The AMEX KrisFlyer cobrand credit cards donโt have the highest miles earning rates on the market, but theyโve historically made up for it through solid sign up bonuses.
The last sign up bonus lapsed on 30 June, and a new one has taken place effective 1 July for applications approved by 30 September 2019. Hereโs what has changed:
| Old Bonus (till 30 June) | New Bonus (from 1 July) | |
 AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend |
5K miles for first spend
Spend $10K in first 3 months to get 15K miles, spend a further $10K in months 4-6 to get a further 15K miles |
5K miles for first spend Spend $10K in first 3 months to get 15K miles |
 AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card |
5K miles for first spend Spend $5K in first 3 months to get 7.5K miles, spend a further $5K in months 4-6 to get a further 7.5K miles |
5K miles for first spend
Spend $5K in first 3 months to get 7.5K miles |
The main change is that AMEX has removed the additional bonus for spending in months 4-6. This means the total miles youโll receive for hitting the sign up bonus now looks like this:
| First Spend Bonus | 5,000 | 5,000 |
| Base miles for hitting $10K (Ascend)/ $5K (Blue) | 12,000 | 5,500 |
| Bonus miles for hitting $10K (Ascend)/ $5K (Blue) | 15,000 | 7,500 |
| Additional miles for signing up through MGM | 7,500 | 5,000 |
| Total miles | 39,500 | 23,000 |
The AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend has a non-waivable first year fee of $337.05, while the AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card waives the first yearโs annual fee.
How does this offer compare to historical offers?
Any reduction in sign up bonuses is a bad thing, but if your card was approved on or before 30 June 2019, youโll still be locked into the previous sign up bonus.
Otherwise, based on past data, you may be better off waiting for a better offer to come around. Hereโs what I managed to put together on past sign up offers.
AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend
AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card
The charts suggest that historical offers were more generous, although they probably oversimplify the situation, given that they say nothing about the cadence of the spending (i.e. over three months versus six), nor the size of the first spend bonus (which hasnโt always been 5K miles).
For the benefit of those who really want to dive into that level of detail, hereโs additional information.
|
|
AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend |
AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card |
| 1 Apr- 30 June 2018 | 5K first spend bonus
Spend $5K in first 3 months to get 13K miles, spend further $5K in first 3 months to get 6K miles |
5K first spend bonus
Spend $2K in first 3 months to get 6K miles |
|
1 Jul- 30 Sept 2018 |
7K first spend bonus Spend $5K in first 3 months to get 13K miles, spend further $5K in first 3 months to get 13K miles |
7K first spend bonus Spend $2K in first 3 months to get 6K miles, spend further $3K in first 3 months to get 9K miles |
| 1 Oct -30 Nov 2018 | 5K first spend bonus
Spend $10K in first 3 months to get 26K miles |
5K first spend bonus
Spend $3K in first 3 months to get 7.5K miles |
| 1 Dec 2018- 31 Mar 2019 | 5K first spend bonus
Spend $6K in first 3 months to get 15K miles, spend $6K in months 4-6 to get further 15K miles |
5K first spend bonus
Spend $3K in first 3 months to get 7.5K miles, spend $3K in months 4-6 to get further 7.5K miles |
| 1 April- 30 June 2019 | 5K first spend bonus
Spend $10K in first 3 months to get 15K miles, spend $10K in months 4-6 to get further 15K miles |
5K first spend bonus Spend $5K in first 3 months to get 7.5K miles, spend $5K in months 4-6 to get further 7.5K miles |
Conclusion
Given that the DBS Altitude and Citi PremierMiles Visa recently extended their sign up bonuses, you have a few options to choose from when picking a new card. Iโd personally wait for a better offer to come along for the AMEX KrisFlyer cards, although as always, it really depends on how much you plan to spend over the next three months, and whether youโre alright with paying an annual fee.
For those who applied for an AMEX KrisFlyer card during Aprilโs Milelion Million Mile giveaway, weโll be conducting the draw for the 10 winners of 100,000 miles each this Wednesday, and winners will be announced later this month. Be on the lookout for that!
Be sure to check out all the latest credit card sign up bonuses here.
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How about the spend 10k and upgrade from kfb to ascend? Has the benefits deteriorated?
โฆ and meanwhile, AMEX is plying Platinum Charge Card customers with increased benefits.
This sure adds to the trend of the Rich getting richer โฆ
Yeahโฆprobably cos KrisFlyer is more competitive and the economical no longer add upโฆ so you go back to the roots of the top-tier premium products which is really what Amex is all about to start withโฆ
is the upgrade from KFB to ascend an ongoing promo? If I spend $10k within 6 months, will i still get the link to upgrade? Or do I need to wait for the minimum tenure of 9 months. If so, what if thereโs no upgrade promo after spending the $10k?
Is this still the crappiest card in the market, as per your article when it was first rebrandedโฆor have you changed your heart? Haha
well, the sign up bonuses are well worth looking at (but maybe not this particular one). theyโre clearly not market-leading when it comes to general spending miles rates (boc elite miles/uob prvi would be my choice there), but one thing amex has is they hardly have any exclusion categories. charities, utilities, donations, education, gvt servicesโฆso long as they take amex (which isnโt always a given) youโll get points.
Yeah i hear you, but to have a co-brand partnership which is not the most competitive or leading product is just too sacrilegiousโฆ
Anyway, Amex just isnโt competitive โ either in the cashback space, or miles space โ and their turf is starting to be eroded in the premium space too. Fun times for the customersโฆ
Good luck to them.
Hi Aaron, if I apply for Ascend and top up $10k in grabpay within the first 3 months, will it qualify for the signup bonus miles? I know thereโs a $200 per month limit for the 3.3miles bit.
Yes, it will