Singapore Airlines, renowned for its luxury, service and safety, has a frequent flyer program called KrisFlyer. In this guide, we’ll cover the ins and outs of elite status, all the ways to earn and burn miles, as well as tips and tricks to maximize your rewards.
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| Airline Alliance | Star Alliance |
| Hub | Singapore |
| U.S. Destinations | Houson, Los Angeles, Newark, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle |
| US Credit Cards | None |
| Redemption Options | Flight awards, miles & cash, upgrades, hotel stays, car rentals, shopping, transfer miles, instant purchases, donations and more |
| Average Mile Value | $0.013 |
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KrisFlyer Elite Status
KrisFlyer has three different membership tiers: KrisFlyer, KrisFlyer Elite Silver and KrisFlyer Elite Gold.
Uber loyal Singapore Airlines flyers may earn Priority Passenger Service Club (PPS Club) membership, but you’ll need to spend at least $25,000 a year on premium cabin travel to qualify. Because PPS Club is only relevant to the elite few, we won’t focus on it in this guide.
In order to move from one tier to the next, you’ll need to earn Elite Miles. These are awarded for eligible flights on Singapore Airlines and partner carriers. There are several factors that play into how many Elite Miles you’ll earn, including flight distance and booking class.
Easily find out how many Elite Miles you earned for a particular flight by using the KrisFlyer Mileage Calculator.
KrisFlyer starts counting Elite Miles from the date you joined and stops at the end of your 12th month. Most other frequent flyer programs go by the calendar year, from January 1 to December 31.
| TIER | ELITE MILES REQUIRED |
| Silver | 25,000 |
| Gold | 50,000 |
Once you reach a status tier, you’ll have that status from that day and for the next 12 months.
You may want to check Singapore Airline’s website for any current changes to these requirements. Recently, we saw Singapore Airlines address the current global travel disruption by renewing Elite and Gold membership for one membership year and extending Gold Rewards and KrisFlier miles expiration dates.
The higher your status, the more benefits you’ll access:
Silver –
- 25% bonus miles*
- Complimentary seat assignment
- Star Alliance Silver status
- Priority waitlist
- Reduced service fees
Gold –
- Silver benefits
- Star Alliance Gold status
- Extra baggage allowance**
- Priority baggage handling**
- Lounge access +1 on Star Alliance flights
- Virgin Australia lounge access +1 when traveling with the carrier
*On flights with Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and Virgin Atlantic
**On Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Australia and Star Alliance partners
KrisFlyer Gold members unlock additional benefits when they reach certain Elite Miles thresholds:
| ELITE MILES | PERK |
| 60,000 | Double miles on 1 flight |
| 75,000 | 1 short-haul flight upgrade |
| 100,000 | 1 upgrade from economy to premium economy |
Keep up with the many perks as a KrisFlyer member through Singapore Airline’s website.
Earning KrisFlyer Miles
Earn KrisFlyer miles for flights with Singapore Airlines and all its partners. The amount of miles awarded are based on flight distance and fare class, and it varies greatly from airline to airline.
To easily find out how many miles you could earn on a Singapore Airlines or SilkAir flight, use the KrisFlyer Mileage Calculator. For partner flights, use this chart.
Airline partners include:
For the most up-to-date list of Singapore Airline’s Star Alliance and codeshare partners here.
KrisFlyer has five flexible point partners: American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy.
Simply spend with a credit card that earns points which are transferable to your KrisFlyer account. It’s the quickest and easiest way to quickly rack up on KrisFlyer miles.
For transfer rates, see below.
- Amex Membership Rewards. Get 1,000 KrisFlyer miles for every 1,000 Membership Rewards points you transfer.
- Capital One Rewards. Get 500 KrisFlyer miles for every 1,000 Capital One miles you transfer.
- Chase Ultimate Rewards. Get 1,000 KrisFlyer miles for every 1,000 Ultimate Rewards points you transfer.
- Citi ThankYou Rewards. Get 1,000 KrisFlyer miles for every 1,000 ThankYou points you transfer.
- Marriott Bonvoy. Marriott points transfer to KrisFlyer at a rate of 3:1. And for every 60,000 Marriott points you transfer, you’ll receive a 5,000-mile bonus. So 60,000 Marriott points will get you 25,000 KrisFlyer miles, instead of 20,000.
Other ways to earn KrisFlyer miles include:
- Car rentals
- Hotel stays
- Hosting events
- Dining
- Shopping
- And much more!
For a list of all partners you can earn with, click here.
If you need a few more KrisFlyer miles for an award, you can purchase 1,000 for $40. That works out to $0.04 per mile. Because we value each KrisFlyer mile at an average of $0.013 when you redeem, we don’t recommend going this route unless it’s your absolute last resort.
Redeeming KrisFlyer Miles
KrisFlyer miles expire at the end of the month, 36 months after they show up in your account – whether or not you’re regularly earning or burning them. In contrast, most frequent flyer programs extend the date of expiration as long as you have ongoing activity.
