A S$397.85 fee that returns 28,000 miles of redemption discounts, which you can only spend by booking an award
| Min income | Base earn | SIA Group spend | Grab |
|---|---|---|---|
| S$50,000Amex publishes no current figure | 1.2 mpdlocal, uncapped | 2.0 mpduncapped | 2.0 mpdcapped at S$200 a month |
| Annual fee | Renewal voucher | Foreign spend voucher | Miles expiry |
| S$397.85not waivable | 10,000 mileson paying the fee | 18,000 mileson S$10,000 of FCY spend | 3 yearsKrisFlyer programme rules |
On rate, Ascend is a 1.2 mpd card with a 2 mpd bonus on Singapore Airlines spending and a S$397.85 fee you cannot waive. Written down like that it looks indefensible, and quite a lot of coverage stops there.
The value is in two vouchers instead. Paying the annual fee earns a 10,000-mile Renewal Miles Redemption Voucher, and spending S$10,000 or more in foreign currency inside the current window earns an 18,000-mile Foreign Spend Voucher.
Collect both and the S$397.85 fee has returned 28,000 miles, which is around 1.4 cents a mile and cheaper than buying them anywhere. That is the card. The earn rate is what happens while you wait for the vouchers.
Annual Fee
S$397.85, not waivable, and the renewal voucher alone gets most of it back.
| Card | First year | Second year on |
|---|---|---|
| Principal card | S$397.85 | S$397.85 |
| Renewal voucher | 10,000 miles | 10,000 miles |
| Foreign spend voucher | Up to 18,000 miles | Up to 18,000 miles |
At 10,000 miles the renewal voucher alone is roughly four cents a mile, which is not a bargain. Add the foreign spend voucher and the combined 28,000 lands at about 1.4 cents, which is. The whole card hinges on whether you clear that second condition.
So the question to answer before applying is simple: will you put S$10,000 through this card in foreign currency inside the window. If yes, the fee is comfortably worth it. If no, you are paying S$397.85 for 10,000 miles and a 1.2 mpd earn rate, and there are far better places to be.
Welcome Bonus
American Express Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Ascend
Welcome bonus: all 3
- 20,000 miles Bonus miles on the qualifying spendTransferable to airlines
- 20,000 miles Bonus miles in the 15th month
- 5,000 miles First-time Singapore Airlines cardholder bonus miles
Sign-up rewards change often, so confirm the current offer before you apply. New customers only, meaning no card from American Express in about the last 12 months.
Sign-up offers move monthly and almost always carry a "new to bank" condition, meaning no American Express card in the past 12 months.
How many miles do I earn?
1.2 miles per dollar generally, and 2 on Singapore Airlines spend, credited straight to KrisFlyer.
| Spend | Rate | Cap |
|---|---|---|
| Singapore Airlines Group | 2.0 mpd | Uncapped |
| Grab | 2.0 mpd | S$200 / month |
| Everything else | 1.2 mpd | Uncapped |
| Utilities, insurance, education | Nothing | Excluded |
The Grab cap of S$200 a month is small enough to be a rounding error: 400 bonus miles a month at most. Treat it as a perk rather than a reason.
As with every Amex card earning KrisFlyer directly, the miles land in your KrisFlyer account with no transfer fee and no minimum block. Convenient, and it starts the three-year expiry clock the month you spend.
The Two Vouchers
Both vouchers are worth reading properly, because they behave differently and only one of them is automatic.
| Voucher | Worth | What you have to do |
|---|---|---|
| Renewal Miles Redemption | 10,000 miles | Pay the annual fee. Nothing else |
| Foreign Spend | 18,000 miles | S$10,000 of foreign currency spend in the window |
The foreign spend voucher is the one that decides the card, and its window matters: 1 November 2025 to 31 October 2026. That is a fixed promotional period, not a rolling membership year, so applying late in the window leaves less time to clear S$10,000.
Working it through: 18,000 miles for hitting S$10,000 of foreign spend is an effective 1.8 mpd bonus on top of the 1.2 you already earned, so foreign spending on this card is really paying around 3 mpd once the voucher lands. That is competitive with anything here.
