Travel & Holidays Frequent flyer points. Are they worth it? Any tips, tricks or hints?

Discussion in 'Living Room' started by Beelzebub, 15th Jan, 2016.

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  1. Beelzebub

    Beelzebub Well-Known Member

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    I just read a post related to frequent flyer points and credit cards.

    These points are something that I have never chased, don't collect and have only ever vaguely looked into.

    I'm curious, is it actually worth holding a credit card for the purpose of gaining points either generally or in specific situations?

    I have decided that I need to live life a little, and as such, have made the decision to do an annual surfing pilgrimage to some random place with good surf (Starting with Bali in July (Uluwatu), followed by the Mentawais, Maldives, Samoa in the following years)

    Would there be any benefit in chasing these points?
     
  2. Truly Exotic

    Truly Exotic Well-Known Member

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    well, it took me a while but I did my first ever business class Round the world trip in 2015, it cost me a metric load of points plus $1000 in taxes

    However, Im a serial points hoarder, in fact, im writing up a blog on how to maximise your savings
     
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  3. Magnet

    Magnet Well-Known Member

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    We accrue QF FF points as we live off the credit card and keep the cash in the offset until it's due. It also helps us keep better track of our budget & spending patterns. The bonus is we generally accrue enough FF points for a free ticket for 5 of us one way to Bali. You'll love Ulawatu, it's brilliant. Have a friend that's going to Mentaweis in April. I'll let you know how he goes.
     
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  4. datto

    datto Well-Known Member

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    My QAN FF card costs $150 pa. I redeem petrol vouchers to the value of $50 every couple of months so I guess it's worth it for me.

    Just got to be careful you don't exceed the interest free period as it may then not be worth it.

    And another thing to be careful of is the statements. Now this has never happened to me but it can be embarassing. Using the card at massage parlours will obviously appear on the statement but as some obscure company name.

    Be ready to have an excuse to cover the expenditure if questioned eg "oh that Love was the $300 lawn mower I bought last month" lol you got to think ahead. Like I said it has never happened to me.
     
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  5. Scott No Mates

    Scott No Mates Well-Known Member

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    There are only so many lawn mowers, edge trimmers, fuel tanks, spare parts etc that you can buy in any one month before someone asks questions.
     
  6. datto

    datto Well-Known Member

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    Well I got a garage full of them apparently! lol
     
  7. Scott No Mates

    Scott No Mates Well-Known Member

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    @datto - but everyone has a garage full of Victas in the Druitt ;)
     
  8. datto

    datto Well-Known Member

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    True, they're called Midnight Specials or Early Sunday Morning Specials.
     
  9. headsonbeds

    headsonbeds Well-Known Member

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    They are only worth collecting on transactions that have no surcharge. They are an a obscenely small discount which is how you should look at them, not as some sort of bonus IMO
     
  10. Lizzie

    Lizzie Well-Known Member

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    I always convert mine to Bunnings gift cards ... have an AmEx and MasterCard linked - use the AmEx where there is no surcharge, as it incurs higher points, and the MasterCard everywhere else.

    Card fees are around $265/yr - but I gain $1-2,000 in gift cards ... just make sure you pay before the 55 day interest free period is up
     
  11. D.T.

    D.T. Specialist Property Manager Business Member

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    I don't really have much way of earning Qantas points. I have no credit cards and earn minor amounts at Woolworths (wasn't this recently reduced?) and on flights which are infrequent.

    Virgin Blue points seem to be piling in lately. I get 2 points per litre of petrol and am empty every 4 days or so. It's 6900 to Melbourne and 10k to either Sydney or Perth, I think.
     
  12. radson

    radson Well-Known Member

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  13. Syd Investor

    Syd Investor Active Member

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    If you want to rack up some large points in a short amount of time refinance or take out a new loan against your owner occupied property (not investment) with NAB by March 31st and they will give you 250,000 velocity points. As an example return economy to LA with Virgin is around 90,000 for 1 ticket. Business around 180,000. 250,000 should get you 2 return tickets to NY from Sydney. All you need to do is bring your owner occupied loan to them.

    Cheers
     
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  14. freyja

    freyja Well-Known Member

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    I'm watching this thread with interest. We have a citibank CC, put all our expenses on it and pay it off each month. It used to have a very good Qantas FF/points program but it is becoming less competitive each year. I need to investigate other deals to see what the best CC out there is for FF programs.
     
  15. Magnet

    Magnet Well-Known Member

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    We just have a credit card that we got with our last loan as it had a bonus for 80,000 QF FF points so we'll stick with it for a while. Points rate isn't too bad but not the best on the market. I used to use this site looking for a new card.
    Mozo's Rewards Revealer - Compare Rewards Cards - Mozo
     
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  16. Jamie Moore

    Jamie Moore MORTGAGE BROKER - AUSTRALIA WIDE Business Member

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    I just got into it recently (three months ago).

    Took out an ANZ black card for the business.

    Got 75k points for signing up - have accumulated a further 100k points since (mostly ato payments - which aren't going to reward points going forward).

    Apparently it's 96k points for a return trip to LA (you have to pay for taxes still).

    For me - it's been worth it so far. I've almost got enough points for two return trips to the US.

    Just watch out for high fees for Amex. You generally accumulate more points via Amex - but you're usually charged more too.

    Cheers

    Jamie
     
  17. Propagate

    Propagate Well-Known Member

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    I was amazed how quickly our racked up. Started out about 3 or 4 years ago with Woollies Qantas credit card each, we got 16k points bonus each at the time of sign up.

    You get a point per $1 spent on the card plus a point per $1 on all spends over $30 in Woollies for your everyday rewards, (note I think this is all about to change as the Woollies/Qantas relationship is, or has, ended?) and there was an option for swapping your fuel docket for a point per litre instead of a few cents off.

    There were often Woollies offers of spend $x this weekend for 1000 bonus points etc, we never went out of our way to spend for the sake of it, but if it fell on a grocery shop weekend we'd take advantage.

    We use the CC for everything, including paying utility bills etc and it pays off each month automatically. That racks up a LOT of points. We always did this this anyway to maximise the offset balance through the month.

    After 3 or 4 years my partner has used her points for two trips Melbourne to New Zealand return and had a free return to the UK from Melbourne last year, (free ticket but you pay the taxes) and we still have almost half a million points left between us. A UK return ticket is 120,000 points.

    At some point, when we're ready for a big world-trip, we'll try and do most of it on points.
     
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  18. freyja

    freyja Well-Known Member

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    Citibank currently gives points for all transactions but this is about to change :( . Soon, all bpay transactions won't attract FF points.