Tight Traveller: How Netflix gift cards can earn you frequent flyer points

You walk past these in your local supermarket all the time, but this frequent flyer says they’re one of the best ways to boost your points balance.

Fact: you are just as likely to watch Netflix as you are to have a frequent flyer account.

There are more than 11 million Netflix accounts in Australia, according to Roy Morgan Research. Those are remarkably similar numbers to Qantas Frequent Flyer, which is nudging 12 million, and Virgin Velocity, which has 10 million members.

While I’m happy to pay out for my monthly Netflix fix, as a dedicated points hunter I also want to make sure I can score some frequent flyer points out of that payment if I can.

The obvious strategy there is to pay for Netflix using a credit card that also earns frequent flyer points.

However, there’s a clear limit to the effectiveness of that strategy. A Netflix account costs from $9.99 to $19.99 a month. Let’s assume you’ve got the top tier, so you’re spending $239.88 a year. Assuming a generous earn rate of one point for each dollar you spend, that’s just 239 points you’ll be adding to your total. If, like me, you’re just paying for the basic package, you’ll only get 119 points for your efforts.

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You are just as likely to watch Netflix as you are to have a frequent flyer account.

A much more effective strategy is to take advantage of Netflix gift cards. Check out your local supermarket and you’ll see $50 Netflix cards on sale in among all the other store options. The secret is to wait until there’s a bonus points offer which gives you extra supermarket reward points when you buy the gift card, and then turn those supermarket points into frequent flyer points.

Woolworths will transform Woolworths Rewards points into Qantas Frequent Flyer points, while Coles lets you convert flybuys points into Virgin Velocity points. Both Woolworths and Coles regularly run Netflix card promotion offers. One recent deal gave me 2000 Woolworths Rewards points for a $50 card. That becomes 1000 Qantas Frequent Flyer points and covered five months of my Netflix subscription. For me, this is a total win-win. I’ll be paying for Netflix anyway, so why not get eight times the number of points into the bargain?

Woolworths has a slightly more generous conversion rate with 2000 Woolworths Rewards points becoming 1000 Qantas Points. At Coles, 2000 flybuys points becomes 870 Velocity Points. To boost that total, wait for one of Virgin’s regular “bonus” rounds, where you get an extra 15 per cent for converting points. These usually happen twice a year, most typically in May and November. The extra 15 per cent effectively gives you 1000 Velocity points for each 2000 flybuys points.

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On its own, that won’t score you a free flight, but every extra point helps. And don’t worry about your account expiring: once you’ve used up your gift card credit, Netflix automatically starts charging your credit card again. But keep an eye out for deals and that will never actually happen.

Angus Kidman is the editor-in-chief and travel guru for Finder.