Singapore Airlines tightens up free KrisFlyer miles promotion
By Chris C., March 12 2015
UPDATE | Singapore Airlines has tightened the application process for its KrisFlyer promotion, which sees Australians joining the airline's frequent flyer scheme able to earn up to 10,000 bonus KrisFlyer miles.
Earlier this week the airline closed the special web page where travellers could join KrisFlyer and enter a promo code to active the deal, with that web address now redirecting to the airline's home page.
However a spokeswoman for Singapore Airlines assures Australian Business Traveller that the promotion is still running – only with stricter application criteria in place.
There's now "an additional check for the promotion to verify enrolment in Australia, in line with the terms and conditions of the promotion."
"We decided to add the extra check after we had a number of applications since the promotion launched that did not meet the terms & conditions of the promotion" the spokesperson added.
"Customers seeking to benefit from the promotion will now need to email [email protected] after signing up for a new KrisFlyer account and provide a local contact number in Australia for verification."
A promotion code is no longer required during the sign-up process to take advantage of this deal.
PREVIOUS | New members of Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer frequent flyer program can pocket up to 10,000 bonus KrisFlyer miles which can go towards an upgrade to business class, or even first class, when travelling with SQ.
The promotion, which is restricted to Australian residents, offers an immediate serve of 5,000 KrisFlyer miles by entering the promo code KFACQPU when you join KrisFlyer throughout the month of March.
But that's just for starters.
You'll pick up an extra 5,000 bonus miles by booking a return trip to any destination with Singapore Airlines via its website, beginning the journey before September 30 2015 and attaching that same KrisFlyer number to the booking.
But even if you don't take that SQ flight this deal could be worth tapping, because you can turn those 5,000 KrisFlyer Miles into Virgin Australia Velocity frequent flyer points at a 1.35:1 'exchange rate'.
That means you could quite simply join KrisFlyer during the promotion period, take the initial 5,000 points and convert them into 3,704 Velocity points. Not a bad haul without leaving your living room or office.
This bonus doesn’t apply to existing KrisFlyer members or to travel taken on Virgin Australia – including domestic flights and codeshare services.
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Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
29 May 2014
Total posts 15
Hi Chris,
Great article. Thanks for this info. How long does the 5000 points take to hit our account?
cheers
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
10 Jan 2012
Total posts 260
I signed up yesterday and they're in there today. Now to see how long the transfer to Velocity takes...
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
10 Jan 2012
Total posts 260
Turns out it's instantaneous!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
10 Jan 2013
Total posts 700
That's really a slap in the face to existing loyal KrisFlyer members (I'm not one, but I dislike it when businesses put new customers before existing customers). 10,000 points is a good earn but cutting out any love for their existing customers in this promotion is a bit rough end of the pineapple (they could have extended the 5,000 bonus for a new return bookings to all KrisFlyers, for example).
23 Mar 2012
Total posts 100
Totally agree Amex do it all the time in fact there incentives to new sign ups is more that a" hit in the face" given the current huge point offerings ,very upsetting to those who have given years of endless support.
12 Jun 2013
Total posts 738
Good stuff! I've been thinking of signing up for KrisFlyer for a while. I had been crediting all my random Star Alliance flights to United, but I think SQ makes more sense nowadays if you're Australia based.
NZ Elite
03 Jul 2014
Total posts 110
Thanks! That was ridiculously easy, and a pretty decent wee haul of Velocity points.
Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer
23 Jul 2014
Total posts 11
Another great article Chris.
Just wondering if anyone else has tried to sign up their children for this offer? I'm in the process of contacting Krisflyer now as the website is throwing back errors (I assume it's because they won't be eligible).
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
06 Nov 2014
Total posts 361
The deal is dead at the moment. Obviously too many people signed up all their family members including great grand uncle's second cousin, and transfer them to VA.
KF don't mind you sign up your great grand uncle's second cousin as 5000 KF miles cost them nothing, but when transferred to VA, they have to pay for it. So they are hemorrhaging money.
At the moment, you can't use the promo code anymore, and any new accounts that received the 5000 miles that hadn't been transferred to VA have all been blocked.
21 Apr 2012
Total posts 3018
Will they call the australian number provided to verify and close the loop? Or is this a pointless exercise that merely rewards the most resourceful?
23 May 2014
Total posts 121
Hi Chris - that email address isn't quite right - it's [email protected]. Just signed up now (should have done it last week) - got an automated reply saying the promo will be applied in the next 5 days or so.
24 Oct 2010
Total posts 2553
Hi Zac - thanks, SQ advised us of the incorrect address, so we've now checked and fixed that link.
23 May 2014
Total posts 121
No worries - thanks for the heads up on this promo, wouldn't have seen it otherwise
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
10 Jan 2013
Total posts 700
Can't say I'm surprised they have made it harder to access. They know that just by putting a few barriers to navigate up, a lot of people won't follow through (unlike when it was instantaneous). Sometimes SQ gets downright sketchy in it's admin, and it came back to bite them in the bum with this one.
21 Apr 2012
Total posts 3018
Assuming the barriers are effective gippsflyer. Its not that hard to google and obtain an Australian telephone number.
If someone can't even do that, then they are not deserving of the offer.
As far as a control, it is poorly designed.
23 May 2014
Total posts 121
I might be missing something here, but is this really something that could have been taken advantage of? Even if someone had set uplike 10 dummy accounts, you can only link one to velocity right, and so all you would end up with is 4000-ish Velocity point and 9 unusable Krisflyer accounts with 5,000 miles in each?
QF Platinum
24 Jan 2013
Total posts 139
I'm speculating people were creating accounts of fake relatives on both Velocity and Krisflyer, then doing family pooling to their own accounts.
13 Mar 2015
Total posts 3
Thanks for the heads up re this offer. I signed up last week but think I left it to late to convert. Got the 5000 points in the account but can't add Velocity now without invalid message :(
Any updates or ways around this?
10 Apr 2015
Total posts 1
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the info...
Is the KrisFlyer promo still running?
Cheers,
Natasha
14 May 2015
Total posts 2
14 May 2015
Total posts 2
This promo is no longer valid as I just tried it and got a reply that the promo ended 30 March
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