Singapore Airlines PPS Club and KrisFlyer Elite members can now earn status credits without flying

With everyone grounded on account of COVID-19, airlines have had to offer special concessions to enable requalification for elite status. 

Singapore Airlines has already granted a 12 month extension to PPS Club and KrisFlyer Elite status expiring between March 2020 and February 2021. Today, it’s further announced that requalification requirements for memberships expiring between March 2021 and February 2022 will be cut by 50%. On top of this, it will also allow PPS Club and KrisFlyer Elite members to earn PPS Value or Elite miles on non-air spend and activities. 

I’ll talk about the cut in requalification requirements in a separate post, but in this post I want to analyze the opportunities to earn status credits on the ground. 

Earn status credits with Singapore Airlines without flying

From now till 15 October 2020, KrisFlyer Elite and PPS Club members can earn Elite miles or PPS Value by converting rewards points from bank partners, spending on KrisShop, topping up KrisPay or spending at KrisPay merchants. 

There’s quite a lot to break down here, but first of all, don’t get too excited- this isn’t a way to upgrade status or earn it in the first place. 

KrisFlyer Elite members will not be able to earn PPS Value (and vice versa, though no one would want to anyway), and regular KrisFlyer members cannot earn Elite miles. This is positioned as an initiative to ease requalification (not qualification) for the next membership year, since I imagine Singapore Airlines is trying to avoid just giving it away like they did this year. 

The maximum status credits a member can earn under this campaign is capped, but remember- the requalification requirement has been cut in half too. This means it’s possible for Solitaire PPS Club and PPS Club members to requalify purely through “on the ground” means. For KrisFlyer Elite Gold and Elite Silver members- close but no cigar. There will still be some flying required if requalification is to be attained. 

PPS Value earned through “on the ground” options will be credited to your account six weeks after the promotion ends.

Elite miles will be credited six weeks after the promotion ends, if your membership year ends from 31 March to 31 August 2021. If your membership year ends from 30 September 2020 to 28 February 2021, your elite miles will be credited by 31 March 2021. 

Converting bank points to KrisFlyer miles

For every 50,000 KrisFlyer or KrisPay miles converted from bank rewards points, KrisFlyer Elite and PPS Club members will earn 4,000 Elite miles and 2,000 PPS Value respectively. 

This is available to any bank which offers points transfers to KrisFlyer. Currently, only DBS Rewards Points can be transferred to KrisPay (although UOB UNI$ are next in line, as per a notification in the app). 

Do note that miles earned on co-brand credit cards like the AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend or the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card will not qualify. That’s kind of a drag, but another way of looking at it is you probably wouldn’t spend enough within the promotion period to accumulate a block of 50,000 miles anyway. On the other hand, your bank points are the product of months or years of accumulated spending. 

If your points happen to be split up among different banks (e.g DBS and UOB), it’s no big deal. Conversions of KrisFlyer miles via multiple bank partners will be taken cumulatively in calculating the 50,000 miles blocks. 

Even if you’re transferring from a single bank, there’s no need to do it all in a single transaction. The total number of transferred miles will be tallied at the end of the campaign period to determine how many Elite miles or how much PPS Value will be credited. 

KrisShop

For every S$1 spent at KrisShop, KrisFlyer Elite and PPS Club members will earn 3 Elite miles and 1 PPS Value respectively.

If you pay with a co-brand card like the AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend or KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card, that rate will be boosted to 3.75 Elite miles and 1.25 PPS Value respectively. 

Dollar spend refers to both purchases paid for with credit/debit card on KrisShop and/or dollar equivalent redeemed using KrisFlyer miles. For example, if you were to buy the Apple AirPods Pro below with KrisFlyer miles, you’d earn Elite miles or PPS Value based on S$354.21 of spending. 

KrisPay

For every S$1 worth of KrisPay miles transferred from KrisFlyer or S$1 spent at KrisPay partners, KrisFlyer Elite and PPS Club members will earn 3 Elite miles and 1 PPS Value respectively.

Transferring KrisFlyer miles to KrisPay…isn’t ideal. Remember, when you transfer your KrisFlyer miles to KrisPay, you’re electing to receive a paltry 0.67 cents per mile value (plus, the transfer is non-reversible). However, there’s nothing wrong with earning KrisFlyer miles through KrisPay, so earn away whenever possible. 

Do note that spending KrisPay miles at KrisPay partner outlets will not be eligible to earn Elite miles or PPS Value. 

Other things to note

Although PPS Value earned from this campaign will count towards the earning of PPS Rewards, Elite miles earned from this campaign will not count towards the earning of Elite Gold rewards. That’s a strange asymmetry, but it is what it is. 

Conclusion

Although I’m sure most members would rather see Singapore Airlines offer automatic requalification for the following membership year as they did the current one, it’s still in the airline’s interest to get people transferring their bank points to KrisFlyer, and spending within the KrisShop/KrisPay ecosystem. All of these generate some badly-needed ancillary revenue, and that’s something Singapore Airlines simply can’t pass up now.

I’m only a lowly KrisFlyer Elite Silver now, so I don’t see the point in participating in this campaign. However, if I were a KrisFlyer Elite Gold or PPS Club member, I’d give it a look, especially if I was intending to transfer points. Remember: unlike airlines, banks are not extending the expiry of points, so if your bank points don’t have an indefinite lifespan, then you’ll need to transfer them out sooner or later. 

I’ve covered the changes to membership requalification here– be sure to have a read of this too.