Air Miles In Singapore: The Complete Guide To KrisFlyer Miles (2026)

Credit cards exist to monetise your spending. Every time you pay with a card, the bank earns from the merchant. To keep you using their card instead of a competitor’s, banks offer you a cut. That cut comes in two forms: cashback or reward points. Reward points can be converted to air miles, and air miles can be redeemed for flights. Spend on the right cards, accumulate miles, fly for “free” (minus taxes and fees).

Ten years ago, I started collecting air miles in 2016. My first business class redemption was to Taiwan in 2018. Over 10 years, I’ve earned more than half a million miles and flown to destinations on both business class and economy class flights. In 2023, my wife and I spent about 45 days overseas. Eight flights each, mixing economy and business class. Our Thailand trip in early 2026 lasted 28 days, and we paid only fees and taxes for our flights.

My miles come from regular spending. Groceries, food delivery, online shopping, contactless payments. No manufactured spending tricks. I earn about 90,000 miles a year on personal spend. That’s enough for one regional business class flight or two economy redemptions to nearby destinations. Sustainable, repeatable, and something any average Joe in Singapore can replicate. I explained why a million miles a year was not realistic back in 2017. It’s not, unless you’re running business expenses through your cards.

Cashback gives you money back, but miles give you options. Award rates don’t change by season. A peak-period Saver seat costs the same miles as an off-peak one, if you can find availability. If you travel enough, the flight options beat the cash equivalent. This guide links to everything I’ve written about air miles. Card reviews. Bank transfer guides. Miles tracking. Flight experiences. It’s the map. The detailed guides are the terrain. Take what helps. Ignore what doesn’t.

The framework is simple. Three stages. Collect, Manage, Redeem.

• Start with the 3-card strategy in Stage 1.
• Just want to track what you have? Stage 2 covers that.
• Already have cards and want to book a flight? Jump to Stage 3.

The Air Miles Framework

I organize the miles game into three stages:

1. Collect: Earning miles through credit cards matched to your spending pattern. Matching cards to how you spend, not chasing the highest rate.

2. Manage: Tracking your miles balance, understanding expiry timelines, and transferring bank reward points to KrisFlyer before they expire.

3. Redeem: Converting miles to flights. Understanding which routes offer value, booking award flights, and avoiding poor-value redemptions.

Each stage has dedicated posts. This Hub gives the overview. The linked guides give the details.

All Air Miles Posts At A Glance

Everything I’ve written about air miles, organized by purpose. Bookmark this section and come back whenever you need a specific guide.

Credit Card Strategy and Reviews

Prompt Finance

Bank Points Transfer Guides

Earning Opportunities

Redemption and Travel Hacking

Flight Reviews

My Miles Journey (Historical)

Tools

That’s the full map. The rest of this guide walks through each stage, starting with how to pick the right cards.

Stage 1: Collect – Choosing Your Credit Cards

The cards question isn’t “which card earns the most miles?” It’s “which cards match my spending pattern?”

Miles come from spending. No way around it. An entry-level card offers 10,000 bonus miles for paying the annual fee, around $180 plus tax. If the fee gets waived, the bank claws back the bonus miles. Fair game either way.

The earn rate i.e. miles per dollar (mpd) matters.

• 4 mpd is the gold standard: great if you earn 4 miles for every $1 spent.
• General spend cards earn 1.2 to 1.4 mpd.

My 3-Card Strategy (2026 Update)

Three cards, three spending categories, minimal effort. HSBC Revolution for contactless and travel. Citi Rewards for online purchases. DBS Altitude for everything else.

A few changes since 2024.

• HSBC restored Revolution’s bonus categories (contactless, online, dining, travel) and made them permanent from April 2026.
• I cancelled Citi Prestige after benefits were nerfed.
• DBS Altitude took over as my general spend card.

One nuance: HSBC devalued its KrisFlyer transfer ratio in January 2025 from 25,000 to 30,000 points per 10,000 miles. The card still earns 10 reward points per dollar on bonus categories, but the effective KrisFlyer rate dropped from 4 mpd to 3.33 mpd. Citi Rewards is unaffected at 4 mpd. For the full breakdown, see How I Earn Air Miles With 3 Credit Cards (2026 Update).

Credit Card Reviews

These reviews were written months or years ago. Specific earn rates and benefits may have shifted. But the framework for evaluating cards, understanding trade-offs, matching to spending patterns, weighing annual fees against perks, remains relevant. I still use the same logic today.

