Fly More, Earn More, Repeat. The Miles Flywheel

Overview

As much as we would all love to fly using miles every time, the reality is that you will have to buy revenue tickets, especially if you travel frequently or are chasing elite status such as Enrich Platinum.

In this post, we’ll go through the best cards to use for flight tickets, and how you can earn more miles every time you fly.

What’s the MCC for Flight Tickets?

Airline spend is a special bonus category for cards like CIMB, UOB, and Ambank. Here are the relevant MCCs:

MCC	Merchant Type
MCC 3000–3350	Airline-specific MCCs, such as Malaysia Airlines (MCC 3100) and Singapore Airlines (MCC 3075)
MCC 4511	Airlines without their own dedicated MCC, including Air Asia and ZipAir
MCC 4722	Travel Agencies and Tour Operations (OTAs and offline travel agencies)

Direct Booking with Airlines (in MYR)

Due to Malaysia’s low MDR environment, most high-MPR cards focus on overseas spending.

However, some travel cards still offer higher MPR on airline spending in MYR, without the FCY fees:

	Miles Per Ringgit (MPR)	Spend Category
AMEX KrisFlyer Platinum	1.00 KF	SQ, Scoot, KrisShop
AMEX Platinum Charge	0.71 Enrich/KF/Asia Miles 0.89 Delta/Thai ROP	AMEX
CIMB Travel World Elite (TWE)	0.80 Enrich 0.67 Alt Miles*	Airline
CIMB Travel World	0.64 Enrich 0.53 Alt Miles*	Airline
Ambank Enrich Visa	0.50 Enrich	MH
SC Journey	0.50 KF	Airline
UOB PME	0.41 Enrich/KF/Asia Miles	Airline
CIMB Travel Platinum	0.40 Enrich 0.33 Alt Miles*	Airline

*Alt Miles = 10 FFPs including KrisFlyer, Asia Miles, Avios, EVA IML, Flying Blue

One of the lesser-known features of the Amex KrisFlyer Platinum is that you can earn 1.00 MPR on Singapore Airlines and Scoot tickets, which is the highest in this category.

The Amex Platinum Charge, our favourite all-rounder card in Malaysia, takes second place. Most major airlines accept AMEX, so we would want to take advantage of that.

Next is the CIMB TWE, which is the card that Peter actually uses for airline spend in Ringgit. It earns valuable, flexible Seafood Miles, including EVA IML and Avios.

The AmBank Enrich VI and SC Journey are decent at 0.5 MPR. The former is best saved for its twice-yearly MATTA Fair promotions, where you can get discounted fares and the upsized MPR, but more on that later in the dedicated section below.

Finally, the UOB PME and CIMB Travel Platinum offer modest MPRs at 0.4MPR, but can be useful for annual spend (UOB PME) or qualifying for free Grab rides (CIMB Travel Platinum).

Booking through OTAs

Online Travel Agencies (OTA) can offer much cheaper fares than booking direct, and they’re often the best place to hunt for the absolute lowest price.

If you buy air tickets through an OTA, the transaction typically codes as MCC 4722 (Travel Agencies) instead of airline spend, so that would count as Online Spend, and here are your best options when paying in Ringgit:

	Monthly Limit	MPR
Alliance Bank Visa Virtual	RM3,000 (Online)	0.53 Enrich
CIMB eCard^	RM1,667	0.96 Enrich/ 0.80 Alt Miles
AMEX Platinum Charge	No limit	0.71 / 0.89 Enrich, KF & Asia Miles
AMEX KrisFlyer Platinum	No limit	0.50 KrisFlyer

^Valid for e-Day only (28th of each month).

But savvy miles chasers know a little trick: you can switch the payment currency to a foreign currency to earn higher MPR for overseas spend. This opens up plenty of options, including the UOB PME, UOB VI, CIMB TWE, and so on.

The catch? OTAs will bake in an implicit FCY markup:

	OTA FCY Markup*	Verdict
	0.15% – 0.40%	😀 Best
	0.50% – 1.80%	😐 Middle
	1.30% – 2.70%	😞 Worst

* Compared against Mastercard rate

Based on data we gathered, Trip.com tends to have the lowest FCY markup. If you use this currency switching trick, here’s the effective CPMs:

Factoring in both the bank and Trip.com FCY markup (the lowest among OTAs), CIMB TWE and UOB PME offer the lowest CPM.

The UOB VI is higher at 3 CPM, but can still make sense for smaller spends to work towards the free ride to airport.

