Generous ‘sweet spots’ if you move American Express points to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

You might think that the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer programme, which is part of Star Alliance and so accesses a different group of airlines to Avios, is irrelevant to you.

And yet …. if you are willing to do a bit of jiggling, there are decent deals – and a couple of exceptional deals – you can nab.

This article was originally put together with help from Andrew, a UK expat and long-term HfP reader who moved to Singapore a couple of years ago and started Mainly Miles to cover KrisFlyer.

How can you earn KrisFlyer miles?

The obvious route is transferring American Express Membership Rewards points.  As you can see here, it is a 1:1 airline partner from the UK scheme.

Here are the key Membership Rewards earning cards we cover:

Other options include Heathrow Rewards and moving points from hotel schemes, in particular Marriott Bonvoy where the rate is 3:1 (3:1.25 if you move chunks of 60,000 points at a time).

Marriott Bonvoy points can be earned via the Bonvoy Amex:

It is also a HSBC Premier credit card partner if you want a Visa / Mastercard option:

And there is a ‘secret’ permanent 31% Amex transfer bonus

There is a permanent transfer bonus from Amex to Singapore Airlines which is currently 31%.  Last time I used this method it was 58%.  It is complex, I admit, but if you are transferring a lot of Amex points it may be worth it.

The process is explained here and I strongly recommend reading that HfP article if this sounds interesting.  Basically:

• you get the Amex International Dollar Card, which is run out of Brighton and only available to non-US residents like you

• you transfer your Amex Membership Rewards balance to your International Dollar Card’s Membership Rewards account

• under Amex rules, your Membership Rewards balance is grossed up by the current $ exchange rate, currently $1.31 per £1, when transferred, so 100,000 points becomes 131,000 points

Most airline and hotel partners have worse transfer rates out of IDC so you are worse off despite the 31% bonus.  The exceptions are Alitalia, Asia Miles, Finnair, Malaysia Airlines and KrisFlyer which are 1:1.  Here is the IDC Membership Rewards catalogue.  You effectively get a 31% transfer bonus, based on the £/$ FX rate today, when moving to these five airlines.

As an extra perk, IDC Amex cards can transfer into the Jumeirah One hotel programme at 4:1 and Qatar Privilege Club at 3:2. These options are not available to holders of UK £ Amex cards.

What are the KrisFlyer sweet spots?

We finally get to the point of this article (!).   Why might you want to redeem KrisFlyer miles if you live in the UK?

Here is the Singapore Airlines reward chart for partner airlines.

The best deal is travel from the UK to the Middle East

The slam dunk best deal is ‘Europe to Middle East’ for 58,000 KrisFlyer miles RETURN in Business Class.

Remember that British Airways wants up to 120,000 Avios on a peak day for a return Club World flight to Dubai, Abu Dhabi etc.  You can use just 58,000 KrisFlyer miles, most likely routed on Lufthansa via Frankfurt or SWISS via Zurich, instead.  (Other fun routings include Turkish via Istanbul and Egyptair via Cairo!)

Here are some other good options

Andrew also recommends the following sweet spots for UK residents:

• Europe to South East Asia, at 92,000 miles one-way in Business.  You can fly direct to Singapore on Singapore Airlines for 90,000 miles, but if you can’t find seats on your dates (not unlikely) then you should get something on Thai, Lufthansa, SWISS, Turkish etc for just 2,000 additional miles

• Europe to South Africa for 52,000 miles one-way in Business.   Your primary choices would be South African, Lufthansa, SWISS, Ethiopian and Turkish.

• Europe to the Maldives is 54,500 miles one-way in Business.   Turkish is your likely airline.  Sri Lanka and India are in the same pricing zone.

• Domestic USA / Canada flights.  Whilst not as cheap as Avios for short hops, 12,500 miles one-way in Economy or 23,000 miles one-way in Business (domestic First in the USA is priced as Business) can work out well.

And if you are prepared to start your trip in Turkey ….

Istanbul to Singapore is astonishingly cheap at 49,000 miles one-way in Business. Taxes are also exceptionally low – just US$55 last time I checked.

This is based on flying with Singapore Airlines itself, not a partner airlines, priced off the Singapore Airlines reward chart for Singapore Airlines flights.  You want Page 2 which covers ‘Saver Awards’ – look at Zone 1 to Zone 10 travel. OK, you need to position yourself in Istanbul first – but for a discount like this I think you could live with it.

Virgin Atlantic redemptions look like a great deal but ….

In theory, the biggest value for KrisFlyer miles from London comes from the Virgin Atlantic partner award chart.  You would pay 50,000 miles one-way Upper Class to any US destination.

There’s a big drawback though – Virgin Atlantic limits its award inventory to KrisFlyer so tightly it’s almost useless.  You cannot book online and the call centre finds it virtually impossible to find seats.  This may be some sort of retaliation by Virgin for the rules that Singapore Airlines imposes on Virgin Flying Club members who want to redeem with them.

I hope this article has given you a few ideas for potential uses for the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer programme, especially if you are sitting on a large pot of American Express Membership Rewards points.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2021 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit or charge card, here are our November 2021 recommendations based on the current sign-up bonus. 

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the top current deals:

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers.

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending: