Pelago, SIA’s own Klook-like “destination discovery platform”, has been around since late 2020 and offers a range of activities, experiences and attraction tickets both in Singapore and overseas in destinations like Bangkok, Sydney Phuket and London.
Activities and experiences available include include theme park admission, food and drink tours, wellness treatments and museum tickets, with over 10,000 packages currently available ranging from a few dollars to several thousand dollars, including nearly 500 here in Singapore itself.
The key draw is earning miles for Pelago bookings, usually at a rate of 3 mpd (capped at 5,000 miles per booking), but currently hiked to 9 mpd when you lock in your activity or experience via the Kris+ app, between now and the end of 2024, with no upper earning cap in play.
Nonetheless, there’s also the option to redeem your miles via the platform too.
Redeeming with Pelago is usually poor value… but
As usual with these ‘cash out’ options for your KrisFlyer miles, “earn but don’t burn” has always been our advice – since Pelago only usually offers S$1 off your experience bookings per 150 KrisFlyer miles redeemed year-round (0.67 cents per mile value).
Pelago has brought back a bonus offer, with a 20% redemption discount, meaning only 120 KrisFlyer miles will get you S$1 off an experience booking (0.83 cents per mile value), between now and 30th November 2024.
However, do note that Pelago has offered a 30% discount on KrisFlyer miles redemptions at least five times over the past year or so, most recently in September 2024.
When that deal is running, it’s probably the optimal time to cash out of expiring KrisFlyer miles via the platform, assuming that’s your intention.
Speaking of KrisFlyer miles expiry, the issue is sadly back in play for many members following several years of reprieve during the COVID-19 pandemic.
KrisFlyer miles started expiring again in July 2023, with monthly batches dropping out of affected accounts then and at the end of each subsequent month after that, including of course on 30th November 2024.
That means in the worst case some members will be waving goodbye to miles, or trying to cash them out at relatively poor value, in the very near future.
Assuming the best use of miles – a flight redemption with Singapore Airlines or a partner airline – isn’t one of your options, our full list starts to look a little sad value-wise.
Redemption value for KrisFlyer miles
| Option | Min. Expiring Miles | Value per mile |
| Redeem an SIA or partner award flight | 8,500 | 1.90¢+ |
| Extend your miles for a fee | 1* | 1.74¢ |
| Transfer to Velocity points | 5,000 | 1.03¢ |
| Offset an SIA or Scoot cash fare | 1,050 | 0.95¢ |
| Redeem a Pelago experience till 30 Nov 2024 |
1,050 | 0.83¢ |
| Offset a KrisShop purchase | 1,000 | 0.80¢ |
| Redeem a vRooms hotel stay | 1,200 | 0.80¢ |
| Transfer to Velocity points then back to KrisFlyer | 7,750 | 0.79¢ |
| Transfer to Shangri-La points | 20,000 | 0.74¢ |
| Transfer to CapitaStar | 3,000 | 0.70¢ |
| Transfer to Kris+ |
1 | 0.67¢ |
| Transfer to Accor Live Limitless | 4,500 | 0.64¢ |
| Transfer to LinkPoints then back to KrisFlyer | 3,390 | 0.60¢ |
| Transfer to LinkPoints | 3,000 | 0.59¢ |
| Transfer to Esso Smiles | 3,000 | 0.47¢ to 0.67¢ |
| Transfer to Marriott Bonvoy | 3,000 | 0.50¢ |
* Or the miles quantity you have expiring in a single calendar month, if greater
Where necessary in this table, a miles redemption value for a Singapore Airlines flight is assumed at 1.9 cents. You may have to adjust the value per mile for some of these options, if your own valuation is different.
However, as you can see a Pelago booking is currently one of the better “cash out” options between now and 30th November 2024, and with a wide range of experiences on offer both in Singapore and around the world there might just be a good activity to use any expiring miles on by booking before they expire, even for a future-dated event.
