Sweet Spots: Best ways to redeem Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles in 2024

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer is undoubtedly the most popular Frequent Flyer Program (FFP) for Singapore-based travellers. Let’s have a look at the best routes to redeem KrisFlyer miles for maximum value.

How to accumulate KrisFlyer miles

1) Credit cards

All miles/rewards credit cards in Singapore have KrisFlyer as a transfer partner. This makes them really easy to earn, if you are based in the country.

2) Credit paid flights

Members can credit their paid flights (on Star Alliance/Partner airlines too) to KrisFlyer at these accrual rates.

Unfortunately, all Elite members (Silver, Gold, PPS) only receive a flat 25% bonus miles.

3) Convert Marriott points to KrisFlyer miles

Marriott Bonvoy members can convert their Marriott points to KrisFlyer miles at a ratio of 3:1.

For better value, convert in blocks of 60,000 Marriott points to receive 5,000 bonus miles; for a total of 25,000 KrisFlyer miles.

This method does not give you great value, as there are better ways to redeem Marriott Bonvoy points. However, it is a quick and easy way to top up on your miles balance, if/when required.

4) Kris+

Make your purchases at selected merchants through Kris+ to earn additional KrisFlyer miles, on top of credit card miles.

Sign up for Kris+ through my affiliate link to get 750 KrisPay miles (worth $5).

Pros and Cons of KrisFlyer

Here’s a quick run down of the best and worst benefits/features of KrisFlyer.

Pros:

1. Miles/Points transferrable from all miles/rewards credit cards in Singapore
2. Direct flights between Singapore and 70+ popular destinations
3. No fuel surcharges on Singapore Airlines award flights
4. Good onboard service and seats
5. Book the Cook meals
6. Monthly Spontaneous Escapes deals on selected routes (30% award discount)
7. One of few FFPs that still has zone-based award charts (instead of distance-based)

Cons:

1. 3 years miles validity (can pay for one-time extension of 6/12 months)
2. Long haul Business Class seats are mostly old (2013 edition)
3. Poor value award rates to/from popular destinations (i.e. Japan, S. Korea, Europe, North America)
4. Poor value Star Alliance award chart
5. Fuel surcharges are applicable on Star Alliance/partner award flights. Coupled with high award rates, this makes KrisFlyer miles near-useless for award redemptions on most partner airlines (except United, Air India, Ethiopian, Avianca, Alaska and Malaysia Airlines)
6. Only 25% bonus mileage accrual for all Elite members (Silver, Gold, PPS)
7. Waitlisting is common, and a gamble
8. Miles do not go on sale, unlike some FFPs

KrisFlyer Award Redemption Charts

There are 3 main award redemption charts to look at, when redeeming KrisFlyer miles:

1. Saver
2. Advantage
3. Star Alliance

In this article, I am only looking at the Saver and Star Alliance award charts, because this is a travel-hacking blog, and there is nothing travel-hacky about booking Advantage rates.

View award charts for partner airlines here.

Saver Award Chart

The Saver award chart states the amount of miles required for one-way redemptions on Singapore Airlines-operated flights only (not for star alliance/partner airlines).

Star Alliance Award Chart

The Star Alliance award chart states the amount of miles required for roundtrip redemptions on Star Alliance airlines-operated flights only (not for non-alliance partners like Alaska and Malaysia Airlines).

Singapore Airlines Star Alliance award chart (pinch to zoom)

KrisFlyer Sweet Spots

These sweet spots are chosen based on the following factors:

• How KrisFlyer award rate compares to other FFPs
• Typical cash fare for each route, on any full-service airline (not just SQ)
• Flight duration

Take Note: In most cases, flights to/from Southeast Asian cities (Zones 2, 3) costs the same amount of miles as flights to/from Singapore. In other words, flying from Hanoi to Istanbul (via Singapore) costs the same amount of miles (airport tax varies) as flying from Singapore to Istanbul.

1) Zone 10: Istanbul, Dubai, South Africa

Flight duration: 7.5 to 11.5 hours

Miles required for one-way travel between Southeast Asia and Zone 10 cities:

My favourite KrisFlyer sweet spot is Zone 10. Specifically, Istanbul, Turkey.

This is because, Istanbul is located right at the “front door” of Europe and requires about 45% fewer miles in Business Class! That’s 56.5k vs 103.5k. From Istanbul, travellers can easily find cheap flights into a European city of choice.

