At the start of this month, American Express announced a major refresh to its Singapore Airlines cobrand card portfolio, which takes effect from 1 November 2024.
However, not all cards are affected equally. The hardest hit, without a doubt, will be the AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend with lower earn rates, reduced benefits, and a higher annual fee. By comparison, the AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card escaped with just a flesh wound– yes, its earn rates will also be reduced, but let’s be honest; you never got this card for day-to-day spending anyway.
For the sake of completeness, I might as well cover the changes to the AMEX Solitaire PPS and PPS Credit Cards as well. The good news is that these are the least affected of all, with just minor changes to earn rates. The bad news is that just like before, they’re still not worth getting.
 Summary: AMEX Solitaire PPS & PPS Credit Card Changes |
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| New T&Cs (Solitaire) | |
| New T&Cs (PPS) | |
| โ New | โ Nerfed |
To read about the changes to the AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend and AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card, refer to the respective links below:
AMEX Solitaire PPS/PPS Credit Card: New features
Earn 2 mpd on Scoot tickets
| Till 31 Oct 24 | From 1 Nov 24 | |
| Uncapped 2 mpd |
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AMEX Solitaire PPS and PPS Credit Cardholders currently earn an uncapped 2 mpd all transactions made at:
- Singapore Airlines website
- Singapore Airlines mobile app
- KrisShop purchases onboard Singapore Airlines
- KrisShop purchases at krisshop.com
From 1 November 2024, the uncapped 2 mpd will also be extended to all transactions made at:
- Scoot website
- Scoot mobile app
It’s always been a strange little quirk that Scoot was excluded from the 2 mpd earn rate, so at least that’s been rectified. But I doubt most cardholders will notice a difference, as there are much better alternatives available that offer up to 4 mpd.
AMEX Solitaire PPS/PPS Credit Card: Nerfed features
Grab earn rate reduced to 1.3 mpd
| Till 31 Oct 24 | From 1 Nov 24 | |
| Grab Earn Rate | 3.3 mpd | 1.3 mpd |
| Cap | S$200 per c. month | No cap |
AMEX Solitaire PPS and PPS Credit Cardholders currently earn 3.3 mpd the first S$200 spent with Grab per calendar month, excluding GrabPay top-ups.
From 1 November 2024, Grab will no longer be a bonus category. Cardholders will earn the standard general spending rate of 1.3 mpd on Grab transactions (or 1.5/1.4 mpd for the Solitaire PPS/PPS Credit Card, for any spend beyond S$3,800 per month).
Contrast this to the AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend and AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card, which are also losing their 3.2 and 3.1 mpd on Grab respectively. But in those cases, the rate has been reduced to a flat 2 mpd, valid for the first S$200 per month. So it’s interesting that American Express has decided not to make bonus miles on Grab a standard feature of the KrisFlyer portfolio, though it matters little since there are plenty of 4 mpd alternatives out there.
500 bonus miles for telco bill payments removed
AMEX Solitaire PPS and PPS Credit Cardholders currently receive a one-time bonus of 500 miles when they make their first recurring bill payment at Singtel, Starhub, M1, Circles.Life or MyRepublic.
This will no longer be awarded from 1 November 2024. While 500 free miles is always nice, the one-time nature of the bonus means I doubt many will mourn its absence.
What’s my take on the changes?
As I said earlier, the AMEX Solitaire PPS and PPS Credit Cards are the least affected by this revamp. There are minor changes to be sure, but nothing here revises my assessment that they were underwhelming cards before, and they’re underwhelming cards after.
Perhaps what was more surprising is that the FCY earn rates haven’t changed, unlike the AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend and AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card where the 2 mpd on FCY spend in June and December is becoming a year-round 1.2 and 1.1 mpd respectively.
In the case of the AMEX Solitaire PPS and PPS Credit Cards, it’s business as usual.
| ๐ณ Spending up to S$3,800 per month | ||
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| AMEX Solitaire PPS Card | AMEX PPS Card | |
| Local | 1.3 mpd | 1.3 mpd |
| Foreign | 1.3 mpd | 1.3 mpd |
| ๐ณ Spending beyond S$3,800 per month | ||
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| AMEX Solitaire PPS Card | AMEX PPS Card | |
| Local | 1.5 mpd | 1.4 mpd |
| Foreign | 2.4 mpd | 2.0 mpd |
Sadly, there’s nothing here to get excited about.
First, the higher earn rates only apply to every S$1 spent above S$3,800. In other words, if you spend S$4,000 on the PPS Credit Card, you’ll earn S$3,800 x 1.3 miles + S$200 x 1.4 miles. This means that your blended earn rate will always be lower, because of the “drag” imposed by the first S$3,800.
| ๐ณ Example: Weighted Average Earn Rates |
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| AMEX Solitaire PPS Card | AMEX PPS Card | |
| S$3,000 FCY spend | 1.3 mpd | 1.3 mpd |
| S$5,000 FCY spend | 1.56 mpd | 1.47 mpd |
| S$10,000 FCY spend | 1.98 mpd | 1.73 mpd |
Second, local and foreign currency spending is not cumulative for the purposes of determining whether the S$3,800 minimum spend has been hit. In other words, you’ll need to spend more than S$3,800 in local currency alone to unlock the higher earn rates.
Third, Singapore Airlines, KrisShop, and Scoot (from 1 November 2024) purchases do not count towards the S$3,800 minimum spend.
So really, why jump through all those hoops for higher FCY earn rates, when you could get the same or more with other general or specialised spending cards?
All the other benefits are the same as before- and that’s not necessarily a good thing. There’s still the vouchers for double KrisFlyer miles, 50% of an award, and a one-sector upgrade from Business to First, but they all come with so many T&Cs and entail so much opportunity cost that you might as well have used a higher-earning card from the start.
But if your curiosity is aroused nonetheless, do refer to my article below for the key features of both cards (I’ll update it in a bit to factor in the latest earn rate changes, since they’re so minor the info here is 99% correct).
Are the American Express Solitaire PPS and PPS Cards anything special?
Conclusion
American Express is revamping the benefits of their Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer cobrand cards from 1 November 2024, but unlike the AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend, the changes to the AMEX Solitaire PPS/PPS Credit Card are minimal.
I see very little here that would affect my overall assessment of these cards: they’re simply not worth your time. If you’re a Solitaire PPS or PPS Club member, good for you- there’s better ways to flex than getting this overpriced and underwhelming card.
