American Express has launched a new targeted promotion for Centurion, Platinum Charge, and Singapore Airlines cobrand cardholders that allows them to buy up to 250,000 KrisFlyer miles at just 1.48 cents each.
This is subject to hitting a minimum spend of S$500 and paying a one-time administrative fee.
If you’re eligible, you’ll have received an eDM with more details.
Buy KrisFlyer miles at 1.48 cents each with AMEX cards
Eligible American Express members are required to register and spend at least S$500 during the spending period, as per the timelines below:
| Register By | Spend Period | |
| AMEX Platinum Charge/ AMEX Centurion | 17 July 2020 | 24 June- 31 July 2020 |
| All AMEX Singapore Airlines Credit Cards | 8 July 2020 | 24 June- 8 July 2020 |
The registration method varies depending on which card you hold:
- Platinum Charge/Centurion: Call The Platinum Concierge at 1800 392 1177 or your relationship manager
- AMEX Singapore Airlines Cards: Email details to [email protected]
| ⚠️ Registration requires your full name, mobile number, KrisFlyer membership number and confirmation of participation. I get that they’re trying to give the Platinum Charge/Centurion cardholders the personal touch, but I’d seriously prefer the simplicity of an email address |
After meeting the spending threshold, registered cardholders will be charged a one-time fee and receive the following miles in return:
| Card | One-time Fee | KrisFlyer Miles | Cost Per Mile |
 AMEX Centurion | S$1,622 S$3,687 S$7,373 | 110,000 250,000 500,000 | 1.48 1.48 1.48 |
 AMEX Platinum Charge | S$1,622 S$3,687 | 110,000 250,000 | 1.48 1.48 |
 AMEX Solitaire PPS Credit Card | S$1,622 | 110,000 | 1.48 |
 AMEX PPS Credit Card | S$1,622 | 110,000 | 1.48 |
 AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend | S$1,512 | 102,500 | 1.48 |
 AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card | S$738 | 50,000 | 1.48 |
| The above data points are sourced from the Milelion Community, and it’s possible there are other variants out there. If you have a different one, please sound out! | |||
The one-time fee will be charged by 21 August for Platinum Charge/Centurion members, and 30 August for AMEX Singapore Airlines Credit Card members, with miles credited by 30 October.
If you fail to meet the minimum spend of S$500, you will not be charged the one-time fee.
Do note that unlike other “spend and buy miles” promotions we’ve seen from other banks, miles will be directly deposited into your KrisFlyer account. AMEX Platinum Charge and Centurion cardholders are therefore not buying Membership Rewards points; they’re buying miles. You won’t have the option to transfer these to any of the other 10 partners AMEX has.
Is it worth buying KrisFlyer miles at 1.48 cents?
1.48 cents is a fairly low threshold, but once again it all boils down to how much you value a mile.
For the sake of perspective, it’s possible to buy miles from as low as 1.07 cents each, provided you have the right cards and an income tax bill to pay. Alternatively, you could buy miles from 1.17 cents if you have a rental bill, or 1.38 cents if you have an insurance, MCST bill, electricity bill, or car loan.
If you don’t have any of those, or if you’ve exhausted the limits of your bills, then this can be a potentially lucrative option.
Conclusion
Despite the close relationship that AMEX has with Singapore Airlines, this is the first time I can think of them selling miles directly. This could be a potentially attractive opportunity for some people, but as with all miles purchase promotions during Covid-19, you need to know what you’re getting into.
If you received targeted offers other than the ones above, do sound out below!
1.48 is probably indicative of the miles devaluation coming soon once full-on travel resumes. No airline or hotel will announce a devaluation now – bad publicity, they won’t be able to sell points, and there’s no actual loss now since there are hardly any actual redemptions with the current travel restrictions. But it’s certainly coming because of the hangover from the cashflow problems they are having at the moment. Miles and points are a captive currency. One might argue the same about QE and the likelihood of USD devaluation/inflation vs gold but USD is probably unavoidable as the current de… Read more »
i’d disagree. a miles devaluation is a non-cash generating event, and when there’s no pressure on seats, there’s no reason to devalue. devaluations happen when too many miles chase too few seats- what you typically see when flight loads are high and the opportunity cost of an award seat increases.
now, the thing about forecasting devaluations is there’s a kind of inevitability about it- you’ll eventually be proven right. But I don’t believe we will see it in the short term. I’d be very surprised if KF devalued its award chart in the next 12-18 months.
