There’s an opportunity right now to earn Star Alliance Gold status through Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer by transferring 250,000 points to the program. This is potentially an incredible deal. I first wrote about this promotion in April 2020 (when it became available), but wanted to recap it, since this offer only runs through the end of the month.
In this post:
Singapore Airlines’ status without flying promo
Singapore Airlines has gotten creative with the KrisFlyer program during the pandemic, including one especially lucrative promotion that makes it easy to earn status without flying. Between April 7, 2021, and February 28, 2022, you can accrue activity toward Singapore KrisFlyer status for shopping, converting rewards points, and more.
Let’s assume you currently have no status with Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer program. In that case you’re eligible to upgrade your status to either KrisFlyer Elite Silver or KrisFlyer Elite Gold.
For context:
- KrisFlyer Elite Silver status requires 25,000 elite qualifying miles per year
- KrisFlyer Elite Gold status requires 50,000 elite qualifying miles per year
Here’s a rundown of the different ways you can use this promotion to earn status:
The option to convert bank points to KrisFlyer miles should be most interesting here:
- You’ll earn one elite mile for every five miles transferred, with no maximum on how many elite miles you can earn
- Singapore KrisFlyer is transfer partners with Amex Membership Rewards, Brex, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Capital One, and Citi ThankYou
- Since KrisFlyer Elite Gold status requires 50,000 elite miles, transferring 250,000 points would be enough to get you the status
- Note that you need to transfer the equivalent of at least 10,000 miles to take advantage of this offer, it will take seven days for elite miles to post, and these elite miles don’t count toward KrisFlyer Milestone Rewards
Singapore KrisFlyer status is ordinarily valid for 12 months. The program doesn’t use the traditional calendar year for status, but rather each member has their own status year based on their activity.
The good news is that Singapore Airlines has announced that members with renewal periods between March 2022 and February 2023 (which is a whole year, and should cover everyone) will get a 12 month status extension. In other words, if you took advantage of this promotion now, your status may be valid for two years, giving you even more time to enjoy your benefits.
What are the benefits of Star Alliance Gold status?
Realistically the biggest benefit of KrisFlyer Elite Gold status is that it earns you Star Alliance Gold status, which comes with valuable perks when traveling on any Star Alliance airline. Star Alliance Gold perks include the following when flying on a Star Alliance airline:
- Access to Star Alliance Gold lounges, even if you’re traveling domestically on United
- Priority check-in
- Priority baggage handling
- Priority boarding
- Extra baggage allowance
This certainly comes in handy when traveling on a Star Alliance airline. And for those who may be frequent United flyers, getting United Club access on domestic itineraries is potentially quite valuable.
Note that you don’t actually have to credit your miles to KrisFlyer to take advantage of Star Alliance Gold status perks, but rather just have to provide your membership number when checking in at a United Club. However, some agents may be a bit confused, and may take a while to process your check-in (and some may accidentally swap out the frequent flyer number on file).
Benefits for travel on Singapore Airlines are limited. That’s because there’s the separate PPS Club for the most loyal Singapore Airlines flyers, and that comes with a significant revenue requirement. So don’t expect that this status will get you much in the way of special treatment when flying Singapore Airlines.
Is this promotion worth it?
For those who haven’t yet taken advantage of this promotion, should you consider doing so? A few general thoughts:
- Generally speaking I highly recommend against speculative points transfers, since you lose flexibility when you convert transferable points into specific airline miles
- At the same time, this is a significant incentive, and having KrisFlyer miles is useful, since Singapore Airlines blocks most premium cabin award space for members of its own frequent flyer program
- While I’m not a huge Star Alliance flyer, I do think there’s value in having Star Alliance Gold status, especially if the status is valid for two years
- Even if you don’t plan to travel to Singapore (the country only allows “Vaccinated Travel Lane” visitors), the airline operates other useful fifth freedom flights, like New York to Frankfurt and Houston to Manchester
- KrisFlyer miles do expire 36 months after they’re earned (regardless of any activity), so that’s something to keep in mind if making a transfer; that being said, we have seen some mileage extensions during the pandemic
Personally I took advantage of this promotion last summer, making a speculative transfer. That really paid off, as I managed to book roundtrip award tickets for two people in Singapore’s new Suites from New York to Frankfurt, given all the availability we’ve seen. Talk about a great redemption!
