This is our beginner’s guide to redeeming KrisFlyer miles from the Singapore Airlines’ frequent flyer program.
This is part of a series where we’ll walk you through the steps needed to redeem your very first business-class flight ticket with airline miles. We’ve all seen photos of people taking business class flights, with their fancy meals and champagne glasses 30,000 feet in the air.
You wonder how these people do it so frequently, given that business class flight tickets can be as high as tens of thousands of dollars when you search for those tickets online.
The truth is that many people don’t pay anywhere close to that for their flights! It’s possible to pay close to nothing in cash for business-class flights to the other side of the world. The trick is “travel hacking” with airline miles.
In a previous article, we talked about how to go about earning a ton of Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles. That’s only half of the equation when it comes to travel hacking. Now that you have the miles, how do you actually redeem them for flights?
Redeeming for Singapore Airlines Flights
When it comes to KrisFlyer miles redemptions, there are 2 types of redemptions available for the KrisFlyer program. The Saver Award and the Advantage Award.
The Saver Award, as its name suggests, lets you use fewer points to redeem for a flight. The Advantage Award, on the other hand, requires significantly more points for flight redemption. Therefore, our goal here is to redeem for Saver Awards as much as possible and avoid Advantage Awards.
Singapore Airline’s Award Chart
When redeeming your KrisFlyer miles for Singapore Airlines flights, you need to reference this award chart. It documents exactly how many miles you’ll need for your particular route.
To understand the chart, you first look at the column on the left to determine your origin zone. If you’re departing from Singapore, that will be Zone 1.
Then, you need to find the zone of your destination. Let’s say you want to visit Tokyo Japan. That will be Zone 7 (Japan & South Korea).
We’ll now reference row 1, column 7 for the exact miles needed for the 1-way redemption.
- Economy – 27,000 KrisFlyer miles
- Premium economy – 37,500 KrisFlyer miles
- Business class – 52,000 KrisFlyer miles
- First class – 77,000 KrisFlyer miles.
Searching for Availability
Now that we know exactly how many miles we need for our flight, the next step is to search for the flight on the date that we want. This is the hardest part when it comes to the whole points and miles game.
Typically for business class or first class flights, the airline only releases 2-6 seats per flight. This makes good redemptions difficult and this is where many people give up.
To search for flight availability, the easiest way is to visit Singapore Airlines’s official website or mobile app. In the search bar, select Redeem flights and input your desired route and dates.
We always recommend searching for one-way flights instead of return flights as there are no benefits in doing the latter. It costs the same number of miles and reduces the flexibility of your planning.
Once you’ve clicked Search, you should see a list of available flights for your itinerary. Select the route that you desire and continue to make your booking.
You can search for flights on Singapore Airlines 355 days before departure. For example, if it’s 21 July 2024 today, you will be able to find availability for flights up to 11 July 2025.
Taxes and Fees
Yes, using points and miles to redeem for flights is not completely free. You’ll still need to pay taxes and fees (with the miles).
The exact amount of taxes and fees varies greatly, depending on the airline you’re flying with, the frequent flyer program (FFP) you’re redeeming with and the route you’re flying on.
Luckily for KrisFlyer redemptions on Singapore Airlines, the taxes and fees are typically very little. Despite that, it’s still substantial to the point where it might not be worth it to redeem your KrisFlyer miles for flights that are lower in value. These are usually short-haul regional economy-class routes which budget airlines operate on.
Waitlist for Singapore Airlines Flights
When searching for flight availability, you might sometimes see the word “Waitlist” during flight selection.
This is a Krisflyer feature that, like its name suggests, puts you on a waitlist for the flight.
When selecting a waitlist segment, you’ll first need to have the required amount of miles in your KrisFlyer account. However, it doesn’t deduct the miles from your account when selected. You can waitlist as many segments as you want.
You can place yourself on a waitlist up to 3 weeks before the flight. Singapore Airlines will confirm your flight anytime up to 2 weeks before the flight, otherwise the waitlist will be cancelled.
Once informed, you’ll need to accept the waitlist manually and confirm the redemption.
We typically do not attempt waitlist redemptions as they introduce too many risks and uncertainty to our trips.
Spontaneous Escapes Promotions
Almost every month, Singapore Airlines has a Spontaneous Escapes promotion where you can redeem flights for 30% fewer KrisFlyer miles than the standard Saver Award rate. This means that you can potentially use just 36,400 KrisFlyer Miles to fly 1 way in business class from Singapore to Tokyo. Or just 39,550 KrisFlyer Miles for a business class ticket from Singapore to Istanbul.
Spontaneous Escapes routes are usually released on the 15th of the month and there are a few caveats to this promotion.
Firstly, you’ll have to book your flight by the last day of the month and fly on the following month. For example, the Spontaneous Escapes for July 2024 will drop on the 15th of July (it dropped on the 16th) and you’ll have to make your booking by the 31st of July. The eligible flights for the promotion will have to fly between the 1st and 31st of August 2024.
Secondly, there are strictly no cancellations or changes allowed on these bookings. Therefore, you’ll have to be firm about your travel plans or you might have to forfeit your KrisFlyer miles.
There might also be black-out dates within the month when this promotion does not apply. These are usually holidays or busy travel days within the month when flight loads are much higher.
And lastly, there might not be a route that you like. Typically, the destinations on sale are experiencing a lower demand or flight load.
Redeeming for Partner Flights
In addition to Singapore Airlines, you can redeem your KrisFlyer miles for flights on Star Alliance and partner airlines.
Star Alliance is the largest airline alliance in the world with a total of 26 airlines in the alliance. Given its size, you’ll have good coverage for many locations in the world when redeeming your KrisFlyer miles.
| Aegean | Air Canada |
| Air China | Air India |
| Air New Zealand | All Nippon Airways (ANA) |
| Asiana Airlines | Austrian |
| avianca | Brussels Airlines |
| Copa Airlines | Croatia Airlines |
| Egypt Air | Ethiopian |
| EVA Air | LOT Polish Airlines |
| Lufthansa | SAS |
| Shenzhen Airlines | South African Airways |
| SWISS | TAP Air Portugal |
| THAI Airways | Turkish Airlines |
| United |
The award chart for Star Alliance redemption is a lot more straightforward. There is only 1 rate for all flights without any distinction. You can find the award chart here. Take note that it’s for round-trip awards, so one-way flights will just be half of what’s in the chart.
In addition to the Star Alliance, Singapore Airlines also partners with a handful of airlines not in the alliance. Each airline has its award chart with KrisFlyer which you can reference here.
| Alaska Airlines | Virgin Atlantic |
| Virgin Australia | Vistara |
| Juneyao Airlines | Malaysia Airlines |
Search for Star Alliance Flights
The first step for initiating a search is similar to that of Singapore Airlines flights. You’ll key in the details of the route you’re interested in in the search bar.
As the results show up, notice that there’s an option for you to select “Show flights for Singapore Airlines, Star Alliance or Other Partner Airlines”. Naturally, select the Star Alliance option.
Once you select that, it will initiate another search. Instead of seeing Singapore Airlines flights, you’ll now see flights operated by Star Alliance partners.
Final Thoughts
Singapore Airline’s KrisFlyer program is one of the most straightforward frequent flyer programs to understand. For Singapore residents, it is likely the most accessible program.
If you want to get started on your journey to travel hacking and redeeming your first business-class tickets, we recommend getting very familiar with the KrisFlyer program and all its quirks. It is a good starting point before exploring frequent flyer programs from other airlines.
