Worried about KrisFlyer miles expiring soon? Singapore Airlines extends them

Thought your KrisFlyer miles might be expiring soon? Fear not. There’s no need to worry about your hard-earned miles disappearing.

In light of the travel restrictions brought about by Covid-19, Singapore Airlines has been periodically extending KrisFlyer miles. We’ve already seen two extensions in April and June 2020, and now a third extension has been announced for KrisFlyer miles expiring all the way up till June 2021.

This comes close on the heels of another great news — the Singapore-Hong Kong travel bubble is all set to start on Nov 22. 

Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer miles extension policy

Under Singapore Airlines’ Covid-19 extension policy, any KrisFlyer miles due to expire between April 2020 and June 2021 will be extended by at least six months. Here’s the new expiry date for your KrisFlyer miles, as per the revised policy:

It’s important to remember that any extension will only reflect at the end of the original expiry month. For example, if you have KrisFlyer miles expiring on March 31, 2021, you will be able to see that the miles have been extended till Sept 30, 2021 in April 2021. 

At the end of the calendar month, you will see two transactions appearing in your KrisFlyer account statement:

• The first will show the expiring miles debited from your account with the description ‘Singapore Airlines SR (Adjustment) 6 months mileage extension’
• The second will show the same number of expiring miles being credited back into your account with the description, ‘Singapore Airlines SR 6 months mileage extension’

In other words, don’t panic (no, really). Your miles will be extended, so long as they fall into the months listed above.

If your KrisFlyer miles expire from July 2021 onwards, sit tight. Singapore Airlines has said that they will review the situation closer to the date.

With the commencement of travel bubbles (for instance, with Hong Kong), it’s highly likely that Singapore Airlines will grant another extension should travel still be significantly restricted.

What if my KrisFlyer miles are already tied-up in a booking?

If you’re holding on to a ticket that was redeemed with miles or paid for with a mixture of miles and cash, you could submit a cancellation request for a full refund and waiver of any associated fees. This is provided your ticket was issued on/before March 15, 2020, with travel up till Jan 31, 2021.

Once your cancellation is approved, miles will be redeposited to your KrisFlyer account. If the booking contains miles that have expired or are due to expire, they will be extended as follows:

Original Expiry	Extended Validity
On/before March 2020	June 30, 2021
April 2020 to May 2021	June 30, 2021
June 2021 and after	Original expiry date

Which credit cards earn non-expiring points/miles?

Expiring miles are always annoying, but a solution is to simply earn non-expiring points in the first place. Points earned on the following credit cards do not expire:

Card	Income Req.	Annual Fee	Earn Rate (Local/Overseas)
DBS Altitude AMEX	$30,000	$192.60	1.2/2.0 mpd
DBS Altitude Visa	$30,000	$192.60	1.2/2.0 mpd
OCBC 90N Card	$30,000	$192.60	1.2/2.1 mpd
Citi PremierMiles Card	$30,000	$192.60	1.2/2.0 mpd
SCB X Card	$80,000	$695.50	1.2/2.0 mpd
OCBC VOYAGE	$120,000	$488	1.3/2.2 mpd
Citi Prestige	$120,000	$535	1.3/2.0 mpd

Earning non-expiring points gives you more ‘holding power,’ in the sense that you can bide your time and only convert them to frequent flyer miles when you’re ready to fly.

While you shouldn’t hold on to them indefinitely (because of the risk of the airline devaluing them by hiking award costs), it’s particularly useful at a time like this.

Do remember that the non-expiry applies, so long as you hold the points on the bank side. Once transferred into a frequent flyer program, they follow the rules of that respective program.

For example, DBS Points earned on the DBS Altitude never expire, but once converted into KrisFlyer miles, they will expire in 3 years.

This article was first published in SingSaver.com.sg.