Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer program is one of our favourites here at Point Hacks – and it might be one of yours too. You might want to book a great Business, First or Suites Class redemption for a friend or family member.
Unfortunately, KrisFlyer is also the target of unscrupulous ‘miles brokers’ who attempt to buy miles cheaply from users and on-sell them as ‘cheap Business Class tickets’ with a hefty markup. To combat this, KrisFlyer has a ‘redemption nominee’ system that still lets you redeem your miles for specific people, but with some restrictions in place.
American Express Platinum Card
- Sign-up Bonus:
- 220,000 bonus Membership Rewards Points¹
- Rewards Earn Rate:
- Earn 2.25 Membership Rewards points per $1 on all eligible purchases, except for spend with government bodies, for which you will earn 1 point per $1 spent
- Annual Fee:
- $1,450 p.a.
- Offer expires
- 14 April 2026
- Enjoy a bespoke offer of 220,000 bonus Membership Rewards Points¹ when you spend $5,000 on eligible purchases in the first 3 months. (Offer available to new American Express Card Members only. Offer ends 14 April 2026. T&Cs apply.) Unlock premium perks including unlimited airport lounge access, international travel insurance, Amex Hotels and Resorts benefits, up to $400 in Global Dining Credit¹⁰, and a $450 Travel Credit⁵ each year. Earn up to 2.25 Membership Rewards Points per $1 on eligible spend. The annual fee is $1,450.
How do I use KrisFlyer miles for other people?
You can add up to five people as your redemption nominees and they can be anyone – such as friends, family or colleagues. It’s free to add nominees and you can do so online.
But you can only have five nominees at a time and they must stay there for at least six months. For most members, it’ll also cost money to delete nominees and start fresh.
Here are the main rules to keep in mind:
- After adding someone, you can’t remove them for six months.
- A child or infant counts as a nominee.
- Removing a nominee online will cost US$30 or 3,000 KrisFlyer miles for most members
- Or US$15/1,500 KrisFlyer miles for KrisFlyer Elite Silver members,
- Or free of charge for KrisFlyer Elite Gold, PPS Club and Solitaire PPS Club.
- The fee to remove a nominee is the same, regardless of how many people you delete.
- Once you delete nominees, you can’t do so again for your other nominees for another six months.
- Newly added nominees can only be booked on flights departing more than 72 hours after being added.
How do I add a redemption nominee to your KrisFlyer account
- Log in to your KrisFlyer account.
- Click on ‘Profile‘ (you’ll likely get a 2FA code request at this stage).
- Click on ‘Redemption nominees‘.
- Select ‘+ Add nominee‘.
- Enter their name, date of birth and passport number.
- Choose whether they will be an ‘authorised nominee’.
An authorised nominee can make redemption bookings and changes on your behalf. This is optional.
Summing up
The good news is that you can use your hard-earned KrisFlyer miles to book travel for other people. However, there is a limit of five people as redemption nominees at any one time. Furthermore, you need to pay cash or miles to remove anyone from your list unless you’re an Elite Gold frequent flyer or higher.
Remember that KrisFlyer miles have a hard expiry of three years from when they were earned. That means that if you have some miles expiring soon and can’t travel yourself, it might be worth adding someone as a redemption nominee and gifting them a trip.
If a member books a redemption ticket for a nominee (e.g. 1x ticket solely for the nominee) and that ticket is later cancelled – are the KF miles refunded to the original/main Krisflyer member who made the booking?
Question – I get how the redemption nominee works, but if every member of your family has a krisflyer account and have their own miles, how do you book flights together using your miles (either for upgrades or towards the cost etc)
I know I have a parental link to my children’s accounts so can transfer up to 50,000 miles each year to my own account to book flights. But what about my husband’s account? He has his own KF account. But if I wanted to book as a family and use some of his miles, would he have to be booked separately?
Hello, we both have a KrisFlyer account. I’ve now registered my husband as a redemption nominee. Can he then use my KrisFlyer points together with his points to book a reward flight?
Hi Matt, this is unfortunately not helpful as it just tells you how to add someone as a nominee – not how to make a booking for that nominee using Kris flyer miles. Unfortunately I have been struggling with this for three days and cannot figure it out. The staff behind the chat not have not been able to help me either. Has anybody actually successfully booked a flight for a nominee, using miles?!
Hi Robyn, usually once the person is confirmed on your nominee list, you would just book in the same way as for yourself. When you get to the passenger screen, you just select the other person as the passenger rather than yourself. Is that an option for you, or is the website not allowing you to do that? (Or, are you making a booking you can only do over the phone, and that’s where you’re having difficulty?)
Hi Matt, it is a helpful article. Do I need to add my wife and my 8 year-old daughter as redemption nominees? We always travel together.
Hi James, all people travelling with your miles need to be added, including children and spouses.
Who earns the krisflyer miles when travelling through a redemption ticket? If I book a redemption ticket for my partner (who is also a krisflyer member and travelling alone), will the krisflyer miles for that travel be credited to her account or mine?
Hi Abhi, redemption tickets don’t earn miles or status.
Can I earn Kris flyer miles if I put my Kris flyer number on my wifes booking? So say I book a trip for myself and my wife and I put my kris flyer account number on mine and wifes account will that work? or does my wife need her own kris flyer account?
Hi John, every traveller needs their own membership. You can’t claim points from your wife, unfortunately.
Thanks Matt,
Can you please explain how to actually perform this.. where does the option to use a redemption nominee occur during the process?
Do you redeem from the bookers side or the nominees side?
Many THanks
Hi Andrew, the booker must add the nominees to their account and also make the booking. During the passenger stage, the booker will be able to select the nominee from a drop down list.
Is it possible to use my redemption points to upgrade a nominated redemption nominee who bought is own Singapore airline ticket? Thanks
Hy Matt, thank you for this. Super helpful! Do you happen to know if the other person (the nominee) must be traveling with you in order to book for them? I’m trying to use some of my miles to book a flight for my daughter by herself. Thanks!
Hi Pippy, glad to hear! If I’ve understood your question correctly, you’re asking if you can use your miles to book a flight for someone else. Yes, you can do that, and they don’t need to be travelling with you. Read more in this guide.