Youngest Flyer in The Residence Suite

[dmitri]

Hi all, if anyone saw Quest means business this morning on CNN you may have seen the short story on the 16yo who is the youngest flyer to get the residence suite all to himself. Paid for in full one way AUH-SYD by himself- $20K. He runs https://www.pointsfromthepacific.com.au

Fair effort I thought, he mentioned how he has 4 credit cards for points. All I had was a debit card at 16.

 

[samh004]

Considering no Australian bank allows you to hold a credit card under age 18 in Australia, and some don't even allow supplementary cards below 18, I think you'll find he didn't pay for it with his own money, but with his parents money.

I'd also wonder what CNN would think about his parents letting him drop out of school before the age of 16 so he could fly around the world? The law in QLD says that you need to attend or be home schooled until you are 16 or complete year 10. After that, while you don't have to attend, you must participate in another type of learning until you turn 17, or have an approved qualification.

As with all reviews of the Residence though, it looks like something I'd love to try, but I'd be worried about getting attached. Even if I won the lottery I wouldn't be spending that kind of money each time I flew, a sure fire way to lose all the money!

 

[Princess Fiona]

Hi all, if anyone saw Quest means business this morning on CNN you may have seen the short story on the 16yo who is the youngest flyer to get the residence suite all to himself. Paid for in full one way AUH-SYD by himself- $20K. He runs https://www.pointsfromthepacific.com.au

Fair effort I thought, he mentioned how he has 4 credit cards for points. All I had was a debit card at 16.

Nice effort. Parents are putting a big investment in there in their son. Not everyone is so fortunate.

I enjoyed his review of the Residence and the lounge at AUH.

 

[nlagalle]

Hi all, if anyone saw Quest means business this morning on CNN you may have seen the short story on the 16yo who is the youngest flyer to get the residence suite all to himself. Paid for in full one way AUH-SYD by himself- $20K. He runs https://www.pointsfromthepacific.com.au

Fair effort I thought, he mentioned how he has 4 credit cards for points. All I had was a debit card at 16.

Mummy and Daddy paid for his ticket (there is a whole story behind that from what I have been told). And I seriously doubt he has the credit cards in his name as he is only 16 - more likely they are mummy and daddy's again..

 

[Flying Fox]

What a spoilt little brat sponging off his parents wealth and living the high life that most of the world can't imagine.....

I'm so green with envy

Wonder if he wants an older brother.......

 

[frankie]

As someone who has met this kid I honestly couldn't care less in terms of his traveling because I know its not self funded or even airline funded(for review reasons) but what really annoys me is the constant referring to the credit cards as his including on his twitter account where he tweeted that his credit card came bent :/


Screenshot taken from https://twitter.com/pointsfromthpac/status/771579615693332480

The credit card in the image, which is the American Express Explorer, has clearly stated in the T&C that can be found here (https://www.americanexpress.com/axp/au/content/supplementary-cards/explorer-credit-card/index.html) that "Supplementary Credit Card Members must be over 18 years of age", so would love to know how he is getting away with that.

 

[JohnK]

From memory boomy mentioned this to me last month. boomy thinks this kid is ok.

I think he is a spoilt brat and not in the slightest bit interested in bis blog or his travels.

 

[QF WP]

He should have stayed at school longer - his butchery of the use of "myself" rather than "me" turns me off straight away. Didn't click through.

 

[nlagalle]

He should have stayed at school longer - his butchery of the use of "myself" rather than "me" turns me off straight away. Didn't click through.

Yep, I can't believe his parents thought leaving school at 15 was a good idea. interesting to see how he copes when there isn't someone bankrolling him,

 

[BacchusMarsh]

This is pretty much a "haters gonna hate" thread. Might to wise to bear in mind you're all talking about a 16-year-old boy.

 

[Princess Fiona]

This is pretty much a "haters gonna hate" thread. Might to wise to bear in mind you're all talking about a 16-year-old boy.

