From The Straits Times    |

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A new app called Mileslife has landed in Singapore, promising users the ability to collect airline miles in an easier way.

They are able to do so by accruing miles through purchases at the app’s partner merchants, which include restaurants, attractions and hotels.

The purchases must be made via credit and debit cards on the app, and users can also “double dip” – if the card is already linked to an existing miles programme, users can collect miles on both platforms.

The miles accrued can be collected and applied later to one of 12 airline loyalty programmes partnering Mileslife.

These are tied to 39 airlines such as Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways, British Airways, Lufthansa and Air China.

After paying via the app, users will be able to earn up to five miles for every dollar, with the conversion rate decided by Mileslife and the respective merchant.

Miles are accrued based on loyalty programmes usually offered by airlines and credit card companies, and can be used to buy plane tickets.

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Mileslife founder and chief executive officer Troy Liu said at the launch yesterday: “Earning miles is a relatively slow process and as a consumer myself, I wanted to find an easier process for consumers.

“Mileslife can be a local miles-oriented lifestyle platform and when you travel abroad, it becomes a miles-oriented travel guidebook.”

Mileslife has 50 accredited merchants here, including 10 Crystal Jade restaurants, Capella Hotel and Universal Studios Singapore.

The app was first launched in China in November 2015 and has 200,000 Chinese users so far.

Mr Liu said the next step is to partner more merchants in South-east Asia.

Mr Philip Law, 43, regional vice-president of Discover Financial Services Asia-Pacific, flies weekly, mainly around Asean for business.

He said he would use the app as long as it is secure, “convenient and user-friendly”.

 

This story was originally published in The New Paper. For more stories like this, head to www.tnp.sg.