Foodpanda cuts KrisFlyer earn rate back to 1 mile per dollar

Food delivery service foodpanda started offering KrisFlyer miles for your transactions back in March 2019, at a rate of 1 mile per dollar spent. It was a great way, using the right credit card, to earn up to 5 miles per dollar on these transactions, though it was subject to a rather high minimum order value of S$35.

The company later improved the offer, reducing the minimum spend to a much more achievable S$20 to qualify for miles earning in September 2019.

Finally in October last year foodpanda doubled the earn rate to an excellent 2 miles per dollar, but at the same time increased the minimum spend back to S$35 again.

The rate has dropped back to 1mpd

foodpanda rather sneakily changed the earn rate back to 1 mile per dollar for transactions made from 27th December, so if you ordered in the last few days of 2019 thinking you were getting 2mpd – you weren’t.

The KrisFlyer offer was originally due to end altogether on 31st December 2019, but foodpanda has confirmed to Mainly Miles that it is now an ongoing deal at the 1 mile per dollar level.

The minimum order value of S$35 still applies for miles accrual.

How to earn

When you place a foodpanda order using the app, at the checkout stage click on your contact details (the line which displays your email address).

This will allow you to enter your KrisFlyer number. Note that the name on your foodpanda account must match the one on your KrisFlyer account.

It’s the same process if you order through the foodpanda website, just click ‘Edit’ next to the ‘Personal Details’ section of the checkout page and you can enter your KrisFlyer number there.

After you’ve entered your KrisFlyer number once, it remembers it for future orders both on the app and the website.

When will the miles credit to KrisFlyer?

Miles from your foodpanda orders credit to your KrisFlyer account “up to 30 business days after each successful order” according to the terms and conditions.

We’ve used the service several times since KrisFlyer miles earning started in March 2019, and can confirm that in fact the miles appear to be credited in monthly ‘batches’ (around 6th to 9th of each month, for transactions made in the previous month).

That means if you’ve made a number of orders in a given period you’ll see them all appear in your KrisFlyer account on the same day, but as individual transactions.

The quickest order date to credit date we’ve had so far is 3 weeks, the longest about 7 weeks. This therefore certainly isn’t a quick way to earn miles (we’ve got a list of those, if you’re interested), but nonetheless you should see them credit within a month or two.

Which credit card to use

This 1 mile per dollar accrual will credit directly to your KrisFlyer account, but of course you’ll be wanting to maximise your miles earning by using the best credit card you hold for the transaction too.

A range of credit cards earn bonus rates of 4 miles per dollar with online food delivery orders, including the UOB PPV, Citi Rewards and DBS WWMC. Do be careful because upper spend caps apply on these cards in the bonus category, which you may be hitting already with other qualifying spend.

Even if you don’t have a card with a bonus rate for these transactions, or you already hit your monthly cap, a card with a good local earn rate for general spend like the BOC Elite Miles card earning 1.5mpd will still give you an effective earn rate of 2.5mpd on these orders.

Personally we are using the Citi Rewards Visa and Mastercard for foodpanda orders, which are successfully earning 4 miles per dollar for these transactions. That gives us an effective earn rate of 5 miles per dollar in total under this offer, however it is capped at S$1,000 spend per card per month.

Between the two of us we have four Citi Rewards cards, a Visa and Mastercard each, so with a S$2,000 monthly cap each this is usually not an issue.

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Terms and conditions

• Offer is valid for KrisFlyer members only. To enjoy the offer, KrisFlyer members must record their KrisFlyer membership number into foodpanda account with the matching first and last name.
• Valid with minimum order of S$35.
• Please allow up to 30 business days for the miles to be credited into your KrisFlyer account after each successful order. (MainlyMiles actual experience – 3 to 7 weeks)
• Offer cannot be used in conjunction with other promotions, discounts, coupons or privileges.
• Members are responsible for any delays caused by inaccurate details provided to foodpanda.
• foodpanda reserves the right to change the T&Cs at any time without prior notice.

Check the foodpanda site for full details.

foodpanda app

You can download the foodpanda app for your mobile device through the following links.

How it compares with GrabFood

While Deliveroo doesn’t currently have a loyalty program or miles earning benefit, when you order with GrabFood you’ll earn Grab Rewards points.

These can be converted to KrisFlyer miles in batches of 1,500 points to 160 miles for most members, or 1,400 points to 160 miles for Platinum members, though it’s honestly not the most valuable way to redeem your points.

If you do so however, you’re effectively getting the following KrisFlyer earn rates with GrabFood transactions:

• Member / Silver: 0.32mpd
• Gold: 0.48mpd
• Platinum: 0.69mpd

These clearly fall below the 1mpd rate foodpanda is offering, however there is no minimum spend with GrabFood to earn rewards, so this may work better for smaller orders.

Check the price

Another important aspect to consider when choosing between the three main food delivery providers in Singapore is the price, assuming more than one of them delivers from the restaurant of your choice.

This usually comes about from the difference in the delivery fee charged. For example if I were to order three Double Whopper with Cheese meals from my local Burger King, here’s how the pricing differs between the three providers, including delivery:

• Deliveroo S$46.29
• foodpanda S$47.60
• GrabFood S$47.60

With foodpanda I would earn 47 KrisFlyer miles, but I’m paying $1.31 more than I would for the identical order with Deliveroo. Since 47 KrisFlyer miles are only worth about S$0.89 (1.9 cents per mile), it doesn’t make sense in this example to pay extra – I should simply order from Deliveroo and forgo the extra miles.

You would have to value KrisFlyer miles at 2.8 cents each to order from foodpanda in this example, because that’s what you’re effectively paying for them.

GrabFood, by the way, would net me 282 GrabRewards points for this order as a Platinum member, convertible into just 32 KrisFlyer miles (value: S$0.60).

Summary

Even though foodpanda reserves the right to change the terms and conditions of this offer without notice, we think it was super sneaky of them to do so rather quietly for the last five days of the year.

Nonetheless some miles are better than no miles, and despite originally ending on 31st December 2019 this deal has now been made ongoing.

Remember to use the right credit card for online food delivery orders, whether using foodpanda or not, as many of these boast 4 miles per dollar earn rates in this category.

For foodpanda orders of S$35 or more, that means achieving a total of 5 miles per dollar with payment methods like the Citi Rewards card.

It’s also worth checking whether the other providers (GrabFood and Deliveroo) are charging less for the same food from the same restaurant, which can come about through lower delivery fees, before committing to earn miles for your order. It’s usually not worth paying more.

(Cover Photo: foodpanda)