Last 2 weeks: Transfer credit card points to KrisFlyer miles with 15% bonus

Back on 16 November, Singapore Airlines launched a 15% bonus for credit card points conversions to KrisFlyer, with no cap on the bonus that can be earned. This is pretty much unprecedented- I can’t remember ever having a transfer bonus for KrisFlyer in Singapore. 

KrisFlyer 15% Transfer Bonus

This offer runs until 27 December 2020, and seeing as how we have two weeks left (slightly less actually, given the time lag between initiating a points transfer and the miles showing up in your account), I thought I’d share some data points and how I’m approaching the offer. 

Quick Recap: KrisFlyer 15% transfer bonus

First, a brief recap of what’s going on. For a limited time, KrisFlyer is awarding a 15% bonus on all credit card points transfers of at least 10,000 miles. No registration is required to participate; all KrisFlyer members are automatically eligible. 

Bank Points	Bonus	KrisFlyer Miles
Equivalent of 10,000 miles	+15%	11,500 miles
	→

To receive the bonus, your conversion must be completed by 2359 (GMT +8) on 27 December 2020. This refers to the time the miles show up in your KrisFlyer account, not when you initiate the transfer on the bank’s side. Different banks will have different processing times, so budget accordingly (see next section). 

All banks in Singapore are participating, as are selected banks overseas. 

Sadly, this offer does not apply to cobrand credit cards, so AMEX KrisFlyer and UOB KrisFlyer credit card members are out of luck.

How long do points conversions take?

Miles are credited in two components- first the usual base miles will post, then the bonus miles will post within a day or two. Bonus miles should generally not take more than three days to post, if you’re still waiting after that, give KrisFlyer membership services a call (+65 6789 8188).

Based on my own personal experience and data points from the Milelion community, here’s how long points transfers are taking. 

Posting Time (base) refer to number of days after transfer initiated Posting Time (bonus) refers to number of days after base miles posted
Card	Posting Time (Base)	Posting Time (Bonus)
American Express	Same day	+1 day
Citibank	+2 days	Same day
DBS	+1 day	+1 day
HSBC	Same day*	+3 days
Maybank	Same day	+1 day
OCBC	Same day	+1 day
SCB	+1 day	Same day
UOB	Same day	+1 day
*Exercise caution here: HSBC transfers are batched by week,  so you may have to wait up to 7 days if you just miss the cutoff

The good news is that most transfers are happening extremely quickly, with some even going through on the same day. I wouldn’t play with fire and leave things till the last minute, but there’s some comfort for you if you’re reading this close to the deadline. 

Important note about Kris+ transfers

Kris+ (formerly KrisPay) allows DBS and UOB cardholders to instantly convert DBS points/UOB UNI$ to KrisPay miles, which can then be converted to KrisFlyer miles at a 1:1 ratio (within 7 days of transfer- wait too long and they’re stuck in Kris+ forever). 

With the 15% bonus, here’s the relevant transfer ratios:

	Transfer Ratio
DBS Points	100 DBS Points: 170 196 KrisPay miles
UOB UNI$	1,000 UNI$: 1,700 1,955 KrisPay miles

People are getting confused as to why KrisPay transfers to KrisFlyer aren’t showing any bonus. The simple answer is that the 15% bonus is awarded upfront, when you convert UNI$/DBS Points to KrisPay miles. This is illustrated below: Note how 100 DBS points should normally be 170 KrisPay miles, but thanks to the 15% bonus, that becomes 196 KrisPay miles. 

So there’s no further bonus to speak of, and transfers from KrisPay to KrisFlyer will post as one line item. 

While the Kris+ route may seem enticing to some (thanks to the absence of transfer fees), the math doesn’t really work out for larger transfers. Assuming a 1.8 cents/mile valuation and a S$26.75 transfer fee, you need to be forgoing fewer than ~1,500 miles for Kris+ to make sense. Basically, unless you’re transferring a relatively small number of miles, it doesn’t work out. 

How am I approaching this offer? 

During this promotion, I’ve cashed out virtually all my points from the following banks:

• DBS
• OCBC
• UOB

The reason I chose these is because they don’t have a lot to offer by way of transfer partners. OCBC only partners with Singapore Airlines, UOB has Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific (for which I’m already well-stocked), DBS has both of those plus Qantas Frequent Flyer (not interested). Since I’d ultimately be funneling these points to KrisFlyer anyway, I might as well do it now. 

On the other hand, I’ve left my American Express, Citibank and Standard Chartered balances untouched. These have a much wider range of transfer partners, and I’d prefer to keep the flexibility. For instance, Citibank cardholders can transfer points to Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles to take advantage of their 30% off award sale, which brings down the cost of a round-trip Business Class award to Europe to just 63,000 miles- incredible stuff (pity you have to fly by 15 June 2021). 

Here’s a summary of which banks partner with which frequent flyer programs. 

KrisFlyer
Star Alliance
	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
	✅		✅					✅
	✅		✅
			✅
								✅
								✅
Oneworld
	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅			✅
	✅		✅
	✅		✅			✅
	✅		✅	✅
			✅					✅
SkyTeam
			✅					✅
	✅
Non-aligned
			✅					✅
	✅							✅
Hotels
								✅
	✅
			✅					✅
	✅

*Not shown: Air Asia BIG, which is more of a rebates program than a frequent flyer program

I know that by making the transfer now, I’m starting the three year countdown clock early (KrisFlyer miles expire after three years, unless you’re a PPS Club member). But put it this way: I can’t see all of 2021 going by without any sort of leisure travel materializing, and as new routes open up, I’ll be burning miles to fly them and write reports. 

KrisFlyer will continue to be my primary frequent flyer program for the foreseeable future, so transferring points also helps hedge against a future devaluation, when that happens (for the record, I don’t think it’ll be anytime soon)

If you hold credit cards from various banks and don’t know which ones to transfer, I suggest you focus on converting the least flexible points first, or points which expire. OCBC$ would be high on my list (1 transfer partner, 2 year validity), as would DBS points from the Woman’s World Card (3 transfer partners, 1 year validity).

Conclusion

While this promotion still has 14 days left to run, you’ll save yourself some anxiety by starting your transfer in the upcoming week. The last thing you want is to be refreshing your account every 30 minutes on deadline day, willing those miles to appear. 

I can’t say for sure whether transfer bonuses to KrisFlyer will become a thing, so I’d highly advise you to transfer at least some points while this opportunity exists.