive to be worth more than the fee you’ve paid!
Realistically then, DBS Points now have only two useful homes – KrisFlyer and Asia Miles.
Does it really matter?
For most of our Singapore-based readers, very little changes here. DBS Points converted to miles overwhelmingly go to KrisFlyer or Asia Miles anyway, and both remain available at the usual 5,000 : 10,000 ratio.
Qantas Frequent Flyer has never been a natural fit for Singapore-based travellers. Like most programmes outside KrisFlyer it passes fuel surcharges on to award tickets, and its rates are often uncompetitive.
As our transfer partners guide shows, a return Bangkok Airways flight from Singapore to Koh Samui needs 28,000 Qantas Points, compared with just 20,000 Asia Miles – 40% more for exactly the same seat.
(Photo: Qantas)
There are a couple of groups who may feel more impacted by this change though.
- Anyone topping up a Qantas balance. If you were steadily accumulating DBS Points to top up an existing Qantas balance for a specific award, your plans have been unceremoniously scuppered by the bank. You’ll now need to find those points elsewhere (more on that below).
- Emirates redemptions. Qantas Frequent Flyer has long been one of the more practical ways to reach Emirates award seats using Singapore bank points. That’s become even more significant since Amex Membership Rewards transfers to Emirates Skywards disappeared on 29th May 2025, with still no sign of a return (it’s been so long we’ve actually axed that FFP from our list of options).
DBS cardholders have now lost the Qantas route too.
(Photo: MainlyMiles)
A seven-year partnership
DBS first added Qantas Frequent Flyer as a transfer partner in late March 2019, and was keen to promote it at the time.
A 20% transfer bonus ran from April to June 2019, followed by a 25% bonus through to the end of October that year.
Our article on that second offer was published on 1st October 2019 – exactly seven years before DBS confirmed the partnership was over.
Where can you still earn Qantas Points?
Any future Qantas top-ups, assuming you want them, will now need to come from Amex, Citi or HSBC – the only Singapore card issuers still linked to Qantas Frequent Flyer.
That’s two Singapore bank partners Qantas has now lost in under three years, with Standard Chartered also dropping the programme as part of its March 2024 cull, though it did at least give cardholders a month’s notice.
| Singapore Credit Card Points to Qantas Frequent Flyer |
||||
| Bank / Points | Points for 10,000 QFF Points |
Transfer Fee |
vs KrisFlyer Ratio |
|
 |
Amex Membership Rewards (Platinum Charge, Centurion) |
20,000 | Free | Same |
|
Amex Membership Rewards (other cards) |
22,000 | Free | Same |
 |
Citi Citi Miles |
10,000 | S$27.25 | Same |
|
Citi ThankYou Points |
25,000 | S$27.25 | Same |
 |
HSBC Reward points |
25,000 | Free | Better (KrisFlyer: 30,000) |
HSBC is a good option here. Its cardholders have needed 20% more reward points for KrisFlyer conversions since January 2025, but Qantas transfers still sit at HSBC’s best available ratio of 25,000 : 10,000.
That means a 4 mpd card like the HSBC Revolution effectively earns the full 4 mpd in Qantas Points, versus 3.3 mpd in KrisFlyer miles – with no conversion fee either, and the points land in your Qantas account instantly. That’s handy if you’re topping up for award space you’ve already found.
Amex conversions are free and instant too. Just bear in mind that February’s devaluation hit Qantas conversions as hard as KrisFlyer ones, so Membership Rewards points now go 22-25% less far than they did at the start of the year.
Citi PremierMiles holders get the simplest deal of all, with Citi Miles converting 1:1 into Qantas Points, though each transfer costs S$27.25.
Remember too that Qantas Points expire if your account has no earning or redemption activity for 18 months. If you’re sitting on a stranded Qantas balance that your DBS Points were meant to top up, a small transfer from one of these banks will keep it alive while you work out what to do with it.
Holding DBS Points? What to do now
There’s no need to rush your DBS Points out the door as a result of this change. Our usual advice applies – convert only when you have a specific redemption in mind, or when points are about to expire.
How much time you have depends on which card earned them:
- DBS Altitude: points never expire, so you can sit tight until a KrisFlyer or Asia Miles redemption comes along
- DBS Vantage: points last three years from when they’re earned
- DBS Woman’s World Card: points expire after just one year, so keep an eye on the expiry dates shown on your statement
If it was Qantas-operated flights you were after, Asia Miles is worth a look. As a fellow Oneworld member, Cathay’s programme lets you redeem on Qantas flights, and DBS Points still convert into Asia Miles at the same 5,000 : 10,000 ratio that applied to Qantas Frequent Flyer.
Not a great year for DBS cardholders
This is the latest in a run of DBS changes in 2026 that have chipped away at the value of its cards.
- From 1st March 2026, DBS began charging its S$27.25 conversion fee on AirAsia transfers, having previously waived it
- From 1st August 2026, the spend-based annual fee waiver on the DBS Woman’s World Card was withdrawn
- From 1st November 2026, the DBS Vantage local earn rate is being cut from 1.5 mpd to 1.4 mpd
It also fits a wider pattern we highlighted in this year’s update of our transfer partners guide – Singapore’s credit card transfer options have been shrinking, not growing.
Standard Chartered went from 10 transfer partners to two in March 2024, HSBC devalued its KrisFlyer conversions in January 2025, BOC cut its partner list to KrisFlyer alone in July 2025, and Amex devalued all of its airline partners in February 2026.
DBS dropping Qantas is the first time a Singapore card issuer has removed an airline partner outright since BOC ditched Asia Miles.
We’ve updated our transfer partners guide to reflect the change.
Summary
Qantas Frequent Flyer has been cut from the DBS rewards line-up, with no advance warning given to cardholders. KrisFlyer and Asia Miles remain available at 5,000 DBS Points to 10,000 miles, while AirAsia – the only other option – remains dreadful value, even more so since the S$27.25 conversion fee started applying.
For most of our readers this changes very little, since Qantas Frequent Flyer has always been a niche choice for Singapore-based travellers. But if you were saving DBS Points for a Qantas top-up, you’ll now need Amex, Citi or HSBC points instead – with HSBC offering the most favourable deal relative to its own KrisFlyer conversion ratio.
Above all it’s another reminder that banks can, and do, change the rules on your points whenever they like. As we said in our transfer partners guide, the case for holding a card with good transfer flexibility is stronger than ever – but transfer only when you have a redemption in mind.
(Cover Photo: Qantas)