Beware of OTA Drawbacks

It can be tempting to book through an OTA when you spot a lower price, but there are some drawbacks you should be aware of:

• It can be difficult to ascertain the fare class before booking, which is not ideal if you’re trying to earn Elite Points.
• For changes such as names or dates, you’ll usually have to deal directly with the OTA. Airlines may not be able to assist until closer to departure.
• Some OTAs, especially lesser-known ones, may take time to confirm your booking and may not honor the original price if they can no longer secure the fare.
• Some OTAs are downright shady, even issuing redemption tickets using miles, and who knows how they got those miles.

For the reasons above, Peter prefers to book direct these days to avoid the hassle, and only uses Trip.com when it’s significantly cheaper.

Malaysia Airlines Spend

Back in the day, miles chasers earned miles based on the actual distance flown. Today, many airlines have shifted to a revenue-based model, where you earn based on how much you spend instead.

For Malaysia Airlines, Enrich Points are calculated based on the Base Fare + Fuel Surcharge (YQ), but excluding government-imposed taxes and fees.

This works even when booking through an OTA. Simply apply the multiplier to the amount paid (Base Fare + YQ).

	Flight MPR
	1.5
	1.8
	2.2
	2.5

Assuming you complete the flight, your total effective MPR should take into account both the Flight MPR and the credit card earn rate. Here’s how the effective MPR stacks up across different cards and Enrich Elite tiers:

As a ballpark, spending RM1,000 on MH with the CIMB TWE as an Enrich Gold member earns total of 3000 Enrich Points. At 4 sen per Enrich Point, that’s worth RM132, or 12% value back.

In reality, this will be slightly lower, as taxes are not counted towards the Flight MPR (only Base Fare + YQ).

Malaysia Airlines Spend During MATTA Fair

During the MATTA Fair Priority Sales, typically the first two days before the public sale, direct Malaysia Airlines bookings with an AmBank Enrich Visa Card earn an additional Enrich Points multiplier, which could outweigh any OTA discount.

During the most recent March 2026 MATTA Fair, this was 3X Bonus Enrich Points.

For example, say you’re an Enrich Platinum member with an AmBank Enrich Visa Platinum and spend RM1,000 (Base Fare + YQ):

RM1,000 × [ 3 MATTA × 2.5 Enrich Platinum] MPR = 7,500 Enrich Points

On top of that, you get 330 Enrich Points from the card’s 0.33 MPR base earn rate. Overall, that’s a total of 7500 + 330 = 7,830 Enrich Points. And at 4CPM each, this could be worth RM313, or an impressive 31% value back!

However, note that this depends on whether Enrich continues to give bonus multipliers this way for future MATTA Fairs.

How about Redemptions?

When making a redemption, the base fare is covered, but you’ll still need to pay fuel surcharges (YQ) and taxes. So you can use the cards we recommended above to earn the miles for YQ and taxes.

The catch here is complimentary travel insurance. Most Malaysian travel cards require you to pay for the airfare to activate coverage, so redemption tickets typically don’t qualify, except for World Elite Mastercards.

Travel Insurance: Best Credit Cards for Free Coverage in 2025 (But Can You Really Rely on It?)

The trip must also originate from Malaysia, so payment will likely be in Ringgit.

If you want to activate the free credit card insurance for redemptions, here are the recommended cards:

Overall, CIMB is the best pick here if you want to maximise MPR while algo getting the free travel insurance.

Putting it all together

This topic can be slightly tricky, so to sum it up, here are our recommended card picks for different scenarios.

Scenario	Card	Miles Per Ringgit (MPR)
During MATTA Fair	Ambank Enrich VI	0.5 Enrich (Card MPR) + MATTA bonus
Airline website in MYR	CIMB TWE	0.80 Enrich 0.67 Alt Miles*
Airline website in foreign currency	CIMB TWE	0.80 Enrich 0.67 Alt Miles*
	UOB PME	0.83 Enrich/KF/Asia Miles
OTA in MYR	AMEX Platinum Charge	0.71 Enrich/KF/Asia Miles 0.89 Delta/Thai ROP
OTA in foreign currency	CIMB TWE	0.80 Enrich 0.67 Alt Miles*
	UOB PME	0.83 Enrich/KF/Asia Miles
Redemption	CIMB TWE	0.80 Enrich 0.67 Alt Miles* + Free Insurance Coverage
	Maybank WEM	0.16 KF/Asia Miles + Free Insurance Coverage

*Alt Miles = 10 FFPs including KrisFlyer, Asia Miles, Avios, EVA IML, Flying Blue

Conclusion

Revenue tickets can earn you a surprising amount of miles, especially on Malaysia Airlines.

Plan it right, and every paid flight earns you more miles for your next redemption. And that’s how you keep the flywheel going.

That’s all for this post. Got a flight ticket hack we missed? Join our Telegram channel and share it with the community.