American Express has unveiled a new batch of sign-up offers for the KrisFlyer cobrand credit cards, and they’re…unexpected (but in a good way).
In a nod to the current situation where the best hope we have of getting on a plane is the A380 dining experience, AMEX has swapped the sign-up gifts on the KrisFlyer cards from miles to a mixture of miles and consumer electronics. At the same time, however, they’ve cut the spending requirements significantly, resulting in one of the best spend to payoff ratios in recent memory.
These new offers are valid for approvals between 1 October 2020 and 31 January 2021.
AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card
| Old Offer (until 30 Sep 20) | New Offer (until 31 Jan 21) | |||
| Spend | Miles | Spend | Miles | |
| First Spend | Any | 5K | Any | 5K |
| Special Milelion Bonus^ | S$1.5K | 10K | S$1.5K | 10K |
| Months 1-3 | S$4K | 8K | S$3K | 5K + Acer Monitor |
| Months 4-6 | S$4K | 8K | ||
| Base Miles | 8.8K (S$8K @ 1.1 mpd) | 3.3K (S$3K @ 1.1 mpd) | ||
| Total Spend | S$8K | S$3K | ||
| Total Miles | 39.8K | 23.3K + Acer Monitor | ||
| ^Instead of applying via MGM (3,000 miles with S$2,000 spend), Milelion readers can enjoy a special sign up bonus of 10,000 miles upon spending S$1,500 in the first 3 months of approval. This is valid till 31 Dec 2020 |
Apply for the KrisFlyer Credit Card and get 10K bonus miles
Milelion readers who spend S$1,500 on the AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card in the first 3 months of approval will earn 10,000 bonus miles, plus 5,000 miles for their first spend (full T&C here– do note that this particular offer is valid till 31 December 2020)
If they spend a further S$1,500 in the first 3 months of approval (i.e S$3,000 total), they will earn 5,000 bonus miles, plus an Acer KA242Y Monitor. The official list price for this is S$349, but you can find it listed on the Acer store on Lazada for S$148.
| The above offer only applies if you do not hold an American Express principal credit card right now, or in the 12 month period before application. If so, you’ll receive 5,000 bonus miles for spending S$3,000 in the first 3 months (i.e no Acer Monitor) |
Assuming you value a mile at 1.8 cents each, the previous offer required you to spend S$4,000 for S$144 (8,000 miles). Now, you spend S$3,000 for S$238 (5,000 miles + S$148 monitor), a better return, if you take the monitor at face value.
There’s no more spending bonus for months 4-6, so your total haul for spending S$3,000 is 23,300 miles + monitor, split into:
- 5,000 miles for first spend of any amount
- 10,000 miles for applying via the Milelion’s link and spending S$1,500
- 5,000 miles + monitor for spending a further S$1,500
- 3,300 miles for the base spend of S$3,300 (@ 1.1 mpd)
Bonus miles will be credited approximately 8-10 weeks from the date you reach the spending threshold. The AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card’s annual fee of S$176.55 is waived for the first year.
The complete T&C for this offer can be found here.
AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend
| Old Offer (until 30 Sep 20) | New Offer (until 31 Jan 21) | |||
| Spend | Miles | Spend | Miles | |
| First Spend | Any | 5K | Any | 5K |
| MGM^ | S$2K | 7.5K | S$2K | 7.5K |
| Months 1-3 | S$8K | 16K | S$5K | 10K + B&O Earbuds |
| Months 4-6 | S$8K | 16K | ||
| Base Miles | 19.2K (S$16K @ 1.2 mpd) | 6K (S$5K @ 1.2 mpd) | ||
| Total Spend | S$16K | S$5K | ||
| Total Miles | 63.7K | 28.5K + Earbuds | ||
| 💡 ^MGM refers to the AMEX member-get-member program. You’ll be eligible for this bonus if you apply through any of the links in this post. |
Apply for the KrisFlyer Ascend Card and get 7.5K bonus miles
For the AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend, spending S$5,000 in the first 3 months will earn you 10,000 bonus miles, plus a pair of Bang & Olufsen Beoplay E8 2.0 earbuds. These have an official retail price of S$399, but you could find them on Amazon Singapore for just over S$300.
| The above offer only applies if you do not hold an American Express principal credit card right now, or in the 12 month period before application. If so, you’ll receive the B&O earbuds for spending S$5,000 in the first 3 months (i.e no 10,000 miles) |
Assuming you value a mile at 1.8 cents each, the previous offer required you to spend S$8,000 for S$288 (16,000 miles). Now, you spend S$5,000 for S$480 (10,000 miles + S$300 earbuds), also a better return.
There’s no more spending bonus for months 4-6, so your total haul for spending S$5,000 is 28,500 miles + earbuds, split into:
- 5,000 miles for first spend of any amount
- 7,500 miles for applying via MGM and spending S$2,000
- 10,000 miles + earbuds for spending a further S$3,000
- 6,000 miles for the base spend of S$5,000 (@ 1.2 mpd)
Bonus miles will be credited approximately 8-10 weeks from the date you reach the spending threshold. The AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend’s annual fee of S$337.05 must be paid.