When many FF programs are selling miles and points eg at 150% bonus there will be a surfeit of miles in the wild – all with expiry dates at some point.If travellers are short of cash, they will try to use their miles for trips, especially personal trips, if possible. Once miles are sold, airlines already have the money in hand. It’s simple to reduce redemption availability. More miles chasing fewer redemption seats. Why reduce redemption availability? Firstly, there will be pressure on seats with fewer flights (see US flights which have been surprisingly full) as there may be flight… Read more »
I agree more with Aaron here. There is no reason to devalue redemptions at this time, it does not generate any cash for the airline to devalue the program. In fact, it is a good time for airlines to encourage redemptions; when travel is reduced, there is less opportunity cost to open seats up to redemptions than during peak seasons. More people spending their miles frees up liability on their balance sheets. I’m not purchasing miles because I am in a similar situation where my spending habits are generating enough miles for me. But the miles you have are far… Read more »
of course agree with bbron that miles are not ‘free’ – so i’m hoping there won’t be a devaluation. i’d encash all my miles now at 1.8 cents if I could. like you, my miles are still coming in with spending, especially since it’s mostly online card spend recently instead of cash-only places we used to go to (dining, durians that sort of thing) still think flight restrictions and the need to incentivise revenue tickets vs redemption tickets will lead to devaluation. It may not be an increase in miles required for redemption; a reduction in business class ticket prices… Read more »
no worries! obviously no one knows with 100% certainty what will happen, but airlines don’t consciously look to piss off customers (hard to believe with united, i know, but still). in the case of SIA specifically, they’ve done their capital raise. there’s no sign that they’ll run aeroplan style promos, and i’m fairly confident we’ll see stable award prices for the short term at least. you might want to watch this webinar i ran with Mark Mullinix (Head of Strategy & Partnerships, Ascenda) and Nik Laming (Director, Urban Leopard Loyalty). we discussed the possibility of devaluations, and their consensus is… Read more »
Got the eDM. Was wondering if members can register for this offer multiple times – once with each different eligible AMEX card held. The only concern is if SQ and other Star Alliance members devalue miles in near future. Got to mull over it!
How does this compare to the UOB Visa Infinite Promotion Payment Facility with a one-time fee of 1.9% (for one-time payment)?
Already paid tax, rental, as well as register this promotion, however cannot get enough miles for travel. so sad. hope other banks will launch a similar promotion soon.
Sad that I did not receive the eDM (holding ascend card), do you think calling their CSO would be a good idea?
Wondering if just emailing the details will get auto registration for the KF AMEX card even though there is no eDM received?
Yes, I just dropped then an email and the day after it’s auto enrolled, you’ll receive email confirmation
Thanks. I sent email to them yesterday. No email confirmation at all. Checked spam email box and nothing from them. Not too sure if this is considered enrolled once you sent in.
I sent in an email too without receiving the edm, and got the confirmation email the next day
Hey Aaron, the minimum income for the Amex Platinum Charge card stated here (https://milelion.com/credit-cards/current-credit-card-sign-up-bonuses) looks incorrect. It’s $200k and not $150k, right?
Unofficially it is 150k. Officially it is 200k
This is awesome news.. thanks!
Pls be patient with me for a point of view from outside the ecosystem. interestingly there’s a balance to this. it’s a bit like professional money selling before a crash while the hold-for-long-term-gain people ride the crash through patiently dollar-averaging their way onward. the difference is that the security markets eventually cycle up again in price (not necessarily value i know but still). Both strategies are valid for the correct group of people respectively. Wrong group and it’s a disaster. But the dollar value of miles and points trend down with time and their intrinsic value is tied to the… Read more »
I don’t agree with your view and I don’t see any value in holding miles for long term gain. I accrue miles because they bring significant savings to me on the travel I would have made anyway. The future value of miles is far too extensive a topic to discuss in a comments section. In the same vein, the value of cash also tends to trend down with time (50 cents could buy you a bowl of noodles, now you need $1 for 3 pcs of hacks candy). You can stop earning them. Your refusal to use a different credit… Read more »
Another angle Say there’s lots of excess seat capacity, then business class revenue tickets will get priced lower to improve load factor and in competition with other carriers on the same route. So even without mile devaluations on the redemption sticker price, the net effect is the same in terms of the dollar value of the whole portfolio of miles a person might have. The underlying value of the miles, as pegged to the revenue price of actual travel, will be lower in dollar terms. So if i could, i’d encash $36K of miles now and worry about paying for… Read more »
I did not receive the eDM even though I am a Platinum charge card holder. What gives?
