Singapore Airlines’ “lifestyle app” Kris+ has formed a new miles earning partnership that allows KrisFlyer members to accrue miles for pre-booked taxi rides across the city, in a deal with ComfortDelGro, Singapore’s largest taxi operator.
This comes after the Kris+ platform also made miles earning for restaurant reservations possible in a tie-up with Chope earlier this year, and adds another regular expense for many KrisFlyer members to the miles-earning sphere.
Kris+, the lifestyle rewards app by Singapore Airlines, has partnered with CDG Zig to launch a taxi ride booking feature on Kris+.
Singapore Airlines
Earn rate
Booking a ComfortDelGro taxi via the Kris+ app will normally net you 1 KrisFlyer mile for every full S$3 spent, which is a relatively lousy earn rate of 0.33 mpd, the worst of any Kris+ earn merchant.
However, a launch promotion is currently running for bookings made between now and 31st March 2023 offering nine times as many miles – an earn rate of 3 mpd.
This can be accrued on an unlimited number of bookings, and stacks with miles earned for Kris+ spend on your credit card for the payment itself, worth an extra 4 mpd in some cases – meaning a total of up to 7 mpd during the promotion period (and up to 4.33 mpd thereafter).
How it works
You can book your ComfortDelGro taxi ride through a new option on the Kris+ app homepage, which then uses the CDG Zig platform to complete the booking and earn you miles in the process.
Since the Kris+ app fully embeds the CDG Zig features (albeit in a slightly ‘clunky’ way), you can book and track your taxi in-app as if you were doing so directly through the provider’s own platform.
Here’s the process:
- Click the “Book A Taxi” button on the Kris+ app homepage
- Enter your pick up point and destination
- Confirm your fare
- Track the location and status of your taxi
KrisPay miles are credited at the end of the trip, and you can then transfer them across to KrisFlyer miles within seven days.
Currently Kris+ only supports booking a 4-seater normal taxi, with Limo or MaxiCab options not yet available through the platform (like they are bookable through the CDG Zig app).
Does it cost the same?
The fare payable for these taxi bookings is generally more expensive than the one you’ll pay when booking directly with the CDG Zip app, due to the small addition of a Kris+ platform fee of S$0.30 per booking.
Effectively, you are paying 30 cents to earn the additional miles, compared to a ‘standard’ CDG Zig booking.
Do note that Kris+ will also hold an S$8 surcharge in addition to the quoted fare on your payment card to cover things like ERP charges (even for short routes that clearly won’t incur them).
Actual payment of the final amount will be collected on completion of your trip, with the S$8 refunded if no additional charges were incurred.
We also noted that the fare itself for a ComfortRIDE can vary slightly between the CDG Zip app and the Kris+ app, by up to around S$1 (sometimes cheaper, sometimes more expensive, sometimes the same).
That’s annoying, because a S$1 difference on a S$20 fare, for example, pretty much outweighs the 60 KrisFlyer miles that can be earned using Kris+ as the payment platform (without taking into account miles earned from your credit card).
You’ll also no doubt want to be pricing up the fare against not only CDG Zip direct, but also alternatives like Grab and GoJek, so there’s a fair bit of mental maths to contend with here, just to book a ride somewhere!
Use the right credit card for up to 7 mpd
ComfortDelGro transactions made via the Kris+ app will code under MCC 4121: Taxicabs and Limousines, and that means you can tap into some 4 mpd earn rates with a variety of credit cards, subject to their monthly requirements and spending caps.
Those miles are issued by your bank, so they come on top of up to 3 mpd Kris+ is dishing out with this promotion, and that means up to 7 mpd total effective earning on these taxi rides.
