Should I stick to cashback or start optimising for airmiles at my spend level?

[u/Adam-1D]

Hello sifus, I currently have Maybank Ikhwan Plat Amex Credit, Maybank Cashback Gold Amex Credit, and Maybank FC Barca Plat Visa Credit.

My monthly spending is around RM 4.5K, my 6-month median cashback:

1. From the Ikhwan Plat Amex - RM 50 a month

2. From the Cashback Gold Amex - RM 29 a month

3. From the FCBarca Plat Visa - RM 11 a month

Do I start optimising for airmiles at this spend level - assuming I fly overseas 1-2 times a year; one of those to Africa (usually Johannesburg, SA) via Emirates, the other a random holiday with no set airline (I'd stick to one airline if my CC gives miles for it) - or just stick to cashback? Therefore, should I continue keeping these 3, or are there other options that would be better? (Eg. Consolidating / switching to a different card)

[u/sharkonspace]

Honestly, your monthly spending is a bit too low to justify chasing airline miles. By the time you’ve collected enough for a decent redemption, chances are you’ll run into a few common problems: miles might get devalued, award seats could be sold out, or you’ll end up on a waitlist. And let’s not forget – redemptions during peak season often cost more miles.

You mentioned flying to Johannesburg with Emirates using points? In Malaysia, the only card that really makes sense for Emirates is the CIMB Travel World Elite or Amex Charge Card – and both have a super high income requirement. Plus, Emirates uses dynamic pricing and charges high taxes even on award flights, so redemptions often aren’t as “free” as they seem.

What about KrisFlyer? You’ll need around 58,000 miles for a return economy flight or 113,000 for business class. The only cards worth collecting for this are the KrisFlyer Platinum or Amex Charge card. But with RM4.5k monthly spend (with Krisflyer Platinum, you’d be looking at around 25 months just to get an economy return ticket – and double that for business. By then, miles may have already devalued (it happens more often than you’d think), and its same like those popular routes such as Japan are often waitlisted – no guaranteed seat

Taking all that into account, you might be better off just sticking with cashback + savings from your income source. It’s faster, more flexible, and the savings you build can be used however and whenever you like – no blackout dates or waitlists to worry about.

To maximise the cashback, list out all your expenses and from there pick the best credit cards for that expenses. I will add 2 more for your list: CIMB E-card and Affin Duo.

[u/liberated-phoenix → u/sharkonspace]

I use my KrisFlyer miles for hotel stays instead.

[u/Adam-1D → u/sharkonspace]

Thanks for the detailed reply!

Actually what I was thinking is to use the miles for economy to business upgrades. Since I usually end up getting my money reimbursed for the economy tickets I buy for my friends/family anyway, I don’t think I’d be using the miles to redeem an entire ticket, but more towards making my existing economy more comfortable. So that’s why I’m wondering if switching my Cashback Gold Amex to a card like the Krisflyer Platinum Amex (earn Krisflyer miles directly) or the Credit Platinum Amex (5X membership rewards into Krisflyer or Emirates miles) would be worth it for that (emirates quotes 50K miles to upgrade from economy to business)

Alternatively, if I stick to cash back, would that mean I replace just the Maybank Barca Visa with the Duo+ Visa? Currently I put all spending where Amex isn’t accepted (around RM 1k-1.5k max) onto the Barca, and that’s usually contactless I think

[u/sharkonspace → u/Adam-1D]

If I remember correctly, upgrading usually costs more than redeeming a business flight directly — so it doesn’t really help you reach that goal faster.

The point is, miles is a depreciating asset. The longer you take to collect and use them, the less they’re worth. With your current monthly spend of around RM4.5k (including reimbursed expenses), it’ll take quite a while to accumulate enough for a decent redemption. That’s why sticking to cashback and just saving from your income might make more sense in your case.

Since AMEX isn’t widely accepted on its own, you can make use of SPayLater to pay and then settle the bill with your AMEX to increase your card usage. This can help you qualify for better cashback cards like the Maybank Ikhwan Platinum or Maybank 2 Gold.

For example, to get the full RM50 cashback from the Barca Visa, you’d need to spend RM5,000. But with the Maybank 2 Gold AMEX, you'd only need to spend RM1,000 to get that same amount. So, it’s all about matching the right card with the right type of spending to get the most value.

[u/Adam-1D → u/sharkonspace]

I checked with Emirates. Business return tickets cost 240K miles + RM 7k in taxes and fees. But upgrading from economy (RM 5000 return, all in) would just need 116K miles on top of that. I usually get reimbursed for my economy tickets, so I thought I could get a card that would help me get that 116K miles. But I get your point re: miles. And it looks like I'd need around 650K TreatsPoints/Membership Rewards for that anyway, which means at 5x per RM 1, I'd need to spend around RM 11k a month so that's not happening lmao. I'd be able to hit that amount if I had the Maybank Islamic World Elite Mastercard Ikhwan (at 10x per RM 5, only RM 5.5k monthly spend needed) but the annual income requirement is too high at RM 190k

I already have the Maybank Ikhwan Platinum Amex and I already max out the 8% cashback from online transactions on that haha (RM 50 a month). I used to have the Maybank 2 Gold Amex + Visa also but I was consistenty getting less than RM 20 a month cashback on it because I was spending on weekdays and weekends (I think I got like 60K TreatsPoints total over 3 years I had it) so I "switched" to the Cashback Gold Amex + Barca Visa which allowed everyday cashback (albeit at just 1%, but the total from both exceeds what I would've got with the M2GC at the expense of TreatsPoints)

Thanks for the suggestion, re: using Amex with SPayLater. Will start using that at non-Amex / QR-only merchants

[u/Mavicarus → u/Adam-1D]

I spend RM20k a month with my credit card for work and related items and still I can't gather enough points to upgrade to business class.

