American Express has announced a change to the AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card’s S$150 Singapore Airlines cashback benefit, which is really the only substantive perk it has to offer.
The bad news is that the value of this benefit is being cut to S$100, and the validity period shortened to just two months.
On the flip side, American Express is making significant cuts to the qualifying spend required to earn the benefit, as well as the minimum spend required to use it, so there’s some give and take here.
Change to AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card’s SIA cashback
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| ✈️ SIA Cashback Benefit | ||
| Until 18 Nov 2026 | From 19 Nov 2026 | |
| Qualifying Spend for Benefit | S$12,000 | S$6,000 |
| Cashback Benefit | S$150 | S$100 |
| Min. Spend to use Cashback | S$800 | S$400 |
| Validity | 12 months* | 2 months |
| *This refers to the original validity, but American Express has cut it to six months — see section on transitional arrangements |
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First, let’s quickly recap how the SIA cashback benefit used to work.
AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Cardholders who charged S$12,000 or more between 1 July and 30 June of the following year would receive S$150 cashback on their next purchase of Singapore Airlines tickets, with a minimum spend of S$800.
After the minimum qualifying spend was met, they had 12 months to use the benefit.
From 19 November 2026, AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Cardholders who charge S$6,000 or more between 19 November 2026 and 18 May 2027 will receive S$100 cashback on their next purchase of Singapore Airlines tickets, with a minimum spend of S$400.
After the minimum qualifying spend is met, they have two months to use the benefit.
In other words, American Express is cutting the value of the SIA cashback from S$150 to S$100, and restricting the usage window from 12 months to two months.
However, it is also making the SIA cashback significantly easier to earn and use, since the qualifying spend has been cut from S$12,000 to S$6,000, and the minimum spend has been reduced from S$800 to S$400.
The other terms remain the same:
- The minimum spend must be made in a single transaction
- Tickets must be booked on singaporeair.com or the SingaporeAir mobile app
- Tickets must originate from Singapore
- Tickets must be purchased in Singapore Dollars
- Excludes flight bookings purchased via Pay Small
How do the transitional arrangements work?
Here’s where things get confusing, so pay close attention if you’re affected by this change.
American Express has announced some transitional arrangements for the SIA cashback benefit, which are based on how much qualifying spend you’ve already incurred from 1 July to 18 November 2026.
Spent S$12,000 or more from 1 July to 18 November 2026
If you’ve spent S$12,000 or more during this period, you will already have qualified for the current S$150 cashback benefit.
You will have six months from the date the qualifying spend is met to utilise the S$150 cashback benefit, which requires a minimum spend of S$800.
Do note that American Express is making a no-notice change to the validity of the benefit, which was originally supposed to be 12 months. For the avoidance of doubt, anyone who qualified for the S$150 cashback on or before 18 November 2026 is not eligible to earn the revised S$100 cashback benefit.
Spent S$6,000 to S$11,999 from 1 July to 18 November 2026
If you’ve spent S$6,000 to S$11,999 during this period, you will be eligible for the revised S$100 cashback benefit.
You must first make a transaction of at least S$1 on or before 18 May 2027 at any merchant (general exclusions apply — that S$1 can’t be for education or utility bills, for example).
You will then have two months from the date the S$1 spend was made to utilise the S$100 cashback benefit, which requires a minimum spend of S$400. In this case, you should delay making the S$1 spend until you have an SIA booking lined up.
Spent less than S$6,000 from 1 July to 18 November 2026
If you’ve spent less than S$6,000 during this period, whatever qualifying spend you’ve incurred so far will be applied towards the revised S$100 cashback benefit.
For example, if you’ve already spent S$4,000 so far, you will need to spend a further S$2,000 by 18 May 2027 to unlock the benefit.
Once you’ve met the S$6,000 threshold, you will have two months from the date the qualifying spend is met to utilise the S$100 cashback benefit, which requires a minimum spend of S$400.
Is it worth earning this benefit?
Hard no.
Viewed in isolation, the SIA cashback benefit has improved, because the effective rebate has increased from 1.25% (S$150/S$12,000) to 1.67% (S$100/S$6,000).
But this fails to account for the opportunity cost.
The AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card, like most of the AMEX cobrand portfolio, suffers from dismal earn rates. Cardholders earn just 1.1 mpd on local or overseas spend, compared to 1.2-1.6 mpd on other general spending cards, and as much as 4 mpd on specialised spending cards.
Assuming the S$6,000 could be charged to various 4 mpd cards, the opportunity cost is 17,400 miles, which are worth S$261 at a conservative valuation of 1.5 cents per mile. This completely wipes out the value of the SIA cashback benefit.
So the benefit may have improved somewhat, but there’s little reason to want to earn it anyway.
| ❓What about spending on SIA tickets? |
| The AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card earns an uncapped 2 mpd on SIA tickets, but that’s still overshadowed by the Maybank Horizon Visa Signature (2.8 mpd) or KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card (3 mpd). |
What counts as qualifying spending?
Qualifying spend consists of any transaction which is eligible to earn KrisFlyer miles with the AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card.
A list of exclusions can be found here.
| a) Charges processed and billed prior to the Enrolment Date or charges prepaid on any Card Account prior to the first billing statement for that Card Account following the Enrolment Date; b) Cash Advance and other cash services; c) Express Cash; d) American Express Travellers Cheque purchases; e) Charges for dishonoured cheques; f) Finance charges – including Line of Credit charges and Credit Card interest charges; g) Late Payment and collection charges; h) Tax refunds from overseas purchases; i) Balance Transfers; j) Instalment plans; k) Annual Card fees; l) Amount billed for purchase of KrisFlyer miles to top-up your miles balance; m) Bill payments and all transactions via SingPost (e.g. SAM kiosks, mobile app, online portal); n) Payments to insurance companies (except payments made for insurance products purchased through American Express authorized channel); o) Payments to Singapore Petroleum Company Limited (SPC) service stations; p) Payments for public transit in Singapore, including transactions on public trains and buses, and all transactions bearing the merchant description “BUS/MRT”; q) Payments for the purpose of stored value card purchase / load / top-ups and/or the topping-up or loading of currency (or equivalent) for digital wallets, including but not limited to GrabPay and ShopeePay (with effect from 30 September 2025); r) Payments to utilities merchants; s) Payments to public/restructured hospitals, polyclinics and other public/restructured healthcare institutions and facilities; t) Transactions relating to education and other non-profit purposes (including charitable donations); u) Charges at merchants or establishments that are excluded by American Express at its sole discretion and notified by American Express to you from time to time. |
Terms & Conditions
The revised terms of the SIA cashback benefit can be found in the updated cardmembers agreement.
Conclusion
The AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card has cut its SIA cashback benefit to S$100, but also reduced the qualifying spend to earn it, and the minimum spend to use it. Unfortunately, the revised benefit is only valid for two months, so you’ll want to make sure you meet the qualifying spend around the same time you have an SIA booking.
Taking a step back, however, a better question is whether you should be spending on the AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card in the first place. With a miserly earn rate of just 1.1 mpd, this card should be dead last in your “order of battle”, and it’s sad to see a Singapore Airlines cobrand product offering such terrible value.
