Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer loyalty programme has launched a potentially interesting new offer. You can now earn elite status without even leaving the ground!
“From now till February 28th, 2022, accumulate Elite miles as you shop, spend and convert partner reward points to KrisFlyer miles, to count towards an upgrade to KrisFlyer Elite Silver or Gold status.”
There are many different partners included in the offer (click here for full details), but if you want to take proper advantage, you’ll need a ton of credit card points…
Luckily, Krisflyer partners with ALL of the major credit card providers in the US, including: American Express, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Capital One, and Citi ThankYou.
What is Needed to Earn Elite Status?
KrisFlyer Silver status requires 25,000 elite miles, and Gold status requires 50,000.
Gold status maps across to Star Alliance Gold, which is the minimum level of status that is useful across the whole alliance, because it comes with these benefits:
- Airport lounge access
- Priority boarding
- Priority check-in at Business Class desks
- Fast track security
- Extra baggage allowance (not on Hand Baggage Only fares offered by Lufthansa, Austrian, SWISS, Brussels Airlines and SAS)
- Priority baggage handling
As a result, you would need to consider transferring 250,000 credit card points to Krisflyer to receive the 50,000 elite miles needed for Gold status.
But Why?
Can you really take advantage of elite status?
Gold status with Krisflyer lasts until the end of the 12th month after you earn it. If you delay transferring those 250,000 credit card points until early February 2022, your elite status would last until February 28th, 2023.
I know we all hope that international travel will have resumed by then, but twelve months isn’t nearly as good as the 24-month status available from other Star Alliance programs.
Moreover, most of the benefits of Star Alliance Gold are valuable when travelling in Economy. If you are flying in Business Class, particularly long haul, you would already be invited to use the lounge and enjoy priority check-in, boarding, etc.
If you are flying domestically on United Airlines, you would be allowed to use the United Club pre-flight and would benefit from the checked bag allowance, but you would receive no preferential treatment when it comes to seat selection. I’ve found my lowly United Silver status (thanks to Marriott Titanium) more useful on United than the Star Alliance Gold I use worldwide to great benefit…
But what about the 250,000 redeemable miles?
The points you convert into Krisflyer miles don’t just disappear into status miles. But they will do in 36 months time, unless used, because Krisflyer operates a hard expiry policy.
And even though 250,000 redeemable miles sounds like a lot, they won’t even get you a return ticket to Asia in First Class…
The Bottom Line
Even though it sounds intriguing to pick up Star Alliance Gold status without actually flying, now might not be the best time to take advantage of that status.
And once you’ve moved your 250k credit card points across, they’re stuck in Krisflyer, meaning that you’re going to have to start planning an Asia trip at the same time as thousands of other travel hackers desperate to get back up in the air…
