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Update (30/12): All my bonus elite miles have now been credited Update (29/12): An SIA spokesperson has supplied the following response “We apologise to our members for the inconvenience caused by the delay. The crediting of the miles will be completed by end December 2021.” |
Back in October 2021, Singapore Airlines launched a 15% transfer bonus for credit card points conversions to KrisFlyer. This was an excellent opportunity to cash out your stash, not least because it coincided with the ongoing campaign that awards Elite miles and PPS Value (collectively known as “status credits”) for credit card points transfers.
In other words, members could earn a 15% bonus on both KrisFlyer miles and Elite miles/PPS Value.
According to the T&Cs, KrisFlyer and PPS Club members were supposed to receive status credits relating to the bonus KrisFlyer miles by 14 December 2021.
When the crediting deadline was missed, I sent an email to Singapore Airlines asking what was going on. I received the following reply:
“Due to additional processing time involved, the crediting of Status Credits (Elite miles or PPS Value) on bonus miles earned from this campaign will take place progressively from 23 December 2021. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
However, it’s now 28 December 2021 and the bonus Elite miles and PPS Value have yet to show up. At least that’s the case for me and a few others I’ve checked with; I’ve also seen a handful of data points of successful crediting on 23 December.
The delay in crediting is annoying enough for members hoping to enjoy status benefits during year-end travel, but it could be even worse for those whose status credits don’t arrive by the end of the month.
Background
First, some brief background on the situation.
Under the “unlock status credits without flying” campaign, KrisFlyer members would earn 1 Elite mile per 5 KrisFlyer miles transferred from credit card points, while PPS Club members would earn 1 PPS Value per 10 KrisFlyer miles transferred from credit card points.
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| Unlock Status Credits on the Ground | ||
| KrisFlyer | PPS Club | |
| Convert KrisFlyer miles (min. 10,000 miles) |
1 Elite mile per 5 KrisFlyer miles | 1 PPS Value per 10 KrisFlyer miles |
| Note: PPS Value can only be earned by existing PPS Club members. PPS Club members will not earn Elite miles and KrisFlyer members will not earn PPS Value. | ||
For example, on 15 November 2021 I transferred 50,000 KrisFlyer miles worth of UOB UNI$, as shown below:
You can see that I received 7,500 bonus KrisFlyer miles, which is 15% of 50,000. I also received 10,000 Elite miles in relation to the 50,000 KrisFlyer miles transferred, based on a rate of 5 KrisFlyer miles = 1 Elite mile.
However, I’m still owed a further 1,500 Elite miles, in relation to the 7,500 bonus KrisFlyer miles. This was supposed to be credited by 14 December 2021, but it’s now 28 December 2021 and there’s still nothing.
The problem
Now this isn’t so much an issue for me, because I’ve well and truly exceeded the 50,000 Elite mile threshold required to earn KrisFlyer Elite Gold. I’ve even requalified for the upcoming membership year, which means I’ll enjoy Elite Gold status until 31 October 2023.
However, the delay in crediting is going to be a problem for two groups of people.
(1) Those with December travel plans
I can imagine there’s a good number of people out there who were hoping to upgrade their status in time for year-end travel.
After all, KrisFlyer Elite Gold means lounge access and extra luggage allowance. Your bag comes off the belt first, which can help you get ahead of the queue for on-arrival swabbing, if such a thing is required.
It also lets you avoid the dreadfully long queues which form before every VTL flight, due to the sheer number of documents that need to be inspected before boarding passes are issued.
If you were hoping that the bonus status credits would come on 14 December 2021 to bump up your account in time for your flight, well, you might still be waiting now.
| ❓ How long do account upgrades take? |
| Once the status credits credit, account upgrading is quite fast. I crossed the qualifying threshold on 25 Oct 2021, and my account was upgraded to Elite Gold on 26 Oct 2021. |
(2) Those with Elite miles/PPS Value expiring on 31 Dec 2021
As annoying as the above scenario is, there’s an even worse one if the status credits don’t come in by 31 December 2021.
Recall that KrisFlyer Elite Gold requires 50,000 Elite miles within a 12 month period. Elite miles have a 12 month validity.
| ❓ 12 or 12-13 months? |
|
If we want to be technical about it, we should be talking about a 12-13 month period For example, since I qualified for Elite Gold on 26 October 2021, I will need to earn 50,000 Elite miles by 31 October 2022 to requalify for status. It would be the same scenario for someone who qualified for Elite Gold on 1 October 2021, which means you have 12-13 months to earn the 50,000 Elite miles. Likewise, Elite miles earned from 1-31 December 2020 will expire on 31 December 2021. That means your Elite miles are valid for 12 (if you earned them on 31 December 2020) to 13 (if you earned them on 1 December 2020) months. |
See where I’m going here? Imagine a KrisFlyer member with the following elite miles:
| Month | Elite Miles Earned |
| Dec-20 | 2,500 |
| Jan-21 | 0 |
| Feb-21 | 15,000 |
| Mar-21 | 0 |
| Apr-21 | 6,000 |
| May-21 | 7,000 |
| Jun-21 | 5,000 |
| Jul-21 | 3,000 |
| Aug-21 | 0 |
| Sep-21 | 0 |
| Oct-21 | 0 |
| Nov-21 | 10,000 |
| Dec-21 | 0 |
| Total | 48,500 |
In November 2021, he transferred credit card points worth 50,000 KrisFlyer miles to his account. This gave him 7,500 bonus KrisFlyer miles (15%) and 10,000 Elite miles (5:1).
