How to Earn KrisFlyer Miles in Australia

Unless you travel frequently for work, you will probably need to learn how to earn points without flying to extract value from the KrisFlyer program.
Earn points with credit cards, hotel bookings, rental cars, and shopping.
In Australia, the easiest way to earn KrisFlyer points is to earn Velocity points and transfer them across.

If your goal is to try Singapore Airlines’ most amazing First and Business Class cabins, then you’re going to have to use the KrisFlyer program. These products can’t be redeemed through partner frequent flyer programs.

Obviously, you’ll earn KrisFlyer miles when you fly with Singapore Airlines or any of its partners. But unless you travel regularly for work, it’s unlikely you’ll accumulate a sufficient critical mass just by flying alone. Therefore, it’s important to know how to earn KrisFlyer miles without setting foot on a plane.

Credit cards

Travel has become synonymous with credit card rewards, and the same can be said for Singapore Airlines. While there may be no credit cards that directly earn KrisFlyer miles in Australia, there are still plenty of options to earn rewards points that can be transferred to KrisFlyer.

American Express Memberships Rewards cards. Earn points that can be transferred into KrisFlyer.
Velocity Frequent Flyer credit cards. You can transfer Velocity points to KrisFlyer, although there aren't many cards that directly earn Velocity points.
Rewards credit cards. For example, you can earn points with ANZ Rewards, BankSA / Bank of Melbourne / St.George Amplify Rewards, and Westpac Altitude Rewards that can be transferred to KrisFlyer.

You can find some of the main options below. For more, see our frequent flyer credit card comparison here.

Citi Prestige Card

The Citi Prestige Card allows you to earn 20,000 Citi Rewards bonus points each month for the first 20 months after card approval, provided you spend at least $1,000 each statement period. This gives you a total of 400,000 bonus points, which would be worth 160,000 KrisFlyer miles. In addition to this, you’ll also get unlimited Priority Pass lounge access, plus travel, purchase protection and warranty insurance and many more complimentary benefits.

American Express Platinum Card

The American Express Platinum Card is an even more pricey card option, but the benefits do outweigh the costs. The card earns American Express Membership Rewards in the Ascent Premium Membership tier, opening up a whole new world of privileges. After the spend criteria is met you’ll receive 80,000 Membership Rewards points which will transfer to 40,000 KrisFlyer miles.

You also get access to over 1,200 airport lounges worldwide (worth $1,000 at a conservative estimate); a $450 annual travel credit; elite hotel accommodation privileges valued at $1,095 a year; gold-plated travel insurance (worth $1,150); smartphone screen insurance (worth $200); Australian Financial Review digital subscription (worth $628 per year).

American Express Platinum Business Card

The American Express Platinum Business Card is a strong business card for transfer into many airlines – KrisFlyer being one of them. If you are doing a lot of business travel and want to redeem KrisFlyer miles this could be a good option for you.

After the spend criteria is met you’ll receive 100,000 Membership Rewards points which will transfer to 50,000 KrisFlyer miles. As with the personal Platinum Card, you will get access to over 1,200 airport lounge programs (worth $1,000 at a conservative estimate).

Other perks include 24/7 concierge services, access to events and experiences that are not open to the general public, dining privileges which can help you secure reservations at world-class restaurants around the globe (which can be handy if you are trying to impress clients) and complimentary platinum travel insurances.

St George Amplify Signature Credit Card

The St George Amplify Signature Credit Card provides cardholders with 200,000 bonus points when they successfully spend $12,000 each year for the first two years.These points are worth 100,000 KrisFlyer miles. One key advantage of the longer spending period is that, over the course of a year, you are more likely to need to pay larger bills that may not arise in a shorter qualification period.

Cardholders also receive two complimentary Priority Pass lounge visits each year, plus access to the Visa Luxury Hotels program.

