Amex KrisFlyer S$150 SIA cashback cut to S$100, but with half the spend

American Express has updated the terms and conditions of its entry-level KrisFlyer (Blue) Credit Card. The changes take effect in 30 days from now, and they rework the card’s main non-miles benefit – the Singapore Airlines S$150 cashback.

Until today, cardholders who spent S$12,000 between 1st July 2026 and 30th June 2027 earned S$150 back on a Singapore Airlines booking, but that benefit now ends early, on 18th November 2026.

A new, smaller S$100 version replaces it, with a lower spend requirement but stricter conditions on when you use it.

The changeover rules for existing cardholders are quite complex. Depending on how much you’ve already spent since July, you could end up with S$100 instead of the S$150 you were aiming for. Even if you’ve already qualified for the S$150, you’ll now have less time to use it.

What’s changing

Here’s how the original S$150 benefit compares with the revised version and the new S$100 benefit.

Amex KrisFlyer Singapore Airlines Cashback
	As launched	Revised (until 18 Nov)	New (from 19 Nov)
Cashback	S$150	S$150	S$100
Qualifying spend	S$12,000	S$12,000	S$6,000
Qualifying period	1 Jul 2026 30 Jun 2027	1 Jul 2026 18 Nov 2026	19 Nov 2026 18 May 2027
Minimum booking	S$800	S$800	S$400
Time to book	12 months	6 months	2 months
Return on spend	1.25%	1.25%	1.67%
Equivalent to*	+0.69 mpd	+0.69 mpd	+0.93 mpd

* If you value the cashback at 1.8 cents per KrisFlyer mile

The rest of the rules haven’t changed – the cashback still applies only to a Singapore Airlines flight originating from Singapore, booked in Singapore dollars directly through singaporeair.com or the SingaporeAir app, as a single transaction.

Pay Small bookings are still excluded, and the cashback is credited to your statement around 90 days after the booking. It can also still be reversed if you cancel or refund the ticket.

The S$150 benefit gets cut short

The current S$150 benefit was due to run until 30th June 2027, but it now closes on 18th November 2026, so anyone working towards it has just over four months of spend counted instead of a full year.

Those who have already qualified are affected too.

The time allowed to make your Singapore Airlines booking has been halved from 12 months to 6 months. This applies to everyone who hasn’t yet received their cashback, including those who hit S$12,000 before today’s announcement.

So if you crossed the S$12,000 mark on 15th August 2026, you previously had until 15th August 2027 to book. You now have until 15th February 2027. If you’d been saving the cashback for a later trip, that might need a rethink.

The new S$100 benefit

From 19th November 2026, the benefit becomes a S$100 cashback, earned by spending S$6,000 between 19th November 2026 and 18th May 2027.

On paper this looks better – you need to spend half as much, and the minimum booking drops from S$800 to S$400, which brings a lot of regional Economy Class return trips within reach.

The effective return also improves from 1.25% to 1.67% of your spend.

The downside is the more restrictive time limit – you have just 2 months from the date you hit S$6,000 to complete your booking, making the new benefit far less flexible.

Under the old rules, a cardholder could hit the spend target and use the cashback whenever a suitable trip came along within the next year. Now you’ll need a trip in mind around the time you hit the spend threshold.

The S$100 cashback isn’t available to anyone who received the S$150 cashback for the 1st July to 18th November 2026 period, so no stacking here, in case you were wondering.

Transitional arrangements for existing cardholders

Existing cardholders fall into one of three groups, depending on how much they’ve charged to the card between 1st July 2026 and 18th November 2026.

Amex says existing cardholders will receive dedicated communications explaining which arrangement applies to them.

As well as how much you’ve spent, this can depend on whether you’ve already received the S$150 cashback and when you applied for and were approved for the card. The table below reflects the published terms, but if what Amex sends you says something different, go by that.

Transitional Arrangements
Spend 1 Jul 18 Nov 2026	Cashback	Min. booking	Time to book
S$12,000 or more	S$150	S$800	6 months from hitting S$12,000
S$6,000 – S$11,999	S$100	S$400	2 months from a S$1+ transaction, made by 18 May 2027
Under S$6,000	S$100 (once S$6,000 reached)	S$400	2 months from hitting S$6,000, by 18 May 2027

S$12,000 or more: You keep the S$150 cashback, subject to the shorter 6-month booking window. If you hit S$12,000 right at the deadline, your latest booking date would be 18th May 2027.

