Stack KrisFlyer promos to score Elite Gold status by converting 220,000 credit card miles

Earlier this year Singapore Airlines launched its “Unlock Status Credits without Flying” campaign, allowing KrisFlyer and PPS Club members to accrue Elite miles or PPS value to retain or upgrade their status level within each programme through a variety of on-ground accrual options.

One of the interesting options for achieving this during that ongoing campaign, which runs until 28th February 2022, is the ability to earn KrisFlyer Elite Gold status by transferring miles from credit card points, with a 250,000-mile transfer enough to go from zero Elite miles as a basic member to KFEG in one go.

That left many of our readers with a dilemma though.

Less than six months earlier, KrisFlyer had been offering a 15% transfer bonus for miles conversions, but that had ended by the time the unlock status campaign kicked off.

Should members transfer at the regular rate and achieve a status upgrade, or wait for another 15% bonus transfer offer to come around for the additional miles?

Travel options were also looking a lot less certain at the time than they do today, potentially limiting the value of a status upgrade.

Both campaigns are now running

The good news this week is that KrisFlyer is back with its 15% bonus offer when you transfer at least 50,000 miles per transaction from credit card points into the programme (or 12% bonus for individual conversions of 10,000-49,999 miles), with no upper cap.

Even better news with both promotions running side-by-side – they stack with each other!

That means the original route from zero Elite miles as a basic member to KrisFlyer Elite Gold status is now achievable with a transfer of 220,000 miles from credit card points, because you’ll earn Elite miles on both the main transfer and the bonus element.

KrisFlyer Elite Gold benefits

Most of our readers interested in stacking these two campaigns will be doing so to obtain KrisFlyer Elite Gold tier status, equivalent to Star Alliance Gold membership.

Back in April it was probably a strange time to strive for this, with status only lasting one year and travel remaining very uncertain, however we’re now seeing many options opening up with the Vaccinated Travel Lanes, including quarantine-free trips to Europe and the USA.

Additionally, many people will be able to defer the start of this status level to late 2021 or even early 2022, thanks to the generous timeframe for this campaign.

Here’s the full suite of applicable benefits for the ‘KFEG’ tier.

Don’t forget, the future KrisFlyer Gold lounge at Changi T3 is currently the temporary SilverKris facility, which will be a great upgrade for KFEG members going forward once it becomes their dedicated lounge, including its own restrooms and showers.

For those less familiar, here are our picks of the major KFEG highlights (click to expand).

What you’ll be able to achieve

First thing to note is that the retention and upgrade offers are only intra-programme.

That’s to say a KrisFlyer member cannot jump to PPS Club status under this promotion, since they cannot earn additional PPS Value with these new options (including bank points transfers). Promotion from KrisFlyer into the PPS Club will continue to be based on PPS Value earned from revenue flights.

Singapore Airlines is offering the following possibilities for members to renew or upgrade their status tiers.

Options for KrisFlyer members

Current Status Tier	Your Options		Elite Miles Required
KrisFlyer	➚	KrisFlyer Elite Silver (upgrade)	25,000
	➘	KrisFlyer Elite Gold (upgrade)	50,000
KrisFlyer Elite Silver	➚	KrisFlyer Elite Silver (renew)	25,000
	➘	KrisFlyer Elite Gold (upgrade)	50,000
KrisFlyer Elite Gold	➙	KrisFlyer Elite Gold (renew)	50,000

As you can see, even if you don’t currently hold any status in the KrisFlyer programme you can upgrade to the Elite Silver or Elite Gold tier with 25,000 or 50,000 Elite miles via this promotion.

Unfortunately KrisFlyer Elite Silver (KFES) doesn’t really get you much, so it’s the upgrade to Gold most of our readers will be eyeing here.

KFES has no priority check-in, no complimentary lounge access, no priority boarding, not even an extra baggage allowance! It’s a complete waste of time.

Options for PPS Club members

Current Status Tier	Your Options		PPS Value Required
PPS Club	➚	PPS Club (renew)	25,000
	➘	PPS Club Solitaire (upgrade)	50,000
PPS Club Solitaire	➙	PPS Club Solitaire (renew)	50,000

For those looking at stacking these two campaigns to upgrade from PPS Club to Solitaire status, that’s also possible if they can hit 50,000 PPS Value, but it will require a transfer of twice as many credit card points to achieve.

Bonus status credits with credit card points transfers

Between now and 22nd November 2021, any transfer of at least 10,000 KrisFlyer miles (per individual conversion) from credit card points into KrisFlyer miles will earn a 12% or 15% bonus on the usual transfer amount.

• Earn 12% bonus miles when you convert between 10,000 to 49,999 miles in a single qualifying transaction; or
• Earn 15% bonus miles when you convert 50,000 miles or more in a single qualifying transaction.

