Singapore Airlines has given KrisFlyer members another lifeline, pausing the expiration of KrisFlyer miles until at least January 2023.
Normally, unused Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles expire after three years regardless of your account activity. But with many KrisFlyer members grounded during the pandemic, Singapore Airlines has been progressively extending the validity of miles since April 2020 – six months at a time.
The moratorium on the expiration of KrisFlyer miles was previously due to be lifted in April 2022. But with Singapore’s Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) program currently suspended and COVID-19 still making travel difficult in many parts of the world, Singapore Airlines has now announced that no KrisFlyer miles will expire this year.
Singapore’s VTL is due to resume from 21 January 2022, albeit with ticket sales capped at 50% of the previous quota. But COVID-19 restrictions and the Omicron wave is still making travel difficult in many parts of the world. Furthermore, the borders of many countries in the Asia-Pacific region including Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Japan and New Zealand remain closed to most travellers.
Therefore, realistically, this was the only fair thing for Singapore Airlines to do. To expire members’ miles while many borders are still closed and people can’t travel would have been grossly unfair and damaging to the loyalty program’s brand.
The new extension to the validity of expiring KrisFlyer miles has been welcomed by KrisFlyer members. Some had already started to panic that they would lose large amounts of KrisFlyer miles as they wouldn’t have had an opportunity to redeem them for anything of value before they expired.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer is one of the only major frequent flyer programs in our region, along with Air New Zealand Airpoints, that still uses “time stamping”. This is where miles expire after a fixed term. While this outdated practice is consumer-unfriendly in normal times, it is particularly frustrating for members during a pandemic.
On the question of whether miles due to expire in 2023 will also be extended, Singapore Airlines advises “this will be reviewed closer to date”.
How the validity extension of KrisFlyer miles will work
Like with previous extensions, KrisFlyer miles that are due to expire any time between now and December 2022 will be extended by six months at a time. For example, any unused miles currently due to expire at the end of June 2022 will be extended by six months until December 2022. Then, at the end of December, the miles will be extended by another six months and remain valid until the end of June 2023.
The Singapore Airlines website has the full details, including this table that shows when miles due to expire this year will be extended to.
You can use Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles to book flights up to almost a year in advance. So, you could travel after your miles have already expired if you made the booking beforehand. However, if you subsequently cancel a KrisFlyer redemption that was booked using miles which have since expired, you won’t get the miles back.
Beware that if you book a flight and then cancel after one of your six-monthly extensions has been processed, you may not automatically get the miles back and might need to contact KrisFlyer to have this manually processed.
Other KrisFlyer program changes
The Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program also announced a range of other initiatives yesterday, including another round of elite status extensions for KrisFlyer Elite Silver & Gold members. Singapore Airlines will now give further 12-month elite status extensions to KrisFlyer members with status due to expire until February 2023.
KrisFlyer elite members will also receive additional benefits from next month when travelling with Scoot, the low-cost carrier of the Singapore Airlines Group. These include priority boarding, complimentary standard seat selection and additional baggage allowance on Scoot flights. KrisFlyer is also increasing earn rates on Scoot flights.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: GOOD NEWS! Krisflyer Miles to be extended until 2023 [previously April 2022]
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