Pelago Miles Rush: 1,050 bonus miles for new customers

Singapore Airlines’ activities booking platform Pelago has brought back Miles Rush Week, which runs from now till 24 December 2023.

Unfortunately, Miles Rush Week is getting less and less lucrative. During previous editions, new Pelago users could enjoy a bonus of 25 miles per S$1 spent, capped at a maximum spend of S$100. This time round, the bonus for new users is a much smaller 350-1,050 miles.

Moreover, Pelago quietly nerfed its 30% discount for Singapore Airlines customers back in November 2023. This discount, which was originally capped at S$35, has now been reduced to as little as S$10, making it much less enticing.

As always, customers can earn an extra 4-6 mpd by making their Pelago bookings with the right credit card.

Pelago Miles Rush Week

Pelago Miles Rush Week

From 18-24 December 2023, new Pelago users (defined as those who have yet to make a booking on the platform) will receive 350-1,050 bonus miles on their first booking, per the table below.

This is on top of the usual 3 mpd earn rate that is offered to all Pelago users, both new and existing.

All Pelago bookings are eligible for the bonus, but stacking with other promotions or promo codes is not permitted.

In order to receive the bonus miles, your activity must be booked via this link between 18-24 December 2023, and completed before 1 March 2024. 

When will bonus miles be credited?

Bonus miles awarded under this campaign will be automatically credited to your KrisFlyer account by 31 March 2024.

Terms and conditions

The terms and conditions for this offer can be found here.

Year-round 3 mpd continues

Regardless of whether you’re a new or existing Pelago user, you can enjoy a 3 mpd earn rate on all bookings. This was upsized from the previous 1 mpd from 28 June 2023 onwards.

Miles will be automatically credited to your KrisFlyer account up to one week after completing the booked experience. 

For miles to be credited:

• your KrisFlyer membership number must be reflected on the booking details page
• Your Pelago booking must be made under your name as it appears in the KrisFlyer membership records

In other words, you can’t earn miles on bookings made for other people.

KrisFlyer miles will be awarded on the final amount paid for Pelago bookings (including taxes), after eligible discounts have been applied. 

Save 30% off with an SIA booking code

Details

Back in August 2023, Pelago launched a very generous 30% discount (capped at S$35) on all activities, available to any customer with a Singapore Airlines PNR booking reference code.

This promotion was originally slated to run as-is till 31 December 2023, but Pelago has quietly made some no-notice changes that nerf the value considerably:

1. The 30% discount is now capped at S$20 for new users and S$10 for existing users
2. The 30% discount will only be available for activities in the destination/layover countries of the booking reference code

To take advantage of this offer, simply enter your 6-character PNR and last name under the “Singapore Airlines Promo” field during checkout. 

Do note the following:

• The discount is valid for both award bookings and cash bookings
• Each PNR can only be used once, regardless of the number of passengers within the booking
• PNRs can only be used from the date of their issuance up till the date of the last segment of the booking. For example, if the last flight in your PNR is 20 November 2023, you must use the discount by 20 November 2023
• PNRs must be for confirmed flights; waitlisted bookings will not trigger the discount
• Pure Scoot bookings are not eligible; however a mixed itinerary involving Singapore Airlines and Scoot flights is eligible provided the ticket is issued by Singapore Airlines 

If you have more than one passenger on a given PNR, you can call up Singapore Airlines customer service and ask them to split the booking so that each passenger has a unique PNR. This will then allow you to enjoy the discount as many times as you have passengers.

Redeeming KrisFlyer miles on Pelago

KrisFlyer members can normally redeem miles on Pelago at a rate of 150 miles= S$1, but from now till 31 December 2023, the rate has been upsized to 120 miles= S$1. 

This values 1 mile at 0.83 cents — certainly better than the usual 0.67 cents rate — but still suboptimal compared to a flight redemption.

To make matters worse, Pelago takes an all or nothing approach to redemption. You must pay the entire amount with KrisFlyer miles; there’s no option to mix cash and miles!

For example, suppose I want to buy an attraction ticket that costs S$48. At check-out, I can select KrisFlyer miles as my payment method, but the system forces me to pay the entire S$48 with 5,760 miles. 

This means that you couldn’t even use Pelago to selectively burn a small number of miles that are due to expire.

A few other things to note:

• Pelago bookings redeemed with KrisFlyer miles must be made under your name, or the name of one of your redemption nominees
• Pelago bookings redeemed with KrisFlyer miles can be cancelled, subject to the activity’s T&Cs. If so, miles will be refunded within two weeks. They’ll still have their original expiry date tagged to them, so you won’t be able to use this as a roundabout way of extending miles.

What card to use with Pelago?

Pelago transactions code as MCC 4722: Travel Agencies and Tour Operators, which means you can pay with the following cards to earn an additional 4-6 mpd. 

Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Apply	6 mpd	S$3K per calendar month. Must choose travel as 10X category Review
UOB Lady’s Card Apply	6 mpd	S$1K per calendar month. Must choose travel as 10X category Review
DBS Woman’s World Card Apply	4 mpd	S$2K per calendar month Review
HSBC Revolution Apply	4 mpd*	S$1K per calendar month Review
*No longer applies from 1 January 2024

Avoid using the Citi Rewards Card, as MCC 4722 is classified as a travel transaction and explicitly excluded from earning the bonus 4 mpd rate for online transactions.

For avoidance of doubt, the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card will not earn 3 mpd on Pelago transactions, because Pelago is still not part of the SIA Group- at least as defined by the T&Cs. 

Conclusion

Pelago’s latest Miles Rush Week offers up to 1,050 bonus miles for new customers, a significantly weaker offer than the previous editions. This, together with the premature nerfing of the 30% discount for SIA passengers, makes me wonder if “peak Pelago” is now over.

Still, Pelago now offers more than 11,000 activities worldwide, and to the extent that they price the same as Klook or KKDay, you’re looking at an extra 3 mpd when you book here.