Earn but don’t burn: KrisFlyer miles on Scoot

Redeeming your Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles on the group’s budget carrier Scoot isn’t a new concept. In 2015 it became possible to cash out your miles for Scoot travel vouchers in fixed denominations, a process that was enhanced into a more flexible online sliding scale offset in 2018.

What hasn’t changed about the concept is it’s dreadful value, except perhaps in limited circumstances where you have expiring miles, but the good news is that earning KrisFlyer miles on Scoot flights has certainly improved over the years.

Here’s the latest rundown on why our “earn but don’t burn on Scoot” mantra still holds firm in 2023.

Earn KrisFlyer miles on your Scoot flights

Years ago, you had to purchase Scoot’s ‘PlusPerks’ add-on when booking a flight in order to earn KrisFlyer miles as part of the package.

Thankfully this process was simplified in 2018, with Scoot then adopting a simple accrual rate of 1 KrisFlyer Mile per S$1 spent on:

• Your base fare (excluding fees and taxes)
• Selected add-ons including baggage, seat selection, extra legroom and meals

KrisFlyer Elite Silver, Gold and PPS Club members earn 1.25 miles per S$1 spent (a 25% bonus compared to basic members).

Mile accrual is subject to exchange rate fluctuations, when your fare is charged in a currency other than Singapore Dollars.

KrisFlyer miles are not awarded on any taxes, service fees, e-Visa, travel insurance, Scoot Protect, and any amount offset using Scoot vouchers.

For flights that are partially paid with KrisFlyer miles, only the cash portion of the fare is eligible for miles accrual. Flights that are fully paid with KrisFlyer miles or Scoot vouchers are not eligible for KrisFlyer miles accrual.

Scoot fares are usually quite cheap, so this rarely likely to set your KrisFlyer miles balance on fire – but any miles are better than no miles.

To earn KrisFlyer miles with Scoot, you should be logged on to your KrisFlyer account when you book. Each passenger on the booking can only accrue miles into their own respective KrisFlyer account.

For example, take the following round-trip booking from Singapore to Seoul.

All the charges for this passenger are eligible for KrisFlyer miles accrual, except for the fees and taxes of S$133.48 (S$83.42 + S$50.06), meaning a total accrual based on the S$1,117.90 remaining eligible amount.

This booking will therefore earn:

Even the cheapest round-trip SIA Economy Class cash fare from Singapore to Seoul and back will earn 2,874 KrisFlyer miles, so you’re almost always earning a lot less with Scoot, but again some miles are better than no miles.

If you are travelling on a mixed itinerary containing both a Scoot and partner sector (e.g. Scoot and Singapore Airlines), you earn miles based on a percentage of the actual miles flown on Scoot, and your booking class:

Cabin class	Percentage of total distance/miles travelled on Scoot
Scootplus C, D, I, J, U, Z	25%
Economy A, F, P, R, S, Y B, H, M, W N, O, X	20% 15% 10%

You’ll also earn Elite miles

Since January 2022, KrisFlyer members also earn 2.5 Elite miles for every KrisFlyer mile earned when flying with Scoot, an increase from the previous 1 Elite mile per KrisFlyer mile rate.

Like KrisFlyer miles, Elite miles are only earned on the fare component and eligible add-ons, excluding taxes.

In the Seoul example above, that means netting 2,792 Elite miles (1,117 x 2.5) on top of the KrisFlyer miles total for this booking.

Note that PPS Club members will not accrue PPS Value when flying in any cabin on Scoot, in the same way they do not accrue these when flying in Economy or Premium Economy on SIA.

Don’t redeem KrisFlyer miles on Scoot flights

While earning KrisFlyer miles and those all-important Elite miles status credits on your Scoot flights throughout the year is perhaps a no-brainer, by far the most important message here is what not to do.

For us, that’s redeeming KrisFlyer miles on Scoot.

Redeeming miles on Scoot flights operates at a fixed cash rebate, with each mile offsetting 0.95 cents of your ticket cost, less than half the value we usually achieve when redeeming Singapore Airlines flights in premium cabins.

Redeeming award flights on Singapore Airlines, on the other hand, is at a fixed mileage rate based on your destination, but when offsetting a cash fare (where an award is not available, for example), the airline also applies the same lousy 0.95 cents per mile fixed offset – again something we strongly discourage.

The Scoot KrisFlyer miles redemption deal makes our round-trip booking to Seoul and back at S$1,251.38 a whopping 131,460 miles if using KrisFlyer miles to wholly offset the cost, though it is possible to then pay zero in cash (unlike with a regular Singapore Airlines redemption, where taxes and fees must be paid in cash).

It goes without saying that this is a very poor deal – Singapore Airlines charges 27,000 miles each way for a Saver Economy Class award on this route, increasing to 45,000 miles each way for an Advantage rate.

Exception: Expiring miles

There’s one exception to the “never redeem KrisFlyer miles on Scoot” rule, and that relates to expiring miles.

Obviously, a KrisFlyer mile is worth nothing if you simply let it expire.

Despite a long reprieve over the COVID-19 pandemic, KrisFlyer miles expiry is back on the cards for many members as they approach the three-year point from accrual.

While the best use of expiring miles, as we outline in our detailed article here, is to redeem a Singapore Airlines or Star Alliance award flight up to a year in advance of travel, that’s not always possible for everyone.

In this case offsetting a Scoot fare (or a cash Singapore Airlines fare) using the appropriate number of expiring miles is worth considering.

For example, if I have 8,000 KrisFlyer miles expiring that I’m not going to be able to use for a full flight redemption, I can use those on my upcoming Seoul booking example to offset S$77 from the cost of my ticket.

This comes in as better value than some other options, like converting the miles into KrisPay for redemption at 0.67 cents each (S$53.60 value for 8,000 miles), or a transfer to CapitaStar points at 0.7 cents each (S$56 value for 8,000 miles).

Scoot offers a small number of KrisFlyer miles when you fly with them and add your KrisFlyer or PPS Club membership to your booking, plus a more generous Elite miles accrual for KrisFlyer members aiming to climb the status ladder, or retain their current tier.

Both of these are “no brainers” – there’s no harm in accruing and you should be doing this wherever possible even for the sometimes small boost Scoot’s generally lower fares will give you.

The flip side is KrisFlyer miles redemption – a big no-no if you want best value for your hard-earned stash, which you’ll achieve with a Singapore Airlines or Star Alliance flight redemption, especially in a premium cabin like Business Class.

At 0.95 cents per mile, cashing out via Scoot is poor value, but does have its place in the example of expiring miles, with the airline’s sliding scale redemption tool potentially allowing you to optimise your cash-out quantity only to those miles facing the scrapheap.

(Cover Photo: Scoot)