Here’s an example of the cards which should give you upwards of 4 mpd for Comfort taxi rides booked through Kris+ with in-app payment.
| Card | Earn rate | Spend Cap per calendar month |
 DBS WWMC |
4 mpd | S$2,000 |
 HSBC Revo |
4 mpd | S$1,000 |
 UOB Lady’s |
4 mpd | S$1,000 (Lady’s) or S$3,000 (Lady’s Solitaire) Subject to Transport being chosen as one of your bonus categories at the start of the month |
 Maybank Horizon Visa Signature |
3.2 mpd | S$4,285 (min. S$300 spend per month in any category) |
 UOB KF |
3 mpd | No cap |
Be careful not to use Citi Rewards cards to make in-app payments on Kris+, since mobile wallet payments are specifically excluded from that card’s bonus miles earning, regardless of the merchant MCC.
Remember there is now no cap on 3 mpd earning for Kris+ transactions made using the UOB KrisFlyer credit card – so that’s a nice hassle-free unlimited 6 mpd option during the promotion period, and 3.33 mpd thereafter.
These cards also earn bonus rates on Grab and GoJek
It’s worth pointing out that the credit cards mentioned above will also earn their bonus rate for ride-hailing bookings on platforms like Grab and GoJek (as do the Citi Rewards cards in this case), so the true benefit of using CDG Zip via Kris+ is only the differential 3 mpd on offer until 31st March 2023, and just 0.33 mpd thereafter.
That’s fine when a Kris+ taxi is available for the same price or lower than these alternatives, but assuming you don’t wish to “buy” KrisFlyer miles at more than 1.8 cents each, you should only consider paying more for your ride via Kris+ when the fare is higher only by approximately the following amounts (during the 3 mpd promotion period).
- S$10 ride – S$0.54
- S$15 ride – S$0.81
- S$20 ride – S$1.08
- S$30 ride – S$1.62
For example, if a Grab ride for your route is S$20, you should only consider the Kris+ Taxi option if the fare is S$21 or less (buying 63 miles for 1.59 cents each).
If Kris+ is charging S$22 in this example, the 66 additional miles you are earning during the promotional period are costing you S$2 (3 cents each), which is well over the odds.
The situation becomes much more stark after the promotion period, when the incremental earn rate is slashed to 0.33 mpd, at which point you should not be paying more at all to ride with Kris+ Taxi purely to earn miles, if there is a cheaper option.
At that stage (from 1st April 2023), a fare increment of just S$0.10 for a S$20 taxi booking is the maximum worth paying for the measly miles increment on offer!
Transfer immediately to KrisFlyer
KrisPay miles earned through Kris+ can only be transferred to your KrisFlyer account within seven days of the transaction. To do so, simply tap on the “Transfer to KrisFlyer” button which will appear on the miles earned confirmation screen or transaction details screen.
You can do so later (within seven days), but why wait?
Remember that KrisPay miles earned per transaction can only be transferred to your account in their entirety. For example, if you earned 1,000 KrisPay miles from a single Kris+ transaction, the full 1,000 KrisPay miles must be transferred to your KrisFlyer account. If you have already spent some of your KrisPay miles earned, a partial transfer option is not available.
We therefore recommend transferring to KrisFlyer immediately following any Kris+ earning transaction like this, in case you either forget or make a mistake later.
You can also use KrisPay miles to book
This new taxi booking function via Kris+ also gives you the option to use KrisPay miles in your Kris+ wallet to pay for your ride.
Unfortunately this is at the regular value of 0.67 cents per mile when redeeming miles for Kris+ transactions, which is quite terrible.
It’s therefore not something you’ll want to be doing unless you have KrisPay miles stuck in the Kris+ app, which cannot be transferred to your KrisFlyer account.
Summary
If you regularly book Comfort taxis using the CDG Zig app, this new partnership with KrisFlyer via the Kris+ app could be a good way to rack up additional miles throughout the year.
That’s especially true during the promotion period between now and 31st March 2023, with nine times as many miles on offer compared to usual, meaning you can earn up to 7 mpd in total.
These kind of smaller KrisFlyer miles accruals aren’t going to see you on your way to Sydney in Business Class any time soon, but every little helps!
Do be careful not to pay more than other ride-hailing services for your trip simply to accrue additional miles (or at least, not much more), since you’re then buying miles at a rate over the odds, but if it’s the same price or less this is a nice instant earning option.
(Cover Photo: ComfortDelGro)