As you can see though, there are also offers this month to cash out of your KrisFlyer miles at an enhanced rate of 0.89 cents per mile with Kris+ (transfer to KrisPay miles for in-store spend) and for KrisShop at 1.14 cents per mile, the latter allowing flexible part cash / part miles payment.
How it works
Unfortunately Pelago only allows full redemption for an activity or experience using KrisFlyer miles, unlike options such as KrisShop and vRooms which allow you to mix-and-match miles and cash, better optimising a redemption that uses up only your expiring miles.
With Pelago, you’ll therefore ideally want to be redeeming for an experience priced such that it uses up only expiring miles, or at least doesn’t stretch too far into your non-expiring balance.
For example, if you have 11,000 expiring KrisFlyer miles you could redeem this indoor skydiving experience in Singapore at iFly Sentosa.
As you can see the usual cost of S$99 is waived if you use 11,880 KrisFlyer miles instead (0.83 cents per mile). Only 880 of your non-expiring miles will be “wasted” with this redemption, which probably isn’t a dealbreaker.
Even if you’re logged on to your Pelago account, you’ll still be asked for your KrisFlyer account login details to complete the redemption.
You can redeem miles for a future-dated activity, provided you actually book before the miles expire. As always, KrisFlyer miles expiring first will automatically be redeemed first.
Things to note
Other points to note when redeeming miles with Pelago:
- KrisFlyer redemption on Pelago is subject to a minimum spend of 1,050 miles (which would offset an S$8.75 transaction under this deal). Activities cheaper than this don’t offer the KrisFlyer miles redemption option.
- Pelago bookings must be made under your name, or the name of one of your redemption nominees, to redeem miles.
- If you cancel your unused Pelago experience booking made by redeeming from KrisFlyer, your miles will be refunded back into your account within two weeks, but there is no cash refund alternative.
Do note that even though can cancel your Pelago experience booking and have the KrisFlyer miles redeemed refunded to your account within two weeks of cancellation, this does not circumvent the expiry issue.
In this case, the miles will be returned to your account with the same expiry date they had when redeemed. If any of them would have expired already when the refund is processed, those miles will not be refunded.
Full list of expiring miles alternatives
In case you missed it, we have a full guide on how you can get the best value from your expiring miles, from best to worst case, rather than letting them lapse.
Do take a read if any of your stash is affected this month or in the near future, since it’s best to plan as far ahead as you can.
Don’t forget – use Kris+ to book when earning miles
As we mentioned earlier, it’s actually earning miles from your Pelago bookings that makes the most sense, and currently that means netting 9 mpd plus potentially another 4 mpd from your credit card when you do so through the Kris+ app.
For example, in the case of the S$99 indoor skydiving experience in Singapore at iFly Sentosa shown above, which would net you only 297 KrisFlyer miles when booked via the Pelago website with credit card payment, Kris+ will award you with 891 miles instead.
These are credited instantly upon payment, then immediately transferable into your KrisFlyer account at a 1:1 ratio.
For full details of this deal, which runs for bookings made until 31st December 2024, see our dedicated article, which also lists the credit cards you can use to pay with and earn up to 4 mpd on top of the KrisPay miles.
Summary
Pelago has brought back a 20% discount for redeeming KrisFlyer miles on thousands of activities from now until 30th November 2024, so provided you book before then you’ll be able to cash out KrisFlyer miles at 0.83 cents each.
That’s not a great rate compared to most flight redemptions, of course, but it’s not as bad as many other options, like transferring to KrisPay miles in the Kris+ app.
Speaking of Kris+, make sure that’s your go-to for Pelago bookings you’re paying cash for, since there’s currently a 9 mpd offer running until the end of this year.
With miles expiry now in force again since July 2023 – don’t forget about the redemption option, and remember there are many overseas activities on Pelago that could be of interest, like tours or museum tickets, if you have an upcoming overseas trip.
As always though, do try to lock in a flight redemption with your expiring miles if you can – it’s almost always the best value you’ll get.
(Cover Photo: Pelago)