There’s one thing I like less than flying United Airlines, and that’s crediting those flight miles to United’s MileagePlus program. And as much as I want to avoid flying United, their incredibly cheap fares keep me coming back for more. So instead of not flying United, I decided to just look for an alternative to United’s MileagePlus program. By doing so, that allowed me to continue flying United’s cheap fares but still earn more award miles than when crediting to MileagePlus.
Last week, I shared some alternatives to United’s MileagePlus program with you guys including Air Canada’s Aeroplan, Aegean’s Miles+Bonus, EVA Airways’ Infinity MileageLands, Turkish Airlines’ Miles and Smiles and Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer. Though none of them are perfect, some of them fared better than others. One of those that I really liked is the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program.
In a nutshell, there are four reasons why I really like Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer:
- Most of United’s fares including deeply discounted economy fares will earn at least 100% of mileage flown when credited to KrisFlyer.
- They have a good award chart with great availability and reasonable redemption rates.
- You can transfer outside points such as Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi Thank You Rewards and SPG to KrisFlyer.
- You can earn additional miles from non-airline activity such as hotel stays and car rentals.
But in order for you to know more about the KrisFlyer program, here’s some info about Singapore Airlines (SIA):
Singapore Airlines (IATA: SQ) is the national flag carrier of Singapore (Republic of Singapore) and is a member of Star Alliance. In addition to their Star Alliance partners, Singapore Airlines also partners with JetBlue, Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Australia and Vistara. From their Singapore Changi Airport hub, Singapore Airlines flies to 62 destinations in 35 different countries on six continents. With its regional airline, SilkAir, and low cost carriers, Scoot and Tigerair, Singapore Airlines connects to more international destinations than any other airline in the Southeast Asia region.
However, Singapore Airlines’ route map is fairly limited outside of Asia, Oceania and a handful of European cities. Singapore Airlines’ limited international routes only service Cape Town and Johannesburg in all of Africa and Jeddah and Dubai in all of the Middle East. Singapore Airlines only has one non-stop flight to San Francisco utilizing a brand new Airbus A350 and the other North American destinations are served through fifth-freedom routes:
- Los Angeles is serviced via Seoul and Tokyo with a Boeing 777-300ER.
- San Francisco is serviced via Hong Kong with a Boeing 777-300ER.
- New York JFK is serviced via Frankfurt with an Airbus A380.
- Houston is serviced via Manchester with an Airbus A350.
Sao Paulo is serviced via Barcelona with a Boeing 777-300ER.Discontinued 10/20/16
Singapore Airlines operates a young, all wide-body fleet of A330s, A350s, A380s, 787s and 777s. They were the launch customer for the Airbus A380 in 2007 and currently have 19 A380s in their fleet with an additional five on order. Singapore Airlines has five classes of service:
- Suites – only found on their Airbus A380.
- First
- Business
- Premium Economy
- Economy
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Frequent flyer program
Singapore Airlines’ frequent flyer program is called “KrisFlyer.” Like United’s MileagePlus, KrisFlyer manages both the earning and obtaining of elite frequent flyer benefits and the mileage earning and rewards program. Membership to KrisFlyer is free and you can sign up here.
Once you are signed up, you can earn both KrisFlyer Miles and Elite Miles. KrisFlyer Miles and Elite Miles are earned when flying Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, Star Alliance partner airlines and other partner airlines such as Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Australia and Vistara. Flights on JetBlue and Virgin America will earn KrisFlyer Miles only, not Elite Miles. Earning of KrisFlyer and Elite Miles is directly tied to the distance flown and the fare class of the ticket.
It is very important that you only purchase tickets in the correct fare class if you want to earn KrisFlyer Miles and Elite Miles. For example, United first class (A, F fares) will earn 150% of mileage flown, business class (C, D, J fares) will earn 125% of mileage flown, business class (P, Z fares) will earn 100% of mileage flown and all economy fares (B, E, G, H, K, L, M, Q, S, T, U, V, W and Y fares except N) will earn 100% of mileage flown when credited to KrisFlyer. This is the main reason why I love the KrisFlyer program. As long as I’m not buying a N fare from United, I will always get at least 100% mileage credit.
