Overview

Welcome to the 2026 edition of BolehMiles’ Best Air Miles Credit Cards for Malaysia.

2025 was not easy Malaysian mileschasers. Some cards were devalued, including the AmBank Enrich Visa Infinite, Maybank Manchester United Visa Infinite (MUVI), and Alliance Visa Platinum. Those no longer make sense today, and we are no longer them.

The good news is the miles game is still viable in 2026. The Hong Leong Bank Visa Infinite (1MPR for Dining) remains the key daily driver for earning Enrich Points, alongside existing winners like the UOB PRVI Miles Elite and Maybank Platinum Charge.

We have added four new cards this 2026: three from UOB (Lazada Card, Lady’s Card, and Visa Infinite Metal), along with the Maybank World Elite Mastercard, to give you more cards to pick from.

Overall Strategy

The miles game can be really complicated, especially if you are just starting out as a beginner.

Here are four things to keep in mind:

1. Use multiple cards

We recommend using at least 2 to 5 cards to pay for different categories, so you can properly optimise your spending.

Can you just stick to one card, because managing many cards is time consuming? Yes. You can go with the all-rounder Maybank Platinum Charge Card. That said, it comes with trade-offs. Not every merchant accepts AMEX, and the Platinum Charge card come with high annual fee and income requirement.

2. Understand Miles Valuation

There are 3 categories of Frequent Flyer Program (FFP) miles, ranked by value and scarcity (low to high): 

1. Enrich Points
2. KrisFlyer & Asia Miles
3. Alternative Miles (Alt Miles)

Remember, value isn’t just about redemption value. It also depends on a lot of other factors, such as flexibility of redemption, travel preferences and financial situation. Read our post on “How Much is One Enrich Worth?” to get a better understanding of valuing miles.

We like to analogize these miles as Carbs, Meat, and Seafood, to give you a better perspective:

• Enrich Points is like Carbs: Abundant and filling, but don’t go overboard.
• KrisFlyer/Asia Miles is like Meat: Good for the soul and more valuable.
• Alternative Miles is like Seafood: Flexible and nutritious, can adapt to various tastes.

If you are new to the miles game, start by learning one program. Loosely speaking, Enrich is good for domestic and short distance regional travels. Krisflyer and Asia Miles are good for long-distance travels. Read more on the strategy here.

3. Always refer to the miles per ringgit (MPR) metric

Every bank in Malaysia has its own odd and quirky point system, so you might find it confusing and difficult to remember. HSBC says 1 AirMile is not 1 Mile, UOB says 12,000 UNIRM is 1,000 Miles, and so on.

So don’t get distracted, stick to the more objective metric: Miles Per Ringgit (MPR). At BolehMiles, we focus solely on MPR to keep things simple.

4. Don’t forget about redemption

Accumulating miles is just the first part of the game; the real difficulty comes in how you redeem them. For the best redemption values, we recommend to aim for Business Class (J) tickets and above. But don’t be shy to redeem for Economy Class (Y) tickets, you can still find value, depending on the situation.

Now, finding award availability for your desired date can be tricky, which is why flexibility matters.

Flexible bonus points are better when it comes to redemption. Cards from CIMB, UOB, and Maybank offer more versatile miles options, while still allowing transfers to Enrich, should you wish to do so.

For more details, check out our post on “Airline Transfer Programs.”

Spend Categories

There are 3 general categories to consider when choosing miles cards, depending on your spending habits:

1. Local Categorised Spend – Ideal for different category of expenses locally.
2. Overseas and Airline Spend – Best for maximizing miles on flights, hotels, and overseas purchases.
3. All-Rounders – Good for anything, with trade-offs.

Local Categorised Spend

We recommend picking at least two cards from this list based on your spending habits and the frequent flyer miles you want to earn. Most of these cards come with spending caps, with the exception of the HLB Visa Infinite and SCB Journey for dining.

