KrisFlyer UOB credit card hikes annual SIA spend to S$800 for 3 mpd bonus

Having offered its KrisFlyer co-brand credit card holders a 40% reduction in the minimum SIA Group spend required to trigger annual bonus miles during the COVID-19 pandemic, UOB has apparently now decided it’s “payback time”.

The bank recently restored its regular S$500+ SIA Group spend threshold for this benefit, applicable to those with card membership years ending from 1st September 2022 onwards, but is now raising the amount you’ll have to spend on these transactions by 60%, to S$800+, for those with a card membership year ending from April 2023 onwards.

Card recap

First let’s recap how the KrisFlyer UOB credit card usually works.

For general spend you’ll earn:

• 1.2 miles for every $1 spent locally or overseas

For SIA Group transactions, like those with Singapore Airlines, SilkAir or at the KrisShop, you’ll earn:

• 3 miles for every $1 spent

Finally for those who spend at least S$500 on SIA Group transactions in their card membership year, there’s a bonus rate on everyday spend categories like dining, online shopping, food delivery, transport and online travel spend, whereby you’ll earn:

• 3 miles for every $1 spent, comprising the basic 1.2 mpd earn rate plus a bonus component of 1.8 mpd awarded two months after the end of your card membership year

UOB calls the 1.8 mpd bonus element “Accelerated Miles” (yes, the irony of something that can take up to 14 months being portrayed as quick is not lost on us…).

See our review of this card for full details.

Increased SIA Group spend for Accelerated Miles

For cardholders whose membership year is ending from April 2023 onwards, you will now earn the Accelerated Miles on these dining, online shopping, online travel and transport card transactions only with an increased minimum of S$800 on SIA Group spend charged to your card in your membership year, instead of S$500.

That means your required spend at Singapore Airlines, Scoot or the KrisShop during the membership year is now hiked by 60%.

Suspiciously, this move follows a reprieve for cardholders during the COVID-19 pandemic, with those whose membership year was ending between April 2021 and August 2022 enjoying a reduced minimum requirement of S$300 (40% less) on SIA Group spend in their membership year.

Now it’s “payback time”, it seems (UOB never loses in our experience!).

With effect from 1 November 2022, the minimum annual spend condition for Singapore Airlines Group related transactions charged to your KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card will be S$800.

This revised condition will be applicable for Card Membership Years ending April 2023 onwards.

UOB

This is all becoming a bit confusing to keep up with, so here’s a summary table to help you.

SIA Group spend threshold for Accelerated Miles

Card Membership Year Ends	Min. SIA Group spend for Accelerated Miles
Apr 2021 Aug 2022	S$300
Sep 2022 Mar 2023	S$500
Apr 2023 (onwards)	S$800

If you’re not sure when your card membership year ends, you can determine this by checking the expiry date on your card. For example, if your expiry month is 05/24 (May 2024), your membership year runs from 1st May to 30th April each year.

In that example, you’ll now need to hit S$800+ in SIA Group spend to unlock your Accelerated Miles, since your current membership year is 1st May 2022 to 30th April 2023 (i.e. ending in April 2023 onwards).

That’s quite sneaky, since it’s not what you would have been expecting at the start of the membership year, and you may have already planned or made your SIA Group spending of S$500 accordingly. It now won’t be enough.

This latest change comes after UOB dreamt up a ridiculously overcomplicated validity extension for miles earned in 2021.

Under that “promotion”, an extra year will be added to the expiry date of miles, but only by following a process the bank must have known no one will actually use, since it requires customers to remember to send an SMS or two in 2024, to actually make it happen!

Terms and conditions

For further details about this change, see the card’s updated terms and conditions document.

When it comes to SIA Group spend for 3 mpd bonus miles accrual, UOB’s generosity for KrisFlyer co-brand credit card customers back in 2021 by reducing the threshold by 40% was recently reversed back to the normal level, which is understandable now that overseas travel is largely available again.

Unfortunately, this is UOB.

That means it’s “payback time”, and for cardholders with membership year-end dates from 1st April 2023 onwards, there’s a 60% hike in SIA Group spend now required to unlock this 3 mpd rate on things like food delivery transactions, dining, and transport spend.

With travel largely available once again, this may not be too difficult to achieve, and there’s still the KrisShop option if you now find that you fall short, but to apply it halfway through the membership year for many cardholders (like it or lump it) is “so UOB”.

Like we said when this Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer co-brand card was first launched, the execution has unfortunately been left in the hands of a bank that always has to walk away with the upper hand.

For full details of the KrisFlyer UOB credit card, see our comprehensive review covering all its pros and cons.