However, because of how popular the Istanbul route has got, travellers may need to book them 10 to 12 months in advance.

Additional note: Economy Class flights to Dubai, Johannesburg and Cape Town can be very cheap. Value-wise, redeeming miles for Economy Class to these destinations may not be a good idea.

2) Zone 9: New Zealand, South/East Australia

Flight duration: 7 to 10 hours

Miles required for one-way travel between Southeast Asia and Zone 9 cities:

3) Zone 8: Perth, Darwin

Flight duration: 4.5 to 5 hours

Miles required for one-way travel between Southeast Asia and Zone 8 cities:

4) Zone 6: South Asia

Flight duration: 4 to 6 hours

Miles required for one-way travel between Southeast Asia and Zone 6 cities:

Singapore Airlines flies its Airbus A380 to/from New Delhi and Mumbai regularly (not all the time) and it is fairly easy to find Suites Class availability for 2 passengers, sometimes more!

Flights to this region are also regularly included in Spontaneous Escapes deals, making them even better redemptions.

5) Zone 5: North China

Flight duration: 4 to 6 hours

Miles required for one-way travel between Southeast Asia and Zone 5 cities:

Singapore Airlines flies its Airbus A380 to/from Beijing and Shanghai regularly (not all the time) and it is fairly easy to find Suites Class availability.

Flights to this region are also regularly included in Spontaneous Escapes deals, making them even better redemptions.

6) Zone 11: Europe (Suites only)

Flight duration: 13 hours

Miles required for one-way travel between Southeast Asia and Zone 11 cities:

Zone 11 probably offers the poorest value in KrisFlyer’s award chart (for Economy, Premium and Business). However, because of how unique Singapore Airlines Suites are, it is definitely a sweet spot!

Singapore Airlines flies its Airbus A380 to/from popular European cities like London, Frankfurt and Paris.

However, it is pretty much impossible to find Saver award availability without waitlisting, other than the super rare opportunity that I shared some time back. If another one comes along, you might want to jump on it!

Additional note: I get asked a lot if I would spend the “Advantage” rate of 225.5k miles for these routes. The answer is NO. While the Suites are beautiful and unique, the beds are really hard and uncomfortable. It is definitely not worth 225.5k miles for a 13-hour flight, to me at least. If you would like to experience it at least once in your life, consider the Zone 6 sweet spot for just 58.5k miles or Zone 9 sweet spot for 93.5k miles

Related: Singapore Airlines Suites Frankfurt to Singapore

7) Fifth Freedom: Frankfurt – New York

Flight duration: 9 hours

Miles required for one-way travel between Frankfurt and New York:

Singapore Airlines flies fifth freedom flights between Frankfurt, Germany and New York, USA. Although spending 81k miles for Business Class on this route does not give you good value, the award rates for the other 3 classes are pretty good. This route is also regularly featured in Spontaneous Escapes.

8) Star Alliance: South West Pacific

Flight duration: 1 to 12 hours

Miles required for one-way travel between South West Pacific cities:

The South West Pacific region in Singapore Airlines’ Star Alliance award chart is 7 time zones wide. This gives you the opportunity of redeeming just 13.5k KrisFlyer miles for a total flying time of up to 12 hours for flights from Perth to Tahiti!

There’s a catch, though. Air New Zealand is quite an uncooperative alliance member, when it comes to releasing award seats to partner FFPs, even in Economy Class! Thus, the opportunity to book Air NZ Business Class with KrisFlyer miles is rarer than a unicorn.

And of course, as mentioned earlier, you will need to pay fuel surcharges on partner award bookings with KrisFlyer miles. This works out to about S$100 for an Economy Class flights from Perth to Tahiti (via Auckland).

Summary

Here’s a quick summary of the sweet spots that I’ve shared above:

Bottom line

Post-devaluation, members can still receive great value with KrisFlyer miles, for flights to/from certain regions.

However, Japan, S. Korea, Europe and North America remain as poor value regions to redeem KrisFlyer miles, especially when other FFPs require 30 to 40% fewer miles for the same routes.

Related: My Miles Strategy for 2024, as a Singapore-based Traveller

As a Singapore-based traveller, these sweet spots keep me interested in KrisFlyer, in addition to others.