A quintessential Singaporean activity is travelling. For some reason, living in our city translates to a never-ending need to squeeze in as many far-flung holidays and weekend getaways as possible. But these flight tickets and hotel bookings are taking a toll on our finances. The secret trick to landing free flights? It’s by earning as many KrisFlyer miles as humanly possible.
To give you some insight into what you can do with your miles, here’s a rough gauge of the number of miles you need for flight redemptions:
KrisFlyer miles are Singapore Airlines’ version of points. The most straightforward way to earn these miles is to fly with SQ, Scoot, or any of their partner airlines. Alternatively, you can also spend with credit cards, hotels, and car rentals for starters. Once you’ve earned enough miles, you can redeem flights, upgrades, shopping, and other lifestyle experiences.
For the sake of this article, we’ll focus mainly on how you can earn miles to redeem flights on Singapore Airlines and Scoot.
There are 2 tiers of flights that can be redeemed: Saver Award tickets and Advantage Award tickets. Saver awards, as their name suggests, are cheaper to redeem, but they are limited in number, so you would have to plan a few months – or even a year – in advance to score one of them.
Advantage awards cost more, but they are also available more often on all flights, and you can also get 2 complimentary layovers per round-trip ticket.
Keep in mind that there are no children’s flight redemption prices; every child would have to redeem a full adult fare ticket to fly.
Based on the latest awards chart for Singapore Airlines and Scoot, here is a breakdown of how many KrisFlyer miles you’ll need to redeem a one-way flight from Singapore. If you’re looking for the cost of a return trip, just double the number of miles listed.
The lower number in the range represents the Saver award cost, while the higher number represents the Advantage award cost. You can also use the Singapore Airlines Miles Calculator for exact mileage requirements.
| Destination | Economy | Business Class | First Class/Suites |
| Malaysia & Indonesia | 8,500-15,000 miles | 21,000-35,000 miles | 30,500-52,500 miles |
| Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines | 13,500-25,000 miles | 24,000-40,000 miles | 36,000-62,500 miles |
| China, Taiwan, Hong Kong | 16,500-40,000 miles | 34,000-65,000 miles | 45,000-98,000 miles |
| India, Sri Lanka, Maldives | 20,000-37,000 miles | 43,000-65,000 miles | 58,500-98,000 miles |
| Japan, South Korea | 27,000-45,000 miles | 52,000-70,000 miles | 77,000-120,000 miles |
| Australia, New Zealand | 21,500-55,000 miles | 40,500-90,000 miles | 57,500-155,000 miles |
| Africa, Middle East, Turkey | 29,000-63,500 miles | 63,500-103,500 miles | 86,500-148,500 miles |
| Europe | 42,000-70,000 miles | 103,500-123,000 miles | 141,000-225,500 miles |
| USA & Canada | 42,000-75,000 miles | 107,000-143,500 miles | 146,500-243,000 miles |
P.S. Singapore Airlines will be revising the flight redemption rates from 1st November 2025 onwards, and we’ll update the chart closer to the date.
As of now, Scoot only has flight redemptions for Economy class, and ScootPlus is not available for redemption.
| Destination | Scoot Saver | Scoot Advantage |
| Malaysia | 1,500-2,00 miles | 3,500-4,500 miles |
| Indonesia | 2,500-4,500 miles | 5,500-9,000 miles |
| Thailand | 2,500-10,500 miles | 5,500-18,000 miles |
| Laos, Vietnam, Philippines | 4,500-6,000 miles | 9,000-12,000 miles |
| Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, China | 6,500-12,000 miles | 12,500-19,000 miles |
| India | 8,000 miles | 13,500 miles |
| Japan, South Korea | 12,500 miles | 24,000 miles |
| Australia | 6,500-12,500 miles | 12,500-24,000 miles |
| Greece, Austria | 24,000 miles | 37,500 miles |
When it comes to credit cards, there’s typically a divide between finance-savvy folks in terms of their preferred benefits: 1. Cashback or 2. Airline miles. It all depends on what your personal preferences are, but globetrotters will find the latter far more thrilling to apply for a miles credit card since you can redeem a round-trip flight entirely for free.
