How do the AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend Miles Redemption Vouchers work?

At the start of October 2024, American Express unveiled a major refresh of the AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend, which saw changes to earn rates, policies and benefits, as well as a 15% bump in the annual fee to almost S$400. 

The changes are generally negative, but of course they were always going to be spun as enhancements. One particular feature that’s getting a lot of press are the so-called Miles Redemption Vouchers (MRVs), described as “new benefits specifically for KrisFlyer redemption flights”.

In this article, I’ll explain how the MRVs work and why, despite all the hype they’re getting, are actually rather underwhelming.

What are Miles Redemption Vouchers?

From 1 November 2024, AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend Cardholders can earn a Foreign Spend MRV and a Renewal MRV worth 18,000 miles and 10,000 miles respectively. 

Foreign Spend MRV

The Foreign Spend MRV is available to cardholders who spend at least S$10,000 in FCY  between 1 November 2024 and 31 October 2025 (I assume this benefit will be subsequently extended for future years).

It strikes me as rather unintuitive that the spending requirement isn’t tracked by membership or calendar year, but this isn’t a new thing for American Express. The soon to be phased out Double KrisFlyer Miles Accrual Voucher, for instance, is based on spending between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025.

Renewal MRV

The Renewal MRV is available to cardholders who pay the S$397.85 annual fee.

For avoidance of doubt, this MRV is not offered in the first membership year; as the name suggests, it’s for renewing your card. 

When are MRVs awarded?

Foreign Spend MRV

• If the minimum FCY spend is met between 1 November 2024 and 31 January 2025, you will receive the FCY spending voucher by 31 March 2025
• If the minimum FCY spend is met from 1 February 2025 onwards, you will receive the FCY spending voucher within 8-10 weeks

Renewal MRV

• If your annual fee is paid between 1 November 2024 and 31 January 2025, you’ll receive the Renewal MRV by 31 March 2025
• If your annual fee is paid from 1 February 2025 onwards, you’ll receive the Renewal MRV within 10-12 weeks

How are MRVs used?

The most important thing to highlight that MRVs are not credited to your KrisFlyer account as such. For example, it doesn’t mean that when you earn a Renewal MRV, your KrisFlyer miles balance increases by 10,000.

Instead, they’re used to offset the cost of a redemption booking or redemption upgrade. In other words, you must fly to use it; you can’t spend those miles on KrisShop, Kris+, Pelago or other on-the-ground options (not that these are worthy uses of miles, mind you). 

Regardless of whether you’re using a Foreign Spend MRV or Renewal MRV, the same rules apply.

Validity

All MRVs are valid for 12 months from the date of awarding, and all booking and travel dates must be within the validity period.

For example, if my MRV is awarded on 1 December 2024, I must redeem it and travel by 30 November 2025.

Singapore Airlines flights only

MRVs can only be used for redemption bookings or redemption upgrades on Singapore Airlines operated flights.

In other words, you can’t use these for Star Alliance awards, Star Alliance upgrades, or awards with Alaska Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Juneyao Airlines, Virgin Atlantic or Virgin Australia.

Rebate, not discount

MRVs work as rebates, not discounts. For example, if you have a Renewal MRV and want to book a ticket that costs 40,000 miles, you must have at least 40,000 miles in your account; 30,000 miles won’t cut it.

One MRV per booking

While you can earn both the Renewal MRV and Foreign Spend MRV, you can only use one MRV per booking.

One MRV per passenger

One of the silliest rules about MRVs is that they will only be applied to the first eligible passenger in the booking or upgrade.

For example, suppose you have a Foreign Spend MRV, and want to redeem it for 2x one-way Economy Saver tickets to Bangkok. On aggregate, that’s 27,000 miles, but individually, the price is 13,500 miles per passenger. Therefore, instead of paying 9,000 miles, you will pay 13,500 miles (first passenger fully offset with 4,500 miles wasted, second passenger not offset).

I don’t know if this is a technical limitation or otherwise, but from a customer point of view it’s just incredibly daft.

Refunds

If you cancel a redemption booking or redemption upgrade, the MRV will be refunded to your account, provided it is still within the validity period.

How valuable are MRVs?

Foreign Spend MRV

AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend Cardholders who achieve the S$10,000 FCY spend required for the Foreign Spend MRV will receive a total of 30,000 miles (18,000 miles from the MRV, 12,000 miles from the base earn rate of 1.2 mpd). This works out to a weighted average of 3 mpd.

It’s hard to see why you should bother earning this, when there are alternative cards which will earn you roughly the same or more miles on FCY spend, without all the nitpicky restrictions of the MRVs. While they also have minimum spends of their own to contend with, none of them are close to the S$10,000 required by the Ascend.

Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
UOB Visa Signature Apply	4 mpd	Min. S$1K Max S$2K spend per s. month Review
Maybank World Mastercard Apply	3.2 mpd	Min. S$4K spend per c. month Review
StanChart Visa Infinite Apply	3 mpd	Min. S$2K spend per s. month Review
Maybank Horizon Apply	2.8 mpd	Min. S$800 spend per c. month Review

Renewal MRV

Even though a 10,000 miles renewal gift is fairly common amongst entry-level cards, you have to take some sort of haircut on the AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend’s Renewal MRV because of the restrictions involved. 

💳 Miles with Annual Fee (S$30K income segment)
Card	Annual Fee	Miles	CPM
OCBC 90°N MC Apply	S$196.20	10,000	1.96¢
OCBC 90°N Visa Apply	S$196.20	10,000	1.96¢
Citi PremierMiles Apply	S$196.20	10,000	1.96¢
DBS Altitude AMEX Apply	S$196.20	10,000	1.96¢
DBS Altitude Visa Apply	S$196.20	10,000	1.96¢
HSBC TravelOne Card Apply	S$196.20	10,000	1.96¢
KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card Apply	S$196.20	10,000	1.96¢
SCB Journey Card Apply	S$196.20	10,000	1.96¢

For example, if I pay the annual fee on my KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card, I receive 10,000 bonus miles in my KrisFlyer account, plain and simple. There’s no need to worry about finding a redemption flight that meets all the conditions of an MRV; those miles are for me to use however I see fit. 

In any case, you should also remember that the AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend’s soon-to-be-revised annual fee of S$397.85 is several magnitudes higher than the rest of the cards in the table, and while it’s true that it does have a complimentary Hilton free night voucher to soften the blow, those looking to buy extra miles would do much better with cheaper alternatives like CardUp or Citi PayAll. 

Conclusion

The AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend’s new Miles Redemption Vouchers are positioned as a big selling point, but in my opinion, they’re of dubious value at best.

It’s hard to make the case for going out of your way to earn a Foreign Spend or Renewal MRV, given the restrictions on their use. It would be so much easier — though still not a good deal mind you — if the miles were simply credited to cardholders’ accounts, but I believe the point of making it this complicated is to incur some breakage through non-redemption!

This, together with its annual fee hike and loss of its lounge vouchers, means that the AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend will be much less attractive from November onwards. At most you would get it for a year to enjoy the welcome bonus and free Hilton night, but there’s few reasons I can think of to renew.