Few perks have carried a card as far as the Singapore Airlines cashback carried the AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card, and now American Express is reshaping it. From 19 November 2026 the reward shrinks from S$150 to S$100 and must be spent within two months rather than a year, though the spending bar to earn it is halved. The change looks generous on paper, since the effective rebate rises, yet it sits within a familiar pattern in which the headline reward is traded for an easier path to it. Whether the card still earns its place in a wallet depends less on the cashback than on what the same spending
AMEX KrisFlyer Card Cuts SIA Cashback to S$100 With Two-Month Window, but Lowers Spend Thresholds
The benefit may have improved, but there's little reason to want to earn it.
Mark
So what actually changed on 19 November?
Mimi
The cashback goes from S$150 to S$100, and the usage window from 12 months to two. But you only need S$6,000 of spend instead of S$12,000, and the minimum ticket spend is S$400 instead of S$800.
Mark
That sounds like a trade, not a cut.
Mimi
In isolation, yes. The effective rebate rises from 1.25 percent to 1.67 percent.
Luke
That's the writer's own calculation from the published figures, and the arithmetic holds. But the verdict that it's not worth earning rests on his opportunity-cost estimate.
Mark
How does that estimate work?
Mimi
He assumes S$6,000 on 4 mpd cards instead, which gives 17,400 miles. At 1.5 cents a mile that's S$261, more than the S$100.
Luke
And 1.5 cents is a valuation, not a fact. Someone who values miles lower would see a different result. Also, the 4 mpd assumption requires spend that actually fits those cards' categories.
Mark
What about people midway through the year?
Mimi
Transitional rules apply. Those past S$12,000 keep the S$150 but with six months to use it, not 12.
Luke
Worth noting that six-month cut was described as a no-notice change. The source doesn't say how many cardholders are affected, so we can't size it.
Mark
And the S$1 trick for the middle group?
Mimi
Spend S$1 only when you have a booking ready, because the two-month clock starts then. That's the writer's suggestion, based on the stated rules.
O Pulso
- American Express is cutting the Singapore Airlines cashback from S$150 to S$100, and the window to use it collapses from twelve months to two.
- Cardholders who already qualified face a six-month deadline on the old benefit, forcing a race to book before the transition bites.
- Halved qualifying and minimum spend thresholds make the reward easier to reach, even as its headline value falls by a third.
- Cardholders are being steered to time their qualifying spend around a planned SIA booking, and the writer concludes the card still ranks poorly against higher-earning alternatives.
Few perks have carried a card as far as the Singapore Airlines cashback carried the AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card, and now American Express is reshaping it. From 19 November 2026 the reward shrinks from S$150 to S$100 and must be spent within two months rather than a year, though the spending bar to earn it is halved. The change looks generous on paper, since the effective rebate rises, yet it sits within a familiar pattern in which the headline reward is traded for an easier path to it. Whether the card still earns its place in a wallet depends less on the cashback than on what the same spending would have earned elsewhere.
American Express has told holders of its AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card that the Singapore Airlines cashback, long seen as the card's main attraction, is being reduced. From 19 November 2026 the benefit falls from S$150 to S$100, and the time to use it shrinks to two months.
The old deal asked for S$12,000 in spending over a year, plus an S$800 single transaction, and then granted twelve months to redeem. The new version asks for S$6,000 between 19 November 2026 and 18 May 2027, with a S$400 minimum, and gives two months to use it. The reward is smaller and the window tighter, but the entry requirements are halved.
Existing cardholders are caught in transition rules. Anyone who already qualified under the old terms has six months from that point to use their S$150, which is itself a sharp cut. Those who spent between S$6,000 and S$11,999 earlier in the cycle need only one more eligible transaction of S$1 before May 2027, and the two-month clock starts from that spend. Lower spenders have their totals carried forward.
The effective rebate rises from about 1.25 percent to about 1.67 percent, but the writer argues the card remains a poor choice. Its 1.1 miles per dollar trails many general cards and specialised cards that can earn up to 4. Diverting the same S$6,000 elsewhere would forgo more value than the S$100 provides. The practical advice is to align qualifying spend with an actual SIA booking, and to treat this card as a last resort in the spending order.
American Express has told holders of its AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card that the Singapore Airlines cashback, widely regarded as the card's only substantial perk, is being reshaped. From 19 November 2026, the benefit falls from S$150 to S$100, and the time cardholders have to use it shrinks to two months.
The old arrangement was simple. Charge S$12,000 or more between 1 July and 30 June of the following year, and you received S$150 off your next Singapore Airlines ticket purchase, provided you spent at least S$800 in a single transaction. Once you had qualified, you had 12 months to use it.
Under the new terms, cardholders who charge S$6,000 or more between 19 November 2026 and 18 May 2027 get S$100 cashback on their next SIA ticket purchase, with a minimum spend of S$400. After qualifying, they have two months to use it. So the headline value drops by a third and the window collapses, but the qualifying spend is halved and the minimum ticket spend is halved too.
The other conditions are unchanged. The minimum spend must be made in a single transaction. Tickets must be booked on singaporeair.com or the SingaporeAir mobile app, must originate from Singapore, and must be bought in Singapore dollars. Bookings made through Pay Small are excluded.
The transitional rules depend on how much you spent between 1 July and 18 November 2026. Anyone who has already charged S$12,000 or more has qualified for the old S$150 benefit. They will have six months from the date they hit the threshold to use it, with the S$800 minimum spend. That six months is itself a no-notice cut from the original 12. Those who qualified on or before 18 November 2026 cannot earn the new S$100 benefit as well.
Those who spent between S$6,000 and S$11,999 in that period qualify for the revised S$100 benefit. They must make a transaction of at least S$1 at any eligible merchant on or before 18 May 2027; education and utility bills, for example, do not count. The two-month window runs from the date of that S$1 spend, so the writer advises waiting until an SIA booking is lined up. Those who spent under S$6,000 have their spend carried over. Someone at S$4,000 needs a further S$2,000 by 18 May 2027, and the two months start once S$6,000 is reached.
On paper the benefit improves. The effective rebate rises from 1.25 percent (S$150 on S$12,000) to 1.67 percent (S$100 on S$6,000). The MileLion's verdict on whether it is worth chasing is a flat no, because of opportunity cost. The card earns 1.1 miles per dollar on local and overseas spend, against 1.2 to 1.6 on other general cards and up to 4 on specialised ones. If the S$6,000 went on 4 mpd cards instead, the foregone miles would be 17,400, worth S$261 at a conservative 1.5 cents each, which more than erases the S$100.
SIA ticket spending does not change the picture. The card earns an uncapped 2 mpd there, but the Maybank Horizon Visa Signature offers 2.8 mpd and the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card 3 mpd.
Qualifying spend is any transaction eligible to earn KrisFlyer miles on the card. Exclusions include cash advances, balance transfers, instalment plans, annual fees, bill payments through SingPost, insurance payments (with an exception for products bought through American Express channels), SPC petrol stations, public transit, utilities, public healthcare institutions, education and charitable payments, and top-ups of stored value cards and digital wallets such as GrabPay and ShopeePay. The revised terms are in the updated cardmembers agreement.
The practical advice is to time the qualifying spend with a booking. The larger argument is that the card should sit last in a cardholder's order of spending.
Citações Notáveis
Viewed in isolation, the benefit has improved, but this fails to account for the opportunity cost.— The MileLion
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