Bonus KrisFlyer miles awarded under this campaign will also be eligible for the accrual of status credits (PPS Value or Elite miles as applicable) under the KrisFlyer “Unlock Status Credits without Flying” campaign.

All major banks in Singapore support conversion into KrisFlyer, as shown below.

When you convert your bank or credit card reward points into KrisFlyer miles, you’ll earn 1 Elite mile for every 5 KrisFlyer miles transferred as a KrisFlyer member or 1 PPS Value for every 10 KrisFlyer miles transferred as a PPS Club member.

Transfers are recognised from all of KrisFlyer’s global bank partners (see the full list here), so this is a great option for those based outside Singapore too.

You’ll have to transfer a minimum of 10,000 KrisFlyer miles per conversion for it to be counted, but you’ll receive status credits for all of them combined.

Status credits from credit card points transfers

Method	KrisFlyer	PPS Club
Convert bank points to KrisFlyer miles	1 Elite mile per 5 miles	1 PPS Value per 10 miles
	Note: Min. 10,000 KF miles per transfer
Convert Citi, DBS or UOB points to KrisPay miles	1 Elite mile per 5 miles	1 PPS Value per 10 miles

Those bonus Elite miles / PPS Value will come through as two separate credits:

• within 7 working days for the base miles (typically they are instant), and
• within 3 weeks of the end of the bonus miles campaign (i.e. by 14th December 2021) for the bonus element.

An example

For example, let’s say you’re a basic KrisFlyer member and you have 20,100 Elite miles already. You are 29,900 Elite miles short of an upgrade to KrisFlyer Elite Gold status (50k requirement).

With a credit card points transfer of 130,000 miles (e.g. from 65,000 DBS Points), you’ll receive:

• 130,000 KrisFlyer miles
  + 19,500 bonus miles (15%)
  = 149,500 KrisFlyer miles
• 26,000 Elite miles
  + 3,900 bonus Elite miles (15%) by 14 Dec
  = 29,900 Elite miles

Once the Elite miles have credited by mid-December, your account will be upgraded to KrisFlyer Elite Gold for a year, since you’ve now hit the 50,000 Elite miles threshold.

Of course the more Elite miles you need to hit the target, the larger your transfer will need to be, with 220,000 miles needed if you’re still at a zero Elite miles balance (220,000 x 1.15 = 253,000 ÷ 5 = 50,600 Elite miles).

Here are the miles volumes you’ll need to transfer to retain your status or earn a tier upgrade, using the credit card points conversion option in isolation while stacking these two campaigns, assuming you’re starting from a zero Elite miles / PPS Value position:

Conversion from bank points
New / Renewed Status Tier	Transfer Needed (stacked with bonus)
KFES	125,000 miles 110,000 miles
KFEG	250,000 miles 220,000 miles
PPS	250,000 miles 220,000 miles
PPS Solitaire	500,000 miles 440,000 miles

When calculating, remember you’ll only get a 15% bonus for all individual transfers of 50,000 miles or more, with a lower 12% bonus for all transfers of 10,000 – 49,999 miles. There’s no bonus or Elite miles accrual for individual transfers of less than 10,000 miles, except for conversions through Kris+ / KrisPay.

Transfer by 8th November 2021

Don’t forget there’s a lead time to consider when transferring points from your credit card rewards account into KrisFlyer to benefit from the 12% / 15% bonus.

Transfers must be successfully completed by 22nd November 2021 to be eligible, and some banks take around a week to complete the process from the request date (HSBC and Standard Chartered in particular).

Recent transfer times for our own Singapore credit card points and those of our readers have been:

• Amex SG: 48h
• Amex UK: 24h
• Citi Singapore: 24h – 48h
• DBS SG: 48h
• HSBC SG: 1-7 days (weekly batch transfer)
• HSBC UK: 24h
• Maybank: 24h
• OCBC: 24h (weekends included)
• Standard Chartered: 6-7 days
• UOB: 48h

Our personal recommendation is therefore to allow a two-week buffer, in case of any issues, initiating your transfers no later than 8th November 2021.

Upgrade in February 2022

If you want to upgrade your tier as late as possible (e.g. in February 2022), then get a fresh membership year through to February 2023, leave yourself just short of the KFEG requirement using the credit card points transfer method, then top up your Elite miles via one of the other methods outlined below in February itself to trigger the upgrade.

For example, ensure you’ll hit 49,000 Elite miles by the time the bonus is credited in December, then accrue the rest in February.

You’ll initially be upgraded to KrisFlyer Elite Silver status in the meantime if you follow this method, but you won’t stop accruing in the same ‘pool’ of Elite miles, so don’t worry that’s only temporary.

