Yeah my wife was struggling to believe me when I explained that these travel cards are, on the whole, worse than simply using your normal card. And that actively converting currency ahead of time is likely going to lose out compared to just paying the instant transfer tax unless you have a really good idea what you plan to spend (not so likely when you spend only a few days on each currency). And that even on your normal card they take an extra 3% and you have no real idea what the FOREX rate will be until later.
Even as someone relatively informed it's hard to figure out.. so I guess they are doing a good job.
My assumption would be that these changes are because probably more people were using them domestically than they imagined and they probably want to push people onto CC products.
I think this is a fair summary. I've been travelling OS for 8 months now, using a mix of cards, credit and travellers, and am quite stunned at the appalling lack of value on the pre-paid travellers cards. It's mostly the rip-off exchange rate - it varies from currency to currency with USD the best, but in general you are looking at at least 4% and sometimes 6%, above the wholesale exchange rate.
The banks travel cards pocket this, and then charge you fixed ATM fees everywhere, on top of the fees from the local banks. (The worst was Santander in Brazil, whose ATM fee was almost 10% of the maximum withdrawal (20 on 200 Real)).
What the Q card has going for it is not its ForeX rate, which is microscopically better than most banks, but the fact that you get 1 point per $ spent OS, which marginally compensates for the ForeX rip-off.
Having used credit cards, bank travel cards and the Q travel card, I've come to the unescapable conclusion that the Citibank 28 degree card (which has no account fees and earns no points) is far better value because it charges no ForEx fees and gives a consistently better exchange rate.
I'm finding it saving around 3% on every transaction. FFlyer points on other cards rarely give more than 1% - but then you have to pay the bank's card fees. In addition, a bank like the Commonwealth charges you $30.00 a year to connect your card to the Q Fflyer scheme. Translating that fee into to points, you'd need to spend $3000 to earn earn enough points just to pay for linking your card to Qantas.
As a frequent flyer, of course I like to earn points, but always remember - you don't get nothing for nothing.
