Back in December 2022, it became possible to earn KrisFlyer miles for taxi rides in Singapore through a partnership between the Kris+ app and ComfortDelGro, Singapore’s largest taxi operator.
To celebrate the launch, a promotional rate of 3 mpd was offered for all bookings until 31st March 2023, after which the rate was set to drop by a whopping 89% to a measly 0.33 mpd (1 mile earned per S$3 spent).
The promotional rate was then briefly extended, but did sadly to an end on 1st May 2023, when as promised it reverted to 0.33 mpd.
The good news is that Kris+ has hiked (in fact tripled) the earn rate once again for taxi bookings made through its app to 1 mpd between now and the end of 2023, plus has thankfully axed the fixed additional S$0.30 “platform fee” for each booking.
That’s what made the 0.33 mpd rate completely useless compared to booking directly through the CDG Zig app, since it meant buying miles at rates way over the odds for 90% of journeys over the last four months.
Earn 1 mpd on CDG taxi rides
Between now and 31st December 2023, you will earn 1 KrisPay mile per S$1 spent on taxi rides booked with CDG Zig via the Kris+ app.
Since KrisPay miles transfer 1:1 into your KrisFlyer account within seven days of being credited to your account, this is effectively a 1 mpd earn rate for these bookings.
To make a booking, launch the Kris+ app and click “Book A Ride” from the list of options near the top of the home screen.
This then redirects you to the CDG Zig app to make your taxi or ride booking, entering your pick up point and destination as usual.
Note that an S$8 surcharge is added to your booking, to cover additional charges like ERP gantry fees. The unused amount of this surcharge will be refunded after your ride, which in many cases means you’ll simply get all S$8 back.
At the payment stage, you’ll be redirected back to Kris+ to make in-app payment using KrisPay miles, credit card via Apple Pay or Google Pay, or a combination if you wish.
For most of our miles-loving readers, using KrisPay miles via the app is poor value at 0.67 Singapore cents each, so the best bet is to pay by credit card and just solely earn miles.
As you can see in this example, the S$20 ride will earn 20 KrisPay miles, though remember if the S$8 surcharge is fully refunded the trip will actually cost S$16 and therefore 16 KrisPay miles will be awarded.
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.
Platform fee axed
When Kris+ slashed the earn rate for taxi rides booked through the app to 0.33 mpd in May this year, the fixed S$0.30 platform fee became a big issue.
Why? Because it killed the earning method completely.
Since you were paying S$0.30 more for a ride compared to a direct booking via the CDG Zig app, to justify the additional expense your single taxi ride had to come in at S$50 or more, which almost none do in Singapore!
Anything less than that and you were “buying miles” at an unreasonably high rate – 10 cents per mile for example on a S$10 ride!
Thankfully as part of these changes, Kris+ has not only hiked the earn rate but has abolished the platform fee, removing any reference to it from its FAQs.
Kris+ FAQs
A Kris+ platform fee of SGD 0.30 on top of the ComfortRIDE fare is applicable and will be included in the final billing amount paid.
(text deleted 4th September 2023)
Here’s how it looked before the change compared to now.
Now that the S$0.30 platform fee has been abolished (or at least set to zero for now), the additional 1 mpd you are earning on these rides is basically “free”, compared to a direct CDG Zig app booking.
Use the right credit card for up to 7 mpd
ComfortDelGro transactions made via the Kris+ app will code under MCC 4789: Transportation Services Not Elsewhere Classified, and that means if you are going to use the service (which you probably shouldn’t anymore), you can tap into some 3 mpd, 4 mpd and 6 mpd earn rates with a variety of credit cards.
Those miles are issued by your bank, so they come on top of up the 1 mpd Kris+ is offering, 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 6 mpd for Comfort taxi rides booked through Kris+ with in-app payment.
| Card | Earn rate | Spend Cap per calendar month |
 UOB Lady’s |
6 mpd | S$1,000 (Lady’s) or S$3,000 (Lady’s Solitaire) Subject to Transport being chosen as one of your bonus categories |
 DBS WWMC |
4 mpd | S$2,000 |
 Maybank Horizon Visa Signature |
3.2 mpd | S$4,285 (min. S$300 spend per month in any category) |
 SC Journey |
3 mpd | S$1,000 (per statement month, ends 31 Dec 2023) |
 UOB KF |
3 mpd | No minimum spend 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.
Similarly the HSBC Revolution card will not offer 4 mpd on MCC 4789.
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 4 mpd option during this promotion.
Future earning will be 0.5 mpd
In other good news, CDG Zig bookings via the Kris+ app won’t be reverting to the lousy 0.33 mpd rate again from 1st January 2024.
Instead, the platform has decided on a 0.5 mpd rate going forward (1 mile per S$2 spent) – still not great but certainly better than nothing and 50% better than the original long-term earning.
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 1 mpd (or later 0.5 mpd) on offer.
That makes these apps worth checking in case they come in at a similar or cheaper rate that through CDG Zig for the same ride booking. Remember you’re not sacrificing a huge number of miles, since the credit card accrual is higher than the Kris+ accrual, so it’s almost always better to go for the cheapest ride (if that’s Kris+, great, if it’s not – no problem).
You can also use KrisPay miles to book
The taxi booking function via Kris+ also still gives you the option to use KrisPay miles in your Kris+ wallet to pay for your ride.
Unfortunately this remains 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. Even then, bonus redemption offers do occasionally come up, so provided your KrisPay miles are not expiring in this example it can still be better to hold off for one of these.
Summary
Kris+ has hiked the earn rate on taxi bookings made through its app from 0.33 mpd to 1 mpd between now and the end of 2023, but most importantly has also axed the S$0.30 platform fee, which meant you were buying miles at unattractive rates almost whatever journey you booked via the app!
Do remember to transfer any KrisPay miles earned via this method straight into KrisFlyer miles, where their real value lies. You have a maximum of seven days to do so.
In more good news, the long-term earn rate from 1st January 2024 will be 50% better than before at 0.5 mpd instead of 0.33 mpd – better than nothing when a ride via the app comes in at the same rate or cheaper than other alternatives like Grab.
Be sure to pay with the right credit card via Kris+ at the check out stage, since you can also net an additional 6 mpd, meaning you can earn up to 7 mpd in total during this promo period, and up to 6.5 mpd after that.
(Cover Photo: ComfortDelGro)