just received the eDM this morning
Dear Fallacy, I agree with you on almost everything. A few things I’d like to say: Can you remember the last time miles appreciated in value? I’m not holding miles for long-term gain. That doesn’t mean I should not be dismayed at their loss of dollar value. I usually redeem about 700k miles a year on family holidays but that’s not happening now. Hence the buildup. I don’t have a cashback card in Singapore. Citi Double Cash in the US is good. And yes, I’m looking for a cashback card in SG now. Any suggestions on ease of use and… Read more »
As you’ve read Aaron’s article on program changes, there you go on appreciation in value. Note: granting additional flexibility or access is an appreciation in value. For example, $1 CapitaLand rewards points is worth more than $1 NTUC rewards points just due to the increased range of products it gives you access to, including NTUC in CapitaLand properties. Furthermore, yes, prices are likely to fall for revenue fares just after crises. However, it is seen historically that these prices come back up when demand for flights increase. (Fewer flights and fewer routes post covid means customers are competing for a… Read more »
A shout out for aaron’s excellent article on devaluations to KF over the years: https://milelion.com/2019/05/01/tracking-15-years-of-krisflyer-devaluations-and-program-changes/ And another one on passages: https://milelion.com/2018/02/08/til-singapore-airlines-cathay-mas-combined-ffp-called-passages/ Now I remember why I used to redeem for shopping vouchers in the 90’s!!! I think our local banks hadn’t gotten on board with points-to-miles conversions back then. The devaluation’s going to happen. The only real debate is the timing of the devaluation. Hopefully after I’ve brought down my miles balance once my wife decides it’s safe for kids to travel (!) It’s a pity that unlike cash where we only need to keep 6 months spending on hand,… Read more »
Just realized that maybe some form of arbitrage is possible since amex is allowing statement credit at 1.536 cpm vs this purchase at 1.48 cpm.
Wonder if the will credit the miles before end-July if all conditions are met.
Still a little bit of the unknown for $56 per 100k miles.
Anyone has taken this offer and had the miles credited yet?
You will get miles directly credited in your KF account, they cannot be used to offset statement credit.
Right, Missed that. Thanks!
Dear Fallacy, It’s always interesting to hear different points of view. Let’s try this: Aaron was careful to note that business and first have experienced greater percentage devaluations in his article. I would like to point out that we are talking about devaluation, which in plain language, applies to the quantity of miles required for a redemption of a particular flight. It might be fallacious to classify additional flexibility as appreciation in value, particularly if the flight one is redeeming for was available both before and after the additional options were added. As an example, my family routinely make redemptions… Read more »
Well yes I can see your point of view but increased flexibility and access, such as Suites savers becoming available is an appreciation in value of the currency. On the extreme end, before Suites became available for redemption, someone whom flew exclusively First Class would value KF miles at 0 cents per mile, considering they would not be interested in whatever KF miles could give them. If they would use pay with points, it would be at best 1 cent as prescribed by SQ. When First/Suites became available, the value of a mile suddenly increases, to that person, to the… Read more »
Dear Fallacy, My mistake, sorry. I thought that the 1.48cpm purchase offer was in MR points. It’s direct credit to KF so I certainly won’t be buying any. It makes sense for Amex to credit directly to KF and negate any chance for abitrage given their ongoing 1.536 cpm credit offer (although maybe it’s just coincidental rather than by design). I don’t want any extra miles for now. I understand your position on availability of suite redemption as an enhancement of the FF program. OTOH anyone who flew F exclusively before KF Saver was available wouldn’t be too bothered with… Read more »
Just spend $500 and pay a fee for miles.. No exclusions? Not bad a deal compared to new card sign ups
that’s right. Amex isn’t fond of exclusions, to the benefit of its members.
The Points are in!!!! 🙂