Westpac, St George Block KrisFlyer Transfers

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Photo by Georg Bommeli on Unsplash.

Westpac and St George Bank customers are currently unable to transfer their credit card card reward points to the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program online.

KrisFlyer is a one of several frequent flyer programs that Westpac Altitude points can be transferred to. KrisFlyer is also a partner of the Amplify Rewards program used by St George, Bank of Melbourne and Bank SA (which are all owned by Westpac). But KrisFlyer transfers from any of these programs are no longer possible online.

I just logged on to try and move some of my Amplify points to my Krisflyer account and their is no option to do so. The only two places that I can transfer my points are to Velocity or Malaysia. Is this a temporary glitch, or did I miss some important announcement?

The good news is that this appears to be a temporary glitch, and there is a workaround. The reason for the current issues is unclear. In the meantime, you can call up to transfer your Altitude or Amplify Rewards points to KrisFlyer.

An AFF member called earlier this week and had no problems transferring their points over the phone. The KrisFlyer miles arrived in this member’s account later on the same day.

Just rang them and transferred 150k Amplify points to 75k KF. No problems but was told points may take up to 3 days to appear. According to agent, it’s an IT issue, not a withdrawal of KF transfer issue.

Here are the Australian contact phone numbers for each of the affected programs:

  • Westpac Altitude: 1300 887 820
  • St George Amplify: 1300 489 586
  • Bank of Melbourne Amplify: 1300 600 266
  • Bank SA Amplify: 1300 490 641

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer is one of the most popular and best value overseas frequent flyer programs for use by Australians. KrisFlyer miles are particularly valuable because the award charts are competitive, there are no fuel surcharges for Singapore Airlines award flights and there is excellent award availability across the Singapore Airlines and Star Alliance network. Any credit card rewards program that removed KrisFlyer transfers would therefore become significantly less competitive.

Just applied for this card specifically for KrisFlyer option. I hope it’s not being removed now.

Westpac Altitude points can be converted at a rate of 1 Altitude point to 0.4 KrisFlyer miles. Amplify points transfer at a slightly better 1:0.5 rate.

Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: St George Amplify not allowing redemption for Krisflyer

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.
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