American Express cutting KrisFlyer transfer rate to 3:2 – will others follow?

American Express has just announced that the transfer rate from Membership Rewards points to the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer programme will change from 1st April.

It will drop from the current 1:1 to 3:2.

In itself, this is not a major disaster. What is potentially a problem is that someone has now broken ranks. Where one partner goes, others may choose to follow.

Your chance to fly the new Singapore Airlines A380 First Class, which we toured here, may now be gone:

As a reminder, here are the current American Express Membership Rewards airline partners in the UK.

1 Membership Rewards point gets you:

• 1 Avios (into BA or Iberia)
• 1 Alitalia mile (SkyTeam)
• 1 Asia Mile (oneworld)
• 1 Delta mile (SkyTeam)
• 1 Etihad mile (no alliance)
• 1 Emirates mile (no alliance)
• 1 Finnair mile (oneworld)
• 1 Flying Blue mile (SkyTeam)
• 1 Qantas Point (oneworld)
• 1 SAS mile (Star Alliance)
• 1 Singapore Airlines mile (Star Alliance)
• 1 Virgin Point (no alliance)

You can see the pattern here ….. it’s 1:1 for everyone.

Clearly, American Express does not pay the same price per mile to all of these airlines. However, the desire by Amex to present an easy to understand reward chart and the desire by the airlines to be on par with the competition means that 1:1 has survived for MANY years.

Airlines which don’t want to play at 1:1 simply didn’t sign. This is potentially why Malaysia Airlines and Qatar Airways Privilege Club are International Dollar Card partners but are not in the UK scheme.

1:1 is not normal if you look at Amex globally. If you look at the reward chart of the International Dollar Card, which I hold, it is a mix of 3:2 and 1:1. 3:2 makes sense with the International Dollar Card because 1 point per $1 is easier to earn than 1 point per £1. Ironically, KrisFlyer is one of the handful of airlines at 1:1 on that card.

Singapore Airlines transfers are good value

Whilst we don’t cover KrisFlyer much on Head for Points, it does have some sweet spots.

This article looks at the best deals with Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles.

It is, for example, the cheapest way to get from the UK to the Middle East in Business Class using Amex points. You pay just 58,000 miles RETURN in Business Class.

Remember that British Airways wants up to 120,000 Avios on a peak day for a return Club World flight to Dubai, Abu Dhabi etc.  You can use just 58,000 KrisFlyer miles, most likely routed on Lufthansa via Frankfurt or SWISS via Zurich, instead.  Other fun routings include Turkish via Istanbul and Egyptair via Cairo!

Other good options include:

• Europe to South East Asia, at 92,000 miles one-way in Business.  You can fly direct to Singapore on Singapore Airlines for 90,000 miles, but if you can’t find seats on your dates (not unlikely) then you should get something on Thai, Lufthansa, SWISS, Turkish etc for just 2,000 additional miles
• Europe to South Africa for 52,000 miles one-way in Business.   Your primary choices would be South African, Lufthansa, SWISS, Ethiopian and Turkish.
• Europe to the Maldives is 54,500 miles one-way in Business.   Turkish is your likely airline.  Sri Lanka and India are in the same pricing zone.
• Domestic USA / Canada flights.  Whilst not as cheap as Avios for short hops, 12,500 miles one-way in Economy or 23,000 miles one-way in Business (domestic First in the USA is priced as Business) can work out well.

And if you are prepared to start your trip in Turkey ….

• Istanbul to Singapore is astonishingly cheap at 49,000 miles one-way in Business. Taxes are also exceptionally low – just US$55 last time I checked.

This move by Amex could be bad news ….

…. if other airlines now decide to break ranks too. For some it makes no sense. However, British Airways could make its own American Express cards more attractive by moving to a 3:2 rate from Membership Rewards.

At present, it makes more sense to get the Amex Rewards Credit Card than the free BA Amex card. The Amex Rewards Credit Card is free for life, like the BA Amex, and indirectly earns 1 Avios per £1, like the free BA Amex. You also get the flexibility to convert to all of the other Amex partners, however, removing any risk of an Avios devaluation.

This move by Amex could be good news ….

…. if it encourages other airlines into the fold. I’m sure that some airlines refused to come in because they couldn’t make 1:1 stack up financially, and you really needed to be at 1:1 because everyone else was. Could we now see hold-outs such as Lufthansa or Turkish become UK Amex partners?

Conclusion

I doubt many HfP readers ever transferred Membership Rewards points to KrisFlyer, but it did have some bargains.

It is interesting to note that the Singapore Airlines UK & Ireland country manager, Sheldon Hee, left his role on Friday. It is possible that this is part of a changing of the guard in the UK office.

This is a real headache for Star Alliance flyers in the UK. The only other Amex partner in Star Alliance is SAS, and their redemption rates are terrible if you don’t fly on SAS themselves.

There are no Star Alliance airlines with their own UK payment card at the moment. We are hoping that a new Lufthansa card appears in the Summer but it isn’t 100% guaranteed.

Let’s see if this is a one-off move or the start of an unwelcome trend. You can move your Membership Rewards points to KrisFlyer at the current 1:1 rate until the end of March.

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