The reasons I don’t bother with Frequent Flyer points

Many jetsetters love to rack up Frequent Flyer points but chasing rewards points is not for everyone. They’re restrictive and don’t offer the perks they promise. HAVE YOUR SAY

Frequent flyer points do nothing for me.

I don’t waste my time nor my money chasing them because I believe it’s simply not worth it.

Frequent Flyer members are always quick to boast about how they got a flight somewhere for free.

But what many are a bit more quieter about is explaining they had to fly on a day they didn’t want to or they had to choose a flight at some ungodly hour just to get the fare for free.

I’m one of those jetsetters who’s happy to fly with the cheapest carrier possible on domestic routes, it doesn’t worry me if it is no-frills airline such as Jetstar or Tiger.

However when I am choosing who I fly with internationally — if I’m lucky enough to be going overseas — I am far more picky about who I fly with.

I want a reputable airline, not one that just offers the cheapest fare.

Last month Qantas revealed its biggest overhaul of Frequent Flyer points in more than 30 years. This involved slashing the value of billions of points by 10 per cent.

And naturally Frequent Flyers are never happy campers when the knife is taken to their hard-earned points.

But what I ask Frequent Flyers is how much to they pay for the privilege of collecting and using their points?

Many Australians spend up in order to get Frequent Flyer points.

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Many people sign up to a credit card just because it earns Frequent Flyer points, however in many cases these cards come with an annual fee costing hundreds of dollars a year.

They have to spend a motza to reap the rewards and then they’re slugged by interest charges if they fail to pay the card off in full each month.

My colleague Anthony Keane swears by points and loves to tell me how he can “fly a family of four to Queensland for nothing”.

My response to him is, “Anthony, you’re a marketing dream”.

He’s quick to have a crack back and tell me I’m a fool for failing to take advantage of these opportunities.

Whenever I’m booking domestic flights I nab myself the cheapest fares possible, I don’t need food on the flight, I take my own bottle of water and my own sandwich if I get hungry.

Often the difference between the cheapest and mosts expensive flights can be hundreds of dollars, so I see no value booking the more expensive flight simply just to get points.

And I don’t waste time using a credit card points system, spending up on plastic just to get the points kickback.

I only use my credit card for work expenses and never personal use. Instead I stick to paying with debit so I don’t land myself with a hefty bill at the end of the month.

One of my friends has three million FF points and he was recently moaning he can never use them on the flights he actually wants to take.

Earlier this year I found credit card customers chasing rewards points need to spend up to $133,000 just to score themselves a kettle.

Points just aren’t for me.

@sophieelsworth

Originally published as The reasons I don’t bother with Frequent Flyer points