How to make your frequent flyer points work for you
Ever wondered why some people fly around the world on frequent flyer points while your trips break the bank? Here’s how to make those points work for you.
Did you buy that shiny new coffee machine using frequent-flyer points? Sorry to harsh your caffeine buzz, but you’re helping people like me find business class round-the-world points-award tickets — for the whole family. A coffee machine technically lasts longer than travelling from Rome to Sydney via Dubai in a flat-bed seat, but I’ll keep using my little stovetop espresso and collecting my points for legroom and lounges.
My spoiled-rotten kids aren’t overly thrilled that I’m sharing some of my points-ninja secrets here, but I’m confident most won’t have the persistence to carry it off. For those ready to bid farewell to the days of being points patsies, here’s a starter pack to get you on the flight path to reclining in luxury on your next long-haul trip.
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HIGHER (FLYER) EDUCATION
Read up on the points universe. One Mile at a Time is a US blog and it was my elementary school. There’s an enormous bank of information and an extremely generous community willing to answer the most specific beginner’s questions. I know because I asked one and a few months later, we all flew home from New York business class on Cathay Pacific. Another excellent site is The Points Guy.
The top 10 First Class products flying from Australia [2020]😎https://t.co/5GToyV96i1#firstclass #top10 pic.twitter.com/vg2q6ysG16
— Point Hacks (@pointhacks) February 16, 2020
The best local blog is Point Hacks, which since its 2011 beginnings has built up a community supporting its own contributors answering questions for Australian-based points collectors. It’s not all about scoring business-class tickets on points — there’s info for economy-class points redemption and backpackers, too. Comprehensive Point Hacks guides cover everything from the best credit cards for earning points to how to find reward seats for your specific points bank. They’re frequently updated and date-stamped, so you know how current the facts are, which is important, as awards charts and rules change as often as departure boards. Point Hacks earns commissions when you use its links to apply for a credit card, about which the blog is extremely transparent so, in my view, use their links to help support this invaluable resource.
DISCOUNTS 🙌: Get 30% off select Qantas redemptions to Fiji, NZ and San Francisco 👌https://t.co/2AIjYCyLgC#qantasfrequentflyer #discounts #usingpoints pic.twitter.com/PkvLpG9Wl3
— Point Hacks (@pointhacks) February 11, 2020
On the topic of credit cards, some points acrobats regularly turn over their cards to score hefty points bonuses. That’s one move I haven’t yet been bothered with, but I do have multiple cards.
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EARN IN EARNEST
I’m a rusted-on Qantas Frequent Flyer, though it should be noted that most experts reckon there are many more valuable “points currencies” than QFF. So while my earning tips come from a Qantas base, I am also a member of Virgin Australia’s Velocity program, as well as American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Etihad, United Airlines and Virgin Blue. If I fly with an airline that isn’t a partner in one of my main frequent-flyer programs, I’ll make sure I join up with theirs and get those points, and worry how I’ll use them later.
But I accrue most of my points from shopping and paying bills. Unless I find myself in a cash-only situation (the rowing club sausage sizzle and our local mending shop), I pay by credit card, even for a coffee.
Points earning 101 is to ensure you have a credit card garnering you the most possible points for your desired FF program. Shop around for those new-customer bonuses, and read all the fine print about points caps and earning levels and then put everything on those cards. If you strike a payee, such as those to the ATO, where your points will be halved (again, the fine print is key), you can, for a fee, still get the full points value by paying via Reward Pay or B2Pay.
With a little effort, you can double and even triple-dip on a single spend. Both Qantas and Virgin Velocity have multiple ways for you to earn points, and one of the simplest is to go through their shopping portals. For example, I go to Qantas Shopping, log in and go to the Woolworths website, log in and make a click-and-collect order, which I’ll pay for with my American Express card. I earn points for going to Woolies through the Qantas Shopping site, I earn Qantas points from Woolies because I’m in their rewards program and choose to collect points rather than dollar-savings, and I earn points on my Amex, which I’ll send to my Qantas account and I’ll only transfer those points to Qantas when there’s a bonus offer on, which happens at least once a quarter (that’s four dips if you count that bonus).
A $300 grocery shop can easily earn me more than 1000 Qantas FF points (I’m obsessive but not enough to quite work out all the possible permutations on each earn). Yes, they’re collecting data about your shopping habits. If this concerns you, pay cash.
Through filling up at my local BP, ordering takeaway via Menulog but first logging into Velocity, I also clock up a good amount of points that I can use on Virgin. Without flying or even focusing on earning with Velocity, I recently found that I had enough points to fly my husband home from seeing his mum in Wellington when there were no Qantas FF seats and the paid seats were pricey.
There are numerous bonus points offers on purchases and payments — don’t spend just to get points, but do maximise your points haul when you spend.
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FREE ISN’T FREE
Once you’re cashed up with points and ready to book, make sure you build into your budget airline fuel surcharges and airport taxes and fees. It’s another area of brain-hurting complexity but you’ll pay these fees in the currency of wherever your flight originates (though some programs allow you to use points to pay for the fees, too). Search Point Hacks for their guides on minimising these charges and avoid your “free” points redemption ticket becoming alarmingly expensive. Tips include redeeming Qantas points to fly American Airlines or Cathay Pacific. Avoid flying out of certain airports (Heathrow is one) with more than a 24-hour stopover.
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HUB HACKS
Ideally, you want to crack the code to fly on points from your home city in Australia for your whole trip, but finding business-class reward seats out of Sydney and Melbourne can be tricky, especially if you’re hunting for more than one person (four in my case).
A hub city such as Hong Kong has multiple airlines and many more flights, so consider paying to get there (or using points for economy seats) and searching for pointy-end options for your onward journey.
A relevant tip to this hub hack: American Airlines (AA) points — which can be purchased, often with juicy bonuses — can be used for Cathay Pacific seats (and any Oneworld partner), but you won’t see Cathay seats on the AA search engine; you have to call to book. There’s normally a fee per seat to book via the phone, but they won’t charge you if it’s not possible to book via their website, so don’t let them. The other two air alliances are SkyTeam and Star Alliance. It makes sense to group your air travel — and your points accrued — within one of the three groups when possible.
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CALL IN THE POINTS PROS
Snagging reward seats can be a long-haul time suck. You need to plot possibilities, calculate taxes and fees, set reminders for when your target-date seats will become available, perhaps sit on the phone with agents. If you have a sackful of points and are prepared to shell out for someone else to find a use for them, there are several Australian-based services which will do just that.
The basic mistake that prevents people from flying First class for the price of Economy - https://t.co/VVWu37ddTv #frequentflyer #qantas #firstclass pic.twitter.com/apPJAgUDPy
— Steve Hui (@iFLYflat) February 18, 2020
I’ve not used any of them, but the main ones are iFLYFlat (aka the Points Whisperer), Australian Frequent Flyer and Points Bank, which also has a free service to keep track of your growing network of points (because don’t forget hotel and rental-car programs). A DIY-plus option is to pay a monthly fee to US site Expert Flyer to use their search engine to find upgrade and reward seats a lot faster than crawling across various airline websites.
Happy points-seat hunting — I’ll see you in the business-class lounge.