Bottom line
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer has a lucrative promotion that makes it easy to earn Star Alliance Gold status. While there are various opportunities here, the most interesting is the ability to convert 250,000 bank points into KrisFlyer miles, and to then earn 50,000 elite miles, which is enough for KrisFlyer Elite Gold status.
That’s an easy way to earn Star Alliance Gold status, which could prove useful for anyone who flies Star Alliance airlines with any frequency (including United Airlines domestically). On top of that you still have the 250,000 KrisFlyer miles to redeem however you’d like. Best of all, with the latest status extension, the elite perks should be valid for two years.
If you’ve been considering this offer but haven’t yet made a transfer, the clock is ticking.
Do you plan on taking advantage of this Singapore Airlines promo, if you haven’t done so already?
Can I transfer from UR, MR and TYP for a total of 250k points to achieve the status?
Thank you!
It looks like you missed another angle here: SQ's website also indicates that hotel transfers count, so this could be a viable "dump" of (for example) Marriott points.
Can you transfer more points to get a higher level?
Please please Amex, bring back the SQ transfer bonus before the end of the month.
The fear of expiring miles and poor award availability in the past has me a no go!
What on earth is "Bank Points"? :/
YES! Did this for my May RTW1.0 to skip HKG then rebook at saver level and got 41K miles back Then transferred for RTW22 3.0 to fly SYD-SIN-FRA-JFK- in new suites. Bingo SQ GOLD!
I just transferred 77,000 points to Krisflyer which I redeemed for an upcoming flight in Business Class on the Singapore JFK to FRA route. I wonder if that would transfer would be offset against the needed 250K points for this promotion? (I would then have an immediate redemption opportunity to upgrade that flight to First Class for an additional 77,000.)
So if I'm reading this right, i just need to transfer 250K points to my singapore krisflyer account and I can get Star Alliance Gold for 2 years....and I still have the 250K points to redeem within 36 months?
I transferred AMEX MR pts today to top off my account and was pleasantly surprised that they transferred instantly. Never had that happen with AMEX in the past.
Even better - about 3 hours later I got an email from SQ titled "WELCOME TO KRISFLYER ELITE GOLD STATUS".
That was quick. Yay!
Same here, transferred 200K points today to get 2 business class award tickets to India. tickets booked, status achieved!
My transfer was immediate, but that has been my experience with Amex MR transfers in general. It took, however, nearly 24 hours to get my congratulatory e-mail to make my Elite Gold status official. I also managed to get on the waitlist from Business to First/Suites on an upcoming flight, whereas a few days ago, I was deemed unworthy to even be listed.
All of the award availability for FRA-JFK in Suites has dried out. Seeing only 86k waitlist or 140k for practically any date in the calendar. Was contemplating pulling the trigger on this transfer, but without any foreseeable redemption, I'm gonna pass.
This Bank Points are only in US? In Europe there is no such offers :/
@Ben - One listed benefit is priority waitlist. Given that Singapore Saver level awards in first class often have to be waitlisted, do you think that the improved status would truly make a difference? I know that since you run an award booking service you'll have good insight here.
But will they truly give you status? I did a transfer, and was notified that I was silver elite. Two months later, they told me that it was a "mistake" and revoked status.
I transferred 114k back in November 2021 and got the Silver status.
The only material benefits apart from increased baggage allowance between PPS Club/Solitaire and KF Gold are when flying SQ out of Singapore. The different lounges you mention (as well as first class check-in, etc.) are only at Changi
KF Gold gets you *G, which is quite valuable, IMHO. Access to any *A lounge worldwide, including United Clubs in the US, even when traveling domestically. Extra baggage allowance is always a big one. Priority check-in and boarding, etc...
That was my point -- not much difference between PPS Club/Solitaire and KF Gold once you're out of the SQ/SIN ecosystem
A little tricky if you have United Silver through Marriott and Star Alliance Gold through the Singapore promotion (which I received last week). Think I still want to credit to United to get access to the E+ seats 24 hours in advance (my batting average on that is close to 100%) and when I checked earlier I got a better baggage allowance crediting to United than Singapore. Priority baggage delivery (which never seems to do...
A little tricky if you have United Silver through Marriott and Star Alliance Gold through the Singapore promotion (which I received last week). Think I still want to credit to United to get access to the E+ seats 24 hours in advance (my batting average on that is close to 100%) and when I checked earlier I got a better baggage allowance crediting to United than Singapore. Priority baggage delivery (which never seems to do anything) and priority check-in are the same for both. Other than lounge access (which I am hoping that I can get without the lounge attendants changing my ff number), the only advantage I can think of for crediting to Singapore is a one-level increase in boarding position. Am I missing anything?
