From now till 31 August, AMEX is running a special sign up bonus for its Krisflyer Ascend and Krisflyer Blue cobrand cards. Although I’m not big fans of either for day to day use, the sign up offers are definitely worth taking note of and should be part of your sign up bonus strategy.
The regular sign up bonus for both cards gives you 5,000 Krisflyer miles with your first spend of any amount within 1 month of approval. That has been doubled to 10,000 for online sign ups done till 31 August (Your sign up must be by 31 August, your approval must be made by 30 Sept)
In addition to this, both cards are running separate offers that reward you with bonus miles based on your first 3 months spending. (You’re only eligible to get the 10,000 Krisflyer miles welcome gift once, even if you sign up for both the Blue and the Ascend card)
Which one is right for you? I’m going to break down both offers below.
Krisflyer Blue Sign Up Offer (Spend $2.5K, get 20,250 miles)
The Krisflyer Blue card offers 10,000 miles with your first spend of any amount, plus a further 7,500 miles when you spend S$2,500 within the first 3 months of card approval.
When you add on the base miles of 2,500 @ 1.1 mpd= 2,750, you could potentially get 20,250 miles for S$2.5K of spend.
That’s a very good sign up bonus, in my opinion. Just be sure to switch out to a different miles earning card like the DBS Altitude, Citibank Premiermiles or UOB PRVI once you’ve used your bonus. The Krisflyer Ascend earns 1.1 mpd on local spending and 2.0 mpd on overseas spending only during June and December. The Altitude, Premiermiles and PRVI will earn you 1.2/1.2/1.4 mpd locally and 2.0/2.0/2.4 mpd overseas year round.
Another important point: the AMEX Krisflyer Blue card normally has a S$176.55 annual fee, but it is waived for the first year. So there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t get onboard with this deal, even if you just intend to get the 10,000 miles by swiping $1 at Watsons.
The AMEX Krisflyer blue has an income requirement of S$30K p.a.
Sign up for the 10,000 mile Krisflyer Blue card bonus here
Krisflyer Ascend Sign Up Offer (Spend $6K, get 32,200 miles)
The Krisflyer Ascend offer consists of 10,000 miles with first spend, plus 15,000 bonus miles when you spend S$6,000 within 3 months of card approval.
Add the base miles of S$6K @ 1.2 mpd= 7,200 to this, and you’re looking at 32,200 miles after S$6K of spend.
The Krisflyer Ascend, however, has a non-waivable first year annual fee of S$337.05 (there are some benefits of paying the annual fee, as I’ve highlighted here, but it’s your call whether you value them at 300 bucks). Also, the income requirement is higher than the Blue card at S$50K p.a.
Remember that the Ascend earns 1.2 mpd locally and 2 mpd overseas in June and December. Let me emphasize again that it should not be your general spending card, even if you take advantage of the bonus.
Sign up for the 10,000 mile Krisflyer Ascend card bonus here
Which offer is right for me?
Assuming your income allows you to qualify for both offers, I feel the Krisflyer Blue card has more bang for your buck. I like that you don’t need to pay the first year annual fee, and I think S$2,500 spend over 3 months is more achievable for most people than S$6,000. If you’re thinking about using Cardup to meet the minimum spend, remember their platform doesn’t accept AMEX at the moment.
If my reading of the T&C for the Ascend and Blue is right, there’s nothing stopping you from getting both cards. However, like I mentioned earlier, you can only get the 10,000 mile welcome bonus once. So if you had both cards and spent a total of $8,500, you’d have
- 10,000 welcome miles
- 15,000 + 7,500 bonus miles
- 2,750 + 7,200 base miles
For a grand total of 42,450 miles, with an outlay of $8500 + annual fee of $337.05. That’s pretty acceptable to me.
It’s interesting that AMEX has decided to up its game on these cards in recent months. Maybe we are seeing what I alluded to in the ST as a mid-cycle refresh. If you’ve been thinking about pulling the trigger on either card, now might be a good time.
If I already have one of the card (but not the other), can I still apply and get the offer ?
what offer? if you’ve got the first spend bonus before, you don’t qualify for another as per the T&C. that said, I don’t know how long a memory their system has.
Hi Aaron,
I think Patrick means, if we have an existing Ascend card for a couple of years, if we sign up for the Krisflyer Blue, do we get to have the signup bonus of 10k miles?
