By MoneyBees
Find out what your miles are worth: the cents per mile a redemption gets you, how many miles your card earns on your spending, and whether a cashback card would pay you more.
Same flight, cabin and dates, bought with money.
Flights from Singapore, chart effective 1 Nov 2025.
Shown at checkout on the award booking.
From your card's terms. Use the rate for most of your spend.
What your bank charges to move points to an airline.
This redemption
2.06 cents
per mile
Break-even with cashback
1.25 cents
per mile
Miles a year
28,800
22 months to earn this redemption
| A year | |
|---|---|
| Miles earned at 1.2 mpd | 28,800 |
| Worth at 2.06 cents a mile, less fees | $593 |
| Cashback at 1.5% | $360 |
| Miles come out ahead by | $233 |
Miles pay more only when you redeem above 1.25 cents a mile. Miles you never redeem are worth nothing.
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28,800 miles against $360 of cashback.
| Cents per mile | Miles worth | Against cashback |
|---|---|---|
| 1.00 cents | $288 | -$72 |
| 1.50 cents | $432 | +$72 |
| 2.00 cents | $576 | +$216 |
| 2.50 cents | $720 | +$360 |
| 3.00 cents | $864 | +$504 |
Use the cash price you would really pay for the same seat. A business class fare you would never buy makes a redemption look better than it is to you.
A return economy ticket to Tokyo costs S$1,200 in cash, say, or 51,000 miles on SIA's Saver chart plus S$150 in taxes. The miles save you S$1,050, so each mile is worth S$1,050 / 51,000 = 2.06 cents. Spend S$2,000 a month on a 1.2 mpd card and you earn 28,800 miles a year, worth S$593 at that rate. A 1.5% cashback card pays S$360 on the same spend. Miles win by S$233 here, but only if you book redemptions worth 1.25 cents a mile or more.
The fare, taxes, earn rate and fees are yours: the fare from the airline's site, the taxes from its award booking page, and the earn rate and fees from your card's terms. The optional miles figures are Singapore Airlines' one-way Saver awards from Singapore, from its award chart effective 1 November 2025. A return trip needs twice the miles. Earn rates differ for local, overseas and online spend, so check your bank's current terms.
Figures checked 3 Oct 2026.
Take the cash price of the same ticket, subtract the taxes and surcharges you still pay on the award booking, and divide by the miles. A S$1,200 ticket that costs 50,000 miles plus S$150 gives S$1,050 / 50,000, which is 2.1 cents a mile.
Multiply your spend by the card's miles per dollar. S$2,000 a month at 1.2 mpd is 2,400 miles a month, or 28,800 a year. Check your card's terms for caps, excluded spend and different rates for local, overseas and online spend.
Only if you redeem above the break-even. Divide the cashback rate by the miles per dollar: 1.5% cashback against 1.2 mpd breaks even at 1.25 cents a mile. Redeem above that and miles pay more; below it, or not at all, and cashback wins.
Yes. Banks often charge a fee to move points to an airline programme, and it comes out of what the miles are worth. Enter your yearly fees and the calculator raises the break-even to cover them.
Cents per mile depends on the fare you avoid paying. Compare against the price you would really pay for that seat. A premium cabin fare you would never buy in cash makes the miles look worth more than they are to you.
Divide the miles you need by the miles you earn a month. At 2,400 miles a month, a 50,000-mile redemption takes 21 months. Bonus categories and sign-up offers can shorten it.
Check before you save towards a redemption. Airline programmes and bank rewards programmes each set their own expiry rules, and they are not the same.
Cents per mile is shown to two decimal places, dollar values to the nearest dollar, and months rounded up. The fare, taxes, earn rate and fees all come from you, not from an airline or bank table.
These calculators provide general estimates for educational purposes only and are not personalised financial advice. Results may rely on rates and rules that change over time, so verify against official sources (IRAS, CPF Board, HDB, MAS) or consult a licensed financial adviser before making decisions.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).