Singapore Airlines has made a couple of enhancements to its KrisFlyer programme to kick off 2021, with the former Elite Gold Rewards opened up to other members and renamed ‘Milestone Rewards’, plus Elite miles earning when you take a paid Scoot flight to help you climb the status ladder.
PPS Club members flying on Scoot will also get some extra complimentary benefits from next month.
The news comes after the airline announced a second annual extension for KrisFlyer Elite and PPS Club members with expiries from March 2021 to February 2022 last week.
As we welcome the new year, we are pleased to share two new programme enhancements with you.
Singapore Airlines
Elite miles earning on Scoot
For Scoot flights taken from 1st January 2021, you’ll now also earn Elite miles to help you upgrade to KrisFlyer Elite Silver and Elite Gold membership status levels, instead of simply earning KrisFlyer miles like before.
As the rewards programme of the SIA Group, you can also now earn Elite miles on Scoot flights starting from 1 January 2021.
Singapore Airlines
You will earn KrisFlyer miles and Elite miles when you purchase a Scoot flight at a rate of 1 mile per S$1 spent on base fare and add-ons (except e-Visa, travel insurance/Scoot Protect).
For example on this flight in the ScootPlus cabin (not compulsory, but for the purposes of illustration) from Singapore to Taipei in September 2021:
Elite miles will only be earned on the fare component. That’s 398 Elite miles in this case, not 453, which includes taxes.
Miles earned are subject to currency fluctuations based on system prevailing exchange rates. Taxes, infants, credit card processing fees and amounts offset using Scoot vouchers are not eligible for miles accrual.
For flights that are partially paid with KrisFlyer miles, only the cash portion (i.e. paid by credit or debit card, etc.) are eligible for miles accrual. Flights that are fully paid with miles or Scoot vouchers are not eligible for miles accrual.
If you are travelling on a mixed itinerary containing both a Scoot and partner sector (e.g. Scoot-Singapore Airlines/SilkAir), you earn miles based on a percentage of the actual miles flown on Scoot and your booking class:
| Cabin class | Percentage of total distance/miles travelled on Scoot |
| Scootplus C, D, I, J, U, Z |
25% |
| Economy A, F, P, R, S, Y B, H, M, W N, O, X |
20% 15% 10% |
Remember if you’re aiming for Elite Silver or Elite Gold this way, qualification for Elite membership is tracked based on the number of Elite miles earned within 12 consecutive months.
Requirements to climb the status ladder remain as follows:
- Elite Silver: 25,000 Elite miles in a 12-month period
- Elite Gold: 50,000 Elite miles in a 12-month period
Elite miles earned from flying with Scoot within each calendar year will also earn you KrisFlyer Milestone Rewards, an initiative that rewards our loyal customers with exclusive privileges.
Scoot
These Elite Miles will also count towards the new KrisFlyer Milestone Rewards, outlined below.
KrisFlyer Milestone Rewards
KrisFlyer Milestone Rewards is the new name for Elite Gold Rewards, first introduced in October 2018 and designed only to reward KrisFlyer Gold Elite status holders as they worked through various Elite miles levels during their membership year, including perks like upgrades.
Milestone rewards now start at just 5,000 Elite miles earned and are available to all KrisFlyer members.
