[Last Chance To Earn Star Alliance Gold Status For 2 Years!] You Can Earn Star Alliance Gold Status By Transferring Miles To Singapore, But Should You?

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Update: This offer ends tomorrow at 10:59AM ET!

Update: Elite status earned with this offer will be valid for 2 years thanks to status extensions!


Originally posted on 4/7/21:

Singapore Airlines is now offering 1 elite mile for every 5 miles converted from bank points to miles. The promotion is valid from today through 2/28/22 Singapore time.

You must transfer at least 10,000 miles to earn elite miles. It can take up to 7 business days for the elite miles to post to your account. There’s no limit to how many transfers you can make to earn the bonus.

  • Singapore Silver elite status/Star Alliance Silver status requires 25,000 elite miles, or a transfer of 125,000 redeemable miles from a bank with this promotion.
  • Singapore Gold elite status/Star Alliance Gold status requires 50,000 elite miles, or a transfer of 250,000 redeemable miles from a bank with this promotion.

US bank transfer partners include:

  • AMEX (1:1 ratio, instant transfer)
  • Capital One (1:1 ratio, instant transfer)
  • Chase (1:1 ratio, transfers in less than 1 day)
  • Citibank (1:1 ratio, transfers in about 1 day)

Status lasts for just 12 months from the date that you qualify, so don’t transfer over miles until you have a need for the status.

If you do transfer over 250,000 miles to earn Gold status now, you can to renew that status for another 12 months by earning another 50,000 elite miles during your membership year. In another words if you transfer over 250,000 miles now and the elite miles posted on 4/15/21, you would get Gold status through 4/15/22. If you transfer over another 250,000 miles after that, your status would be extended through 4/15/23.

Star Alliance Silver status doesn’t really have meaningful benefits, but Star Alliance Gold status does.

Star Alliance Gold status allows you and a guest access to Star Alliance lounges worldwide when flying on any Star Alliance carrier. Incredibly, non-United Star Alliance Gold status also works to get access to United Clubs even when flying on domestic itineraries. United doesn’t even allow their own 1K Star Alliance Gold elites to access United Clubs on domestic first class tickets unless they have a paid United Club membership!

Star Alliance Gold status comes with a free checked bag, but it doesn’t stack on top of the free bag that United credit cards come with.

Star Alliance Gold status also comes with priority baggage handling, priority boarding, priority Gold Track security and immigration lines, priority waitlisting, and upgrades to business first class on the Heathrow Express.

United does not give economy plus seats or upgrades to partner Star Alliance Gold members, though they do offer free same day confirmed flight changes.

Singapore Gold status also gives you:

  • Access to Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses when flying Virgin Atlantic
  • Access to Virgin Australia lounges with a guest when flying Virgin Australia
  • 3 free 50 pound bags on Singapore US flights in economy or 70 pound bags in business/first class.
  • Singapore normally only allows you to redeem miles for 5 designated individuals and charges a $30 fee to change your redemption list. That fee is waived for Gold elites.

Is it worth transferring 250,000 points to Singapore to get Star Alliance Gold?

That will depend on how you value lounge access, as that’s the primary benefit.

One major caveat is that Singapore miles expire after 36 months and they can’t be extended with activity, so you need to use them or lose them.

Another caveat is that earlier this year Singapore was giving a 15% bonus on mileage transfers. Had you transferred 250,000 miles then, you would have received 37,500 bonus miles, which you won’t get now.

Singapore only makes long-haul premium cabin awards available to their own members, so having Singapore miles is not a bad thing.

This was the Singapore suite Mimi and I flew in from JFK to Frankfurt en route in Paris in 2012, booked with 57,000 Singapore miles:

 

 

And here is the updated Singapore A380 suite:

 

 

Here is the Singapore award chart for their own flights and here is the Singapore award chart for Star Alliance flights.

  • Sample one-way Singapore redemptions:
    • JFK to Frankfurt or Houston to Manchester in business class: 72K
    • JFK to Frankfurt or Houston to Manchester in first/suites class: 86K
    • JFK/Newark to Singapore in business class: 99K
    • San Francisco to Hong Kong in business class: 89K
    • San Francisco to Hong Kong in first/suites class: 104K
  • Sample one-way Star Alliance redemptions:
    • JFK to Los Angeles in business class: 23K
    • Newark to Maui in business class: 34.5K
    • Newark to Tel Aviv in business class: 76.5K

The Star Alliance rates are decent, but you can do better with partner miles from airlines like ANA or Turkish. Then again you get Gold status just for transferring over miles. If you’re redeeming for a ticket and the redemption makes sense, that can be worthwhile.

