If you ever fly Singapore Airlines you are probably familiar with the generous KrisFlyer program, but if you live in the United States you might think that this program would be useless and you would be completely wrong. The Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program just may be the greatest loyalty program for travelers living in North America!
What is really interesting about airline loyalty programs is that you do not have to actually fly on the airline to earn status with that airline. Majority of programs offer mileage accruals when flying with an alliance partner. Singapore Airlines may be the most generous partner of all when it comes to crediting miles to the KrisFlyer program. All United Airlines flights earn at least a 100% milage accrual. This means those $80 round trip flights from Chicago to Los Angeles still earn approximately 3,480 miles! KrisFlyer’s program is not revenue based and miles flown are miles earned.
Also, there are a ton of international partners which flyers can earn 100% or more miles when traveling. Below is a list of all airlines that you will earn at least a 100% mileage accrual when traveling regardless of fare class:
Aegean Airlines, Air India, Air New Zealand, Austrian, EgyptAir, Scandinavian Airlines, South African Airways, Thai, Turkish Airlines, and United.
The Singapore Airline KrisFlyer program also offers 100% milage accruals when flying Virgin America and has a very generous mileage accrual when flying Jet Blue! A full listing of mileage partners and accrual rates can be found here. North American based travelers have a lot of opportunities to credit miles to the KrisFlyer program.
Earning Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer status is also very easy and the airline is again quite generous. A traveler only needs to accrue 25,000 elite miles to earn KrisFlyer Elite Silver Status and just 50,000 elite miles to earn KrisFlyer Elite Gold Status. KrisFlyer uses a rolling calendar when considering elite status. So miles need to be earned during any 12-month period, rather than from Jan 1 to Dec 31.
The most important point of earning status with an airline is the benefits! As a KrisFlyer Elite Gold member you are granted Star Alliance Gold Status (*A Gold = United 1K). When flying with a Star Alliance partner you will have priority seating choices, priority boarding, waived baggage fees, and when flying on United in the United States, United Club Access.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program offers a great alternative to the revenue based loyalty programs offered by United States airlines for those travelers like myself that are more interested in getting somewhere cheaply for the weekend. Not to mention, redeeming KrisFlyer miles can be extremely rewarding, but more on that later.