ANZ Rewards Black Credit Card

The ANZ Rewards Black Credit Card offers a sign up bonus of 100,000 ANZ Rewards points when you spend $4,000 within the first three months. Those points are worth 33,333 KrisFlyer miles. You’re also eligible to receive $100 back when you hit the $4,000 spending target, which helps to offset the annual fee.

Cardholders enjoy unlimited access to participating Veloce airport lounges outside of Australia, plus a 24/7 concierge to handle travel planning, restaurant and hotel bookings.

Velocity Points transfers

It’s probably much easier to earn Velocity Points than KrisFlyer miles in Australia since there are many credit cards that earn Velocity Frequent Flyer points. Credit cards aside, Velocity points can be earned at BP, Virgin Mobile, Virgin Active, Wilson Parking, flybuys and many other non-air partners.

Although Velocity members, in theory, can redeem their points for Singapore Airlines award tickets, remember that only KrisFlyer members get access to the airline’s newest and best First and Business Class products.

Fortunately, it’s possible to transfer Velocity points to KrisFlyer at a ratio of 1.55 Velocity Points = 1 KrisFlyer mile.

Booking hotels

If you’re looking for a hotel and don’t care too much about brand, consider booking through Kaligo or Rocketmiles. Both of these online travel agencies reward you with airline miles when you book hotels. In my personal experience, Kaligo is more generous with the miles, as the screenshot below illustrates. However, be sure to compare prices with other OTAs to ensure you’re not paying over the market rate!

If you’re more brand conscious, the good news is that you can still earn 500 KrisFlyer miles per stay at the following chains:

Anatara, AVANI & Tivoli
Chatrium Hotels & Residences
Dusit Hotels & Resorts
Fullerton & Sino Hotels
Harbour Plaza Hotels & Resorts
HPL Hotels & Resorts
Hyatt Hotels & Resorts
Kempinski Hotels
Langham Hospitality Group
Mandarin Oriental
Melia Hotels International
Meritus Hotels & Resorts
Millennium Hotels and Resorts
New Otani Hotels
Okura Hotels & Resorts
Pan Pacific & PARKROYAL
Rotana
Taj Hotels, Palaces, Resorts and Safaris
The Peninsula
Wharf Hotels
Worldhotels

Hotel points from programs like Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy, IHG Rewards Club and Le Club AccorHotels can also be transferred into KrisFlyer. It’s generally not advisable to do this because the conversion rates are poor (you end up losing value in the exchange), but if you must do this, pick Marriott Bonvoy. Marriott Bonvoy allows you to convert 60,000 Bonvoy points into 25,000 KrisFlyer miles, the best ratio of all the hotel programs.

Rental cars

Don’t forget to provide your KrisFlyer membership number when renting a car, because every car rental with the following chains earns you a flat 500 KrisFlyer miles:

Avis
Europcar
Hertz
Sixt

There are other rental car agglomerators like Rentalcars.com and EasyRentCars.com which offer between 1.5-2 miles per US$1 spent on car rentals, but be sure to shop around and make sure you’re getting the best price.

Heathrow Rewards

Travellers who pass through London Heathrow frequently may want to sign up for the free-to-join Heathrow Rewards program, which allows them to collect points for dining and shopping at LHR. You earn 1 point per 1 GBP spent at Heathrow, with a bonus 100 points just for joining. Points can then be converted into KrisFlyer miles at a 250 points = 250 miles ratio.

The verdict

KrisFlyer miles are easy enough to earn if you use the right credit cards and don’t miss out on opportunities to score some additional miles for free on your hotel and rental car bookings. Remember that KrisFlyer awards out of Australia start at just 20,000 KrisFlyer miles for a one-way Economy flight between Perth and Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.

FAQs

What's the fastest way to earn KrisFlyer miles for someone in Australia?

It's possible to earn a lot of points that can be transferred to KrisFlyer with a credit card sign up bonus. There are many options since it's possible to transfer points to KrisFlyer from ANZ Rewards, Altitude Rewards, Amplify Rewards, Commonwealth Bank Awards, Membership Rewards, NAB Rewards, Velocity Frequent Flyer, and other reward programs.