If you collect transferable points such as American Express Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer is a frequent-flyer program worth considering. It’s a transfer partner of most of the major transferable points programs and is one of the best ways to book Singapore Airlines’ coveted first-class suites and excellent business-class cabins.
Even if Singapore isn’t in your travel plans, KrisFlyer’s Star Alliance and non-alliance award charts have some hidden gems to know. From booking one-way award seats to Hawaii for less than 15,000 miles to earning valuable miles with credit cards, keep reading to learn the ins and outs of Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer so you can decide if KrisFlyer miles are of value to you.
Related: Is Singapore Airlines’ premium economy worth it on the Airbus A350?
Earning Singapore KrisFlyer miles
There are several ways to earn KrisFlyer miles. You can earn by flying on Singapore Airlines and its Star Alliance partners, like United Airlines, Air Canada and Lufthansa. You can also transfer miles from different credit card programs, stay with hotel partners and make purchases through the KrisFlyer shopping portal.
Earn by flying with Singapore Airlines
When you fly with Singapore Airlines, you’ll earn miles based on the distance flown and the fare class booked. Here’s what you’ll earn on tickets issued and operated by Singapore Airlines:
| Cabin | Bonus | Fare class |
|---|---|---|
200% | A and F | |
150% | C, J and Z | |
125% | D and U | |
125% | S and T | |
100% | R, L and P | |
100% | B, E and Y | |
75% | H, M and W | |
50% | K, N, Q, V and G |
To calculate how many miles you’ll earn on a flight, find your ticket’s fare class in the email confirmation you received after booking your flight. Then, head to the Singapore Airlines miles calculator to see exactly how many points you’ll earn.
For example, say you’re flying Singapore Airlines’ fifth-freedom flight round-trip from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Frankfurt Airport (FRA) in S-fare premium economy. In this case, the actual mileage flown is 7,694 miles, and the fare earns 125% miles flown. As a result, you’d earn 9,618 KrisFlyer miles. You’d earn an additional 25% bonus if you have KrisFlyer elite status when you fly.
Earn with partner flights
Singapore Airlines is a member of Star Alliance, so you can earn KrisFlyer miles when you fly with other Star Alliance members. Additionally, you can earn miles with nonalliance partners like Alaska Airlines, JetBlue and Virgin Atlantic.
Each of these airlines has its own Singapore Airlines earning chart. You can view the full Singapore Airlines earnings chart for partners on the airline’s website (PDF link). To calculate your earnings, find your fare class underneath your airline partner’s name and multiply your flight’s distance by the percentage listed. Each partner airline has its own earning chart.
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Here’s an example. Say you book a round-trip flight from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) with United Airlines in G-fare economy. This round-trip itinerary clocks in at 5,131 miles and earns 25% miles flown, meaning you’d earn 1,282 miles.
Earn KrisFlyer miles with credit cards
While Singapore Airlines doesn’t offer a cobranded credit card in the U.S., the airline partners with several major transferable rewards programs, including:
One of the easiest ways to accrue KrisFlyer miles is to earn transferable points with one or more of these programs and transfer them to Singapore Airlines. We only recommend transferring credit card points and miles to KrisFlyer once you’ve found award space and are ready to book your ticket.
The following cards all currently offer strong welcome bonuses that you could easily convert to KrisFlyer miles:
Earn with the KrisShop
The KrisShop portal lets you buy products directly from Singapore Airlines. When you shop through the portal, you can earn up to 4 miles per Singapore dollar spent (roughly 5 miles per U.S. dollar).
Earn with hotel partners
Singapore Airlines has partnerships with many major hotel companies, including Marriott, IHG, Hilton and Hyatt. The airline also partners with several smaller hotel groups, such as Shangri-La, Melia Hotels International and Pan Pacific. You can view a full list of partners on Singapore Airlines’ website.
The partner determines how you earn miles on stays. Some hotel groups let you earn miles instead of hotel points, while others allow you to convert your hotel points to KrisFlyer miles.
Earning KrisFlyer miles with hotels can make sense in some cases, but not always. As a general rule, you’ll usually get more value by earning hotel points.
The program also has a range of other “on the ground” earning partners, like car rental companies and retail partners.
Redeeming Singapore KrisFlyer miles
Redeeming your miles for flights on Singapore Airlines and its partners will deliver the greatest value.
Redeem miles for Singapore Airlines flights
Historically, Singapore Airlines has only released its long-haul business- and first-class awards to KrisFlyer members. However, you can now book long-haul Singapore Airlines business-class flights with programs like Air Canada Aeroplan.