The catch is that it is all or nothing. S$9,900 of foreign spend earns you no voucher at all, which is a very different shape to a card that pays a rate on every dollar. Know the number and track it.
Confirm the current voucher terms and window directly with American Express before planning around either.
Transfer Partners
One, by design. The card earns KrisFlyer miles directly.
No conversion step, no S$27 fee, no minimum block to reach. Miles are batched around statement close and land in KrisFlyer automatically, which removes the whole ritual that every bank-points card puts you through.
| Programme | Where the miles go |
|---|---|
 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | Direct |
The price is the same as on every direct-earn card: no optionality and a clock you cannot pause. KrisFlyer miles expire three years from the month earned, and unlike bank points you cannot delay that by holding off on a transfer.
How to use it. The case for holding it is the vouchers and the SIA spend, with a flexible-points card carrying everything else. The 1.2 mpd base is not worth the acceptance friction, and the miles are locked to one airline the moment they arrive.
Before any redemption, always check the route you want is actually available. The worst thing you can do is diversify into another mileage programme with no redemption in mind.
The vouchers are the reason to hold this card and they are not miles, which is the single most misunderstood thing about it. American Express is explicit: each is "a one-off discount when you redeem your KrisFlyer miles for an eligible redemption booking". Nothing lands in your KrisFlyer account.
That distinction costs more than it sounds. You still need the full redemption in your account before a voucher does anything: an 18,000-mile voucher against a 40,000-mile award needs you to be holding all 40,000, not 22,000. The voucher rebates the cost, it does not part-pay it.
Three more conditions worth knowing before you count on them. They expire 12 months from the date awarded, and the booking and the travel both have to fall inside that window. Any excess is forfeited, so an 18,000 voucher spent on a 13,500-mile ticket wastes 4,500. And only one voucher can be used per booking, which means the 10,000 renewal voucher and the 18,000 foreign spend voucher cannot be combined on a single redemption.
None of that makes them worthless. It does mean the honest way to read the headline is 28,000 miles off two separate award bookings you were going to make anyway, rather than 28,000 miles in the bank.
What should I pair it with?
The real constraint is not a cap, it is acceptance. This is an American Express card, and in Singapore that still means a meaningful number of merchants will not take it. A rate you cannot use is worth nothing, and that costs more here than any ceiling does.
A widely accepted card with flexible points, because this one is neither.
Two gaps here, and only one is about categories. The other is that Amex is not accepted everywhere, so you need something in the wallet that always works.
| The gap | What it costs you | What closes it |
|---|---|---|
| Merchants that refuse Amex | Everything, at those merchants | Any Visa or Mastercard here |
| One airline, three-year clock | No fallback, no pause | Citi PremierMiles, HSBC TravelOne |
| Online and dining | 1.2 mpd where others pay 4 | HSBC Revolution, Citi Rewards |
| Groceries | 1.2 mpd | UOB Preferred Visa |
Build your miles card stack
One card never covers everything. Put in what you actually spend and see which cards to hold together, and what to put on each.
Build my stack→The verdict, restated
A voucher card wearing a miles card’s badge. Clear S$10,000 of foreign spend inside the window and the two vouchers turn a S$397.85 fee into 28,000 miles at around 1.4 cents each, which is a genuinely good trade and the reason to hold it. Miss that threshold and you have paid S$397.85 for 10,000 miles on a 1.2 mpd card that a chunk of Singapore will not accept. Decide which of those you are before you apply, not after.
Sources
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Ascend product page and card T&Cs, checked 8 July 2026. Earn rates, the S$397.85 fee, the 10,000-mile Renewal Miles Redemption Voucher and the 18,000-mile Foreign Spend Voucher correct as of that date; the foreign spend voucher runs from 1 November 2025 to 31 October 2026 and is a fixed promotional window rather than a rolling membership year. American Express does not publish a current minimum income threshold for this card, and the S$50,000 figure is the last documented value from secondary sources. KrisFlyer miles expire three years from the month earned under the programme’s own rules. This guide shares my own experience for education, it is not financial advice, and card terms change: always verify with the bank before applying.