Heads up to all five people still using GrabRewards: Grab has carried out a no-notice devaluation of KrisFlyer miles transfers, hiking the points required by 30%.
This increases the effective cost per mile from 2 cents to 2.6 cents, and by this point we should really be asking ourselves how many times you can legally strangle a corpse before it goes from kink to kooky.
Grab devalues KrisFlyer miles conversions
Here’s how much KrisFlyer miles cost on the GrabRewards catalogue, before and after this nerf.
| Reward | Old Price | New Price |
| 50 KrisFlyer miles | 500 pts | 650 pts |
| 100 KrisFlyer miles | 1,000 pts | 1,300 pts |
| 500 KrisFlyer miles | 5,000 pts | 6,500 pts |
| 1,000 KrisFlyer miles | 10,000 pts | 13,000 pts |
| 2,000 KrisFlyer miles | 20,000 pts | 26,000 pts |
Regardless of the denomination you’re redeeming, it’ll now cost you 30% more points.
1 GrabRewards point is worth 0.2 cents, so you were previously paying 2 cents per KrisFlyer mile. That was already a marginal proposition, and with the devaluation that’s now gone up to 2.6 cents per KrisFlyer mile.
As before, system limitations mean that only a single unit of a single denomination (i.e. 50, 100, 500, 1,000, or 2,000 miles) can be processed at a time. While one set of points is being transferred, all other KrisFlyer rewards will be temporarily removed from the GrabRewards catalogue.
Based on my experience, transfers from GrabRewards will be credited to your KrisFlyer account by 12 p.m the following day.
| 💡 A limited-time (?) workaround |
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This devaluation does not appear to have impacted the rest of Southeast Asia yet, so here’s something you can do to enjoy the old rates:
There’s no knowing if/when Grab will “enhance” the transfer rates for other countries, so I’d act quickly if I were you. |
How do you even earn GrabRewards points?
Truth be told, this development would bother me a lot more if I actually had GrabRewards points.
But I don’t, because back in August 2022, Grab stopped issuing points for credit or debit card payments. If you want GrabRewards points, you need to use the GrabPay Wallet, which means giving up credit card rewards.
I don’t know about you, but 6 mpd versus 1.2% rebates is no contest at all, and keep in mind, that’s a best-case scenario for a Platinum member. If you’re a regular nobody, the rebate is 0.6%. But it could be worse, because you’ll earn just 0.3% back on GrabPay Card spending for restaurants, and if you use GrabPay scan-to-pay in-store, your points are determined by a gatcha mechanic that gives you “up to 25,000 points!”
Real life:
So, yeah. If this devaluation is making you cry, your spending choices over the past one year are making me cry.
Conclusion
Grab has increased the cost of all KrisFlyer miles redemptions by 30%, though you can temporarily circumvent the hike by switching your location to elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
By this point you just have to laugh, really. GrabRewards is such a dumpster fire that I wonder who still bothers to engage with it. I’m just waiting for the next meme-worthy event, when they remove points for all transactions unless you spend on the second Wednesday of a leap year on MCC 5967 while physically located in Tuas.
LOL @ “long-dead corpse”
If this devaluation is making you cry, your spending choices over the past one year are making me cry. This comment made me LOL!
grab took down the KF redemption entirely
Does anyone use Grabpay these days ?
“I’m just waiting for the next meme-worthy event, when they remove points for all transactions unless you spend on the second Wednesday of a leap year on MCC 5967 while physically located in Tuas.”
I like this sentence lol
I did a 20k = 2k KF conversion in KL last week, then one in JB on Monday (11 Sep) but today (15 Sep) when I hopped back across to JB again, it’s now 26k for 2k KF 🙁