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Singapore Airline's KrisFlyer loyalty program is full of amazing redemptions and sweet spots. And now Singapore is hoping to make things easier for families to redeem their miles with the introduction of KrisFlyer for Families.
As an incentive to signup, Singapore Airlines is offering members 500 KrisFlyer miles just for linking a child's account to a parent or guardian's account.
The Deal
- Get 500 KrisFlyer miles when you link a child account to the parent or guardian account
- You can sign your children up for a free KrisFlyer account here
- Limited to the first 5,000 people
- Must link by 8/31/21
- You can earn a max of 500 KrisFlyer bonus miles per family account. So if you have 5 kids, you will only receive 500 miles total for this promotion.
- Full terms and conditions here (PDF link)
The Fine Print
Singapore's new family pooling option seems great on the surface. However, it's loaded with rules and restrictions you should be aware of.
- Parents cannot transfer miles to children, only children to parents
- No more than 5 child accounts may be linked
- Once a child's account is linked to a parent's account, it cannot be changed until…(see next bullet point)
- Accounts will automatically be delinked when a child turns 16 years of age.
- There's a US$5 fee per 5,000 miles transferred from the child's account to the parent's account.
- The maximum number of miles you can transfer per child is limited to 50,000 KrisFlyer miles each year.
- The child’s account must have at least one mile earned from a flight in the last 36 months.
- To link a child's account, no miles in that account can be accrued from credit card transfers or co-brand card spend in the last 36 months.
Is it Worth It?
The ability to pool miles is always a great feature of any program. KrisFlyer Families is no different, but it also isn't something that many people can utilize. Those who pay to fly Singapore Airlines and take their children along are the ones most likely able to benefit the most from this new option. That's because your child must have earned at least one mile through flying within the last 36 months.
As for those of us who use our miles for free travel, there aren't many uses for this option. If for some reason your child does end up with KrisFlyer miles in their account, then being able to transfer and combine them with yours for a small fee isn't exactly a bad thing.
Final Thoughts
KrisFlyer Families is not exactly earth-shattering. But, more options are more options and you never know when these things could come in handy.
Can you think of any other times KrisFlyer Families can make sense?
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Not the most “family” friendly pooling program. British Airways Executive Club and Air Canada Aeroplan have a better system in place. The $5 transfer fee for 5,000 miles is a bit much for sure.
It’s a better than nothing option, but since other programs are able to offer something more competitive, it makes this look bad.
Krisflyer having a hard 3 year expiry is my biggest problem with their scheme.
I’d do this if it applied to me.
Paying $50 to transfer 50,000 miles could be worth it in some cases.
While this is great for orphan miles, Krisflyer still expire 36 months after earning them and there is no way to extend them without paying. So unless you fly frequently with them or earn a lot of miles thru credit cards, I would not go for this.
Good point. Indeed, KrisFlyer miles can be annoying that way. But, maybe if you’re traveling as a family, you can accumulate enough miles to redeem the miles faster than otherwise. Plus, you can always top off your KrisFlyer accounts with bank point transfers.
AA, WN, and AS need to do this.
Doesn’t seem too bad but the whole until 16yrs old thing is weird. It’s your child so shouldn’t really be a problem? I think that if your child earns miles with Singapore from flying then you would probably use the miles from that account for them, unless it was a one time trip. I need to look into the rules of Singapores freq flyers program.
Actually not bad, fee is nominal, now I just need to adopt some kids.
Am I right in assuming that it only covers married couples? So de-facto’s can’t link accounts?
As far as I know, this only covers linking a child’s account to a parent’s account. I’m not aware of a way to combine miles with a partner or spouse. Please share more details if we missed something.
More options are always a good things. Good step in the right direction for Singapore Airlines!
Crazy how many rules and restrictions they have. Worthwhile perhaps for Singaporean residents who frequently fly the whole family on the airline, but I cannot see this mattering to most AwardWallet users.
It would be so much better if an adult couple could pool or at least transfer between accounts.
Agreed. Singapore is falling short of the better pooling options out there – from JetBlue to Aeroplan
I like this concept and for me the fee makes sense! I only wish this was an option sooner
The primary audience of the feature is members based in Singapore, I think.
Could come in handy for some people. Probably not useful for me. Thanks for the info.
Never have used Singapore Airlines before.
This is meh; I created KF accounts for my wife and kids, but the rules around this new benefit clearly make it targeted to only the most loyal flyers flying on revenue tickets.
Is the $5 fee in USD or SGD?
That’s a great question, and I just updated the post to reflect that it’s USD: “You can transfer up to 50,000 KrisFlyer miles from your child’s account to yours every calendar year. For every 5,000 KrisFlyer miles (or part thereof) transferred from your child’s account, you will be charged a fee of USD 5 or 500 miles”
Love this promo. More airlines need to do it.