If Singapore miles didn’t have a hard expiration date or if Singapore elite status lasted longer than 12 months, I’d be a lot more excited about this offer. As it stands now, it can be worth pursuing if you have a redemption that makes sense or if you really want Star Alliance Gold status now and are sure you’ll use the miles within 36 months. Otherwise, wait and see what happens until the offer expires next February.

Will you take advantage of this offer?

  • You can transfer AMEX, Chase, Or Citi points to Singapore at a 1:1 ratio or Capital One to Singapore at a 2:1 ratio and you’ll earn elite miles through 2/28/22.

Capital One cards with transferable points to miles include:

  • Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card X offering 100,000 miles+$200 towards vacation rentals, $300 annual travel credit, 10,000 mile anniversary bonus, 2-10 miles per dollar spent, Capital One Lounge access, Priority Pass Lounge access, Global Entry/Pre-Check Membership and more. $395 annual fee. Read more here.
  • Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card offering 60,000 miles, 2 miles per dollar everywhere. Global Entry/Pre-Check Membership. $95 annual fee.
  • Capital One Spark Miles for Business offering 50,000 miles for spending $4,500 in 3 months, 2 miles per dollar everywhere. Global Entry/Pre-Check Membership. $0 intro annual fee, then $95 annual fee.
  • Capital One Spark Cash Plus offering $3,000 for spending $50,000 in 6 months, 2 miles per dollar everywhere. Transfer $3,000 cash back to other Capital One mileage cards for 300,000 miles. Global Entry/Pre-Check Membership. $150 annual fee.

AMEX cards with transferable Membership Rewards points include:

If you, a member in your household, or an authorized user has one of the following Chase cards, you can transfer points into miles:

Chase no-annual fee cards that are fantastic for earning points, but require one of the cards above for points transfers include:

  • Ink Business Cash® Credit Card  earns 5 points per dollar on cable, TV, telecom, cellular, office supply stores, and gift cards from office supply stores, plus 2 points per dollar on dining and gas ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
  • Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card  earns 1.5 points per dollar everywhere ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
  • Chase Freedom Flex has a 20K signup bonus, plus 5 points on rotating categories, 5 points per dollar on travel purchased through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, and 3 points per dollar on dining and drugstores ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
  • Chase Freedom Unlimited® has a signup bonus offering 3 points per dollar on up to $20K of spending in your first 12 month, afterwards earn at least 1.5 points per dollar everywhere, 5 points per dollar on travel purchased through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, and 3 points per dollar on dining and drugstores ($0 annual fee). Read more here.

If you or a friend has one of the following Citi cards, you can transfer points into miles:

  • Citi Premier® Card has a 60,000 point bonus for spending $4,000 in 3 months, 3 points per dollar on airfare, hotels, travel agents, groceries, gas, and dining. $95 annual fee. Read more here.

Citi no-annual fee cards that are fantastic for earning points, but require one of the cards above for points transfers include:

  • The Citi Double Cash® Card offers 2% cash back or 2 points per dollar spent everywhere that can be transferred into ThankYou points. If you also have a Citi Premier® Card Card you can transfer points into miles. No annual fee. Read more here.
  • The Citi Custom Cash® Card offers 5 points per dollar on up to $500 in purchases in your top eligible spending category each billing cycle. This is marketed as 5% cash back, but will actually come in the form of 5 ThankYou points per dollar spent! Eligible categories include Restaurants, Gas Stations, Grocery Stores, Select Travel, Select Transit, Select Streaming Services, Drugstores, Home Improvement Stores, Fitness Clubs, and Live Entertainment. You will also get 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months. No annual fee. Read more here.
  • The Citi Rewards+® Card offering 15,000 points for spending $1,000 in 3 months. This card can’t transfer points on its own, but can transfer points if you have one of the Citi cards above. This card automatically rounds up rewards earned on every purchase to the nearest 10 points, meaning you earn 10 points on a $0.50 Amazon balance reload. Earn 2 points on $6K in annual spending at supermarkets, 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months, and a 10% points rebate when you redeem points, up to a 10K points rebate per year. If you also have a Citi Premier® Card Card you can transfer points into miles and get a 10% points rebate on transferred or redeemed miles. No annual fee. Read more here.

