EWB’s KrisFlyer World Mastercard: A Review
Last year, EastWest bank released a new Mastercard in partnership with Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer program. This Mastercard comes in two variants: Platinum and World.
What’s the EastWest Bank KrisFlyer World Mastercard?
Spend-to-Miles Ratio: PHP 36.00* per mile
Annual Fee: PHP 5,000.00
Lounge Access: Mastercard Airport Experiences provided by LoungeKey (4 access every year)
Airlines Partner: KrisFlyer and their partner airlines
* There’s a table in the latter part of the post detailing the miles earning rate of the card. The PHP 36.00 per mile is the basic earn rate of the card but there are a number of categories for miles multipliers.
How did I apply for it?
I had a terrible experience getting this card with EastWest bank. To cut the long story short, I went through various channels and made multiple follow-ups with the branch and their customer service department. I even sent an email to their SEVP about my ordeal, whether she read it or not, I’m not sure.
January 3: I applied for the EastWest World Mastercard through branch endorsement with their Malanday, Valenzuela branch. Before this, I checked to see if I could apply online but it was a no-go.
January 20-22: I sent my application directly to their card department after getting no response nor updates from the branch. Below are the requirements their card department sent me:
Update: I got a different set of requirements on my email this February. This seems to be more legit than the one above and isn’t as… outrageous.
January 30: EastWest bank sent me an SMS and an email saying my application was up for approval.
How did I apply for it? Part 2 – Dealing with a Gold Mastercard
February 4: I found out that the approval was for a Gold Mastercard, not the KrisFlyer World Mastercard; this, in spite of the 7 digit credit limit they gave me. CSR advised me that I could either convert the card or apply for a second card. Since converting the card requires that I receive the card and activate it first, I told them to go with the second card application. Moreso as my card wasn’t even created yet.
February 5: EWB called me to tell me that my request for second card application was denied. Great, so I’m left with conversion. I told them to expedite the creation of the card, have it on a rush delivery, and for a supervisor to monitor my account. I also requested for daily updates on this.
February 6: I called EWB to check on my card. Still no progress. At the same time, branch personnel (the sales officer I originally applied with and another colleague of hers) reached out to ask about my application status and offered to help. Maybe they received my complaint I filed with the customer service department? Pfft.
How did I apply for it? Part 3 – Converting the Gold Mastercard to KF World Mastercard
February 7: Around noon, their CSR informed me that my card was created and is for embossing. They will likewise be rushing the process and expediting the delivery.
Their branch personnels contacted me a few minutes after. One was asking for my requested credit limit as this is what they will use for the application of my KF World Mastercard. Now this is new. I just told her to use whatever amount is eligible for the card. Besides, their credit card department already gave me 7 digit credit limit anyway. The other personnel simply informed me that they will try to request for the card conversion.
Around 3:30 pm, a supervisor called saying they’ll put the processing of my Gold Mastercard on hold and proceed with the request to convert it to KF World. It seems like this is going to be a special case. Still, this is subject for evaluation. I did ask her what the chances will be since my second card application was already denied. With the current credit limit of my Gold Mastercard, she said that the chances should be high. She’ll be monitoring my account and will contact me next week for updates. Finally, someone who can actually do something!
February 11: I called EWB to see if there were any updates. CSR confirmed that my card was put on hold as there was a request for card conversion. As of 9:30 am, card conversion from Gold to KrisFlyer World Mastercard was approved. Card creation will take 2-3 banking days and delivery will take 5-7 banking days. So there is a difference in the processing time between card levels! Creation of the Gold Mastercard was said to take 3-5 banking days. Now to see how long it would take before the card gets to me.
February 14: I finally received my card! The experience was an ordeal but at least I got it.
Why am I getting the KrisFlyer World Mastercard?
See those multipliers and bonus miles? They’re basically the reason why I applied for the card. Aside from travel-related spends, the card also has multipliers for online spends which is a huge plus. Because of this, EastWest’s KrisFlyer World Mastercard seems to be “better” than Metrobank’s Travel Platinum Visa! The former grants you lounge access for free too.
Truth be told, choosing which travel credit card is better also boils down to airline preferences so this is really a personal thing, specially for co-branded cards. What do you think? Would you consider getting the EWB KrisFlyer World Mastercard or do you prefer other co-branded cards such as GetGo or Cathay Pacific? Do tell in the comments below!
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Did you get your welcome bonus miles?
Hi Lance! Yes, I did. I’m also getting the annual bonus miles that’s on the card’s list of benefits. 🙂
Does the online spend includes food purchases like grab or food panda? 🙂 Also, for the annual bonus, it mentioned retail spend. Does it mean only those spend done in physical shops will be counted?
Hi Kargel! Yes, online spend includes Grab and FoodPanda. As for the annual bonus, it’s not just physical stores. Online spends are counted as well. 🙂
Would it be ok for you to share the new set of requirements that was sent to you for the credit card? 🙂
Tried searching for it through my email but I can’t seem to find it anymore. 🙁 I vaguely remember the annual income being at 1.8M I think.
Hi, do you have an existing savings account with eastwestbank when you applied? I also applied for the Krisflyer World Mastercard but they gave me just the Gold Visa card. I asked if I can convert it to Krisflyer, and the CSR told me that I should have a bank account first with eastwestbank and the branch where I have an account will be the one who will endorse my application.
Hi! They did actually ask me to open a savings account, pero nasa 20k lang din ata ung finund ko. They also gave me a Gold Mastercard initially pero nasa 7-digits ang credit limit, which didn’t make sense. Kaya nireklamo ko talaga sa kanila. XD
Actually, they are very generous with credit limit. I applied for a Krisflyer World but they gave me Platinum – I guess they matched it with my other cards’ limit. Without requesting, my credit limit is steadily increased to 7 digits. I called customer service to apply for conversion. Let’s see if this will be approved. Yes, they asked me to open an account with them which I did.
I’m curious how much your monthly income is and what you do for a living to be given a 7-digit credit limit. Could you share how you were able to get such a high credit limit?
I started with a secured credit card from Metrobank with a 90k CL (100k deposit amount). I then used this card as a reference card to apply for Citi (this was around early 2015, just after my regularization with my first work). With Citi, I got a 50% credit limit increase every 6 months until I got to 7 digits. In 2018, I applied for BDO AmEx Platinum. At that time, yung minimum CL lang ng AmEx Plat ung binigay sa akin which was… 350k or 450k I think. After a few months, sinusundan na ni BDO ung CL ko with Citi down to the singles digit. As in every time mag-increase si Citi, susunod si BDO right after.
Didn’t request for any CLIs either.
Metrobank World card is getting less attractive for travelers since they put a cap to 30,000 you can convert to airline miles.