Singapore Airlines has three redemption tiers: Saver, Advantage and Access. Saver award space is generally harder to come by, but costs the least and allows one stopover on round-trip bookings.
Advantage award space is more expensive but easier to find and includes up to two free stopovers on a round-trip ticket. For example, you could book a flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Bali’s Denpasar International Airport (DPS) with a stopover in Singapore (SIN). Stopovers are bookable online.
The third award type, Access, is the most expensive. These tickets let you book any seat on a Singapore Airlines flight — so finding award space isn’t an issue — but they come at a high cost. Access awards are dynamically priced, so you can often expect to pay over 250,000 miles for a one-way flight from the U.S. to Singapore. You should only book these fares if you need to be on a specific flight.
You can view the Singapore Airlines award chart on the airline’s website. All Singapore Airlines award space can be found and booked online, so there’s usually no need to call. However, if you want to hold an award seat while transferring miles, Singapore Airlines generally charges 25 Singapore dollars (approximately $19) or 2,500 miles.
Spontaneous Escapes
Singapore Airlines publishes monthly Spontaneous Escapes, offering discounted redemption prices (typically 20%-30% off) on select routes. While not all routes are included, some long-haul routes are, so it is worth checking if your preferred route is part of this month’s discounts. These fares are listed as “Promo” awards on Singapore Airlines’ website.
Best Singapore Airlines redemptions from the US
Unfortunately, the airline’s fabulous Airbus A380 Suites product does not currently operate to the United States.
Singapore Airlines operates ultra-long-haul, nonstop Airbus A350 flights (without a first-class cabin) from various U.S. airports to Singapore. Here are the Saver business-class award rates from each of the carrier’s North American gateways:
- San Francisco International Airport (SFO): 112,500 miles
- Los Angeles International Airport (LAX): 112,500 miles
- Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA): 112,500 miles
- Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR): 117,000 miles
- John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York City: 117,000 miles
Another great way to redeem Singapore Airlines miles is on the carrier’s fifth-freedom flight from JFK to Frankfurt Airport (FRA). If you find Saver award space, this option can be booked for 89,000 miles each way in business class or 106,500 miles each way in first class.
Additionally, the airline operates flights from LAX to Tokyo’s Narita International Airport (NRT). Saver rates on these flights are 114,000 miles each way in business class or 132,500 miles each way in first class.
Stopovers on Singapore Airlines award tickets
Singapore Airlines allows stopovers on its award tickets. Saver award tickets include one stopover on a round-trip ticket, while Advantage award tickets include one stopover on a one-way ticket and two on a round-trip ticket. To use the KrisFlyer stopover, Singapore Airlines must operate all flights on your itinerary.
You can add stopovers to an open-jaw ticket by booking two one-way Advantage awards. If your city pair is eligible for a stopover, you can add a stopover online.
Redeem on partner flights
You can redeem KrisFlyer miles for flights with partner airlines, including some outside of Star Alliance. The Star Alliance award chart is posted on the KrisFlyer website (PDF link). If you look at the chart, note that the rates shown are for round-trip tickets, but one-way bookings cost half the miles shown.
You can book Star Alliance awards on the KrisFlyer website. To do so, input your search on the homepage, check the “Redeem flights” box and search. On the next page, toggle the “Show flights for” selection from “Singapore Airlines” to “Star Alliance.”
Best KrisFlyer bookings in the US
KrisFlyer miles offer a great way to book premium domestic tickets with United Airlines. For example, you can book premium transcontinental business-class flights for just 29,000 miles one-way, making it the best way to fly United Polaris seats from Newark to Los Angeles and San Francisco. However, award space can be tough to come by.
You can use KrisFlyer miles to fly to Hawaii, too. In many cases, KrisFlyer charges 20,500 miles for a one-way economy ticket, which is far less than United MileagePlus usually charges for the same seat. Meanwhile, business class costs 43,000 miles one-way. This can be a good way to book long-haul flights to Hawaii from cities in the Northeast.
You can also redeem KrisFlyer miles for Alaska Airlines flights. The airline offers great redemption rates on Alaska Airlines flights, but you can’t book these flights with stops. Instead, you can only book nonstop Alaska Airlines flights with KrisFlyer miles.
There are still some fantastic deals on the Singapore Airlines’ Alaska Airlines award chart (PDF link). You can book a one-way economy-class flight from the West Coast to Hawaii for just 13,500 KrisFlyer miles. This is one of the cheapest ways to use miles to fly to Hawaii and is worth considering if you live near an airport with Alaska nonstop service to Hawaii.
Singapore KrisFlyer elite status
Singapore Airlines offers two tiers of elite status: KrisFlyer Elite Silver and KrisFlyer Elite Gold.
