Double GrabRewards points to KrisFlyer miles rate in June

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Good news this month for Grab regulars with a healthy stash of GrabRewards points in their account, a special offer lets you transfer your points into KrisFlyer miles for half the usual number of GrabRewards points per batch, doubling the number of KrisFlyer miles you get per point.

The offer

Instead of the regular deal where GrabRewards Platinum status holders can transfer 1,400 GrabRewards points into 160 KrisFlyer miles, this month you can achieve the same transfer for just 700 GrabRewards points, half the usual amount.

If you’re a GrabRewards basic member, Silver or Gold status holder the standard rates are 1,500 GrabRewards points > 160 KrisFlyer miles, discounted to 750 GrabRewards points > 160 KrisFlyer miles in June.

Is it worth it?

For change, yes!

Usually transferring your GrabRewards points into KrisFlyer miles is a poor value redemption. That’s because GrabRewards points themselves have an intrinsic value.

As a Platinum member for example, 8,800 points gets me S$25 off a Grab ride, making them worth 0.284 cents each.

If I were to transfer the points to KrisFlyer miles at the normal rate it would cost me 1,400 GrabRewards points to earn 160 KrisFlyer miles.

That would mean valuing 160 KrisFlyer miles at S$3.98 (2.5 cents per mile). Our upper limit to ‘buy’ KrisFlyer miles is 2 cents, and even then there would have to be a good reason as there are often cheaper alternatives.

That means the maths just never added up before (at least since the launch promo in October 2017), unless you are comfortable ‘buying’ at those rates, or would have no use for a Grab voucher or the many other redemption options offering similar or even better value (e.g. S$5 off at Guardian is currently 1,200 GrabRewards points – 4.17 cents of value per point).

For the June 2019 offer though it’s a different calculation.

As you can see I can earn 160 KrisFlyer miles for just 700 GrabRewards points this month, which is the equivalent of ‘buying’ the miles for 1.24 cents each compared to the value of a Grab discount voucher (my usual alternative).

That’s definitely a great rate to acquire KrisFlyer miles, you should always be striving to get more than 2 cents per mile value for redemptions and we generally get closer to 3 miles per dollar for our usual Business Class trips.

If you assume your KrisFlyer miles are worth 2 cents each, your 700 GrabRewards points are worth $3.20 in this example, 60% more than the S$1.99 they would normally be worth when exchanged for vouchers.

Even if you don’t have Platinum GrabRewards status, the rates are slightly different but the maths works the same way.

Let’s say you have Gold status and you normally use any GrabRewards points to exchange for a S$5 Grab voucher for each 2,000 points you accrue.

You’re getting exactly 0.25 cents per GrabRewards point, and at the usual rate it would otherwise cost you 1,500 points to buy 160 KrisFlyer miles (cost – 2.34 cents per mile, which is why you don’t do it).

With this deal you can exchange 750 GrabRewards points to 160 KrisFlyer miles (cost – 1.17 cents per mile). A poor deal just became a steal, for one month only.

The catch

You can only redeem one transfer of GrabRewards points to KrisFlyer miles at once. That means once you have initiated a transfer of 700 points to miles it enters ‘processing’ status until the transfer has been completed.

Usually this takes a day or two (2 working days is the official line from Grab), and so far this month it’s been taking just a day each time for me, even at the weekend.

Only once the transfer has been completed can you make another one, meaning you’ll have to repeat this process as many times as you can this month (assuming you have a sufficient GrabRewards points balance) to gain the maximum number of KrisFlyer miles.

Hint: It seems to ‘clear’ at 11.30am each day for me, then I request another transfer.

Luckily for me I had over 9,000 points in my GrabRewards account already at the start of this month, so I’m hoping to transfer around 10 to 15 blocks across to KrisFlyer by 30th June.

Summary

We don’t usually recommend transferring your GrabRewards points into KrisFlyer miles. If you value a KrisFlyer mile at around 2 cents each (our upper limit to buy), it usually means ‘buying’ the miles for at least 2.5 cents each compared to the value you could get from redeeming Grab vouchers instead, or one of many other redemption options.

Under the current offer this month though you’re picking up KrisFlyer miles at 1.2 cents each, which is definitely a favourable rate.

Unfortunately if you have a large GrabRewards points balance you’ll have to repeat the transfer process for each 700 GrabRewards points > 160 KrisFlyer miles ‘batch’ every day or two, as you can’t redeem multiple rewards.

Realistically that might mean making about 15 separate transfers throughout June, though that would net you 2,400 KrisFlyer miles, which is not to be sniffed at.

The transfers I have made over the last couple of days have been clearing from the rewards processing queue and into my KrisFlyer account after approximately one day each time (less than 24 hours in some cases).

That means if you have a large GrabRewards balance you could potentially complete more transfers, perhaps more than 20, but you’ll need to keep on top of it and check / redeem on a daily basis where possible.

(Cover Image: Grab)