Are there any perks in SQ award availability with KrisFlyer Gold?
Any economy plus seat selection benefits with United for star alliance silver or gold status? That's where status can save you hundreds per flight if traveling in group. Baggage n lounge access can often be covered with credit cards.
Economy Plus seat selection is included for MileagePlus Premier members but is not a Star Alliance Gold benefit (one of the only advantages of earning *G through UA over someone else imo). I've been an Asiana Club Diamond for many years, and while "preferred seats" (not economy plus seats, but standard seats that are closer to the front of the plane) have been available to me, I have never been able to select an E+...
Economy Plus seat selection is included for MileagePlus Premier members but is not a Star Alliance Gold benefit (one of the only advantages of earning *G through UA over someone else imo). I've been an Asiana Club Diamond for many years, and while "preferred seats" (not economy plus seats, but standard seats that are closer to the front of the plane) have been available to me, I have never been able to select an E+ seat in advance. Every once in a blue moon I've been able to select one at check-in but it's very sporadic and I really can't discern a pattern there.
As you note, once you transfer points, the three-year clock starts. Just before lock-down, I transferred points to Singapore for a planned trip. Now, I'm under the gun. While Singapore is doing extensions six months at a time, I still don't like its three-year clock. Because of it, I don't know that I will ever fly Singapore.
Precisely this. Even another transfer of points won't extend the validity. If you don't have a plan for using the points, you may find yourself losing them, paying cash to extend them, or redeeming them at a lousy value before the deadline.
Just reporting my negative experience with SQ/krisflyer. I booked an SQ flight to use miles that were soon to expire. There was a major NYC blizzard just prior to flight and I have already experienced SQ issues after a blizzard. (I really can't fathom how they got so messed up with equipment on the ground for 10 hours, LOL).
I contacted SQ and asked to rebook a day later. They claimed they would cancel...
Just reporting my negative experience with SQ/krisflyer. I booked an SQ flight to use miles that were soon to expire. There was a major NYC blizzard just prior to flight and I have already experienced SQ issues after a blizzard. (I really can't fathom how they got so messed up with equipment on the ground for 10 hours, LOL).
I contacted SQ and asked to rebook a day later. They claimed they would cancel my booking, return my miles and rebook me for the next flight. In reality they canceled my booking and swallowed my miles as expired. They mislead me, almost made me miss uber important meetings and responded to my complaints by phoning me at 2 AM consistently. I pointed out the time issue and they persisted.
SQ won, I gave up. I still warn others to be careful.
@ Donato
I also got caught out losing points when canceling and trying to rebook 2x FRA-SIN in Suites.
The points would have expired under the old rules but were supposed to have been extended due to the COVID policies of SQ.
Their system didn't appear to be reprogrammed to allow for the COVID extensions.
It took over 6 weeks to get them back, in which time all of the saver live; awards were gone....gggrrrrrr!
...@ Donato
I also got caught out losing points when canceling and trying to rebook 2x FRA-SIN in Suites.
The points would have expired under the old rules but were supposed to have been extended due to the COVID policies of SQ.
Their system didn't appear to be reprogrammed to allow for the COVID extensions.
It took over 6 weeks to get them back, in which time all of the saver live; awards were gone....gggrrrrrr!
Numerous phone calls with extensive wait times. Promises of a call back from the award booking team that never happened.
The only way I managed to fix the issue was to post on their social media - somebody finally took notice.
Be very careful using batches of points about to expire - take screen grabs of account pages with mile expiration detail and COVID policies.
I do not "trust" SQ any more.
I would NOT transfer credit card points for status and end up with a pile of Krisflyer points on a speculative basis.
If you do need to change your award flights - be very careful - their online system wasn't working and the only way was to cancel and rebook.
My impression is that their back end systems hav not been updated to accommodate revised point expiry. Never expected such a cluster-beep from a quality airline.
"Abandon all hope ye who enter there"
Lucky, you need to transfer 125k points to get Elite Silver first, then another 125k points after you have been upgraded to Silver.
If you transfer all 250k at one go, you'll only make Silver and not Gold.
Why is that? Either way gets you to 50K elite-qualifying KF miles, no?
Experience would say otherwise, I transferred a little over 250k in one go last year and was gold shortly thereafter.
I lost access to my account, so I have to resolve that one first… they haven’t picked up the phone or responded to me by email yet…