Your KrisFlyer miles won’t expire if you’re a PPS Club member.
You do have the option to pay $12, or 1,200 miles, to extend a block of 10,000 expiring miles for six months. KrisFlyer Elite Silver and Elite Gold members can pay the same amount to extend a block of 10,000 miles for 12 months.
Use your KrisFlyer miles for award tickets and upgrades on Singapore Airlines and its partner airlines.
Singapore Airlines
Saver awards require less KrisFlyer miles, but they’re very popular so availability is limited. We recommend you plan early or have flexible travel dates and times.
Advantage awards require more miles, but you’ll also get more seat choices and two complimentary stopovers per roundtrip ticket.
Miles & Cash awards allow you to book an award ticket when you don’t have enough KrisFlyer miles. Starting from just 980 miles.
To find out how may miles you’ll need for a specific award flight, use the KrisFlyer Mileage Calculator.
Partner Airlines
Book award tickets and upgrades with airline partners. Please refer to the:
Scoot
Pay for airfare, taxes and selected ancilliaries for Scoot-operated itineraries using a mix of KrisFlyer miles and cash. Starting from as little as 1,050 miles.
Flight Upgrades
Use your KrisFlyer miles to upgrade to Premium Economy, Business or First Class, or Singapore Airlines Suites.
- Singapore Airlines: Saver or Advantage upgrade awards
- SilkAir: Saver upgrade awards
Again, use the KrisFlyer Mileage Calculator to determine the upgrade award pricing for a specific flight.
Redemption Nominees
Book award tickets and flight upgrades for your redemption nominees. Select up to five people – your family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, etc. Once you add someone, they’re locked in for six months. Deleting one of your nominees will cost you miles or money, so choose wisely.
There are other ways to use your KrisFlyer miles, but they don’t tend to have good value. These other options include hotel stays and car rentals booked through KrisFlyer Vrooms, shopping via KrisShop, converting your miles to Virgin Australia Velocity, instant purchases with KrisPay (Singapore only) and donating your miles.
For a full list of redemption partners, click here.
KrisFlyer Tips & Tricks
KrisFlyer offers special earning promotions on a regular basis. Check the Promotions page to find deals like double miles on hotel stays and bonus miles on car rentals.
To make the most out of your award flights, you’ll need to keep in mind the following routing rules:
- Most partner flights can be combined. Only non-alliance partners must be ticketed separately.
- One-way awards are allowed on all carriers, even though some award charts are priced as roundtrip.
- One free stopover and one free open jaw is allowed on a roundtrip Saver award.
- One free stopover is allowed on a one-way Advantage award.
- Add additional stopovers to any award booking for $100, for up to 3 stopovers, to any Singapore Airlines/SilkAir or Singapore Airlines/Star Alliance partner award.
- Stopovers are not allowed within Europe or for travel within/between the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
- You cannot backtrack on awards. Your routing must be the most direct route, even if you are adding stopovers.
- There’s a 6-segment maximum, but you can book 2 separate one-way itineraries if you want more permitted segments.
There are no fuel surcharges on flights operated by Singapore Airlines and SilkAir. However, KrisFlyer does impose fuel surcharges on most partner award tickets, sometimes labeled as “carrier-imposed surcharges.”
Exceptions include Air Canada (within North America), Air New Zealand, Avianca, Alaska Airlines, Copa Airlines, United Airlines (within the Americas) and Virgin Australia (domestic flights). We’d also like to mention that LOT Polish flight fuel surcharges are very low.
Based on the information we have at the time of publishing, these are our favorite KrisFlyer sweet spots:
| FLIGHT DETAILS | MILES |
| Mainland N. America to Hawaii United | Economy | Roundtrip | 35,000 |
| Mainland N. America to Hawaii United | Business | Roundtrip | 60,000 |
| Within North America (excluding Hawaii) United | Business | Roundtrip | 40,000 |
| Within North America (excluding Hawaii) United | First | Roundtrip | 60,000 |
| Within North & Central America (including Hawaii) Alaska | Economy | Roundtrip | 15,000 to 24,000 |
| Australia/New Zealand within South Pacific Air New Zealand | Economy | Roundtrip | 25,000 |
| Australia/New Zealand within South Pacific Air New Zealand | Business | Roundtrip | 56,000 |
| Europe to South Africa South African | Economy | Roundtrip | 55,000 |
| Europe to South Africa South African | Business | Roundtrip | 90,000 |
| N. America to Southern S. America United | Business | Roundtrip | 115,000 |
Bottom Line
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer is a solid option for anyone who flies Star Alliance carriers on a regular basis. You don’t have to only travel with Singapore Airlines to benefit. Easily rack up on miles by using a credit card that earns transferable points. And easily burn your miles with a variety of Star Alliance and non-alliance partners. Just remember to follow our tips and tricks above to stretch your rewards to their fullest.
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