Singapore Airlines has announced improvements to the year-round KrisFlyer redemption rates for its ‘Mix KrisFlyer miles and cash’ option, and for many non-flight spending categories like KrisShop, effective from 1st July 2025.
While the enhancements will offer better and more consistent value for on-ground miles-based spend across these options, the improvements remain modest and don’t fundamentally change their poor value proposition compared to traditional Saver award redemptions.
What’s changing from 1st July 2025
The changes affect redemption rates across Singapore Airlines’ entire in-house on-ground spending network, and for the ‘Mix KrisFlyer miles and cash’ option with a standardisation to 100 miles per S$1 (i.e. 1 cent per mile value) across all platforms.
“These enhancements to the KrisFlyer redemption rates deliver more value to members, while making miles redemption more intuitive and consistent. Members will get more from every mile when booking flights, dining out, shopping, or enjoying travel experiences.”
Bryan Koh, Divisional VP Loyalty Marketing, Singapore Airlines
The standardisation to 100 miles per S$1 across all non-flight platforms does indeed create welcome simplicity, making it easier for members to calculate redemption values without any complex mental maths involved!
Importantly, do note that the usual (and best-value) KrisFlyer redemption option for award flights is unaffected by this change, so don’t worry – you can still redeem Saver and Advantage awards at the usual rates, even from 1st July 2025 onwards!
Mix KrisFlyer miles and cash for flights
The rate for using miles to partially offset SIA and Scoot flight fares will improve from 105 miles per S$1 to 100 miles per S$1. The minimum redemption threshold also drops commensurately, from 1,050 miles to 1,000 miles.
| Mix KrisFlyer miles and cash | |
| Current Rate (until 30th June 2025) |
New Rate (from 1st July 2025) |
| 105 Miles S$1 0.95 cents per mile |
100 Miles S$1 1 cent per mile |
| Min redemption: 1,050 miles | Min redemption: 1,000 miles |
While welcome, this “improvement” to 1 cent per mile actually represents a step backward from historical rates.
Before 17th August 2021, the Mix Miles and Cash option offered 980 miles to offset S$10 of fare, delivering 1.02 cents per mile value. The rate was subsequently devalued to 1,050 miles per S$10 (0.95 cents per mile), and now “improves” to 100 miles per S$1 (equivalent to 1,000 miles per S$10).
In essence, despite this enhancement, KrisFlyer members are still getting worse value than they did four years ago for this particular redemption method!
Again, remember that this only applies when using miles to partially offset the total fare for SIA and Scoot flight tickets – regular full Saver and Advantage award redemptions are not affected or lumped in with this new rate – thank goodness!
Non-flight redemptions standardised
The most significant improvements come in non-flight redemptions, with some platforms seeing up to 49% better value:
The rate for using miles to partially offset SIA and Scoot flight fares will improve from 105 miles per S$1 to 100 miles per S$1. The minimum redemption threshold also drops commensurately, from 1,050 miles to 1,000 miles.
| Redeem for KrisPay miles | |
| Current Rate (until 30th June 2025) |
New Rate (from 1st July 2025) |
| 150 Miles S$1 0.67 cents per mile |
100 Miles S$1 1 cent per mile |
| Min redemption: 15 miles | Min redemption: 10 miles |
Converting your KrisFlyer miles into KrisPay miles, the currency of the Kris+ app, gets a significant year-round value boost of 49% with only 100 miles required to offset S$1 from your bill at over 400 retail merchants across Singapore.
| Redeem for KrisShop purchases | |
| Current Rate (until 30th June 2025) |
New Rate (from 1st July 2025) |
| 125 Miles S$1 0.80 cents per mile |
100 Miles S$1 1 cent per mile |
| Min redemption: 1,000 miles | Min redemption: 1,000 miles |
The KrisShop’s year-round 0.8 cents per mile rate for KrisFlyer redemptions is being hiked by 25% to 1 cent per mile – though remember to shop around first as KrisShop isn’t always the cheapest place to source items, with some heavy markups applied in some cases.
The 1 cent per mile valuation is only accurate if you’re not overpaying for your KrisShop items, compared to other websites or stores.
