Last week Singapore Airlines announced a devaluation of its KrisFlyer miles when used to make award bookings and secure upgrades on its own flights, equating to members needing between 8% and 16% more miles to achieve Saver award redemptions when booking from 5th July 2022 onwards.
At first it was rather unclear what was happening with Star Alliance awards, with the airline confirming that Star Alliance upgrades would rise in cost, but confusingly uploading the identical award chart for ‘pure’ redemptions involving a Star Alliance carrier.
Now SIA has confirmed that it will indeed hike Star Alliance redemption rates in a similar fashion from 5th July 2022, a departure from its previous approach where these awards were spared a rate increase for several months, following a devaluation of awards on the airline’s own flights.
Star Alliance awards devalued from 5th July 2022
Singapore Airlines has updated its Star Alliance award chart, with an unsurprising devaluation roughly in line with the recent changes reported for SIA redemptions, both taking effect from 5th July 2022.
In the March 2017 KrisFlyer devaluation, SIA waited a whole eight months before taking the knife to its Star Alliance award chart, while in the more recent January 2019 devaluation it took three months for the Star rates to be changed.
That gave rise to an interesting disparity immediately following both of those devaluations, where redeeming a Star Alliance flight, or simply including one in your itinerary alongside an SIA flight, actually meant forking out fewer miles than a normal saver redemption ticket!
No such luck this time round, with everything changing at once on the cutover date of 5th July 2022.
Unfortunately that means the lower award cost on some routes for including a Star Alliance airline in your itinerary, or travelling wholly with a Star Alliance airline, will not be temporarily available during this devaluation, like they briefly were the last two times.
You still have three weeks from now to redeem Star Alliance awards at current rates, before the new chart is in force, which will then affect the miles rates when you redeem or include any of the 26 other airlines in the alliance, aside from SIA, in your redemption itinerary.
You will still be able to make a date change to your award later, subject to availability, without having to pay the higher rates, even after 5th July 2022, though a ticket reissue (e.g. routing change) will attract the miles difference.
Which miles rates are being increased?
In line with the recently announced devaluation for using KrisFlyer miles on Singapore Airlines, Economy Class, Business Class and First Class redemptions on Star Alliance airlines are all being increased.
That’s not unsurprising, because Economy Class was spared any rate increases in the January 2019 devaluation, both for SIA and Star Alliance awards.
There is no award chart for redeeming Premium Economy Class on Star Alliance airlines using KrisFlyer miles, since this is not currently possible.
How much are award rates increasing?
Looking at the new redemption rates compared with the current ones to and from Singapore and surrounding countries (SE Asia Zone 1), we’re seeing increases of:
- 8% to 16% in Economy Class
- 10% to 16% in Business Class
- 10% to 16% in First Class
These are more or less in line with the increases seen for Singapore Airlines redemptions, that also take effect from 5th July 2022.
Here’s how it looks in miles and percentage terms for one-way redemptions in Economy Class to and from Singapore.
Economy Class Star Alliance Awards
(one-way, in thousands of miles)
| Singapore to/from | Current rate | New rate | Change |
| SE Asia 1 | 7.5 | 8.5 | + 13.3% |
| SE Asia 2 | 12.5 | 13.5 | + 8.0% |
| N Asia 1 | 15 | 16.5 | + 10.0% |
| N Asia 2 | 25 | 27 | + 8.0% |
| SW Pacific | 32.5 | 35 | + 7.7% |
| N America Hawaii C America |
55 | 60.5 | + 10.0% |
| S America | 67.5 | 74.5 | + 10.4% |
| Europe | 45 | 49.5 | + 10.0% |
| ME / N Africa | 35 | 40.5 | + 15.7% |
| C & S Africa | 37.5 | 43.5 | + 16.0% |
| C & S Asia | 25 | 27 | + 8.0% |
Here’s how it looks for one-way redemptions in Business Class.
Business Class Star Alliance Awards
(one-way, in thousands of miles)
| Singapore to/from | Current rate | New rate | Change |
| SE Asia 1 | 19 | 21 | + 10.5% |
| SE Asia 2 | 21.5 | 24 | + 11.6% |
| N Asia 1 | 41.5 | 46 | + 10.8% |
| N Asia 2 | 47.5 | 52.5 | + 10.5% |
| SW Pacific | 74 | 81.5 | + 10.1% |
| N America Hawaii C America |
105.5 | 119 | + 12.8% |
| S America | 119 | 134 | + 12.6% |
| Europe | 92 | 103.5 | + 12.5% |
| ME / N Africa | 71 | 82 | + 15.5% |
| C & S Africa | 60 | 69 | + 15.0% |
| C & S Asia | 47 | 52 | + 10.6% |
Finally these are the changes taking effect for Star Alliance First Class redemptions.