The complete T&C for this offer can be found here.
Which transactions are eligible?
As per AMEX’s master list of exclusions, the following transactions will not count towards your sign-up bonus spending.
| a) Charges processed and billed prior to the Enrolment Date or charges prepaid on any Card Account prior to the first billing statement for that Card Account following the Enrolment Date; b) Cash Advance and other cash services; c) Express Cash; d) American Express Travellers Cheque purchases; e) Charges for dishonoured cheques; f) Finance charges – including Line of Credit charges and Credit Card interest charges; g) Late Payment and collection charges; h) Tax refunds from overseas purchases; i) Balance Transfers; j) Instalment plans; k) Annual Card fees; l) Amount billed for purchase of KrisFlyer miles to top-up your miles balance; m) Purchase and top-up charges for EZ-Link Cards using American Express Cards; n) Bill payments and all transactions via SingPost SAM kiosks and mobile app (with effect from 1 March 2020); o) Payments to insurance companies (except payments made for insurance products purchased through American Express authorized channels) (with effect from 1 March 2020); p) Payments to Singapore Petroleum Company Limited (SPC) service stations (with effect from 1 March 2020); q) Payments for the purpose of GrabPay top-ups (with effect from 1 March 2020); r) Charges at merchants or establishments that are excluded by American Express at its sole discretion and notified by American Express to you from time to time. |
Do note in particular the exclusions for insurance, SPC and GrabPay transactions, which took effect from 1 March 2020. However, charity, hospital, education and utilities payments continue to earn miles, assuming American Express cards are accepted.
Conclusion
Are the new American Express KrisFlyer credit card sign-up gifts a sign of the times? Perhaps- spending requirements are way down, and for the first time in forever (obligatory Frozen reference), these cards incorporate a non-miles gift into the sign-up offer.
The good news is that these new sign-up offers represent even better value than before, so do consider them if you haven’t already got an AMEX card.
For a full list of all the sign-up bonuses currently on the market, refer to our guide here.
Ahh Geez,
I actually signed up for a Blue card via your link and got approved 2 weeks back.
Am more keen in the new offer of the Monitor as it would definitely come in handy for my WFH arrangement and also I doubt I can hit $4K spent for Months 4 to 6.
This sounds ludicrous but wondering if I were to ask Amex if they can switch me to the new offer, would they oblige and give an exception waiver for it?
these are very expensive monitors and earbuds.. maybe aaron you should consider sharing your rebates that you get from Amex since so many on hardwarezone are open to it as well
how miserly are you that free referral bonus for you is not enough and you want to gouge from the referrer’s portion as well?
Aaron shares great free content and whatever sum companies pay him for referrals are part of his business revenue. He puts in hard work to keep this blog relevant.
Does holding Only a amex sia business Card count as existing cardholder or new to amex?
you will be new to bank. only consumer cards would disqualify you
Hi Aaron, I used your referral for an ascend card some time ago (previous bonus) even though I’m already holding a Platinum charge. Am I still eligible for all the bonuses? I only read exclusion clauses for existing SIA cobranded cards, which I have never held any.
which card are you applying for now?
KF Ascend, approved but haven’t started clocking spends. Wondering if my existing Amex Platinum will gimp the bonuses
your existing amex platinum card means you won’t be eligible for the new to bank bonus, i.e the miles in the case of the ascend. you will still get the earbuds.
Wondering about the previous promotion, not the current one.
ok now i’m confused. you will still get the regular sign up bonus + MGM. the only question is whether you will get the month 4-6 gift (Which IRRC is the sign up gift for new to bank customers only)
Hi Aaron, I’ve been thinking whether to apply for this card for awhile. The only thing holding me back is the amount of rewards I’ll get. I’m currently holding an Amex CapitaCard. Will I be eligible for the sign-up offers? For either of the cards. If I didn’t interpret the T&Cs wrongly, it states that only if you’re holding an SIA amex co-branded card will you be ineligible for the sign up bonuses. Also, if I’m not a new-to-bank customer, which tier of rewards will I be eligible for? (MGM, first spend bonus etc) Greatly appreciate your help with this.… Read more »
you won’t get the monitor (amex kf card) or the miles (amex kf ascend) since you’re not new to bank. you will get the mgm + first spend + miles (amex kf card) or b&o earbuds (amex kf ascend)
Just to confirm if I’m not new to bank, the total miles earned from your link will be 16,650 for $1,500 spent. The spending should be in 1-3 months after card approval? Thanks
Hi Aaron, I just spent $5k on my ascend card that just got approved last week. I will have to call Amex to elect to pay the annual fee?
ascend annual fee is automatically charged. no waiver.