Extended: Earn up to 9 mpd on Comfort taxi rides with Kris+

Back in December 2022, KrisFlyer announced a tie-up with Comfort Delgro’s CDG Zig, which enables taxi rides to be booked through the Kris+ app. A promotional earn rate of 3 mpd was offered for all bookings until 31 March 2023, after which the rate was supposed to drop to a rather underwhelming 0.33 mpd.

S$5 for new Kris+ Users

Get S$5 (in the form of 750 KrisPay miles) when you sign-up with code W644363 and make your first transaction

However, it appears that Kris+ is maintaining the 3 mpd earn rate — for how long exactly is unclear— which means an ongoing opportunity to earn up to 9 mpd on taxi rides with the right credit cards.

Earn up to 9 mpd on CDG taxi rides

Even though 1 April 2023 has now come and gone, Kris+ users can continue to earn the promotional rate of 3 mpd when booking CDG taxi rides via the Kris+ app. 

I can’t find anything on the Kris+ app about the promotional rate being extended, so I guess we’re living month-to-month on this.

To book a taxi, look for the “Book A Taxi” icon at the top right of the Kris+ home screen.

You’ll then be brought to an in-app login screen for CDG Zig, where you enter your mobile number and OTP. After that, proceed to book a ride as per normal. 

At the final step, you’ll be sent back to the Kris+ app where you’ll choose how you want to pay: with card (via Google/Apple Pay), KrisPay miles, or a combination of the two. 

The overall process is extremely clunky; since the map isn’t optimised for browser viewing, it lags badly when scrolling, and you’ll need to login again every time your token expires. There’s also a discernible lag between typing and input being registered on screen (and this on a top-of-the-line Google Pixel 7 Pro), so this is currently a very frustrating experience.

Kris+ miles will be credited after the trip is completed, and as always, must be transferred to KrisFlyer within seven days of accrual. Fail to do so, and the miles will be stuck inside Kris+ where they expire after six months, and can only be spent at a rate of 150 miles= S$1. 

Why am I paying more?

When booking CDG taxi rides via Kris+, you’ll notice two additional charges:

• A S$0.30 platform fee
• An S$8 surcharge

A S$0.30 platform fee is annoying, but still cheaper than the usual 10% CDG charges to accept credit card payments. For what it’s worth, it’s the same fee you’d pay had you used a platform like NETS, DBS PayLah!, OCBC PayAnyone etc., and all of those don’t earn miles. 

The S$8 surcharge is intended to cover additional charges like ERP fees (even if your route doesn’t pass a single gantry), and the balance will be refunded at the end of the trip. This tends to overstate the number of miles you earn per ride, since it’s rare the full S$8 will be utilised.

What card should you use for CDG taxi bookings via Kris+?

While Comfort taxi rides normally code as MCC 4121 (Taxicabs and Limousines), when processed via Kris+ they code as MCC 4789 (Transportation Services Not Elsewhere Classified). This may change in the future, but until then, it will not trigger the bonuses for taxi rides on the HSBC Revolution. 

You can use the following cards to earn up to a bonus 6 mpd. 

🎁  CDG Taxi Rides via Kris+
Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
UOB Lady’s Card Apply	6 mpd	Max S$1K per c. month. Must choose transport as 10X category.
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Apply	6 mpd	Max S$3K per c. month. Must choose transport as 10X category.
DBS Woman’s World Card Apply	4 mpd	Cap at S$2K per c. month
Citi Rewards + Amaze Apply	4 mpd	Max. S$1K per s. month. Do not use Citi Rewards Card alone- no bonuses
KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card Apply	3 mpd	No min. spend required

Even though the Citi Rewards Card will earn 4 mpd with the CDG app, you won’t earn 4 mpd when you pay via Kris+ because of the clause regarding in-app wallet payments. However, pairing it with Amaze helps overcome the problem, though only for Android users since Apple Pay does not support Amaze. 

Conclusion

Kris+ has maintained its promotional 3 mpd earn rate for CDG taxis, which I suppose now continues “until further notice”. By pairing the right credit card, you can earn an extra 6 mpd for a total return of 9 mpd.

As always, you’ll want to comparison shop between CDG and other alternatives such as gojek and Grab, since the extra 3 mpd may be offset by a higher fare. You’ll also need to put up with a very finnicky interface that lags badly and requires you to reauthenticate your account more often than it really should. 

The things we do for miles!

(HT: Gordon Loh)