You won’t need to use this method if you’re using the stacked campaigns to extend your existing status, since you can hit the 50,000 Elite miles at any time prior to your membership year end and get a fresh 12 months added on (e.g. expiring March 2022, a 50k Elite miles credit in November 2021 will still give you KFEG until March 2023).

Other methods to earn status credits

You don’t have to rely wholly on credit card points transfers to get you ‘over the line’ to KrisFlyer Elite Gold status, and in fact you may already find your account has accrued an Elite miles balance without flying.

That’s because there are several other earning methods currently available for on-ground activity between now and 28th February 2022.

Other ways to earn status credits

Method	KrisFlyer	PPS Club
KrisShop spend	3 Elite miles per S$1	1 PPS Value per S$1
Kris+ spend	3 Elite miles per S$1	1 PPS Value per S$1
Co-brand credit card spend	1 Elite mile per 5 miles	1 PPS Value per 10 miles
Spend / Convert with Non-Air Partners	1 Elite mile per 5 miles	1 PPS Value per 10 miles

You might therefore be able to combine a credit card points transfer during the bonus promotion (by 22nd November 2021) with some of these earning options, like a KrisShop purchase, to achieve the status upgrade.

That could come in handy if you don’t have quite enough credit card points to achieve the status upgrade, or the 10,000-mile transfer blocks from most credit cards don’t ‘fit’ very nicely to achieve 50,000 Elite miles.

How long will your status be valid?

This is where it gets a little confusing, so bear with us!

The one-year status extension for KrisFlyer and PPS Club members announced in January means that:

• For KrisFlyer basic members, there was no impact.
• For KrisFlyer Elite members, Elite miles were rolled over to count towards requalification in the subsequent year.
• For PPS Club members, PPS Value was extended by one or two years, to count towards future requalification in the future.

What it effectively means is that if a KrisFlyer member without status uses this promotion to upgrade to the KrisFlyer Elite Gold tier by earning 50,000 Elite miles, the membership will be valid for 12 months from the date it was earned (e.g. earned in December 2021, valid until December 2022).

If an existing KrisFlyer Elite Gold status holder uses this promotion to retain the status by earning 50,000 Elite miles, the membership will be valid for two years from the end of the current membership year, provided this year’s extension hasn’t taken effect yet. That’s because at the end of the current membership year (March 2021 to February 2022), Singapore Airlines is already gifting a one-year extension.

For example, an existing KrisFlyer Elite Gold status holder who just got a free status extension in September 2021, and now has an expiry of September 2022, will in fact hold KFEG until September 2023 by participating in this offer.

It’s a little confusing but it means those who have just received or have yet to receive their extension from SIA will still benefit, the additional year will just be tagged on to the end of the next ‘refreshed’ membership cycle.

Effectively:

• If you are a basic KrisFlyer member or Silver member upgrading to KrisFlyer Elite Gold, your new status will be valid for 12 months after achieving 50,000 Elite miles.
• If you are already a KrisFlyer Elite Gold member, your existing status will then be valid for 2 years after achieving 50,000 Elite miles under this promo.

Any downsides?

You’ll probably lose flexibility by committing to the KrisFlyer programme (from Citi in Singapore, for example, you can transfer to 10 different FFPs, including oneworld programmes like Asia Miles and Qatar Privilege Club).

You’ll also be exposed to KrisFlyer’s fixed 36-month expiry policy for your miles, so if you are going to proceed with this, don’t do so until 1st November 2021, so have an extra month to use the miles themselves.

You may be waiting six months or more to start redeeming again at a decent rate, giving you perhaps only two years to then fully use the miles. For this reason, you may wish to pass on the offer, or try to upgrade in February 2022 by topping up from non-credit card transfer sources to ‘cross the line’ as late as possible (but before 28th February 2022).

Using a (potentially large) credit card points-to-miles transfer to obtain KrisFlyer Elite Gold status wasn’t a clear-cut decision six months ago when the option first appeared.

For one thing the return of international travel remained uncertain, and for another there had just been a generous bonus campaign for transfers, which had since ended.

Now both campaigns are running and stack with one another, while borders are gradually reopening for quarantine-free travel, it’s a much easier decision for most people to jump at this opportunity.

Given that you may have already accrued some Elite miles through the other on-ground earning options since the status campaign began, like via KrisShop and Kris+ activity, and potentially even from revenue flying either recently or in the coming months, you might not even need to transfer the full 220,000 miles needed to go from “zero to hero”.

Just remember – to stack both campaigns your miles transfer must be completed by 22nd November 2021, and we recommend building in a two-week safety buffer because things do sometimes go wrong (DBS once ‘lost’ my transfer and it took at least a week to sort out!).

Will you be transferring credit card points to earn KrisFlyer Elite Gold status? Let us know in the comments section below.

(Cover Photo: Singapore Airlines)