Best Airport Lounge Credit Cards in Singapore (2020)

The DBS Altitude credit card is an entry-level air miles card with a first-year annual fee waiver. You get a free membership to the Priority Pass programme and 2 complimentary airport lounge passes to Priority Pass' 1,200 over lounges. You can also share your free passes with guests who aren’t members.

Simply apply for your membership online via a designated page under Priority Pass for DBS Altitude. Buffer enough time before your trip as it takes around 2 to 3 weeks to apply.

The annual fee of $192.10 will be charged after the first year. Paying the annual fee will get you a bonus of 10,000 miles. The card also comes with complimentary travel insurance of up to $1 million in coverage.

Welcome Bonus: Get up to 38,000 welcome miles when you sign up before 31 Mar 2020.

Citi PremierMiles’ airport lounge access benefits are similar to that of DBS Altitude. You get a free Priority Pass membership along with 2 free passes.

To apply for the Priority Pass membership, you have to print out a form found on the Citi PremierMiles page. Look under “More Privileges” and then select "VIP Access".

The earn rate for DBS Altitude and Citibank PremierMiles are identical at $1 = 1.2 miles for local spending, although Citibank PremierMiles gives $1 = 1.5 miles for a minimum spending of $3,000.

The Standard Chartered X Card has been launched in 2019 with a huge welcome bonus of 100,000 miles. The overwhelming response to the card caused Stan Chart X Card to change their sign-up promotion to 60,000 miles, which is a bummer, but still pretty good.

The card’s minimum income requirement is $80,000, which means it’s definitely not an entry-level card, but its earn rate is actually similar to Citibank PremierMiles and DBS Altitude at $1 = 1.2 miles locally and $1 = 2 miles overseas.

With this card, you get 2 Priority Pass airport lounge visits a year. Signing up for a Priority Pass membership is required, but you only need to send an SMS to apply. Check Standard Chartered's website for detailed instructions.

Welcome Bonus: Get promotional gift of 30,000 miles.

The AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend card entitles you to access at the SATS Premier Lounge at Changi Airport and Plaza Premium Lounges, a smaller network of lounges compared to Priority Pass.

Nonetheless, you get 4 free passes a year, which is double that of Citibank, DBS and Standard Chartered X Card. The free airport lounge passes are on the condition that you pay the annual fee of $337.05 on the card, which is quite expensive. Another downside of this card is that you cannot share the lounge access passes.

However, one good thing about AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend is its generous sign-up bonus of 42,500 miles with a minimum spend of $10,000 in the first 3 months of getting the card. If you are going to spend on a big wedding or have renovation coming up, you can consider getting it.

MoneySmart Exclusive: MoneySmart Exclusive: Get up to 38,500 KrisFlyer miles. Valid till 29 Feb 2020.

One of the most attractive features about the Maybank Horizon Visa Signature card is that you can flash the credit card and get access to various participating lounges in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong.

There is only 1 complimentary visit, however, and you will have to charge a minimum of $1,000 in a single retail transaction on the card in the past 3 months to get it. You need $50,000 in minimum annual income to apply.

The upside is that Maybank Horizon Visa Signature credit card’s annual fee is waived for 3 years, so it doesn't cost you anything to hold on to it.

The ICBC Global Travel Mastercard and the ICBC UnionPay Dual Currency Platinum Card are great for frequent travellers to China. They entitle you to free access to DragonPass VIP lounges in China and all over the world.

The card is an entry level card. Applicants with a minimum annual income of $30,000 can apply and the annual fee is waived for 3 years.

Signing up for an ICBC Card nets you 6 DragonPass points. You can redeem entry passes with 1 point per person per entry. You can also use the points at the VIP lounges of high-speed railway stations at 0.5 points each. This promotion ends 31 Dec 2020.

ICBC Horoscope Credit Card, ICBC Chinese Zodiac Credit Card, ICBC Global Travel Mastercard Credit Card and ICBC Unionpay Dual Currency Credit Card holders cardholders each receives a maximum of 6 DragonPass points (regardless of the number of ICBC cards one cardholder owns).