However, flights on the other airlines aren’t as generous. For example, flights on Avianca in economy fare classes U and T will only earn 25% of mileage flown and some of Singapore Airlines’ own cheap fare classes such as K and V will only earn 10% of mileage flown. It definitely pays to know the fare class before booking your flights. The full KrisFlyer mileage accrual chart for both Singapore Airlines and partner flights can be found here:
KrisFlyer Miles are your award miles that can be used for award redemptions. In addition to flying, you can earn KrisFlyer Miles with hotel stay and car rentals. You can also transfer points from American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi Thank You Rewards and SPG to KrisFlyer. All points transfer to KrisFlyer at a 1:1 ratio. Additionally, SPG offers a 5,000 point bonus for every 20,000 points you transfer from SPG to KrisFlyer. According to Travel with Grant, the transfer times to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer are as follows:
- Chase Ultimate Rewards: within 12 hours
- American Express Membership Rewards: within 24 hours
- Citi Thank You Rewards: within 24 hours
- SPG Starpoints: 6 days
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer does have a relationship with American Express cards but none of those credit cards are offered for residents of the United States.
Here’s a crappy part of the program. Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Miles expire 36 months after accrual, regardless of activity. KrisFlyer members may extend their KrisFlyer Miles for an additional six months and Elite Silver and Elite Gold members may extend their KrisFlyer Miles for an additional year for a nominal fee. You may only extend your miles one time. That means you need to EARN AND BURN!
Elite Miles are separate from KrisFlyer Miles and are earned for the tracking towards elite membership only. Unlike United MileagePlus, earning of Elite Miles is not accrued on a calendar year basis (January 1 to December 31). Instead, Elite Miles are earned on a 12 consecutive month basis and also expire after 12 months. In other words, you have until the end of the 12th month to accrue enough Elite Miles to reach the next tier status.
Once you reach that tier level, your new status will commence that day and will be valid for the next 12 months. That’s another crappy part of their program that I’m not a fan of. Under United’s MileagePlus program, you get the remainder of the year that you make status, all of next year and till January 31st of the following year. Whereas, the KrisFlyer is not based on a calendar year so elite status will only last 12 months.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Elite Status
There are three tiers of KrisFlyer Elite status:
- KrisFlyer: Once you join, you will be a KrisFlyer member.
- This allows you to start earning and redeeming KrisFlyer Miles and Elite Miles towards elite status.
- There are no additional benefits for this tier.
- KrisFlyer Elite Silver: Awarded after earning 25,000 Elite Miles.
- Star Alliance Silver status.
- 25% bonus on KrisFlyer Miles on flights flown on Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and Virgin Atlantic. Fare restrictions apply.
- Priority reservation waitlist and priority airport standby (does not apply to award flights).
- Waived or reduced KrisFlyer service fees.
- KrisFlyer Elite Gold: Awarded after earning 50,000 Elite Miles.
- Elite Silver benefits listed above.
- Star Alliance Gold status.
- Extra baggage allowance on Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Australia and Star Alliance flights.
- Priority boarding and baggage handling.
- KrisFlyer Gold Lounge access.
- In addition to the Star Alliance partner lounges when flying Star Alliance partner flights, there are a list of partner lounges that you can access if flying on Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, or Virgin Australia. Elite Gold members may invite one guest with them. Restrictions apply.
PPS Club:
In addition to the KrisFlyer program, Singapore Airlines has an exclusive recognition program called the Priority Passenger Service Club (PPS Club). PPS Club membership comes with a hefty $25,000 annual required spend on premium cabin travel. PPS Club is a recognition program for members who frequently travel in premium cabins on Singapore Airlines and SilkAir. Designed to reward their most valuable customers, PPS Club offers a greater level of preferential treatment and special attention such as access to additional lounges, bonus KrisFlyer Miles and priority services such as priority check-in, baggage handling and airport standby.
And for their biggest spenders, Singapore Airlines offers the Solitaire PPS Club membership. These guys have to spend $250,000 in premium cabin travel within five years. Once attained, membership can be renewed by spending a mere $25,000 a year in premium cabin travel. But I won’t be spending too much time talking about this as anyone who is reading this blog probably isn’t spending that much money on premium cabin travel anyways.