Some cards to consider include the DBS Altitude Card, UOB KrisFlyer Card, and HSBC TravelOne Card. But there’s a vast array of cards out there, all claiming to be the best for racking in miles. Between a high overseas earn rate and free hotel stays, it can be confusing to settle on a card that ties in best with your lifestyle.
Take some time to muse over the benefits and requirements of each card, but otherwise, you can refer to the dollar-to-mile rate for a good gauge. Some even have attractive bonuses like welcome offers or friend referrals, which can easily get you an additional 30k or so miles.
Check out our guide to the best miles credit cards you can apply for in Singapore.
Even though there are plenty of ride-hailing options to choose from, Grab is still one we often default to. Because of this, we would’ve collected a mighty amount of GrabPoints over time. Those wanting to propel their miles journey will be more than pleased to know that Grab offers an option to convert GrabPoints directly into miles.
Simply go to your Points tab on the Grab app, scroll to the Travel category, and you’ll see options to convert anywhere from 650 Grab Points to 50 KrisFlyer miles up to 26,000 Grab Points to 2,000 miles.
Even with CDC vouchers, grocery shopping can be an expensive weekly affair. So instead of just using your money on groceries alone, paying for them with your yuu card will help you rack up extra points that you can then convert to KrisFlyer miles. Be warned that this strategy will only work if you shop for your groceries at Cold Storage, Giant, CS Fresh, and Pandamart.
The yuu points to KrisFlyer miles conversion rate is 3.6:1, and it can be done instantly with no conversion fees. However, you need to convert a minimum of 200 yuu points to start.
Besides travelling, another favourite pastime of Singaporeans is dining out. And one way you can make gluttony work in your favour is to pay for your bill with Kris+ (App Store | Google Play) and earn up to 9 miles per dollar. If you pair it with a compatible credit card like the UOB KrisFlyer Credit Card, you could get an additional 3 miles per dollar spent on Kris+ for a total of 12 mpd.
Granted, using the app to pay is slightly more mafan than just whipping out your credit card. But there are around 1,700 Kris+ partners across dining spots, retail shops, attractions, wellness centres, and more, which gives you many opportunities to score plenty of miles. Just make sure you get the check from the waiter first before your other friends snag it.
Some places you can use Kris+ to pay at and score more KrisFlyer miles include Huggs Coffee, Paris Baguette, Harvey Norman, Bengawan Solo, and Simmons.
Shopaholics, rejoice. If you love shopping on KrisShop, you’d be pleased to know that you can earn anywhere from 2 to 4 KrisFlyer miles for every dollar you spend on the shopping site. This also applies to in-flight purchases on Singapore Airlines flights. All you have to do is link your KrisFlyer account to KrisShop, and you’re all set.
If you use a miles credit card like the UOB KrisFlyer or the 6. American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Credit Cards, you’ll get up to 3 extra mpd on top of your KrisShop haul.
It makes perfect sense to earn KrisFlyer miles when booking hotels, but it’s not as straightforward as it seems. On portals like Kaligo, you can earn up to 12 mpd for every $1 spent when booking hotels; Agoda has a similar rewards system, but you can only earn up to 3 mpd for every US$1 spent.
Some hotel groups like Anantara, Capella, Far East Hospitality, Hyatt, and Pan Pacific will also award you up to 500 miles for every stay you book with them. Check out Singapore Airlines’ full list of hotel and serviced residence partners.
Road trips can be one of the best ways to explore a new country, especially if it has vast landscapes that are inaccessible by public transport. If this is something you’ve been planning, remember to add your KrisFlyer number to your car rental booking form, and you can earn up to 500 miles just like that.
As of now, this only works with Avis, Budget Car Rental, Europcar, Hertz, and Sixt rent a car.
While all the options listed above can be done anytime, sometimes you might get lucky with a promotion and score a nice boost of miles. Think deals like 250 bonus KrisFlyer miles when you sign up as a Marriott Bonvoy member – yes, no hotel bookings necessary – and earning up to 3,000 miles when renting a car with Avis for more than 5 days.