• HSBC Revolution Credit Card. The no-annual-fee card that earned me more than 100,000 miles and counting. As of April 2026, it earns 4 mpd on contactless, online, dining, and travel. Supermarkets (MCC5411) and fast food (MCC 5814) are now excluded. Full review here.
• Citi Rewards Credit Card. The secondary card with 60-month points expiry, the longest among Singapore cards. Used for online spend. Full review here.
• DBS Altitude Card. My current general spend card (replaced Citi Prestige in 2026). 1.3 mpd local, 2.2 mpd overseas, with 2 complimentary Priority Pass visits per year.
• Citi PremierMiles Credit Card. General spend card with 2 more lounge access perks. Now serves as my backup. Full review here.
• Citi Prestige Credit Card. Previously my general spend card. Cancelled in 2026 after benefit nerfs. Full review here.

Alternative Credit Card Combinations

If you’re with DBS or UOB instead of Citi/HSBC, consider:

• Contactless: UOB Preferred Platinum Visa (4 mpd)
• Online: DBS Woman’s World Card (4 mpd)

See my original Air Miles Starter Pack from 2017 for the logic behind these defaults.

My Current Setup (April 2026)

Balances:

• KrisFlyer: 222,072 miles
• HSBC Revolution: 98,595 points (unconverted)
• Citi Rewards: 126,667 points (unconverted)
• Approximate total including bank points: ~300,000 miles

I keep bank points unconverted as long as possible. The reason is in Stage 2.

For recent years, my total balance hovers around 300,000 miles despite depleting miles for trips to Da Nang, Bangkok, Bali, and Taipei. The cycle continues: earn, track, redeem.

Cards picked, miles accumulating. The next question: how do you track what you earn and make sure those miles don’t expire before you use them?

Stage 2: Manage – Tracking and Transferring

Miles don’t expire immediately, but the threat is real. KrisFlyer miles have a 36-month validity after transfer. Bank reward points have their own timelines to keep track of.

Tracking Your Miles

Any tool works. Excel. Google Sheets. Notion. Obsidian. A notebook. Use what you’re comfortable with. The best tracker is the one you maintain.

I used to track miles on Notion. Free template still available here. Now I use Obsidian for AI-queryability. Both work.

The tracker stores KrisFlyer balance, bank reward points expiry dates, and redemption charts. One place, no scrambling when miles are about to expire.

Bank Points Transfer Guides

Each bank has its own redemption process. Step-by-step guides for all major banks:

Minimum transfer is typically 10,000 miles per conversion (varies slightly by bank and programme).

Step-by-step guides:

• How to redeem DBS Points for KrisFlyer Miles
• How to redeem OCBC Rewards Points for KrisFlyer Miles
• How to redeem UOB UNI$ for KrisFlyer Miles
• How to redeem HSBC Rewards Points for KrisFlyer Miles
• How to redeem Citi ThankYou Points for KrisFlyer Miles

When to transfer:

Delay as long as possible, but know your expiry dates. Once transferred to KrisFlyer, a fresh 36-month clock starts. Keeping points at the bank extends your overall window. Transfer when you have a redemption target in sight.

A warning on Citi: the 60-month expiry runs in fixed cycles from your card approval date, not rolling from when each batch of points was earned. All points in a cycle expire together. If you earned points in month 58 of your cycle, they expire in month 60, not 60 months later. Check your cycle end date on your statement and plan transfers accordingly.

Most other banks give you 24 months from date of earning (rolling). HSBC points don’t expire as long as your card is active.

This is why my bank points sit unconverted. 98,595 HSBC points are safe indefinitely. 126,667 Citi points need monitoring against my cycle end date.

Miles Expiry Warning

KrisFlyer miles expire 36 months after crediting. The clock starts from when miles enter your account, not when you earn them. Miles earned from flying might have different expiry dates depending on the airline’s promotion at the time.

I’ve had difficulty getting through to KrisFlyer redemption agents during peak periods. Book early, especially for popular routes.

Your miles are tracked and bank points transferred. The question shifts: how do you use them for maximum value?

Stage 3: Redeem – Getting Value From Your Miles

Earning miles is straightforward. Redeeming them for value requires more thought.

Singapore Airlines Redemptions

The Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer redemption chart divides destinations into zones. Just remember that Singapore is Zone 1. The chart below was updated on November 1, 2025.

Since November 2025, KrisFlyer also offers “Access” awards, a dynamic pricing tier available on flights with available seats, even when Saver and Advantage seats are gone. Access awards cost more miles but expand booking options during peak periods.

See Where Can 100,000 Miles Take Us? for a broader look at destinations.

Scoot Redemptions

Scoot launched a fixed KrisFlyer award chart in August 2025. If you’ve been sitting on 10,000 to 20,000 miles wondering whether it’s “enough” to redeem, Scoot gives you that first win. These are Saver rates with limited seats per flight. An Advantage tier exists at higher mileage when Saver is sold out.

The best redemption is the one you use, not the one you save up for forever.

Redemption Value Analysis

Not all routes offer good value. The travel hacking philosophy explains why some routes are gems while others are poor redemptions.

