Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer has added a new restriction on doing award searches, for those who don’t have any miles in their account. While I understand where they’re coming from, this is no doubt a minor annoyance for those looking to redeem.
In this post:
KrisFlyer now requires 1,000 miles to search award space
The MileLion reports on how Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer program has added a new restriction on searching award flights. Specifically, when you go to Singapore Airlines’ website, you can now only search award space if you have at least 1,000 miles in your account.
I only have 836 miles in my account, and when I do a search, I get the following message:
Unable to proceed because your current miles balance is insufficient for flight redemption searches. To view available flights and the miles required, browse flight options.
So if you don’t have enough miles, you’re directed to the carrier’s “Flight Recommender” tool, which is a creative concept, but obviously not as useful as just directly searching award availability.
I assume this is to stop mileage scrapers, but it’s not ideal
Admittedly this new restriction on award flights isn’t some massive hurdle that can’t be overcome. You can always just transfer 1,000 points from a transferable points currency (just keep in mind miles expire 36 months after they’re issued, regardless of activity). It’s not nearly as bad as the new restrictions we’re seeing at Qatar Airways Privilege Club, for example.
However, it kind of creates a “chicken or egg” situation when it comes to redemptions. It’s hard to be interested in a program if you don’t know what award availability and fees are like. Admittedly most airlines aren’t too worried if they lose some potential award passengers.
So, what’s the actual motivation for this change? I imagine this is intended to prevent the scraping of award availability by some services that use a bunch of burner accounts to track award availability. That can put a burden on airline servers, and it’s something they try to prevent. Given the scale of accounts that some of these services use, I’m not surprised to see this change.
Honestly, this doesn’t seem like a totally unreasonable compromise, compared to what some other airlines are starting to institute. 
Bottom line
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer now limits award searches to members with at least 1,000 miles in their KrisFlyer account. That’s not some massive hurdle that can’t be overcome, as you can also just move 1,000 points from a transferable currency. Presumably this is intended to block award scraping services that use a bunch of burner accounts.
What do you make of this new KrisFlyer restriction?
Transferred 1,000 miles into a well aged account with no activity and it did not grant me the ability to search.
Poor timing, have been looking at flights to SIN.
I wouldn't object so much if they didn't have a hard expiry policy for miles. Seems pretty unreasonable given that.
I just checked on the App, with 562 miles in the account & most recent (award) activity in Jan 2026. Was able to see Biz awards for SIN-SFO for next March. FYI
Pretty soon you’ll need to hav a specified minimum KrisFlyer miles balance to search for reward flights (10k, more??).
Let’s hope this doesn’t catch on. I can see more Asian airlines in next few months, and the gulf states doing it also.
I’ve been chatting with an agent to uncover what is truly required to search. As you’d expect, they are giving the run around. “To clarify, there is no specified minimum KrisFlyer miles balance required to search for reward flights. However, you will need sufficient miles in your account to redeem the lowest available award fare for your selected route and cabin class. Awards start from 16,500 KrisFlyer miles and from US$24 in taxes, charges and...
I’ve been chatting with an agent to uncover what is truly required to search. As you’d expect, they are giving the run around. “To clarify, there is no specified minimum KrisFlyer miles balance required to search for reward flights. However, you will need sufficient miles in your account to redeem the lowest available award fare for your selected route and cabin class. Awards start from 16,500 KrisFlyer miles and from US$24 in taxes, charges and fees. We recommend referring to the KrisFlyer award chart or using the Miles Calculator to estimate the minimum miles needed for your preferred journey.” I pressed them on this being a contradiction (no minimum vs. 16,500). They say that one does not require 16,500 to search, but would not give a specific number.
I have 1730 miles and I can't initiate a search either.
i have 350 miles in my account and searching via the app works as per usual...
Maybe my 0-miles account just hasn't gotten the update yet, but it seems like the SQ app still works, which is useful enough for most people (and also harder for bots to scrape, which supports your guess as to why they're doing this).
The requirement was recent activity yesterday. However they have locked it down further today. I transferred in 1000 miles yesterday and it started working again, and today it’s not working again.
In the app I can search but then you have to go to the website to see details and it errors.