More information about the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program can be found here and the guide to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Elite benefits can be found here. Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer mileage accrual chart can be found here.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Award Redemption
*UPDATE* Effective March 23, 2017, the following changes will be made to the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program:
- Revisions to saver award levels in the Singapore Airlines and SilkAir award chart. This only affects saver awards, not standard awards, for Singapore Airlines and SilkAir flights. The partner award chart (Star Alliance, Virgin Australia, etc.) will not change for now. The last changes to the award chart were made in 2012 so it was long overdue.
- You will no longer get a 15% discount for booking an award or upgrade only.
- Fuel and insurance surcharges will be removed from all redemption award tickets on Singapore Airlines and SilkAir operated flights. This only applies to Singapore Airlines and SilkAir operated flights. Partner airlines who charge fuel surcharges will still continue to carry fuel surcharges on award bookings.
So now that you have earned all these KrisFlyer miles, here’s what you can do with them. KrisFlyer miles are best used for award travel on Singapore Airlines’ own flights, especially in premium cabins. Singapore Airlines rarely releases any premium cabin award seats to any of their partner airlines so access to these award seats is much better for KrisFlyer members.
Singapore Airlines has five different award charts:
- Travel on a combination of Star Alliance partner airlines and Singapore Airlines/SilkAir.
- Travel on Virgin Atlantic.
- Travel on Virgin Australia.
- Travel on Virgin America.
Note: the above links are direct links to the respective award charts. Click on them for more information. Premium Economy seats can only be redeemed on Singapore Airlines at the moment.
Singapore Airlines opens their award chart 350 days out. However, they do regularly release awards seats closer to travel as well. Awards can be booked as one-ways for half the price of a roundtrip. But for whatever reason, you cannot book one way awards involving SAS, TAP Portugal or Virgin Atlantic. SWISS first class awards are not bookable using KrisFlyer Miles and neither are premium economy seats on Star Alliance partner airlines.
Mixed cabin (i.e. business and economy) awards are not bookable online. You must call to book a mixed cabin award by phone but note, the award will price at the higher class of service for the entire route on a mixed cabin award.
Fuel Surcharges:
Singapore Airlines adds fuel surcharges to award bookings when the operating carrier imposes them. United Airlines flights within the United States (including to Hawaii) and Air Canada flights within Canada and the US do not add fuel surcharges. Air New Zealand, Avianca, Copa and Virgin America do not add fuel surcharges to any of their flights either.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Award routing rules:
On a roundtrip saver award, you can add one stopover and one open jaw. On a one way ticket, you can only do one stopover at the standard award level (not saver). However you can add an additional stopover to any award for $100. That means you can get one additional stopover on a roundtrip saver award or one stopover on a one-way saver award ticket. You can add up to three stopovers and it applies to both Singapore Airlines/SilkAir metal award and Singapore Airlines/Star Alliance partner awards. However, you can’t book the additional stopover(s) online. You must call their call center.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer routing rules are fairly strict. They typically require you to book a published routing (such as a ticket you can buy from their website) and they specifically prohibit backtracking on awards. Your routing must be the most direct route (even if you are adding stopovers). You can book up to six segments per award.
Stopovers are not allowed:
- On domestic itineraries.
- Within the country of departure on an international award.
- On itineraries containing only European cities
- On awards between the US, Canada, Puerto Rico or US Virgin Islands.
Open jaws are only permitted at the origin or destination, not enroute. For example, you can go from Los Angeles to Singapore and then return from Singapore to San Francisco; or go from Los Angeles to Singapore and then return from Tokyo to Los Angeles. But you cannot go from Los Angeles to Tokyo, open jaw, continue from Seoul to Singapore and then return from Singapore to Los Angeles.
And lastly, the original outbound departure city may not be used as the transfer point to the final destination on a return leg. In other words, you can’t fly from Los Angeles to Tokyo and then return from Tokyo to Los Angeles, and then continue on to New York.