Saver award rates are fixed regardless of season. A peak-season flight costs the same miles as an off-peak one. The catch is availability: Saver seats during peak periods would be harder to come by. Book early or pay more miles for Advantage or Access awards.

A $900 Scoot return flight to Taiwan during year-end school holidays could be replaced with KrisFlyer miles on Singapore Airlines at a fraction of the cost. Typical valuations land in the 1.5 to 2.0 cents per mile range, depending on the route and cash price you’re avoiding.

Business Class Redemptions

Business class is where miles shine. I’ve flown Singapore Airlines Business Class to Bali, Taipei to Singapore, and Qatar Airways Business Class to Bali.

The infamous US$100 business class stopover trick is no longer valid since August 2022. The original guide remains as historical context for how stopovers worked.

Three Factors For A Good Redemption

Route length, cash price alternative, and timing.

• Long flights to farther zones offer better mileage economics.
• Routes with expensive cash prices during peak seasons maximize value.
• Flexible timing allows grabbing Saver award availability before it disappears.

Business class redemptions make total sense when the cash price is astronomical. Economy class redemptions make sense when peak season pricing is unreasonable.

The Collect-Manage-Redeem framework gives you the map. Prompt Finance gives you the navigator.

Bonus: Prompt Finance – How I Use AI To Solve Miles Pain Points

In 2026, I moved my miles tracking from Notion to Obsidian. The real reason is simple: AI.

Obsidian stores everything locally in plain text. I can point any AI tool at my data and ask questions. No scrolling through apps or statements.

• “How many miles expire this year?”
• “Show me all redemptions in 2025.”

This is part of what I call Prompt Finance: using AI to query your financial data instead of searching manually.

Phase 1: Solving The Miles Expiry Problem

KrisFlyer miles follow a 36-month expiry. But the statement doesn’t tell you which miles expire when. You get a total balance and a list of transactions.

I built a prompt that takes your KrisFlyer miles statement and calculates expiry dates using first-in, first-out (FIFO) logic. The AI parses every accrual and redemption, matches them chronologically, and tells you when each batch of miles will expire.

I documented this in KrisFlyer Miles Expiry Checker : Free Prompt To See Your Full 36-Month Expiry Timeline. Prefer not to use AI? I also built a free KrisFlyer Miles Expiry Calculator that runs the same FIFO logic in your browser. Paste your statement, get the schedule.

Phase 2: The Strategic Report

By adding simple prompting, my same set of KrisFlyer miles statement generates a high-value report with 10 modules:

My March 2026 report showed 92,072 miles at risk within 24 months. Extension would cost $110 USD. Flight value preserved: $1,841 SGD. A 12:1 ROI.

I’m writing a follow-up post that walks through the Phase 2 report in detail. How to run it yourself. Each module explained. How to act on the insights.

For now, the Phase 1 prompt (expiry calculation) is documented and ready to use. Copy the prompt, swap in your statement data, paste into any AI chat. No coding required.

How to start: I use Claude Pro at S$30/month. Free tiers on ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude work too. Copy the prompt from the original post, swap in your data, hit enter. Privacy tip: anonymize account numbers before pasting statements. Keep amounts and dates intact.

Resources and Tools

Miles Tracking & Expiry

• I track miles on Obsidian for AI-queryability. The old Notion template is still available free on Gumroad.
• For calculating KrisFlyer miles expiry with FIFO logic: KrisFlyer Miles Expiry Checker. Or use the no-AI version: KrisFlyer Miles Expiry Calculator with the same FIFO output as a browser tool. Both are part of Prompt Finance.

Card Optimization

• HeyMax helps identify the best card for each merchant by MCC code. Useful for maximizing earn rates without memorizing MCCs.
• I also use Miles Bot as my 24/7 personal MCC checker.

KrisFlyer Redemption Charts

• Singapore Airlines Award Chart (Full-service flights)
• Scoot Award Chart (Budget flights)

External Resources

• MileLion is the definitive resource for Singapore air miles content. I learned much of what I know from there.

Ending Thoughts

Ten years in, the game has changed. Credit cards got nerfed. The US$100 stopover trick died. But the framework holds. Three cards matched to your spending. Consistent tracking. Transfers before expiry. Redemptions that make sense.

Prompt Finance is my latest evolution: using AI to stay ahead of expiry dates and squeeze more value from every mile. The tools change. The principles don’t.

The miles journey is a cycle. You earn, track, redeem. Then you start again. My next flight? Probably somewhere regional, maybe business class if availability exists.

Kevin

Kevin started Turtle Investor after hitting rock bottom at negative $25,755 net worth. Today, his investment income and side hustles cover his expenses and travels. He shares what actually works (and what doesn’t) for Singaporeans building wealth. Learn more about Kevin here.