Commonwealth Bank Awards adds 10 new airline, hotel points partners
By Chris C., July 4 2018
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The information provided on this page is purely factual and general in nature. You should seek independent advice and consider your own personal circumstances before applying for any financial product.
IN BRIEF | Commonwealth Bank Awards credit card points can now be converted into frequent flyer points with 9 new airline partners – spanning Oneworld, Star Alliance, SkyTeam and beyond – and into hotel loyalty points with InterContinental as well.
Among the newly-added options are direct points transfers to United MileagePlus, JAL Mileage Bank, Air France/KLM Flying Blue and more. Here’s the full list, along with how many CBA Awards points are needed to snag one point or mile in each of the programs.
- AirAsia BIG: 2.5 CBA points = 1 BIG point
- Air France/KLM Flying Blue: 3 CBA points = 1 mile
- China Eastern’s Eastern Miles: 3 CBA points = 1 point
- Etihad Guest: 3.5 CBA points = 1 mile
- EVA Air Infinity MileageLands: 3 CBA points = 1 mile
- IHG Rewards Club: 2.5 CBA points = 1 point
- JAL Mileage Bank: 4 CBA points = 1 mile
- Lufthansa Miles & More: 4 CBA points = 1 mile
- Malaysia Airlines Enrich: 3.5 CBA points = 1 mile
- United MileagePlus: 4 CBA points = 1 mile
These options are now available across all CBA Awards credit cards, which mostly provide one CBA Awards point per $1 spent on Mastercard purchases, except for the bank’s Diamond World Mastercard which generates 1.25 CBA Awards points per $1 spent.
However, even with that boosted earning rate, every $1 spent on a Diamond Mastercard only earns the equivalent of 0.31 United miles, 0.35 Enrich miles, 0.41 Flying Blue miles or 0.5 IHG Rewards points, so while it's nice to have these new options, sticking to Qantas or Velocity points may prove more rewarding.
Commonwealth Bank also issues American Express cards which earn more points than Mastercard on certain spending categories (but fewer points on other transactions), although these will no longer be issued from September 1, and all existing CBA AMEX cards will become inactive on November 1: leaving cardholders with a Mastercard only.
Read: Commonwealth Bank axes American Express credit cards
Disclaimer
Executive Traveller may receive a commission when you apply for these credit cards via our links.
The information provided on this page is purely factual and general in nature. You should seek independent advice and consider your own personal circumstances before applying for any financial product.
Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.
13 Aug 2015
Total posts 40
Interesting that they have Miles & More, hardly any cards globally (except M&M branded cards) can transfer to them directly.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
06 Nov 2014
Total posts 357
Not by much after Aug. Even at the best SPG/Marriott earning Amex (explorer and DJ), after Aug you'll be earning 0.44ppd (0.56 if you factor in the 5000 point bonus). So between Aug and Nov, the best M&M earning card is CBA Amex on overseas spent, at 0.75ppd (still pathetic....)
United Airlines - Mileage Plus
21 May 2018
Total posts 10
And they don't have an introductory offer for any of their cards. Someone please tell me I'm wrong about that.
24 Apr 2012
Total posts 2424
Occasionally you see 40,000 or 80,000 CBA points pop up, but when converted to Velocity at a 2:1 rate (from Platinum or Diamond), that's 20,000-40,000 Velocity points at best. Better than nothing but CBA doesn't seem to use sign-up bonuses as incentives in the way that other issuers do.
03 Nov 2014
Total posts 90
I don't think anyone actually signs up for a CBA premium credit card - they give them out for 'free' in the home loan package. As a result they offer terrible points because they know people won't drop the card. When the Amex goes, the MasterCard will go in the bottom draw...
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