For over four years, the Kris+ “lifestyle app” by Singapore Airlines has allowed members to earn and redeem KrisFlyer miles at a wide variety of merchants across Singapore, for some attractive ways to boost your miles bonus with everyday spend from simple things like a quick coffee, right through to big-ticket items like furniture, computers and electrical appliances.
While the app has allowed partner promotions overseas in several other markets for some time, earning and burning miles in these countries hasn’t been possible… until now.
Kris+ earning is now available in Australia
From 20th November 2023, Kris+ now allows miles earning in Australia, for the first time.
Initially there are only 44 Kris+ partners across Australia supporting miles earning.
That’s not too surprising – when Kris+ first launched miles earning in Singapore under its former KrisPay branding in March 2019, only 27 merchants were lined up (there are now well over 400).
Hopefully the options in Australia will see a similar boost in the years ahead.
Here’s a full list of the merchants offering KrisFlyer miles earning in Australia, as of 29th November 2023.
| Merchant | MEL | SYD | Earn Rate |
| 124 Shoes | 3 mpd | ||
| Altea Milano | 3 mpd | ||
| Bay Nine Omakase | 2 mpd | ||
| Belgian Beer Cafe | 3 mpd | ||
| Benjamin Barker | 3 mpd | ||
| Bistro Nido | 3 mpd | ||
| Botanica Wellness Spa & Clinic | 3 mpd | ||
| Bowltiful | 2 mpd | ||
| Brunetti Oro | 3 mpd | ||
| Bubble Nini | 3 mpd | ||
| CoCo Frsh Tea & Juice | 3 mpd | ||
| Comebuytea | 3 mpd | ||
| Cuff | 3 mpd | ||
| D1 Store | 1 mpd | ||
| Daybreak Cafe | 3 mpd | ||
| Devon Cafe | 3 mpd | ||
| Don’t Tell Aunty | 3 mpd | ||
| Dulcet Cakes & Sweets | 3 mpd | ||
| Dutch Smuggler Coffee Brewers | 3 mpd | ||
| Funda | 3 mpd | ||
| Gai Wong | 1 mpd | ||
| Gallery Oz | 3 mpd | ||
| Harbourfront Seafood | 2 mpd | ||
| Haven Specialty Coffee | 3 mpd | ||
| Heartling | 1 mpd | ||
| Ichi-ban Boshi | 1 mpd | ||
| ILZA | 3 mpd | ||
| Kakawa Chocolates | 3 mpd | ||
| Kan Eang by Thai Culinary | 2 mpd | ||
| Kazan Dining | 3 mpd | ||
| Killiney Kopitiam | 3 mpd | ||
| La Petal Floral Design | 3 mpd | ||
| Le Monde | 3 mpd | ||
| Mecca Alexandria | 3 mpd | ||
| Mecca King Street | 3 mpd | ||
| Mr Tulk Cafe | 3 mpd | ||
| Pablo & Rusty’s | 3 mpd | ||
| Pawa Cafe & Bar | 3 mpd | ||
| Quiz Room | 3 mpd | ||
| Spago | 3 mpd | ||
| The Blue Door | 2 mpd | ||
| The Ugg Shop | 3 mpd | ||
| Virtual Room | 3 mpd | ||
| Wholegreen Bakery | 3 mpd |
Up to 2,000 bonus miles
Between now and 31st December 2023, if you are a new Kris+ user (who downloaded the app after 0.00am AEDT on 20th November 2023) and you make payments of at least AU$15 using Kris+ at these new partners across the Sydney and Melbourne CBDs, you can earn up to 2,000 bonus KrisFlyer miles.
- Payment at 1 merchant: 1,000 bonus miles
- Payment at 2 or more merchants: 2,000 bonus miles
You will only be entitled to one of these rewards, not both, so the maximum you can achieve is 2,000 bonus miles.
Only the first 2,000 users with eligible payments will earn the bonus miles, which will be credited to your Kris+ account as KrisPay miles by 22nd January 2024.
These bonus miles are transferable to KrisFlyer miles within seven days of being credited to your account, so watch out for them since you’ll almost certainly want to convert.
Full terms and conditions for this promotion are available here.
How to earn miles with Kris+ when purchasing
To earn miles using Kris+, you’ll need to have the latest version of the Kris+ app installed on your mobile device, and you’ll also need to have Apple Pay or Google Pay set up on your device too.
Since September 2021, in-app payments have been the only way to earn Kris+ miles when purchasing in-store at a Kris+ earning partner.
When you reach the check out at a participating merchant, tell them you want to pay with Kris+ and then tap the Pay icon at the bottom of the app home screen on your device.
You can then scan the merchant’s QR code, which is usually presented near the till, or you can ask them for it because sometimes its gathering dust in a drawer!
You then need to enter the total payment amount and press Pay.
Note how payment using KrisPay miles defaults to off – this is probably the best option as you want to earn as many KrisPay miles as possible for the transaction, which means making full payment using Apple Pay or Google Pay with your linked credit card.
Once the payment is complete, you’ll have the KrisPay miles added to your account instantly.
You should then transfer these immediately to your KrisFlyer account.
You only have seven days to do so, before the miles are stuck in KrisPay, with a paltry 0.67 cents rebate value against future purchases.
Our advice is to just do the transfer there and then, by pressing the Transfer to KrisFlyer button, in case you forget or partially use the earned miles by mistake before transferring, which also locks them into KrisPay miles permanently.
Credit card points are in addition
You will also accrue points or miles on your credit card for spend made on Kris+ payment transactions, whether that be your Australian or other credit card, like a Singapore-issued option, provided it is linked to Apple Pay or Google Pay on your mobile device.
That can significantly add to your total haul, so just use the card that offers the highest miles earn rate for the specific Kris+ merchant (e.g. dining).
You can also spend KrisPay miles in Australia
Just like in Singapore, you can also spend your KrisPay miles (or KrisFlyer miles transferred into the Kris+ app as KrisPay miles) to offset your purchases, but just like in Singapore the value is lousy, so you probably don’t want to do this.
15 KrisPay miles will offset AU$0.10 of spend, making them worth 0.67 Australian cents each.
Arguably that’s even worse than in Singapore, where 15 KrisPay miles will offset S$0.10 of spend (0.67 Singapore cents each), since 0.67 Australian cents at current exchange rates is worth only about 0.59 Singapore cents.
Kris+ earning options in Singapore
If you’re not using Kris+ to earn additional miles for dining, retail, wellness or other goods and services in Singapore, then you’re potentially missing out on thousands of additional KrisFlyer miles each year.
The “lifestyle app” has progressively extended its reach across many popular (and admittedly some less well-known) outlets right across the country over the last few years.
Here’s the latest list of all Kris+ merchants and their respective regular earn rates, before credit card points and miles are accounted for.
Summary
Kris+ is spreading its wings, and now allows you to earn and redeem miles with over 40 merchants in Australia as well as Singapore, for the first time.
This is great news for our Australia-based readers, or those of you heading to Sydney or Melbourne on a trip, with additional miles on top of your credit card points for a range of spend including dining and retail options.
Hopefully the earning list will expend to other cities, merchants and even more countries in future.
Further details of the new Kris+ expansion are available here.
(Cover Photo: Shangri-La)