HT: mochjas, via DDF and Eluzer K

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31 Comments On "[Last Chance To Earn Star Alliance Gold Status For 2 Years!] You Can Earn Star Alliance Gold Status By Transferring Miles To Singapore, But Should You?"

All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.

Lester

I almost pushed the button on this but since reading it I pulled the plug

Steve

Singapore doesn’t typically have too much award availability from NYC to Asia in my experience. Particularly on the non-stop JFK-SIN

David

Complicated subject put down Crystal Clear even for a 3 year old.

united

are there any star alliance programs that will match United status. (Never knew about access to United club)

JOE

Upgrades only to business first class on the Heathrow Express? how about economy upgrades?

RR

Star alliance gold also allows for a free bag for all
Members on same itinerary on United.
I just flew 2 weeks ago with family members on different itineraries and they honored and gave feee bags for everyone.

Ivezdad

I have dealt with multiple Airline miles programs, Singaporeair’s krisflyer is the most devious and ruthless.
I had an award trip planned which was using almost expired miles. They were legal when booked. I was forced to reschedule due to a blizzard and my experience that Singaporeair does not handle blizzard delays well. It was late at night and the SQ agent offered to change my booking by cancelling, waiting for the miles to repopulate and booking the new flight. I went to sleep but woke up to nothing done.
In short, SQ returned the miles which were immediately taken away as expired even as they promised to rebook. The only result of complaining was every complaint and every email I sent was rewarded with a 3 AM phone call with long discussions in their brand of doubletalk. I am confident this was done maliciously and with intent.
I would recommend Dansdealers be cautious.

Yakov

I think you should be filing a complaint by the DOT.

Glushtygiz

I thought the pandemic is over

Ari

I would really only consider this if you’re planning on doing one of those long-haul flights like Hong Kong or Singapore. JFK to FRA just seems kids of short in comparison to really benefit from the bed. Also, if you value the United Club that much, I would get a United Club card instead of dropping all those Amex points that you can use for a ton of flights.

Ehad

I just flew a couple time ewr cdg this past month using 27.5k MR. I am a united Gold so singapore air gave me 3 bags of 70lbs for me and each kf the travelers that flew with me that is 12bags.
1. Singapore air is impossible to reach over the phone in US. Basically no customer service we had to call Paris office and speak to a very nice lady that helped us.
2. United would warn you no changes possible wven if you’re their Elite. Not even same day changes. Also beware some other offices told us where are you now? Then you must call US office we cannot help you here and hanged up
3. After being helped they just changed the booking they did not ticket it again. So we had to again try to find the right people to help us
4. MR to Singapore transfers instantly while ANA takes at least 3 days

M

How does the free same day changes work?
The free bag can be useful if you are using travel bank or similar or partner award miles and can’t put any part of the charge on the ua cc

Joel

I think its dead

M

Is the same day flight change the same benefit thats available to any united premier member?

Steve

How do I get *A gold to come up on my United reservation and boarding pass if not booking with my KF #?

Pete Weiss

I moved 250k on one account a few months ago and all was good got gold. I did on a second account and 50k elite miles posted but only silver.

Steve

It takes a few days for the system to update. Typically within 72 hours.

Jay

Its impossible to book a partner award redemption online. Example TLV ORD or TLV MIA. It doesn’t show . I called them for 8 days already and can’t get through to an agent at all for hours. Used website and app and unable to book any partner award or even view. Dan, recommendations?

AYZ

How do you search and book a SA flight with Singapore?

Baruch

Dan,
thanks to this post I’m now a gold member. can you also please help me understand how i can prove to other star alliance airlines that I’m indeed a gold member.

greatly appreciated,

Baruch

M

I tried canceling a sq award flight online but all i got was an email saying they received my cancelation request and someone will contact me within 7 days to charge the fee and confirm the cancelation and miles redeposit
But my flight is tomorrow and i still see my booking as before – should i be worried it will be a no show?

wpDiscuz