10 points hacks to fund your next holiday

YOUR caffeine addiction can actually fuel your travel addiction. Here’s how the points insiders turn their daily fix into a holiday bonus.

Must have coffee: Yep even your $3.50 coffee can score you five Qantas points.

YOUR coffee addiction and frequent takeaway orders aren’t bad habits — they might just be your ticket to your next holiday.

A few little tweaks to your routine could even score you and your family flights to Fiji, Bali or Thailand in six months, according to the experts at Point Hacks.

If you use the right card to pay, your morning coffee could earn you hundreds of Qantas Frequent Flyer points in that period, while ordering your weekly butter chicken or pad thai could clock you up thousands.

Point Hacks, one of Australia’s biggest communities of airline rewards enthusiasts, has put together a top 10 list of tips to get a family of four free return flights to Fiji, Thailand or Bali.

Points Hacks has analysed the Qantas Frequent Flyer program, Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer program, and Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer program.

For a family of four, return award economy flights from Sydney or Melbourne to these island destinations will set you back from around 145,000 to 225,000 points, depending on the points program and destination.

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This is where your coffee and takeaway dinners could get you.

“Fiji, Thailand and Bali are some of the best travel destinations to get awards flights for, as the points requirements are relatively low and flights are generally available,” says Point Hacks frequent flyer expert Daniel Sciberras.

“The first step to achieving the required points is to set up your strategy: join your chosen rewards program, assess the credit cards that will earn you the most points — keeping in mind the annual fees — and get your whole household involved in leveraging your normal household spending into point earnings over the next six months.

“Then use any combination of our hacks to boost your points further. Be aware that you can earn the required points in six months, but the transfer of those points into airline rewards may take another month.”

Here are Point Hacks’ top 10 hacks to earn a family of four a free return flight to Fiji, Thailand or Bali in six months:

1. INVOLVE THE WHOLE FAMILY

Consider supplementary rewards credit cards for your partner. Also consider family pooling, where family members who live with you could transfer their points to you. Qantas and Velocity will allow a family member to transfer you 5000-600,000 and 5000-500,000 points respectively each year. Velocity will also allow you to set up selected family members as contributors and you as beneficiary, so that you receive their points earnt from flying.

2. CHOOSE YOUR CARD

Why not switch to a rewards credit card with a 75,000 bonus points offer? We love this hack, because it will get you almost halfway there in point earnings. The NAB Qantas Rewards Signature Card offers 90,000 bonus Qantas Points for new cardholders. The Virgin Australia Velocity High Flyer Card offers up to 80,000 bonus Velocity Points on sign up.

3. LOOK FOR HIGHER-EARNING CREDIT CARDS

AMEX tends to offer the highest point-earning cards. Every $1 spent on the AMEX Explorer Credit Card can transfer you up to 1.5 Velocity Points or KrisFlyer Miles. The AMEX Qantas Premium Card earns you 1.25 Qantas Points per $1 spent. Given AMEX is not always widely accepted, you may also need a Visa or Mastercard — a good earning is 1 point for every $1 spent.

I’ll have an extra shot of Qantas points with that latte, please.

4. CONSIDER AN EVERYDAY ACCOUNT THAT EARNS POINTS

Choose a transaction account to have your pay deposited into, and for everyday debit transactions. The Bankwest Qantas Transaction Account will earn you 12 Qantas Points for every $100 in savings kept in your account, and five points each time you use the debit card — a great option for small purchases like a $3.50 morning coffee. If you have $5000 deposited into your account each month, and use your card every day, you could earn about 4500 points in six months.

5. JOIN A SHOPPING REWARDS PROGRAM

A rewards program such as flybuys will earn you further points for your everyday shopping. Swipe your flybuys card at retailers such as Coles, Target, eBay, Kmart and Liquorland. Each $1 spent with flybuys at Coles earns you 1 point, and you can convert 2000 points to 870 Velocity Points. On a $2000 monthly spend, you can get 5220 points in six months. Flybuys also frequently has bonus points offers.

6. CONSIDER SWITCHING YOUR SUPER FUND OR INSURANCE POLICY

The Virgin Money Super fund earns members 1 Velocity Point for every $5 in super contributions, capped at 250,000 points. Qantas has various insurance policies that will earn you points. Its health insurance, for instance, offers up 50,000 bonus points for signing up, and 1 point for every dollar of your premium. Earn 150 points when you download the Qantas Assure app, and more points for using it to measure your daily activities like walking, cycling or swimming.

Need another excuse to order takeaway? No, we didn’t think so … but it could help fund your next holiday.

7. EARN POINTS JUST FOR GETTING HOME DELIVERY

Love takeaway? Use Deliveroo for the first time, and you’ll earn 1000 Qantas Points. Then top up your balance with 200 Qantas Points when you order at least four times in a month. If you get takeaway once a week, in six months you’ll earn 2200 points.

8. EARN POINTS ON YOUR HOUSEHOLD ENERGY

Switch your household energy plan to Energy Australia through the Velocity program and earn up to 10,000 points, then 2000 anniversary points each year.

9. DO YOUR SHOPPING THROUGH PARTNER RETAILERS

Qantas has partnerships with retailers such as Woolworths, BWS, BIG W and selected Caltex Woolworths service stations to earn you points on spend there. For instance, every $2000 spent at Woolworths will earn you 870 Qantas points. Velocity’s multiple partners include BP petrol stations, where you can earn 2 points per 1 litre of fuel and $1 spent in-store.

10. CLICK THROUGH QANTAS MALL AND VELOCITY ESTORE TO DO SHOPPING ONLINE

Qantas Mall and Velocity eStore offer high point earnings on every dollar spent on numerous popular sites such as eBay, David Jones, Woolworths, Country Road, Priceline, Menulog and Cotton On. Log in with your rewards membership, choose the retailer, get directed to their shopping site and you can shop online as normal to earn 2-10 points for every $1 spent, depending on the retailer.

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