Card	Category	Miles per Ringgit (MPR)
HLB Visa Infinite Read Review	Dining	1.00 Enrich
Alliance Bank Visa Virtual	E-wallet Online Spend (including Insurance, Utilities, Food Delivery)	0.53a Enrich
CIMB e-Card	PayWave Online Shopping Auto-billing	0.96b Enrich 0.80b Alt Miles
SCB Journey	Dining	0.50 KrisFlyer & Asia Miles
UOB World Read Review Apply	E-wallet	0.66c KrisFlyer & Asia Miles
UOB Lady's Card Apply	Fashion	0.50d KrisFlyer & Asia Miles
UOB Lazada Card Apply	Insurance Telco Lazada Selected Online Spend	0.36e KrisFlyer & Asia Miles

Overseas and Airlines Spend

We recommend having at least 1 card for foreign currency spending. It’s great for travel, online transactions, or if you live overseas.

For overseas spending, looking at miles earning rates alone does not tell the full story. You also need to factor in foreign currency (FCY) fees. These fees are effectively the cost of “buying” miles, measured by how much more you pay on top of the Visa or Mastercard exchange rates. In the miles and points world, this is expressed as Cost Per Mile (CPM).

The FCY fees and CPM figures shown here are approximate and meant as a guide, not exact numbers.

Card	Category	Miles per Ringgit (MPR)	Approx FCY	Approx CPM
UOB PRVI Miles Elite Read Review   Apply	Overseas	1.00* / 0.83 KrisFlyer & Asia Miles	2.25%	2.25/ 2.71
UOB Visa Infinite Read Review   Apply	Overseas Dining	0.83 Overseas/ 0.41 Dining KrisFlyer & Asia Miles	2.25%	2.71
CIMB Travel World Elite	Overseas Airlines Duty-Free	0.80 Enrich/ 0.67 Alt Miles	1.25%	1.87
CIMB Preferred VI	Dining Overseas	0.92 Enrich/ 0.76 Alt Miles^	2.25%	2.45/ 2.96
UOB VI Metal	Overseas	2.00 KrisFlyer & Asia Miles	2.25%	1.13

All Rounders

All-rounder or general spending cards are perfect for people who want fewer cards and minimal optimization effort. That said, a pure “one-card” strategy is rarely ideal. AMEX acceptance is still inconsistent.

You may find yourself picking restaurants based on card acceptance rather than food quality. And you end up paying more!

Card	Category	Miles per Ringgit (MPR)
Maybank Platinum Charge Card	Local* Overseas* Grocery Petrol Online Dining Food Delivery	0.89 / 0.71 Alt Miles/ KrisFlyer Asia Miles
Maybank KrisFlyer AMEX	Online Physical	0.5 (Online) 0.4 (Physical) KrisFlyer Miles
Maybank World Elite Mastercard Read Review	Local	0.16^ KrisFlyer Miles

* Except Insurance, Utilities, Education.
^{^} Low MPR, but helps to work towards 1-for-1 business class. 0.08 MPR for utilities, petrol, education, EzyPay and insurance transactions.

Sample Spend

To illustrate how miles stack up across different cards, we’ve prepared 3 sample spending breakdowns below. Your actual results will vary based on your spending habits. This is not financial or spending advice, please manage your finances responsibly, stay within your means, and maintain healthy savings.

Conclusion

The miles game in Malaysia remains viable in 2026, and the key drivers are Hong Leong Bank Visa Infinite (1MPR for Dining Enrich), UOB PRVI Miles Elite (1MPR Overseas SGD/THB/VND/IDR) and Maybank Platinum Charge (0.71MPR All Rounder).

For many, the Maybank KrisFlyer AMEX can be a fuss-free, affordable way to earn miles wherever AMEX is accepted.

We’ll keep this page updated throughout 2026 as things change, including new launches, devaluations, and strategy shifts. Do join the BolehMiles Community Telegram to hang out with other expert miles chasers in Malaysia.

Until next time.