First Class Star Alliance Awards
(one-way, in thousands of miles)
| Singapore to/from | Current rate | New rate | Change |
| SE Asia 1 | 27.5 | 30.5 | + 10.9% |
| SE Asia 2 | 32.5 | 36 | + 10.8% |
| N Asia 1 | 51.5 | 57 | + 10.7% |
| N Asia 2 | 70 | 77 | + 10.0% |
| SW Pacific | 98 | 108 | + 10.2% |
| N America Hawaii C America |
148.5 | 167.5 | + 12.8% |
| S America | 151.5 | 170.5 | + 12.5% |
| Europe | 140.5 | 158.5 | + 12.8% |
| ME / N Africa | 91 | 105 | + 15.4% |
| C & S Africa | 80.5 | 93 | + 15.5% |
| C & S Asia | 66.5 | 73.5 | + 10.5% |
There are still three weeks to lock in bookings at current rates using this chart, before these increases take effect.
Awards on Star Alliance carriers can be a great way to redeem in Business Class, even when SIA is not offering Saver space on its own flights, like this multitude of dates from Singapore to Europe in July for example.
This award will increase in cost from 92,000 miles to 103,500 miles on 5th July 2022 (+13%), which matches the rate increase for SIA’s own Saver Business Class awards from Singapore to Europe from the same date.
Remember the Star Alliance award chart takes precedence even if only one sector of your journey includes a Star Alliance airline.
The award charts
Here are the full KrisFlyer Star Alliance redemption rate charts by cabin class:
The tables also fully describe which countries fall into each zone. These differ slightly in some cases from the redemption table for ‘pure’ Singapore Airlines awards.
Remember that unlike the SIA chart, the Star Alliance chart quotes round-trip award costs, however you can simply book one-way redemptions for half the applicable miles rate.
Most Star Alliance awards are available to search and book online at singaporeair.com, though in some cases you may have to call.
Searching via the United site is also a good way to scope out availability in advance.
Increases elsewhere in the chart
While we’ve focused above on redemptions to and from Singapore, intra-zone award prices for Star Alliance awards in the rest of the world have also increased in all cabins.
For example if you’re flying Business Class within North America on United, the previous rate of 46,000 KrisFlyer miles return (23,000 miles one-way) will increase to 52,000 miles (26,000 miles one-way). That’s a 13% increase.
Flying between the Middle East and Europe, for example on Lufthansa or Swiss, was a previous ‘sweet spot’ on the Star Alliance chart at 25,000 miles one-way in Business Class pre-2017, which increased to 29,000 miles in 2019.
That’s now being hiked by 16% to 33,500 miles, for redemptions made on or after 5th July 2022.
From Europe to South Africa, a nice sweet spot on the KrisFlyer Star Alliance award chart allowing one-way Business Class for over 12 hours at only 52,000 miles, there’s a 15% increase to 60,000 miles coming from July.
Take a look at the charts through the links above to see how this may affect other Star Alliance routings outside Singapore using KrisFlyer miles that are of specific interest to you.
Summary
In the last couple of KrisFlyer devaluations, Singapore Airlines has left its Star Alliance award chart alone for a few months while the new rates for travel on its own flights bed in, before updating the Star rates at a later date.
Unfortunately this time round there’s no wait at all, with Star Alliance redemptions suffering immediate rate increases on the same day as other awards.
The good news, as expected, is that increases of 8% to 16% are effectively in line with the devaluation of the main KrisFlyer scheme for SIA flights.
Three weeks now seems to be the standard notice period Singapore Airlines is providing for devaluations. While that’s a relatively short booking window to take advantage of the existing rates – remember you can book flights up to a year in advance.
For those who use the KrisFlyer Star Alliance redemption option to their advantage on certain routes – there’s still three weeks to act. Book as many redemptions for the next year as you can before 5th July 2022, and you’ll still get the current rate.
For the most part, Star Alliance awards can now be searched and booked online through the KrisFlyer portal, though you’ll have to call to book for a few airlines (search availability on united.com first).
(Cover Photo: Shutterstock)