These elite status tiers require 25,000 and 50,000 elite miles in 12 consecutive months, respectively. You will earn qualifying elite miles when you fly with Singapore Airlines, Scoot, Juneyao Air, Star Alliance carriers, and other eligible airline partners.
Both elite status tiers earn 25% bonus miles on Singapore Airlines-operated flights in eligible fare classes, along with other benefits. Here’s what KrisFlyer Elite Silver has to offer:
- Select standard seats in economy when flying Singapore Airlines
- Automatically assigned a seat at booking when flying Scoot
- Priority reservation waitlist, airport standby and boarding
- Star Alliance Silver status
- Extra and discounted baggage allowance when flying with Singapore Airlines or Scoot, depending on the itinerary
And here are the top perks of KrisFlyer Elite Gold:
- Select forward zone or standard seats in economy when flying Singapore Airlines
- Automatically assigned a seat at booking when flying Scoot
- Extra baggage allowance
- Priority check-in, boarding, security and luggage delivery
- Priority reservation waitlist and airport standby
- Star Alliance Gold status
- Lounge access when flying Singapore Airlines, Virgin Australia, Star Alliance carriers and Star Alliance connecting partner airlines
For Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Elite members based in the U.S., one of the best benefits is access to United Club lounges on domestic United Airlines flights. This applies to all Star Alliance Gold members except United Premier elites, and you can use the benefit to save hundreds of dollars a year compared with buying a United Club membership outright.
KrisFlyer Milestone Rewards
KrisFlyer members earn Milestone Rewards after earning a certain number of elite miles in one calendar year. However, only elite miles earned while flying Singapore Airlines or Scoot count toward Milestone Rewards. Flights operated by partners do not qualify.
- 1,000 elite miles: 1,000 bonus KrisFlyer miles on your next flight with Scoot
- 2,500 elite miles: 20% discount voucher on Scoot
- 5,000 elite miles: KrisPay miles (equivalent to 10 Singapore dollars, about $7.50)
- 10,000 elite miles: SG$20 (about $15.50) off KrisShop promo code valid on a minimum purchase of SG$150 (about $115)
- 20,000 elite miles: 25% bonus KrisFlyer miles for a single flight segment
- 30,000 elite miles: 50% bonus KrisFlyer miles for a single flight segment
- 40,000 elite miles: 5,000 KrisFlyer miles redemption discount (award flight or upgrade)
- 60,000 elite miles: Double KrisFlyer miles (for a single flight segment)
- 75,000 elite miles: A confirmed cabin class upgrade on an eligible Singapore Airlines short-haul flight segment
- 100,000 elite miles: A confirmed upgrade from economy to premium economy for one Singapore Airlines segment (subject to availability)
Make sure to read the terms and conditions of these perks before you redeem them. Only select fare classes are eligible for certain benefits, such as upgrades.
PPS Club
Singapore Airlines’ special elite status program, PPS Club, is available only to travelers who earn at least 25,000 PPS value per membership year. PPS value is earned based on your spending on Singapore Airlines, with SG$1 (about 75 cents) equaling 1 PPS value. There’s also a tier above PPS Club: Solitaire PPS Club, which you can obtain after earning 50,000 PPS value in a membership year.
But there’s a catch: You can only earn PPS value when you fly Singapore Airlines premium cabins (defined as business, first and Suites class), so economy and premium economy flights don’t count. Additionally, airport taxes do not count toward PPS Club status — per the Singapore Airlines website, only the actual airfare and “applicable surcharges” count.
That said, you can earn up to 2,500 and 5,000 PPS Value for PPS Club and Solitaire Club, respectively, without flying. You can earn this when you use Kris+, KrisShop and Pelago.
Anything earned beyond these non-flight earning limits is saved as Reserve Value for future years. Likewise, anything earned beyond your qualification is saved as Reserve Value. For example, if you earn 27,000 PPS value and qualify for PPS Club status with the required 25,000 PPS value, the excess 2,000 PPS value can be applied to a future qualification year. Reserve Value is valid for three years.
PPS Club and Solitaire PPS Club members receive additional benefits, like complimentary in-flight Wi-Fi and guaranteed economy-class reservations. You can learn more about PPS Club and Solitaire PPS Club benefits on Singapore Airlines’ website.
Bottom line
KrisFlyer is the only way to redeem miles for Singapore Suites and is a great option for redeeming miles for transcontinental flights and flights to Hawaii on United Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
If you’re interested in these redemptions, you can transfer rewards from multiple programs with transferable currencies to Singapore KrisFlyer.
