American Express has improved the sign-up bonuses for its KrisFlyer co-brand credit cards this month, offering up to 37,000 bonus miles for approved applications between now and 30th September 2020 for the Ascend card and up to 21,000 miles for the baseline Blue card.
The new deal includes the double spend bonus in months four to six of card membership for both cards, with existing American Express cardholders still eligible to participate in the first of the two bonus periods.
The KrisFlyer Credit Card offer
The following deal is now offered effective from 1st August 2020 to 30th September 2020 for the Blue card.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer American Express Credit Card
- 5,000 KrisFlyer miles welcome bonus on first spend with the card.*
- 8,000 bonus KrisFlyer miles if you spend S$4,000 within three months of card approval.
- 8,000 bonus KrisFlyer miles if you spend S$4,000 within months 4 to 6 of card approval (new to Amex cardholders).
- Total: 21,000 KrisFlyer miles bonus.
* The 5,000 miles welcome bonus is only applicable to first time applicants for any co-branded American Express Singapore Airlines credit card.
Including the miles earned for spending a total of S$8,000 in the first 6 months (8,000 x 1.1 = 8,800), you’ll net a total of 29,800 miles by fulfilling the offer, an equivalent earn rate of 3.7 miles per dollar spent.
The SIA KrisFlyer (Blue) Credit Card is fee-free in the first year.
Do note in this offer that the second batch of 8,000 bonus miles for spend in months 4 to 6 is only applicable for new to Amex cardholders (i.e. individuals who do not currently hold a Basic American Express Consumer Card at the point of application).
The KrisFlyer Ascend offer
The following deal is now offered effective from 1st August 2020 to 30th September 2020 for the Ascend card.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer American Express Ascend
- 5,000 KrisFlyer miles welcome bonus on first spend with the card.*
- 16,000 bonus KrisFlyer miles if you spend S$8,000 within three months of card approval.
- 16,000 bonus KrisFlyer miles if you spend S$8,000 within months 4 to 6 of card approval (new to Amex cardholders).
- Total: 37,000 KrisFlyer miles bonus.
* The 5,000 miles welcome bonus is only applicable to first time applicants for any co-branded American Express Singapore Airlines credit card.
Including the miles earned for spending a total of S$16,000 in the first 6 months (16,000 x 1.2 = 19,200), you’ll net a total of 56,200 miles by fulfilling the offer.
The first year annual fee of S$337.05 is payable for the Ascend card, equivalent to ‘buying’ the 37,000 bonus miles for 0.9 cents each, even if you don’t place any value on the card’s other benefits.
Do note in this offer that the second batch of 16,000 bonus miles for spend in months 4 to 6 is only applicable for new to Amex cardholders (i.e. individuals who do not currently hold a Basic American Express Consumer Card at the point of application).
Spend exclusions
Like most sign-up bonus offers, the qualifying spend excludes certain categories. In this case the exclusions cover the following:
- Charges processed and billed prior to the Enrolment Date or charges prepaid on any Card Account prior to the first billing statement for that Card Account following the Enrolment Date;
- Cash Advance and other cash services;
- Express Cash;
- American Express Travellers Cheque purchases;
- Charges for dishonoured cheques;
- Finance charges – including Line of Credit charges and Credit Card interest charges;
- Late Payment and collection charges;
- Tax refunds from overseas purchases;
- Balance Transfers;
- Instalment plans;
- Annual Card fees;
- Amount billed for purchase of KrisFlyer miles to top-up your miles balance;
- Purchase and top-up charges for EZ-Link Cards using American Express Cards;
- Bill payments and all transactions via SingPost SAM kiosks and mobile app;
- Payments to insurance companies (except payments made for insurance products purchased through American Express authorized channels);
- Payments to Singapore Petroleum Company Limited (SPC) service stations;
- Payments for the purpose of GrabPay top-ups;
- Charges at merchants or establishments that are excluded by American Express at its sole discretion and notified by American Express to you from time to time.
Important exclusions to remember here are bill payments, insurance payments, petrol at SPC stations and GrabPay top-ups.
Pro Tip: CardUp payments are eligible spend for this promotion, with their 2.4% fee offer for income tax payments a good way to meet the spend thresholds if you’ve yet to pay this year.
You can check the latest updated list of excluded transactions for KrisFlyer miles earning at amex.co/SGexclusions.
