Cards and Point System

How do you take advantage/benefit from the point systems from credit cards etc.

I have absolutely no clue, I have tried and decided its a waste of time.

I once thought I could upgrade my flight from economy class to business class, but this requires way too many points.

I am sure there are some smart people on PC that take advantage and get freebies, I am not one of them.

Please share

MTR

 

I keep it simple.
I have a couple of credit cards that we use all the time. They get direct debit paid from my offset account when due to ensure no interest is paid.
I use AMEX when stores will take it and Visa if they don't.
I picked Velocity (Virgin) as my one points system to aggregate to (i.e. Don't spread your self, be single minded.
Once a year Velocity run a 15% conversion bonus - which is when I convert all my
AMEX and VISA points across.
I just plan to save it all up and in 5-6 years time look at booking some good international trips.
Low thought and maintenance - just growing in the background.

 

Virgin credit card was great when we got 4 free trips around Australia each year, they no longer do this. Damn.

Conversion sounds interesting

 

I use points to pay for individual legs. Best I've achieved is Sydney to Dallas on Qantas. That was with points from a Qantas business trip to London.

I don't travel much for work so now using a Bankwest Reward card to boost my points. Most of my expenses go through that card which is paid down monthly. Should accumulate enough points for 1 international leg every 12-24 months.

 

I reckon it's a waste of time unless you have something big you can buy to get the points. I have something in my business I use my Amex card for that I spend around 300k a year on. That generates a lot of points and I would have to spend it anyway so it is worth it. If I was was just using for shopping or petrol though I wouldn't bother with it.

 

Im similar to @BKRinvesting. Im all in Verlocity. Use Amex Edge and Velocity top accrue points. Take advantage of the biannual 15% amer to velocity deals. I fly every 2 weeks so have a pretty rapid points earn. Using pints domestically especially with Virgin on Business saver flights is suepr easy. A bit more problematic with International flights. Pointshack.com.au is my bible.

 

It's was sweet back in the day when you could pay ATO bills on the card and rack up points

 

You still can with Amex Edge but whether its worth or not is getting complicated. (1.45% fee for 0.5 points/$

I might try this method next quarter

Use RewardPay to boost points earn for business payments with Amex

 

I link my credit card rewards to transfer into Qantas points automatically. I also do the same with my Woolworths reward card.

Melbourne will cost me 72,000 points return. Here's how I've earnt points in the last 12 months. Most from just using my credit card. No major spending other than fuel, groceries. I've got 2 kids.

 

Using points with Qantas is not what it used to be a decade ago. They charge so much for fuel levy / taxes on top of the points, its hardly worth it. Plus if you book a route not serviced by Qantas (and only Jetstar) you get the lowest fare grade - no bags etc.

The past few years I've travelled on points via codeshare partners, hardly any taxes - i.e USD$15 etc.

I'm giving Velocity a go at the moment

 

Best value might be to cash points in for vouchers, and just pay for the best fare for that destination.

I've been using an app called - I know the pilot, it notifies me of deals. Uses airlines from full service to budget.

I used to be a massive points collector, just don't see the value anymore..

 

i use vouchers just cause i feel with points the inflation is higher / don't trust them. $100 voucher used to be 17,000 points now it's 20,000 points. that alone is a 15% increase.

 

Lol I'm a subject expert. (I've never dreamed of making such a claim on PC
The most beneficial way to spend frequent flyer points is redeeming business class airline tickets, or upgrading to business class tickets.
Just checked Qantas store, if you want to redeem a 100 dollar David Jones gift card, you need 16,160 points, so we can calculate that one qantas points roughly worth 0.62 cent, now we use this as a benchmark. (It used to be about 1 cent per point, oh the good old days are gone.)
To redeem a one-way economy flight to Dubai you need 45000 points. To purchase such ticket you need 1,749, so one point is equal to 3.89 cent, see this way your point is worth more than six times than redeeming a gift card.
However, if you redeem a one-way business class (7,654 dollars) to Dubai you need 96000 points, the point now worth 8 cent each.
See the difference?
If the point balance is low you can purchase an economy ticket (not discounted economy as it is not eligible for upgrading) and use points to upgrade, the required points are 45000.
Of course never buy a 1,749 dollar economy ticket to Dubai, that price is ridiculous, Etihad and Qatar do promotions a few times a year and you can get return tickets to Europe via Abu Dhabi or Doha for 1,400 or even lower, I've never noticed Emirates do such promotions though.
How to accumulate points?
1. Try to stay loyal to one airline or one airline partnership, this way you can build up the balance for one airline, say Qantas much faster.
2. Fly premium class. (I'm a bit hesitant to put it here as it is contradictory to frugality. But hey, this forum is full of property millionaires.
3. Use credit card partnered with FF programs. I use ANZ's AMEX and Visa which came together, they gave me 50k points (that's already half a business class ticket to Dubai) when I started an account with them (there are better deals on the market), one dollar spend on AMEX is 1 point and half a point for Visa so I tried to use AMEX as much as possible. (Note every time you get a new credit card it hurts your credit history so aspired property investors should avoid getting more than one or two cards.
4. Use Qantas to book restaurants or hotels. For restaurant it is one diner per 100 points, for hotel it is 3 points per dollar spend. It will take a very long time to accumulate to a business class ticket but if you adopt all these strategies above you can get there faster than you think.
5. Others: answer survey, buy wine from Qantas EpiQure etc, plenty of ways to do it. Qantas's website has all the info.
Business class feels so much better when it is free (add the fees etc) .
Any question please fire away, I really enjoy talking about this stuff, as much as I enjoy talking about properties.

 

....but if we can go business for free using points then I am in, otherwise it will most likely be premium

 

Nor should you, I've never bought a single business class ticket out of my own pocket. When I reach 300k passive income per year I think I can justify a 10k ticket but before that I will collect points like a mad person.
Interestingly, I once sat next to a guy in his early 20s from MEL-LAX, he told me he saved for 2 years just to experience this 14 hour trip, I was very very shocked.

 

Pretty good summary. Definitely best value is to redeem your points on Business or First Class tickets.

However Qantas is one of the worst ... High points requirements + high fuel surcharges for their redemption tickets. That's why Qantas is so profitable!

I tend to collect points on American Express Membership Rewards. Those points can be transferred to 8 airlines programs + 2 hotel programs. That gives me most flexible options, depending on where and how I wanted to travel. I have registered way too many airline program and hotel programs.

I have been travelling on Business Class and First Class internationally over last number of years and I always used points to redeem flights.

For most people though, it is easiest to focus on Qantas Frequent Flyer and Virgin Australia Velocity program, as it is the easiest to earn points from shopping and financial partners as well as earning points via flying.

 

Once you have tried Business/First Class using points, you don't want to go back to Economy, especially on 14 hour flights

The thing is that it is not that hard to do, if you can tailor your spend on credit cards and accumulate the points properly.