Very true. The same goes for CNN and the like in the accuracy of their reporting a 16 year old's travel exploits.........

 

[Freq Flier 2013]

Hi all, if anyone saw Quest means business this morning on CNN you may have seen the short story on the 16yo who is the youngest flyer to get the residence suite all to himself. Paid for in full one way AUH-SYD by himself- $20K. He runs https://www.pointsfromthepacific.com.au

Fair effort I thought, he mentioned how he has 4 credit cards for points. All I had was a debit card at 16.

Thanks for posting. Interesting read! Good to see how other people live.

 

[Matt_01]

I did have a quick look at blog. The lad is certainly fortunate and I do not begrudge his privileged travel, some people are born into wealthy families, they also had no choice in that. I take exception to the allusion of doing it without help of others and there will be those who will believe his tale.

Claiming to make enough points from credit cards and travel on your own at 16 may encourage others who are less fortunate to try something similar and will most likely end in financial disaster.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I had always assumed that you had to be 18+ to enter an airport Lounge if travelling alone. Is this not the case? (EDit: question answered on his blog https://www.pointsfromthepacific.com.au/2017/01/12/lounge-entry-rules-teens/ )


However good luck to him. Much better this than. www.flyinghighoncrack.com

 

[QF WP]

This is pretty much a "haters gonna hate" thread. Might to wise to bear in mind you're all talking about a 16-year-old boy.

I disagree with you, as I don't hate him and my reading of the other comments support that premise. What is privilege - one persons level is not anothers. I have had a reasonable privileged education background as my parents told me "we're going to give you the best education we can afford, it's up to you from there". So they sent me to a GPS school. There I learnt a lot about life and sports, plus added an education in the must haves of "English and Maths" and some other subjects.

I appreciate his ability to fly in J and F (I've done mine in the past) and envious his ability to be IT-savvy and create a blog (because I'm not); be able to take photos and make a story of his travels.

He's old enough to be my son. Perhaps he will make a living from something related to this blog in the future. That is my fervent hope for Zac (and perhaps his parents agree). We all made our fair share of mistakes around that age, I poignantly remember some of mine that have carried through.

To coin an oft used phrase in my family: "We learn more from our mistakes than our successes."

 

[Danger]

I seem to recall Paul Keating leaving school in year 10. And as someone who has more than one university degree who earns less my tradie mates, I think seeing school through to year 12 is not as important (or necessary) as perhaps it should be.

 

[AnnaB]

When I was 16 I was still looking forward to perhaps be able to fly somewhere in the world one day. My big dream at the time was the UK, merely an hour away from where I lived. F or J was not even on the horizon

 

[Rugby]

If that kid ever takes my Flounge day spa treatment spot I'll put him over my knee. :mrgreen:

 

[Franky]

Very true. The same goes for CNN and the like in the accuracy of their reporting a 16 year old's travel exploits.........

And people wonder why the Donald gets kudos for calling out the media for this type of cough reporting..

 

[Moindardt]

Wow. I am very shocked by the attitudes expressed here. As someone who has actually met Zac and spent a couple of hours chatting with him, you all have very much the wrong opinion. Yes, he does come from a privileged background. Yes, there was some money invested in the early stages by his parents however he is doing it all off his own back now. He got his first lot by doing the cards for his parents and their business and got to keep some portion of the points. He had been blogging and earning some income from that for a number of years, increasing greatly over the last two. He has started on the frequent flyer speaking circuit in the US etc. He said it was all his money for the Residence and given the other stuff, I have no reason to doubt him. For those who say you can't get a card under 18, check out the Amex thread at the moment. They are talking about the dog getting a card.

Good on him for going for it. He has a fantastic grasp of social media and is very good at connecting with young people and generating traffic from sources many of us would never have heard of. He is also in the enviable position of having parents who can get him back on his feet if it all falls over.

A whole heap of kids at my daughters school follow him and think he has the potential to make huge money on social media. There was talk about him coming and speaking at the echo at some stage. The world of these teens is very different to our world.