| Milestone Rewards from January 2021 | |
| Elite miles earned* | Reward |
| 5,000 | 1,500 KrisPay miles (S$10) Receive your KrisPay miles reward when you log in to the Kris+ app. This reward must be claimed within 12 months of earning 5,000 Elite miles on flights operated by Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and/or Scoot. As usual, these are valid for 6 months and are not transferable to KrisFlyer miles. |
| 10,000 | S$20 KrisShop Promo Code Receive a promo code for S$20 off a minimum purchase of S$100 on KrisShop.com (excluding promotional offers and discounted items). The promo code is valid for 12 months, and can only be used once. |
| 20,000 | 25% Bonus KrisFlyer Miles Receive a reward to earn 25% more KrisFlyer miles on top of the actual miles earned for a single flight segment. The reward is valid for 12 months and must be applied before your flight departure. Only one Bonus KrisFlyer Miles reward may be used for one flight segment, and it can only be used by the principal member. |
| 30,000 | 50% Bonus KrisFlyer Miles Receive a reward to earn 50% more KrisFlyer miles on top of the actual miles earned for a single flight segment. The reward is valid for 12 months and must be applied before your flight departure. Only one Bonus KrisFlyer Miles reward may be used for one flight segment, and it can only be used by the principal member. |
| 40,000 | 5,000 KrisFlyer Miles Redemption Discount Receive a reward for a redemption discount of 5,000 KrisFlyer miles when you are redeeming your KrisFlyer miles for an award ticket or a redemption upgrade. Valid for 12 months from the date of issue for redemption bookings (excluding HighFlyer bookings) or for redemption upgrades on eligible flights operated by Singapore Airlines or SilkAir. The reward can be used by the principal member or for his/her redemption nominee. If your booking is refunded, the discount will be credited back to your KrisFlyer account. |
| 60,000 (former Elite Gold Reward) |
Double KrisFlyer Miles Reward Receive one voucher which allows you to earn twice the KrisFlyer miles for a single flight segment. If you used KrisFlyer miles to offset any cash element of your booking then you’ll only receive double KrisFlyer miles in relation to the amount you paid in cash. |
| 75,000 (former Elite Gold Reward) |
Short-haul advance upgrade Receive one advance upgrade voucher for a one cabin class upgrade (subject to availability when you apply the reward) on a single flight segment for flights between Zone 1 & Zone 2 or between Zone 1 & Zone 3. Valid for commercial tickets booked under anything except the ‘Lite’ fare buckets. |
| 100,000 (former Elite Gold Reward) |
Premium Economy Advance Upgrade Receive one advance upgrade voucher for an upgrade from Economy to Premium Economy (subject to availability when you apply the reward) on a single flight segment. Valid for commercial tickets booked under anything except the Economy Lite fare buckets (i.e. only M, H, W, Y, B, E). |
* On Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and/or Scoot flights during your membership year.
As you can see the final three rewards were the former Elite Gold Rewards, with the first five representing the new additions.
The 5,000 miles KrisFlyer discount could come in handy, with the biggest percentage impact obviously applying to cheaper redemptions. Singapore to Bali as a Business Class Saver award, for example, would drop from 19,000 miles to 14,000 miles, a 26% discount.
Crucially the terms do not mention that the discount cannot be combined with a promotional offer, so if Spontaneous Escapes makes a return, this could be a great use of the reward!
The two new Bonus KrisFlyer Miles categories stand out as particularly stingy for only applying to a single flight sector (most people book a return journey) and applying at the original booking level even if you use your Advance Upgrade reward in combination with it!
Still – it’s complimentary and didn’t apply before – so we shouldn’t really complain!
You can track your progress towards the Milestone Rewards or see those you’ve already earned at the Account Summary > KrisFlyer Milestone Rewards tab of your online KrisFlyer account.
These will start to be reflected from the end of January 2021.
Only SIA Group accrual counts
One big caveat of the Milestone Rewards scheme is that the Elite miles earned to achieve the vouchers only considers your accrual on Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and (now) Scoot flights.
Elite miles earned on other Star Alliance airlines and SIA partner airlines continue to count towards your Elite Silver and Elite Gold status qualification, however they are not included in the calculation for these new Milestone Rewards, in the same way they weren’t under the old Elite Gold Rewards programme.
Full details
For all the official information about Elite Gold Rewards including the full terms and conditions – see the dedicated page on the Singapore Airlines website.
PPS Club extra benefits on Scoot
As part of this change, PPS Club members will also earn extra benefits when flying on Scoot flights starting from February 2021.
These include:
- Priority check-in and boarding*
- An additional allowance of 5kg with any baggage purchase
- A one-time complimentary booking change
- Complimentary standard seat selection
* Once available again after COVID-19
It’s a shame not to see any lounge access included, like Qantas Gold and Platinum members get when flying on Jetstar, right up to First Class lounge access in some cases.
Again something here is better than nothing, and there may be some hope for the future.
Summary
It’s nice to see the rather limited Elite Gold Rewards get a new lease of life and start awarding members with smaller perks at lower Elite miles accrual levels, not that any of the perks themselves are all that exciting or life changing!
The new Bonus KrisFlyer Miles rewards are particularly stingy for only applying to a single sector!
Some benefits for PPS Club members flying on wholly-owned subsidiary Scoot are a welcome improvement, none of them really cost SIA anything and it’s nice for these members to be better recognised.
Finally KrisFlyer members flying on Scoot will be eligible for Elite miles accrual instead of just KrisFlyer miles earning, which frankly should always have been the case, but nonetheless it will be useful for many readers who use the low-cost airline regularly in ‘normal times’.
(Cover Photo: Kwok Ho Eddie Wong)