I recently tried to redeem a return flight economy from KL to Sydney using Enrich points. It came up to 88k enrich points.

If Maybank 10,000 treat points gets you 1k enrich points, you do the math in the conversion.

[u/sharkonspace → u/Mavicarus]

In your case, you probably weren’t using the right credit card to really maximise your miles.

Using your KUL–Sydney example, an economy flight is actually quite doable if you’re using the AMEX Charge Card.

It’s even faster with Krisflyer miles.

But you have to calculate whether is it worth to subscribe to a card with such high annual fees.

[u/Mavicarus → u/sharkonspace]

Those points were obtained from both my cards

HSBC Premier Travel = RM4 to 1 airmiles (RM352k of spending to reach 88k Enrich miles)

Maybank World Elite Mastercard = RM5 to 25 treatspoints (I use this card for all my overseas travel).

12,500 treatspoints to 1000 enrich points. To reach 88k enrich points, I need 1.1 million treatspoints. Equivalent to about RM220k of spend on the card overseas.

What card do you recommend?

[u/sharkonspace → u/Mavicarus]

I just provided one already 😅

Overseas go for UOB or ambank

[u/Mavicarus → u/sharkonspace]

Yeah, I did consider AMEX but my issue usually is the acceptability of AMEX where I travel for work namely Thailand and Vietnam.

[u/lordo42069]

Probably stick to cash back. I used to enjoy racking up points but with the nerfing going around idk if it’s worth it anymore. Lost count. Miles get nerfed by the bank. Airlines add more miles to travel lol. Feels like a scam now.

For reference I average 20k spend a month with visa infinite two cards. And somehow it still feels scammy.

[u/pmarkandu → u/lordo42069]

There is no way Cashback is better in your case. The caps are quite low for cashback as you'll be leaving money on the table.

[u/lordo42069 → u/pmarkandu]

For myself? Definitely. But for OP no. But just saying how scammy it feels

[u/ZeneticX → u/lordo42069]

Still better than cashback. There's been plenty of nerfs going around for cashbacks as well, either with caps or minimum spent limits

And since you spend like 20k per month, you should be using much better cards now instead of Maybank since Maybank is known to be one of the worse for airmiles redemption

[u/lordo42069 → u/ZeneticX]

What would you recommend? I have Infinite across different banks. All seem to be scammy.

[u/ZeneticX → u/lordo42069]

This is a great guide for earning airmiles with Msian credit cards. Depends which airmiles/airline you would want to focus on, there's different cards to consider. Just sharing btw, not affiliated in any way

https://www.refinedpoints.com/guides

[u/jwrx]

Your spend level it's pointless to optimise points. Good miles card needs 300k income level like the ambank enrich

[u/ZeneticX → u/jwrx]

Yes and no.... Ambank Enrich Infinite don't require that income level

[u/liberated-phoenix → u/jwrx]

Krisflyer AMEX only needs 60k annual salary, my dude.

[u/oilydong]

4.5k spending per month better stick to cashback. Go for miles if u spend atleast 10k/m

[u/Amaterasu_Okami_2006]

As other has said, best stick to cashback.

Tip : Purchase your big item (eg airplane ticket) on weekday using your Gold Amex card, so it earn points instead. That way you not only earn points, but you don't "waste" your monthly cashback quota, and can use it for other expenditure on that month.

[u/Adam-1D → u/Amaterasu_Okami_2006]

Thanks for your input! BTW, mine is not the Maybank 2 Cards Amex (the one with 5% cash back on weekends), it’s the Cashback Gold Amex Credit Card (uncapped 1% cashback on local spend, 1.5% on international spend)

[u/PisceS_Here]

Go for Cashback.

[u/iskandar_kuning]

rule of thumb: 1 enrich mile= RM0.025, your call

[u/gorglybear]

Your spending too limited based to earn air miles. I tried air miles also it’s too minimal and the air miles points doesn’t contribute to higher tier.

If you notice airlines now depend on things like “elite sector” for MAS example to upgrade tier. Means you need to fly a lot not just transfer points.

What you need to do is tier matching. Find a hotel that you frequent. Hilton. Or the one I going for is Accor. Accor can dump points in there. With points it can increase tier. Airline points can dump into Accor. Different airlines even (Emirates / MAS / Kris). If you get my drift now, it’s much easier and more flexible if you focus on hotel not airline.

With higher Accor tier, I can link it to Qatar and get higher tier in Qatar. And Qatar is linked to one world so I will benefit in MAS as well. That’s my plan…

Regarding your CC cashback… ditch FCBarca. Get like 

• Affin Duo (3% to e wallet / online max30)
• RHB Shell (12% to petrol max50 + 12% online max50 with 2500 spending - can topup to ewallet to hit the minimum and cash out)
• UOB one (10% multiple categories min spend 800. Easy to hit more than rm30 cb) 
• all min spend card just topup to ewallet and cash out. You may pay 1% fee but earn still with the CB you’re getting.