Or is the signup bonus for “new to bank” signup only?
so my reading of the T&C is that this is a once only sign up bonus, meaning that if you’ve previously held the ascend card and got the 5k first spend bonus, you’re not going to get the 10k bonus if you sign up for the krisflyer blue now. that said, I don’t know how long the “memory” of their IT systems is. from T&C The Welcome Bonus of 5,000 KrisFlyer miles offer (“Welcome Bonus”) is applicable only to first time applicants of any co-branded American Express Singapore Airlines Credit Card. Card Members who have existing or cancelled co-branded American… Read more »
Oh ok. Yes I mean what Ric meant. Thanks 🙂
Anyone knows if Amex is strict with the 50k income requirement for Ascend?
i don’t, but if you’re deciding between the two i’d recommend first completing the krisflyer blue spending challenge, then processing on to ascend. reason: higher miles to spending ratio + no annual fee.
Damn it! I just got my Krisflyer Amex card a week ago! Missed out on this promotion! ?
hahahahah. ok it’s not funny, but it’s funny in a way. if it makes you feel better there’s really nothing you could have done. these things pop up randomly
haha yea.. that’s too bad for me. I’m thinking of getting DBS Altitude card but waiting for them to launch a sign up promo! ??
Hi Aaron,
If Cardup does not accept AMEX, can I use iPaymy to meet the spending requirement?
Thanks.
Yes, ipaymy does accept amex cards but the commission is higher – 3.3%
There’s also a promo for grabpay in the t&c. 500 miles if you charge to the card using grabpay. Easy miles!
Too bad, I cancelled my Amex card long ago. I guess i wont qualify for this 10k.
Last I spoke to their CSO, AMEX system memory is forever.
I have the ascend card currently, can my partner sign up for the blue card and link to the same KF account ?
nope.
Has anyone gotten their 10K first-time spend bonus credited yet? My card was approved on 27 Aug and I made my first spend on 13 Sep, but the bonus credited is only 5000miles thus far.
Same here. Only got 5k. Btw, pay grab with amex and get 500 miles free. Don’t say bojio!
Someone reached out to me on FB with this issue. He later contacted customer service and was told this Hi Aaron, managed to resolve it
Seems like there’s a:
1. welcome offer : 5000 miles (credited in 6-8 weeks direct to your KrisFlyer account, wont show up on the AMEX side) and
2. welcome bonus : 5000 miles upon your first transaction within the first month of your card approval.
I think you all have received (2) but not (1) yet
Thanks Aaron! That is useful information. I was contemplating to contact CS. Haha.
Hi Aaron,
Your points 1 and 2 are accurate as I contacted their CS today and was informed of the same thing.
Thanks for maintaining this site. Great reading for folks like us!
I called AMEX and they insisted that point 1 can only be awarded if u sign up through an SQ mailer (as opposed to through AMEX website).. Is this true?
I also have not yet gotten mine. Can anyone update if you have got yours?
it seems that both (1) and (2) was not reflected on AMEX side for me. I logged in to my KF account and saw that there were 2 transactions, 1 was bonus miles for first card spend and the other was just reflected as a AMEX MILES TRANSFER of 5000 miles.
I only gotten (2) when i logged in to my KF account. As for the (1), I have called and spoke to the CS, they have escalate my case to SIA. According to the CS, (1) was sponsored by SIA. Will update later if i got mine.
I also only received 5000 miles for sign up bonus. Any idea how long it will take for the other 5000 from SIA?
My first spend was in mid-August and I just gotten (1) at the end of October. (2) was awarded in the first statement I got in September.
Just to share, I have already gotten my (1) and if you never got yours better to call in as according to the CS, the (1) will be credited to you before end of Nov.
Hi, just to check, did you call AMEX or SQ to check on (1)?
Hi there, want to check if there’s anything preventing me from signing up for the Ascend card to earn the bonus and terminating it before the annual fee payment?
does ascend still waive first year fee? i thought they stopped doing that. in the event that they waive, then no, there’s nothing stopping you from doing that.
Apologies if I might have understood wrongly. My understanding is that annual fees are usually charged one year after you sign up. Would it be possible to sign up for the card, spend the required amount to qualify for the bonus miles and terminate the card, say after 11 months?
Tried reading through the T&C if there are any penalty for doing so, but couldn’t seem to find anything on that.
no, you’re thinking of cards that have a 1st year fee waiver. then they charge you at the end of first year/start of second year in respect of the second year.
I see. So what you are saying is that the annual fee will be charged upfront when the card is activated?
I always had the impression that annual fees are always charged at the end of a year’s use… Which led me to think that I can cancel the card before the fee is charged.
nope. AF are upfront. that’s why you can get them waived, because you technically haven’t “consumed” the service you’re paying for at the time it was charged.