How to redeem for Singapore flights:
Singaporeair.com is the best place to search for Singapore Airlines award seats. You do need to have a KrisFlyer account to access the award chart but don’t worry, you can search for awards without any miles in your account.
When you log in, go to the main booking page and check the “Redeem award flights” box and NOT the “Pay with KrisFlyer miles” box. Check the “add a stopover” box if you want add a stopover.
If there are no seats available, you may choose to “waitlist” yourself and hope a seat opens up at a later date. They will not charge you any miles or money to waitlist for an award but you do need enough miles in your account to waitlist for that award. Once an award opens up, you will have 24 hours to confirm the award. Otherwise, it goes to the next person. Singapore Airlines does not allow you to place an award on hold.
If you don’t have enough miles for an award and want to “top off” your account, you may purchases additional miles at $40 per 1000 KrisFlyer miles.
How to redeem for partner flights:
All partner flights must be booked by phone via Singapore Airlines’ North American call center at (312) 843-5333. The call center is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- For Star Alliance partner airlines award space, you can search united.com.
- For Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia award space, you can search Delta.com.
- For Virgin America, you can search their own website.
Note: You are looking for award space at the SAVER level. Singapore Airlines does not have access to partner awards at the standard level.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Fees
In terms of service fees, Singapore Airlines has some of the most decent fees in the industry. They don’t charge a phone booking fee, close-in ticketing (booking an award within 21 days of travel) fee or a fee to change the date on a Singapore Airlines/SilkAir award. To change the flight, date, route or carrier on a partner award costs you $20. To completely redeposit an unused award ticket costs you $30. And if you just straight up don’t show or cancel your award ticket within 24 hours of travel, that will cost you $75.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Award Chart Sweet Spots
Like I said earlier, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Miles are best used for award seats on Singapore Airlines but there are some other sweet spots in their partner award charts. For example:
- Using a Star Alliance partner award, mainland North America to Hawaii on United is only 35,000 miles for economy class (60,000 miles for first class on a two-cabin plane) roundtrip, with NO fuel surcharges. For comparison, United’s own award chart charges 45,000 miles for economy and 80,000 for first class on a two-cabin plane.
- Using a Star Alliance partner award, Australia/New Zealand to Tahiti/Fiji is only 25,000 miles for economy class (35,000 miles for business class) roundtrip. The best use of this award is if you are already in Australia. You can use this award for a roundtrip ticket on Air New Zealand from Australia to Auckland, spend a stopover there, and then continue on to Tahiti or Fiji for your final destination. The only downside to this is for the longer five hour flight to Tahiti, Air New Zealand only flies a Boeing 767 with recliner business class seats. Whereas, the shorter three hour flight to Fiji gets a lie-flat business class seat on the Boeing 777. Either way, it’s a great deal because there are NO fuel surcharges added.
- Using a Star Alliance partner award, Turkey to North Africa/Middle East is only 40,000 miles for economy class (65,000 for business class). For whatever reason, Turkey is considered in the “North Africa/Middle East” region instead of Europe. So for only 40,000 miles, you can fly from Istanbul to Abu Dhabi or Dubai on Turkish Airlines or connect in Cairo for a free stopover in Egypt.
- Using a Virgin America award, travel up and down the west coast of the US is only 9,000 miles each way. This is the closest you will get to a cheap British Airways distance based award.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Overall Thoughts
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer isn’t perfect for everyone. There are definitely some pros and cons to their program but overall, I think it’s a pretty good deal.
Pros:
- Most of United’s fares including deeply discounted economy fares will earn at least 100% of mileage flown when credited to KrisFlyer.
- They have a good award chart with great availability and reasonable redemption rates.
- You can transfer outside points such as Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi Thank You Rewards and SPG to KrisFlyer.
- You can earn additional miles from non-airline activity such as hotel stays and car rentals.
Cons:
- Miles expire after 36 months, regardless of activity.
- Elite status only lasts for 12 months, regardless of how soon you reach it.
- No complimentary upgrades when flying United, Singapore Airlines, etc.
- Strict routing rules.
- Fuel surcharges.
So what are your guy’s thoughts? Will you consider Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer now that United has gone full revenue earning? Or does another frequent flyer program work better for you? Feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
