In April this year Singapore Airlines announced how it would deal with what was becoming a frequent question from its KrisFlyer members – a validity extension for those whose miles were imminently expiring, given the almost complete inability to travel or plan trips due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Members whose miles were expiring between April 2020 and August 2020 saw an automatic six-month validity extension offered, with the airline leaving the door open for further extensions if the impact of global travel restrictions persisted.
Expiry policy
As most of our readers know, KrisFlyer miles don’t remain valid in your account forever, even if you interact with the programme by earning or redeeming on a regular basis.
That’s unlike some other frequent flyer programmes, like British Airways Avios which never expire provided you earn or redeem at least one point every 36 months (3 years).
Late last year Cathay Pacific Asia Miles also moved to a similar policy, for miles earned from 1st January 2020 the former 3-year validity window was replaced by a better rule that all of your miles would remain intact provided you earn or redeem at least one mile every 18 months.
Unfortunately over the years Singapore Airlines has retained its fixed validity period for KrisFlyer miles.
KrisFlyer Miles Expiry A member’s KrisFlyer miles will expire after three years at the end of the equivalent month in which they were earned. For example, miles credited to a member’s KrisFlyer account in July 2019 will expire on 31st July 2022.
Note that PPS Club members have no KrisFlyer miles expiry concerns, since their miles never expire.
Another miles validity extension
In light of the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Singapore Airlines is now extending any KrisFlyer miles in your account due to expire between April 2020 and December 2020 by six months.
“In view of the Covid-19 outbreak, we understand there will be uncertainty in our members’ travel plans in the months ahead. In appreciation for our members’ loyalty, we will be extending KrisFlyer miles that will be expiring between April and December 2020 by six months.”
Singapore Airlines
If you had miles expiring between April and June 2020, that were previously extended by 6 months and will be expiring between October and December 2020 respectively, don’t worry!
These miles will be further extended for another 6 months, and will now expire between April and June 2021 respectively, a full one-year expiry postponement.
Here’s when any expiring KrisFlyer miles during this period will now expire, under this new extension to the policy.
| Miles Expiry Month | Miles extended until: | Further extension until: |
| April 2020 |
2020 |
April 2021 |
| May 2020 |
2020 |
May 2021 |
| June 2020 |
2020 |
June 2021 |
| July 2020 |
January 2021 |
— |
| August 2020 |
February 2021 |
— |
| September 2020 |
March 2021 |
— |
| October 2020 |
April 2021 |
— |
| November 2020 |
May 2021 |
— |
| December 2020 |
June 2021 |
— |
Those with miles expiring in July and August 2020 may feel a little hard done by with no further validity extension offered yet, though this may change as the situation progresses.
If you had any miles that expired in March 2020 or before, those cannot be re-credited retroactively nor will they be extended.
If you had previously paid to extend your KrisFlyer miles by six months or one year and their new expiry falls within the April 2020 to December 2020 window, the airline will still extend them for another six months in line with the table above, for no additional charge.
Do note that any extension to your miles validity will only reflect in your KrisFlyer account at the end of their original expiry month. For example, if you have miles expiring on 31st August 2020, you will be able to see that the miles have been extended and are valid until 28th February 2021 in September 2020.
Presumably due to some systems limitations, the miles extension will reflect as a debit of the originally expiring miles, plus a subsequent credit of the same number of miles.
“At the end of each month, you will be able to see 2 transactions in your account statement. The first transaction will show expiring miles being debited from your account with the description “Service debit for 6 months mileage extension”. The second transaction will show the same number of expiring miles being credited back into your account with the description “Service credit for 6 months mileage extension”.”
Singapore Airlines
You can see your expiring miles via the Singapore Airlines website when logged on to your account, or via the mobile app, by clicking Miles > Miles Validity.
Your monthly email statement should also show you how many of your miles are expiring in the next six months.
For more information about KrisFlyer miles validity extension, including a list of FAQs, see the Singapore Airlines website here.
Miles extension for existing bookings
Under the current Singapore Airlines COVID-19 travel waiver policy, if you made a redemption booking on or before 15th March 2020, for travel up to 31st August 2020, and any of the miles you used for your redemption booking were imminently expiring, their expiry dates will continue to be extended as follows:
| Miles Expiry Month | Miles redeposited extended until: |
| On or before March 2020 | 30th June 2021* |
| Between April 2020 and May 2021 | 30th June 2021 |
| On or after June 2021 | Original miles expiry date |
* Miles cannot be further extended, even for a fee
Unfortunately if you refunded your redemption tickets before this policy was updated (i.e. before 9th April 2020) and your expired miles were forfeited, they will not be retroactively refunded.
Similarly if you opted for a refund on your award ticket before 9th April 2020, any redeposit of miles fee paid will also not be retroactively refunded.
Further extensions
This somewhat expected extension to KrisFlyer miles validity may not be the last we see from the airline, with the timeline for any significant removal of travel restrictions and still far from clear amid COVID-19 uncertainty.
Singapore Airlines has stated that “the situation remains fluid”, and that the policy will continue to be monitored and reviewed.
Don’t be too surprised to see extensions for miles expiring from January 2021 onwards if the COVID-19 travel restrictions remain in force towards the end of 2020, which seems likely.
KrisFlyer and PPS Club status extensions
In addition to the latest travel waiver policy, Singapore Airlines had already extended KrisFlyer and PPS Club status tiers for a year, including extending Elite Gold Rewards and PPS Rewards that will be expiring between July 2020 and December 2020 for six months. There have been no further extensions for these announced yet.
(Cover Photo: Agent Wolf / Shutterstock)
Its a bit sad that SQ is not considering the factor of when the tickets are being refunded. For example, if someone had booked flights for Sep 2020, with miles expiring in Mar 2020 and the flight is cancelled and refunded now, the new expiry will be June 2021. So effectively, 9 months, as compared to if the ticket was cancelled in April which would have given 15 months. Better than nothing though.