Just to clarify - the rule isn't that you need 1000 points. I have ~500 points but am still able to search. It seems that recent account activity is the actual requirement.
The "recent activity" requirement makes little sense for a program like SQ, which allows transfers from so many partners. Many people who book are likely not SQ frequent fliers at all and therefore aren't going to have recent activity.
Then again, not allowing award ticket holds also doesn't make sense, and here we are.
I'm starting to find this relationship to be abusive!
Perhaps their strategy is shifting away from credit card revenue (from infrequent travelers) and back towards rewarding loyal members with more award availability. Hard to say it will pay off for them in the long run, but who knows!
What's the big deal? I've stayed away from the program a while ago. It isn't competitive as an FFP. The airline is still great and offers a few good products, and SIN is a nice airport, but it isn't a convenient place for a connection for most destinations geographically. That JFK-FRA route is nearly the only one I'd redeem SQ miles for.
It’s a really good program if you want to get to Asia in business class. I did 4 seats EWR-SIN in 2024 and 4 seats SEA-SIN-BKK last month
We aren't all Americans
I'm Justin, don't you know only American book award flights?
I’d argue it’s one of the best programs for Americans. Singapore offers easy connections through Asia and Australia / New Zealand, and Singapore Air award availability is typically very strong because they offer three tiers of award seats. The only exception I’d say is Japan Airlines / ANA if a Japan stopover makes more sense for your itinerary
I understand the intention, but is transferring 1000 miles into a burner account one time really that big of a hurdle? or do these services need way more burner accounts than I'm imagining?
the end is near (sigh) :'(
This is 'not cool.' I know, 'add it to the pile,' but airlines (and hotels) seem focused on finding ways to restrict and diminish their programs. Sure feels like they do not want you to actually use your points. Like, they'd much rather you hoard points, or even better, just let them expire. *sigh*
Bigger issue with SQ is that there's practically no more 'confirmed' award availability for long-haul J. Nearly all-'waitlist' and that's just...
This is 'not cool.' I know, 'add it to the pile,' but airlines (and hotels) seem focused on finding ways to restrict and diminish their programs. Sure feels like they do not want you to actually use your points. Like, they'd much rather you hoard points, or even better, just let them expire. *sigh*
Bigger issue with SQ is that there's practically no more 'confirmed' award availability for long-haul J. Nearly all-'waitlist' and that's just not 'good enough' when you're looking at 19-hour flights (NYC-SIN).
"Nearly all-'waitlist' and that's just not 'good enough' when you're looking at 19-hour flights (NYC-SIN)."
Are you looking waaaay out? Like, I'm seeing pretty decent availability in late June of next year (like almost every single day, from 165,000 to 255,000 miles) for the JFK-SIN nonstop.
For the past few weeks I've been watching for a tough routing economy award for my son. While there are some wait-list flights I've had no problems seeing exactly what he needs. Maybe more high traffic routes and in demand biz seats are tougher but they're certainly there. And if I had more points to give my son he'd definitely be in biz class
Yep I've found waitlist totally useless with SQ - not once had it clear!
I’m surprised you say this - Singapore Air has the most award availability of just about any Asian airline, primarily because they offer three tiers of award seats. Of course, if you don’t get in early you will end up paying more for their “Access” fares but even they are often better value than a one way cash ticket for business
Again like Ben said, it's a chicken and egg thing but in the sense that these travel subscription services are the ones who are creating this problem. It used to be that you had to do a lot of legwork, reading and learning to get rewarded with business class space, and it used to be pretty abundant because it was too tedious for most people to put in the work. Now any asshole with $50...
Again like Ben said, it's a chicken and egg thing but in the sense that these travel subscription services are the ones who are creating this problem. It used to be that you had to do a lot of legwork, reading and learning to get rewarded with business class space, and it used to be pretty abundant because it was too tedious for most people to put in the work. Now any asshole with $50 a year and an email address can say "I don't know anything about miles and points, but here's $49. Please spoon-feed me. Yay, now I'm a travel hacker." Same reason lounges have 30 minute lines and you can't find a seat when you get in. And this is in no way a critique on those services. They found a need and were able to monetize it. Good for them. But it's just too many people competing for the same seats and 90% of them are just being spoon-fed. So this is the result.