Chances are, if you’re reading this you probably travel at least once or twice a year. Pre COVID I was doing roughly 1-2 flights a week, mainly on Oneworld airlines to build on my status with British Airways for lounge access and other perks. Every now and again though, I’d veer off and fly a different airline, perhaps for the price difference, perhaps the convenience of flying direct. One of these instances was Singapore Airlines direct on their 5th freedom route from Manchester to Houston, Texas.
I had signed up for their Krisflyer frequent flyer program, because, well why not? free points are free points. Anyway, I’ve only flown 1 return trip with them on a cash fare and that was in economy so my points balance with them is a measly 5,206.
To put that number into context, it’s basically nothing, I mean to fly the same journey MAN-IAH 1 way will cost you 25,000 miles, one way in economy that is, double that for a return, or triple it and add another 6,000 if you want to fly business ONE WAY. If you’re wanting the supreme luxury of 1st class on the a380 with a proper bed and everything it’ll run you 97,000 miles from Frankfurt to New York, again that’s one way.
Rather than let these points expire and get zero value for them, I decided to look where I could transfer the points to try and get some sort of value from them. The choices are pretty limited, There are:
- KrisShop.com – Basically anything you can typically buy onboard an airline (Perfumes, etc)
- KrisFlyer vRooms – Where you can book hotel stays with points (My points balance is that low it’s, well pointless)
- Fliggy – Something to do with Alibaba
- Shangri La – Their points program offers the lowest value f all points programs I’m pretty sure.
- Velocity – Virgin Australias Loyalty Program. Won’t ever be using them.
- Esso – This seemed like a good shout as i rinse fuel, turns out it’s only for Esso Singapore…
- SIA Carbon Offset – Not a chance
Finally, there is Marriott. I get a whole load of use from Marriott points be it last-minute hotel stays which are expensive with cash but cheap with points, World class luxury b hotels which often become less than half price using points or even recently booking Marriott’s Suite @ The O2 to see music like Swedish House Mafia and Panic! At The Disco whilst drinking and eating copious amounts of free food and drink.
Here’s how easy it is to transfer them.
First you’ll need to sign into your Singapore Airlines Kris Flyer account Click on miles then select Marriott as your transfer partner.
Have handy your Marriott Bonvoy membership number as you’ll now need to enter this along with the amount of KrisFlyer points you’ll want to transfer. The minimum transfer is 3,000 but unlike a lot of other rewards programs where you have to transfer in multiples of 500 or even 1,000 in some cases, you can transfer in multiples of 2.
Confirm all your details are correct and tick the box acknowledging that you can’t undo the transfer request once it has started then press confirm.
And just like that, you’ve requested to have your points transferred. Now the transfer isn’t instant, I mean they take at least 4 days just to get back to you acknowledging that you want to transfer the points, never mind actually sending them across.
Thoughts
The process is extremely simple. Yes, the value you get is absolutely awful; I think a KrisFlyer point is worth a smidge under 1p so the fact you transfer 2 Kris Flyer points to get 1 Marriot Bonvoy point which is worth about 0.5p means you’re losing 75% of the value. But is it a real loss when I know for certain I’ll be able to use the Marriott points but probably would have lost them if they stayed as KrisFlyer points.
TL;DR – Always sign up for a frequent flyer program even if you’re only taking a flight or 2. Chances are you can transfer their points to something you’ll actually use.