Restaurant delivery service foodpanda doesn’t seem to know how it wants to structure its KrisFlyer miles earning deal. Ever since the ability to earn miles through foodpanda orders began in March 2019, the company has been tinkering with the earn rate and the minimum spend needed to qualify.
On 27th January 2020 there was yet another change, this time a positive one after the earn rate was halved from 2 miles per dollar to 1 mile per dollar in late December 2019.
You’ll now need to spend only S$20, rather than the previous S$35, to qualify for miles earning.
The only downside? The website now states the S$20 spend must be on food, meaning the delivery fee is not counted towards the minimum order threshold. We clarified this with foodpanda and they confirmed it to be the case, so for example an order like this will not earn KrisFlyer miles because the subtotal comes to S$19.
Once the subtotal is S$20 or more, you will then earn 1 KrisFlyer mile per dollar spent, including the delivery fee, rounded down to the next whole dollar.
For example an order total of S$53.99 including delivery will net you 53 KrisFlyer miles.
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.
Personally we are using the Citi Rewards cards 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 new deal, however it is capped at S$1,000 spend per card per month.
Here are the cards we have identified which earn 4 miles per dollar on foodpanda orders:
- Citi Rewards
- DBS WWMC (see our review)
- UOB PPV
Even if you don’t use a credit card offering enhanced miles earning for online spend, the entry-level BOC Elite Miles card earns 1.5 mpd on local spend and will therefore net you an effective total of 2.5 mpd on foodpanda orders of S$20 or more.
Cards earning less than that, like the DBS Altitude at 1.2 miles per dollar for local spend, will still allow you to achieve something in the order of 2.2 miles per dollar in total for foodpanda transactions.
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 before checkout.
- Valid with minimum food order of S$20.
- Offer cannot be used in conjunction with other promotions, discounts, coupons or privileges.
- 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)
- 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
If you don’t have it yet – you can download the foodpanda app for your mobile device through the following links.
How it compares with GrabFood (now and from March 2020)
Ahh GrabRewards, the loyalty programme that keeps on devaluing. As you may recall from our article in mid-January, yet another (significant) devaluation is coming from 2nd March 2020.
Between now and 1st March 2020, you’ll continue to earn Grab Rewards points on your GrabFood orders under the following structure:
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.
That means you’re effectively getting the following KrisFlyer earn rates with GrabFood transactions:
- Member / Silver: 0.32mpd
- Gold: 0.48mpd
- Platinum: 0.69mpd
From 2nd March 2020, the earning rates for GrabFood transactions are getting slashed:
With the same KrisFlyer transfer ratios, that drives equivalent miles earning down to the following structure from 2nd March 2020:
- Member / Silver: 0.21mpd
- Gold: 0.32mpd
- Platinum: 0.46mpd
Now we’re not complaining about earning additional miles, after all Deliveroo has no loyalty programme or miles earning option at all, but these are really becoming quite lousy earn rates when foodpanda is offering 1mpd.
Nonetheless with no minimum order threshold to earn GrabRewards points, this is still ‘better than nothing’ for smaller orders.
Summary
After halving their KrisFlyer earn rate just over a month ago, it’s nice to report a small positive on miles earning with foodpanda.
Even though the delivery charge is no longer assessed as part of the minimum spend for miles earning, the reduction from $35 to $20 will make a much wider range of orders eligible for many of our readers who want to earn KrisFlyer miles, coming in as always on top of the regular miles you earn using your credit card for the transaction.
Indeed adding this offer to credit card earn rates of up to 4 miles per dollar in some cases, like with the Citi Rewards cards, means a total of 5 miles per dollar on these transactions.
Let’s see what KrisFlyer earning structure foodpanda has for us next. Given the recent pace of changes, we won’t have to wait long to find out.
(Cover Photo: foodpanda)