I don’t know a single person who doesn’t have a KrisFlyer account, but if you do, now’s the time to rekindle that friendship.
For the month of February 2020, Singapore Airlines is running a member-get-member campaign to mark KrisFlyer’s 21st birthday. KrisFlyer members can earn up to 10,000 miles for referring friends and family, and the top 3 referrers will get an additional 21,000 miles on top of that.
How does the referral program work?
The first step is to ask your family and friends to sign up for a KrisFlyer account.
During account creation, they’ll need to enter your KrisFlyer membership number, as well as key in KFBD21 in the promo code field.
If they make a qualifying transaction by 31 May 2020, you’ll earn 500 bonus miles. This bonus is capped at 10,000 miles, or 20 referees. Bonus miles will be credited to your account 4-6 weeks after the promotion ends on 29 Feb 2020.
A qualifying transaction is defined as:
- Miles accrued or redeemed on flown flights on Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and Scoot
- Miles accrual from partners
- Transfer of points from partner programmes to KrisFlyer
- Submission of retrospective mileage claims for flown flights
- KrisShop accrual transactions
- KrisPay accrual transactions and miles conversions
Now, some of you may see the bit about KrisPay miles conversions in point (6) and start getting ideas. After all, your referee also receives 500 miles for signing up, and it’s not hard to imagine people creating accounts for kids (the minimum age to hold an account is two) or elderly family members, clocking a qualifying activity by converting those free miles into KrisPay, and pocketing the referral 500 miles in their primary account.
Well, Singapore Airlines is on to you. As per point 16 in the T&Cs:
New Members may expect any KrisFlyer miles acquired in accordance with this Promotion to be credited into their KrisFlyer accounts 4 to 6 weeks after the end of the Promotional Period.
In other words, those 500 miles will only come in 4-6 weeks after 29 Feb 2020, so your referee will have to make some other qualifying activity.
In any case there’s no need to resort to such schemes when there’s an equally easy way to qualify: simply make an earn transaction on KrisPay. Although KrisPay started as a “burn only” platform, since March 2019 the app has allowed users to earn miles at selected merchants like Challenger, Gong Cha, Pizza Express, and Toss & Turn.
Not all KrisPay merchants allow you to earn miles; you can identify eligible merchants by a symbol in the top right hand corner.
You make payment at the merchant as per normal, with cash or a credit/debit card. Remember- you’re not paying through the KrisPay app, so there’s no question of “what is the right card to use with KrisPay”. Use whatever card you would normally use, depending on the merchant type.
After payment, tap on the the “Earn” tab on the KrisPay app and enter the amount you spent. This generates a QR code for the cashier to scan, which will instantly credit the corresponding KrisPay miles to your account.
KrisPay earn rates range from 0.1-2 mpd. It’s not what I’d call life-changing, but remember that your referee just needs one qualifying transaction for you to earn your 500 miles bonus.
So get your grandmother to sign up for KrisFlyer and buy her a bubble tea. She deserves it!
Conclusion
Although KrisFlyer has historically been giving new members 500 free miles, this is the first I can think of them offering a bonus to referrers. If you happen to know anyone who doesn’t have an account, it might be worth the effort.
