Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer frequent flyer program has introduced “KrisFlyer for Families”, allowing parents to transfer miles out of their children’s accounts until they turn 16 years old.
Parents and guardians can now set up a “Parental Link” with the accounts of up to five children aged 2-15 years old on the Singapore Airlines website. Once linked, parents will be able to transfer up to 50,000 miles per calendar year from each child’s account.
KrisFlyer is also giving 500 bonus miles to parents who link their child’s account to theirs by 31 August 2021. The bonus miles will only apply when linking the first child’s account, and not for each child.
But transfers are not free. Singapore Airlines will charge 500 miles or USD5 for every 5,000 KrisFlyer miles (or part thereof) transferred. For example, if transferring 5,001 miles, the fee would be 1,000 miles or USD10.
The KrisFlyer for Families program also has some terms & conditions to be aware of, which are set out in section “O” of the KrisFlyer Terms and Conditions. The main T&Cs are:
- Each minor’s account can only be linked to one KrisFlyer account, and will be automatically de-linked if the child’s account is closed, their miles expire or they turn 16 years old
- To transfer miles from a minor’s account, the minor must have earned miles from at least one flight in the past 3 years and cannot have earned miles from credit cards
- Miles can only be transferred from minors to parents, and not the other way around
Transferring miles from a child to their parent will also not change the expiration date of the miles transferred, unless the child or parent is a PPS Club member. All KrisFlyer miles expire 3 years after they are earned, which is a huge drawback of the otherwise very good KrisFlyer loyalty program.
Singapore Airlines does not otherwise allow KrisFlyer members to transfer miles between their accounts – even among family members, or for a fee. Instead, each KrisFlyer member is allowed up to five “redemption nominees” who they can redeem their miles to book flights for.
Without KrisFlyer for Families, KrisFlyer’s policy therefore makes it hard for families to accumulate enough miles to redeem for a trip when each family member has a small number of miles stuck in their accounts.
While this new feature is certainly an improvement, it still falls well short of Velocity Frequent Flyer’s family pooling scheme – and many other frequent flyer programs that at least allow free point transfers between family members’ accounts.
In the email to KrisFlyer members advising of the new KrisFlyer for Families program, Singapore Airlines also revealed that the cost of “Mix KrisFlyer miles and cash” redemptions will increase. From today, 1,050 KrisFlyer miles will be needed to offset every multiple of SGD10 – instead of the previous 980 miles. This amount may continue to fluctuate in the future based on exchange rates.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: KrisFlyer for Families