Spend on any supplementary card(s) will combine with that of the main cardholder in respect for this promotion.
When will the miles be credited?
The welcome bonus (5,000 miles in the case of both cards) will be credited as soon as you make your first transaction.
The spend bonus (either 8,000 miles or 16,000 miles depending on which card product you choose) will be credited approximately 8-10 weeks from the date you meet each spend threshold.
Remember as this is a co-brand product linked to your KrisFlyer account, both the bonuses and the miles accrued from your general spend will be transferred directly into your KrisFlyer account. They are then valid for three years.
It is not possible to have your miles credited to any of the American Express Membership Rewards transfer partners offered to other Amex cardholders in Singapore, these cards are just for KrisFlyer miles as the name suggests.
How does it compare?
This is the best sign-up deal Amex has featured for the KrisFlyer Ascend co-brand card recently, with a maximum 36,000 miles bonus offered almost exactly two years ago.
For the Blue card the offer two years ago was slightly better at 25,000 miles, but since then 21,000 miles has been the highest bonus level so this one is about as good as it gets.
Here’s how the current sign-up bonus compares to recent ones offered for these cards over the last couple of years.
| Amex KrisFlyer Sign-up Bonuses (2018 – 2020) |
||
| Period | |
 |
| Jun ’18 – Sep ’18 | 13,000 – 25,000 |
20,000 – 36,000 |
| Oct ’18 – Nov ’18 |
12,500 | 31,000 |
| Dec ’18 – Jun ’19 |
12,500 – 20,000 |
20,000 – 35,000 |
| Jul ’19 – Jan ’20 |
12,500 |
20,000 |
| Feb ’20 – Apr ’20 |
13,000 – 21,000 |
21,000 |
| May ’20 – Jun ’20 |
13,000 | 21,000 |
| Jul ’20 |
13,000 | 37,000 |
| Aug ’20 – Sep ’20 |
21,000 | 37,000 |
This is therefore quite a good time to apply for one of these cards if you’ve been sitting on the fence waiting for the sign-up deal to improve.
About the cards
Here’s how the two American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer credit cards look alongside one another.
| Comparing the Amex SIA KF co-brand cards | ||
|
|
|
| Annual fee | S$176.55 (first year free) |
S$337.05 |
| Local earn rate |
1.1 mpd | 1.2 mpd |
| Overseas earn rate | 1.1 mpd | 1.2 mpd |
| Overseas earn rate (Jul & Dec) |
2 mpd |
2 mpd |
| Lounge visits |
None | 4/yr |
| Min. income |
S$30,000/yr | S$50,000/yr |
| OUR REVIEW | OUR REVIEW | |
Remember you will still accrue miles at the regular earn rates shown in this table when spending towards the sign-up bonus, worth at least an additional 8,800 miles for the Blue card and 19,200 miles for the Ascend card.
Top sign-up bonuses
We’ve updated our top sign-up bonuses page, covering miles earning credit cards in Singapore, to reflect this updated offer.
Summary
The ‘double bonus’ is back for the KrisFlyer Amex cards, but the second tranche of miles in each case is only for new to Amex cardholders.
That means is you already have an American Express card you’ll actually be getting 13,000 bonus miles with the Blue card and 21,000 bonus miles with the Ascend card.
If you’re new to Amex however then these sign-up offers are among the best we’ve seen offered for these cards over the last couple of years, so this could be a very good time to take advantage.
For the KrisFlyer Blue card the sign-up bonus of 21,000 miles is worth around S$400, as we value KrisFlyer miles at 1.9 cents each. This card is also fee-free in the first year so the bonus miles remain technically ‘free’ assuming you have S$8,000 spend to make in the next 6 months.
For the KrisFlyer Ascend card the bonus is up to 37,000 miles for a S$16,000 spend in the first 6 months, worth S$700 off future flight redemptions.
The annual fee of S$337.05 remains payable for the Ascend card though, meaning you’re effectively ‘buying’ KrisFlyer miles for 0.9 cents each with a S$16,000+ spend in three months. That’s quite competitive and fares well against previous offers for this card.
Remember the welcome bonus element (5,000 KrisFlyer miles in each case) is only applicable to first time applicants for any co-branded American Express Singapore Airlines credit card, so if you’ve held one before you’ll only be eligible for the spend bonus element.
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(Cover Photo: Masahiro Takagi)
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