S$6,000 to S$11,999: You’ve already done enough for the new S$100 benefit, but you have to activate it. Amex requires you to make any transaction of at least S$1 on or before 18th May 2027. You then have 2 months from that transaction to make an Eligible SIA Flight booking of at least S$400.

Under S$6,000: Your spend since July carries over. Once your total reaches S$6,000, the 2-month booking clock starts.

Better or worse?

Whether these arrangements are better or worse going forward depends on how you use the card – not everyone loses.

On spend alone, the new benefit is more rewarding. Valuing the cashback at 1.8 cents per mile, S$100 on S$6,000 is worth around 5,560 miles, equivalent to an extra 0.93 mpd. The card earns 1.1 mpd on general spend, so your effective rate on that first S$6,000 rises to about 2.03 mpd. Under the old structure it was 1.79 mpd on the first S$12,000.

Also, S$6,000 over six months is the same S$1,000 a month that S$12,000 over a year required. Amex hasn’t said what happens after 18th May 2027, beyond reserving the right to set “such other period” as it chooses. If the S$100 benefit renews every six months, someone spending S$1,000 a month would earn S$200 a year instead of S$150. That’s a big if though, and we wouldn’t count on it just yet.

Some cardholders clearly lose out:

• Anyone who has already qualified for the S$150, whose time to use it has been halved retroactively
• Anyone who was planning to reach S$12,000 between now and June 2027, who now gets S$100 instead, unless they can reach S$12,000 by 18th November
• Everyone on the new benefit, who must book within two months, which isn’t much time to plan a trip

As with the old version, the cashback is only worth anything if you were going to buy a Singapore Airlines ticket from Singapore anyway. Now you also need to be ready to book within two months of qualifying.

What should you do?

Look out for the communication Amex is sending existing cardholders about these changes, since it should confirm which arrangement applies to you.

If you’ve already passed S$12,000: Work out the date you crossed the threshold and add six months. That’s your new deadline for booking a Singapore Airlines flight of S$800 or more. Bookings made later won’t earn the cashback.

If you’re between S$6,000 and S$11,999: You have a decision to make before 18th November.

You could push your spend up to S$12,000 to lock in the S$150 cashback with its six-month window, rather than settling for S$100 with two months. That’s an extra S$50, but it comes with a higher S$800 booking minimum. Whether it’s worth it depends on what card that extra spend would otherwise go on – there are many better ones than this!

Moving S$3,000 from a 4 mpd card to this one at 1.1 mpd, for example, costs you around 8,700 miles, worth roughly S$157, to gain S$50 – a clear loss. Moving it from a 1.2 or 1.4 mpd general spend card costs only a few hundred miles, so the extra S$50 can come out ahead.

If you do try for S$12,000, don’t leave it until the last day. We’d aim to be over the line by around 14th November, to allow for any delay in transactions posting.

If you stay below S$12,000, your two months to book start from your S$1 activation transaction, so don’t use the card from 19th November until you’re ready to book a Singapore Airlines flight. When you are, make a small purchase on the card, then make sure you book within two months.

If you’re under S$6,000: Keep spending as normal, but bear in mind that the clock starts the moment you reach S$6,000. If you have no Singapore Airlines trip in mind, consider stopping just short of the threshold and putting your spend on another card until you’re ready to book. Alternatively, if you can reach S$6,000 by 18th November, you’ll move into the S$6,000 to S$11,999 group instead, where the S$1 activation lets you choose when your two months start.

If you’re a new cardholder from 19th November: The one simple scenario! Spend S$6,000 by 18th May 2027, then book a Singapore Airlines flight of S$400 or more within two months.

Terms and conditions

Here are the updated card terms and conditions, which include details of these changes on pages 6 to 8.

• Updated Card Member Agreement and Benefits T&Cs
• Non-eligible transactions

The Amex KrisFlyer Credit Card’s Singapore Airlines cashback was a useful extra for anyone putting S$12,000 a year through the card and buying an SIA ticket anyway. From 19th November 2026 it becomes a smaller but easier to reach S$100 benefit. The return on spend actually improves, but a two-month booking window is now very restrictive by comparison.

Importantly, those who have already qualified for the S$150 now have half the time to use it.

If you’re between S$6,000 and S$12,000, decide before 18th November whether the extra S$50 is worth the spend. If you’re staying on the S$100 benefit, keep the card in the sock drawer after 19th November until you have a Singapore Airlines booking ready to go.

(Cover Photo: MainlyMiles)