How frequent flyer experts cracked the code of loyalty programs and turned points into big business
Turning points into luxury flights is not just a side hustle for these savants, it’s a living. Meet the former Macquarie accountant and an ex-data analyst with a gift for cracking the code of airline loyalty programs.
They’re the savvy code crackers of frequent flyer programs.
Adele Eliseo of the Champagne Mile and Steve Hui of iflyflat.com.au have turned what began as a hobby into successful businesses, helping others to transform points into premium travel experiences.
Aided by the national obsession with Qantas Frequent Flyer and Virgin Velocity points, Ms Eliseo and Mr Hui are dedicated to knowing as much as humanly possible about programs that appear almost deliberately confusing to the untrained eye.
Mr Hui’s interest in points began in 2008 when Macquarie Bank flew him business class to New Delhi on a Singapore Airlines A380. It was his first experience of business class, and he knew there was no going back.
He started compulsively collecting points “and that’s when it dawned on me – I had enough points to book my own business-class trip to Singapore,” he said.
“I priced how much that ticket was, and it was like $5000 and I realised I had something worth $5000 for free.”
As an accountant, Mr Hui discovered managing points and navigating loyalty programs required much the same skill set as his day job: understanding rules, tables and terms and conditions.
He scoured blogs and frequent flyer forums for more tips, eventually deciding to share his own knowledge via iflyflat.com.au “out of frustration”.
“Travel is one of the things people talk about all the time, and people would tell me ‘yes I’ve got points, I used them for an iPad, or I used them to buy gift cards’,” said Mr Hui.
“I would think ‘why would you turn 100,000 points into $500 rather than book a business-class ticket worth $5000?’ It didn’t make sense to me. They didn’t have a clue how to use their points so I thought ‘I need to help these guys’.”
Ms Eliseo concurs that points are a valuable “shadow currency” and should be treated with the same respect as cash.
A former quantitative data analyst in the public sector, Ms Eliseo became serious about collecting points while in 2014 planning an around-the-world trip in business class for her family.
She credits her attention deficit hyperactivity disorder for her ability to master reward programs and make sense of complex rules and systems.
“I think that people who process information differently are able to make sense of rewards systems that others struggle to unpick,” Ms Eliseo said.
“It’s about finding patterns, and so for me, my other hobbies are foraging for porcini mushrooms and op shopping because it’s all the same thing – looking for that reward.
“I find calm in learning the rules and trying to find that reward in systems that are often set up to confuse people.”
Since taking his redundancy from Macquarie in 2011, Mr Hui turned his website into a successful business that employs 13 people.
Similarly, Ms Eliseo makes a comfortable living from The Champagne Mile along with her Pointify enterprise that helps business owners to optimise their points strategy.
Mr Hui has now launched a Flights Club consultancy to address what he sees as a major shortfall between travel for work and loyalty benefits.
“It’s a complete waste because the loyalty programs make hundreds of millions of dollars a year, hoping that people don’t know what to do. But if you’re bothered with collecting points you should get something out of it,” he said.
In the year to June 30, Qantas Loyalty racked up $556m in earnings, with the help of 17.6 million members who amassed 222 billion points, and redeemed 185 billion.
Virgin’s Velocity increased its membership to more than 13 million, and posted earnings of $127.3m as 56.8 billion points were collected and 39.7 billion burned.
Ms Eliseo said the enormous numbers involved only served to underline why frequent flyer literacy was important.
“There’s a lot of people in the dark and I’m passionate about helping people to see points as a shadow currency that has value just like money does, as an asset,” she said.
“For the way my brain works, I really appreciate being able to hyperfocus on things like points, and to show my kids who are neurodivergent that I can make my own way and give them an example that they can choose to maybe do something that’s out of the box, that they might not have thought was possible.”
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