However, these Singapore Airlines promos aren’t necessarily going to get you enough miles for a round-trip to Japan. Rather, use them only if they fit into your preexisting plans, or if your itinerary is flexible enough.
When planning travel itineraries, there will often be a few must-see attractions on your bucket list. And when you’re booking tickets to see those sights or even go on a private tour, use Pelago to start earning miles for the next trip.
The default earn rate when booking tickets and tours through Pelago is 3 mpd. However, they often run promotions which can go up to 10 mpd. From now till end-August 2025, booking with Pelago via the Kris+ app will earn you 6 mpd instead of the usual 3 mpd. There are also promos to earn up to 8 mpd for certain attractions like USS, Rainforest Wild Asia, and Adventure Cove.
Find out more about Pelago’s perks for KrisFlyer members.
KrisFlyer miles don’t have a fixed value. But most people base its value on the monetary equivalent of an award redemption flight, which usually hinges around 1-2 cents per mile.
For example, a Saver award for a business class ticket from Singapore to Melbourne costs 68,500 miles. If you were to pay for the seat in cash, it would be $2,899.50. In this case, each mile would be worth 4 cents, higher than the average.
No, you can only earn KrisFlyer miles for yourself. However, you can use your miles to book flights for an assigned nominee. You can nominate up to 5 people who will enjoy benefits such as redemption flights and seat upgrades. Simply log in to your Singapore Airlines account, navigate to the “Redemption Nominees” section and fill in their details.
Yes, you can earn KrisFlyer miles when you book flights with Scoot. Do note that only cash tickets will accrue miles; redemption tickets and flights bought with vouchers will not earn any miles. Remember to add your Krisflyer account number when booking the tickets to ensure your miles are clocked in.
Technically, you can buy KrisFlyer miles, but only if you have at least 50% of the required miles to book an award redemption flight. This should only be a last resort as you’ll be paying USD40 (~S$51.46) for 1,000 miles, which isn’t exactly the cheapest.
Yes, KrisFlyer miles will expire 3 years after they are credited to your account. And no, you won’t be able to ask for them back.
The only exception to this is if you are a PPS Club or PPS Solitaire member, so long as you retain your membership every year. If you want to try your luck, call the service centre at 6223 8888 and request an extension to the expiry date.
If you don’t have enough miles, you can use cash to top up the balance for the cost of your flight. However, this might be more expensive in some cases, and we generally wouldn’t recommend mixing miles and cash.
Instead, spend that amount on a credit card that can transfer to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer to earn miles that way instead. You might even come out with more miles if done strategically, like hitting the sign-up bonus of a credit card.
No. If you used KrisFlyer miles to redeem an award flight, you will not be eligible to earn any miles.
As of now, you have to make 2 separate bookings on both Singapore Airlines and Scoot if you want to fly on both airlines.
You cannot transfer your KrisFlyer miles directly to another account. However, parents can create a KrisFlyer account for their children and link it to their own using the ‘Parental Link’ feature. Once linked, parents can transfer miles from their child’s account to theirs. They can move up to 50,000 miles each year, with a fee of USD$5 (~S$6.43) or 500 miles for every 5,000 miles transferred.
Please note, though, that transferring miles from a parent’s account to a child’s account is not permitted. Your child’s account will also need to have reached one milleage accrual from a flight within 36 months, and no miles should come from credit card transfers or co-branded card spending during that time.
If you’ve always wanted to fly in the famous Singapore Airlines business class seat, but can’t bear to part with thousands of dollars for a flight lasting a few hours, using KrisFlyer miles to redeem a ticket is the next best option. Racking up thousands of miles also isn’t too hard to achieve, as long as you’re maximising every dollar you spend.
Check out our other travel guides once you’ve booked your bucket list flight:
Originally published on 23rd October 2019 by Pailin Boonlong. Last updated by Josiah Neo on 26th August 2025.
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