One nice benefit for KrisShop redemptions is that they are flexible on a sliding scale, allowing you to choose exactly how many miles you wish to redeem, with the remainder of the purchase possible in cash if you wish – great for optimising a cash-out of only your expiring miles.
| Redeem for Pelago experiences | |
| Current Rate (until 30th June 2025) |
New Rate (from 1st July 2025) |
| 150 Miles S$1 0.67 cents per mile |
100 Miles S$1 1 cent per mile |
| Min redemption: 1,050 miles | Min redemption: 1,000 miles |
Pelago redemptions will also get a 49% value boost on a year-round basis as part of these changes, with the Klook-like site specialising in activities and experience bookings both in Singapore and across the world.
Full list of redemption value for KrisFlyer miles
Here’s a look at how these upcoming rate increases and harmonisation will affect our table of redemption value for your KrisFlyer miles from 1st July 2025.
Redemption value for KrisFlyer miles
from 1st July 2025
| 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¢ |
| Transfer to Kris+ |
10 | 1.00¢ |
| Offset a KrisShop purchase |
1,000 | 1.00¢ |
| Redeem a Pelago experience | 1,000 | 1.00¢ |
| Offset an SIA or Scoot cash fare | 1,000 | 1.00¢ |
| 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 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.
The bigger picture: Still poor value compared to flight awards
While Singapore Airlines deserves credit for improving these rates and creating consistency across platforms, the fundamental value proposition remains problematic for savvy KrisFlyer members.
At 1 cent per mile, these redemption options still pale in comparison to the value achievable through Saver award tickets, particularly in premium cabins. A typical Business Class Saver award can deliver 3-6 cents per mile in value, while First Class awards can even exceed 8-10 cents per mile on long-haul routes, if you put ‘face value’ on the saving you are achieving.
Even if you wouldn’t usually pay SIA’s typically high cash fares for these cabins, redeeming miles for them often still delivers strong value – typically 2 cents per mile or more – when compared to the cheapest Business Class options with competitors on similar routes. That’s more than double the value you’d get from even the enhanced ground-based cash-out alternative at 1 cent per mile.
When these options might make sense
Despite the poor relative value, there are limited scenarios where these redemption options could be justified:
- Expiring miles: When you have no upcoming travel plans for a full award flight redemption and your miles are approaching expiry
- Small expiring balances: When you have insufficient miles for a meaningful award redemption, or wish to preserve your non-expiring balance and a small quantity of miles are approaching expiry
- Convenience: For immediate flight confirmation when your plans are fixed and award availability is poor
- Orphan miles: As a way to cash out of the programme, if you have a balance of ‘orphan’ miles that you will not be adding to in future
- LCC-addicts: If you only wish to redeem KrisFlyer miles for Scoot flights (why?!)
Promotional rates often exceed the new “improved” baseline
It’s worth noting that these new standardised redemption rates have regularly been available – or even exceeded – through temporary promotional offers across KrisFlyer’s non-flight platforms.
At the time of writing, Pelago is offering a best-ever 35% discount on miles redemptions, delivering 97 miles per S$1 (1.03 cents per mile value) – already better than the new July baseline.
KrisShop currently provides 30% off miles required site-wide, meaning just 88 miles nets S$1 in value (1.14 cents per mile) – again that’s better than the enhanced year-round rate from July.
Even Kris+ has recently offered enhanced value through a 30% bonus KrisPay miles transfer promotion, effectively delivering 0.9 cents per mile when converting from KrisFlyer, not far off its new long-term rate from July.
These frequent promotional rates raise questions about whether the July 2025 “improvements” represent genuine enhancements, or are simply a reset that will make any future promotions appear less generous.
For savvy KrisFlyer members, this reinforces the importance of timing these kind of redemptions strategically where possible. Even with the improved base rates, waiting for promotional periods could still deliver meaningfully better value for those committed to non-flight redemption options.
Summary
These improvements represent a welcome step, but they don’t change our fundamental recommendation: KrisFlyer miles are best reserved for Saver award redemptions, particularly in premium cabins where the value proposition remains far more compelling.
The standardised 1 cent per mile rate makes these options more predictable and more valuable than before, but they should still be considered a last resort for most members – primarily benefitting those with expiring miles and no upcoming travel plans.
Focus your miles strategy on full award redemptions, and use these enhanced cash-out award rates only when circumstances make flight awards impractical – with expiring balances approaching.
The core KrisFlyer value proposition remains firmly rooted in its award charts for flight redemptions, and thankfully there are no changes to report there, as part of this latest announcement.
(Cover Photo: Singapore Airlines)