Good news this week from Pelago, with the new Singapore Airlines venture extending its KrisFlyer miles launch offer for another month. This deal allows you to stack 5 mpd through the site with a further 4 mpd using the right credit card on a range of attraction, experience and staycation bookings.
Earn 5 mpd until 31 December
Usually Pelago will award 1 KrisFlyer mile per S$1 spent on the site, transferred directly into your KrisFlyer account within a week after completing your booked activity.
In this special launch promotion you’ll earn 5 miles per dollar instead, for all bookings made through the site between now and 31st December 2020.
The offer was originally running until the end of November 2020, but has been extended to the end of the year.
There’s no cap on the total number of miles you can earn and the promotion is eligible for bookings made for any activity date, even those you’ll use after 31st December 2020.
What is Pelago?
Pelago is a new Singapore Airlines venture marketed as a “destination discovery platform”, currently offering a range of activities, experiences and attraction tickets in Singapore.
These include include theme park admission, food and drink tours, and wellness treatments, with over 130 packages currently available ranging from just S$4 to S$1,087 at the time of writing.
Pelago’s “hidden gem” experiences include:
- Exploring an agricultural farm
- A farm-to-table culinary class
- Concocting your own version of a gin martini
- Distillery tours
- A range of outdoor activities and attraction tickets
There are also some limited staycation offers available at four hotels in Singapore. Hopefully this list will be further expanded, as some of the prices fare competitively against best available rates.
If you’re familiar with online travel and experiences site Klook, it’s a very similar concept, though the big draw for our readers with Pelago is KrisFlyer miles earning when you spend.
How it works
Earning KrisFlyer miles for Pelago bookings is quite simple:
- Discover activities on Pelago’s Destination pages and select an activity of your preference
- Enter your 10-digit KrisFlyer membership number when completing your booking at checkout. You can also link your KrisFlyer and Pelago accounts on the ‘My Account’ page
- The KrisFlyer miles will be credited to your account one week after you complete your activity
You must ensure that your Pelago booking is made under your name, as it appears in your KrisFlyer membership records, to be eligible for miles earning.
Miles earned will be calculated based on the final amount paid for the booking including taxes, after eligible discounts have been applied, multiplied by 5 during this promotion, then rounded up to the next whole mile. For example:
- A S$24.00 payment will earn 120 KrisFlyer Miles (24.00 x 5 = 120)
- A S$106.25 payment will earn 532 KrisFlyer Miles (106.25 x 5 = 531.25, rounded up)
Any cancelled bookings will be ineligible to earn miles.
For full terms and conditions, see the promotion page here.
Earn 9 mpd with the right credit card
Pelago confirmed to Mainly Miles that its payment provider is using the following Merchant Category Code when processing credit card payments:
MCC 4722: Travel Agencies and Tour Operators
Pelago bookings should also classify as online transactions, giving you the following options to earn up to an additional 4 mpd through your credit card points for these transactions, for an excellent 9 mpd equivalent total during this promotion between now and the end of 2020.
| Card | Earn Rate |
Notes |
 DBS WWMC(see our review) |
4 mpd | For online spend, capped at S$2,000 per calendar month. |
 HSBC Revolution(see our review) |
4 mpd | For online spend at travel agencies (MCC 4722), capped at S$1,000 per calendar month combined with other 4 mpd bonus spend. |
 Citi Lazada |
2 mpd | For travel transactions under MCC 4722, capped at S$2,250 spend per statement cycle but combined with other 4 mpd / 2 mpd bonus spend (i.e. S$2,250 cap assumes your only bonus category spend in a statement cycle is Travel). |
Don’t use your Citi Rewards card for Pelago bookings, as MCC 4722 falls under the travel category, specifically excluded from earning the 4 mpd rate for online spend with that card.
It will therefore only earn 0.4 mpd, so it’s probably much better in that case to use your best general spend card, assuming you don’t have one of the above options or have already hit the monthly bonus cap.
Remember, even using a relatively mundane general spend credit card like the DBS Altitude, earning 1.2 mpd for local transactions, you’re getting a very respectable equivalent of 6.2 mpd under this Pelago offer, with no concerns about transaction eligibility.
Summary
The latest KrisFlyer miles earning option has an excellent 5x miles launch promotion, worth up to 9 miles per dollar in total when you use the right credit card to make payment, and it just got extended by another month!
With overseas trips still off the cards for now, take a look at the Pelago site and see if there are any activities or tours here in Singapore that take your fancy over the coming weeks and months.
If the price is right for your chosen activity or experience, it’s definitely worth using Pelago between now and the end of the year under this extended offer to earn yourself an extra 5 miles per dollar over and above your regular credit card points for the spend.
(Cover Photo: Raffles Hotel)