Why you should never use frequent flyer points to buy a blender

“ONE of the surest ways to get poor value from your points is cashing them out for goods, instead of travel.”

THE NutriBullet blender is an amazing product. Myer has it on sale for $299, or you can buy it in the Qantas Online Store for about 54,000 points.

Would I use my points to buy this blender? Never.

Don’t get me wrong — I have a NutriBullet and it’s a fantastic appliance. But one of the surest ways to get poor value from your points is cashing them out for goods, instead of travel.

Basically, value comes down to how many cents you get for each point.

You can figure that out by dividing the cash price (Myer) by the points price (Qantas).

$299 divided by 54,000 means that blender is mine for 0.55 cents per point.

Lots of us might think that’s a decent deal. What else were you going to do with those Qantas Points that have been sitting there for years?

Well, I can actually do a lot with them, and get heaps more value.

One of the best-value ways to redeem these points is for flights.

Nothing against blenders, but there are far more fun ways to spent points.

THIS IS HOW I WOULD USE THE POINTS

Let’s have a look at an example: you can use Qantas Points on both Qantas and its partner airlines), which includes Emirates. Of course, Emirates flies to Dubai from the big Australian cities, but did you know it also flies direct to Auckland?

A one-way first class ticket retails for about $1385 — quite a lot for a three to four-hour flight, right? In points, however, it costs about the same as the blender.

But why first class? Do I really need five-star dining, on-board bar and access to a shower?

Probably not, but the value I get out of this first class redemption is $2.56 per point, which is more than five times the blender’s value ($1385 / 54,000 points).

Surely, business class would do me. Instead of being crammed in 10 to a row in economy class, there would only be four of us per row on the upper deck. How much is a business ticket then? About $600. That’s 36,000 Qantas Points, so the value is $1.67 per point — three times more than the blender, but less bang for my buck than first class.

To keep things simple, both those examples don’t factor in the cost of additional taxes, but these aren’t too prohibitive on this route — around $150 each way for an amazing business or first class experience.

First class seats come complete with a private minibar.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY

If you want maximise the value in your frequent flyer balance, your goal should be to use your points to get to the front of the plane more cheaply, without paying the kind of crazy money that an outright ticket purchase requires.

Points can definitely be used for cheaper travel, but economy tickets often come with fees that can eat up most of the benefit of using your points in the first place. There are some ways around this, especially for economy flights to the USA.

In short, using your points for flights, especially in premium cabins = high value; using your points for goods = low value.

Matt Moffitt is a Contributing Editor for Point Hacks, whose mission is to help as many people as possible earn the most points they can, and use them the most effectively for their travel goals.