He was expecting to receive a further 1,500 Elite miles on 14 December 2021, which would help him reach the 50,000 Elite miles needed for KrisFlyer Elite Gold.
But suppose the Elite miles only credit on 2 January 2022. If that happens, he still won’t qualify for Elite Gold because he’d be short of 2,500 Elite miles- these expired on 31 December 2021!
tl;dr: if your calculations for hitting KrisFlyer Elite Gold took December 2020’s figures into account, and the Elite miles don’t come by 31 December 2021, you’re still going to fall short.
I’ve presented this problem in the context of someone qualifying for KrisFlyer Elite Gold, but it’d be exactly the same if the requalification deadline for KrisFlyer Elite Gold or PPS Club were coming on 31 December 2021 and you’re still short of Elite miles/PPS Value.
In a way, it’s not the end of the world; the earn on the ground campaign is valid till February 2022, so you can still transfer additional credit card points to get yourself over the hill. But since there’s no more 15% bonus, you’ll still be losing out.
Conclusion
Singapore Airlines missed the initial crediting deadline of 14 December 2021, and while some members received their status credits on 23 December 2021, others are still waiting.
This is problematic enough if you were hoping on an account upgrade in time for year-end travel, but it could be even worse if the status credits don’t come in till January 2022.
I’ve reached out to Singapore Airlines for a further update on the crediting timelines, and will update this post when I hear back.
Have you received your 15% bonus status credits yet?
Not in for me yet. I have until Nov 2022 to requalify for Elite Gold. Hope the bonus miles arrive before the expiration.
Nothing yet. Still waiting on 13500 bonus elite miles to requalify. Need them by Oct 2022.
Frustrating. Flew a domestic economy last week, no gold.
If SIA is the one which misses the cutoff timing, it would be a valid case to take it up with them for inclusion into the KF Gold/Silver qualifying criteria I reckon. So all is not lost?
think again- they covered their ass already with this line: , i.e. by 14 December 2021 or such other date as SIA may prescribe from time to time.
there’s no promise to give you by 14 dec 2021.
That’s not true. The “or such other date as SIA may prescribe from time to time” was added AFTER the end of the promotion. Previously there was no such statement – hence an action in poor faith by SQ to add such clause retroactively.
Also I don’t see why it’s so difficult that requires “additional processing time involved” – should just be a simple data extract into a spreadsheet after the closing date, where someone can massage data in a spreadsheet and manually upload to all accounts by 14 Dec if so required.
Ah sir, thou art unaware of enterprise systems of record, more so those that aren’t directly revenue generating!
Frustrating company to deal with as of 2021.
mine’s still missing… i’m about 4.2k short and need it by feb 🤷🏻♀️
Mine not in too… 6k short 😨
i have received elite miles on 23rd Dec for one of my transfer, still missing 4.5k for the other transfer i made
I’ve just received part of the elite miles I should be getting, a few hours after publishing. I guess they’re really doing this manually. Hope everyone gets theirs before 31 December!
I got only bonus elite miles for 2 of the 3 transactions.
well, they also need to do monthly mileage extension. guess this 15% promo adds up quite a bit to their workload
i just got another elite miles on 28 Dec for 1 transaction. nice, that’s 2 out of 3 transactions done. still missing remaining elite miles from the last transaction.
And all along I thought I did something wrong to not receive the 15% bonus elite miles. Need them to qualify for gold before my trip end Jan.
Nth new. My elite miles without flying took 1 month to be credited. Wrote to SQ, ST forum, CASE, no one cares that what is advertised (7days) is different from reality
I received the bonus pps value on 23 Dec
I checked after reading this article and my bonus elite miles were just posted today, the 28th.
Ditto
I received the bonus PPS value on Dec 23
Nothing at all so far from
One friend has received 1 entry of bonus value but it completely does not tally with any transfer amount made, it was much less than the corresponding amount which should have been received
Cannot make sense of it.
Kind of puzzling coming from an organisation like SQ
On the side note, the 10% miles back promotion from Krishop was posted today.
Have a feeling that they are posting this manually by date. My elite miles for the bonus from transfer done on 16 Nov was credited today 28 Dec. But the transfer done on 18 Nov, not yet received.
I received bonus elite miles on 28 Dec for 7 Nov transaction, yet to receive any for 3 Nov and 6 Nov transactions
thankfully, I got all the bonus elite miles on 30 Dec, just in time!
Finally received elite miles for my 18 Nov transfer bonus on 29 Dec. Initially the amount was incorrect, a few hours later, it reflected the correct number as expected. Really suspect someone is actually behind the keyboard manually typing in the numbers into the system… LOL!
Isn’t that a sure fire way to have human errors?
You would imagine an automated process to cut down on unnecessary data entry mistakes
Just got the extra 15% credit today
Me too
Nothing in yet…quite a few of us after we compared notes
Hi Aaron for reference point my bonus points came in 23 Dec
My bonus points just came in today 30th Dec.
Mine got credited today and double extra than what I expected! Thank you SIA! You are always kind to me.
Got all mine in three transactions: Dec 22, 29 and 30.
Came in tonight..finally
Another couple of friends got theirs too
Nice, saw the last of mine come through 29 Dec. Glad I’m 90 miles to KF Gold.