Article: Why I Started Collecting Frequent Flyer Points

[AFF Editor]

Why I Started Collecting Frequent Flyer Points is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

Why I Started Collecting Frequent Flyer Points

AFF Editor Matt Graham explains why he originally started collecting frequent flyer points as a teenager - and got completely hooked.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[SYD]

Well, I was relative slow starter compared to @AFF Editor but savvy enough to know that a RTW ticket was good value back in the day and the TA that booked the flights and hotels (pre internet!) signed us up to QFF (I think it was about $20 back then). Within 3yrs we were flying to Canada business class and the South America two years later (without really trying too hard).

The status thing was a little later. Starting with QP and then proper status!

 

[cove]

With our business growing and me flying to the US or Europe I started making quite a few loyalty points. Then in 1994 I had heart bypass surgery and that fast forwarded life in business class travel. We bought apartments in Sydney and Melbourne and used points to get there in business class.
Tonight we are in Singapore and we fly to Perth this morning.
We use Qantas,Virgin,American and Singapore to get to places around the world.

 

[Duffa]

I can't quite remember when my points earning really took off. I remember losing Ansett points in the collapse, so it was a while ago.
Probably Citi prestige and JS were the main catalyst; 3 points per dollar at 0.45% were the good old days.
I have to laugh at the current Insta posts on the like of pay.com.au where young business owners are spruiking their points earning power at 0.75 for 2.15%.

 

[SYD]

I can't quite remember when my points earning really took off. I remember losing Ansett points in the collapse, so it was a while ago.
Probably Citi prestige and JS were the main catalyst; 3 points per dollar at 0.45% were the good old days.
I have to laugh at the current Insta posts on the like of pay.com.au where young business owners are spruiking their points earning power at 0.75 for 2.15%.

RIP AN GW and my Diamond card. Lost about 200k points - which at the time seemed like a huge amount.

I’ve been maintaining close to 1mil on QF and 500k on VA now for years.

 

[bsb]

Thanks for sharing Matt, loved hearing your journey. I’m close to 60 but I still remember drawing pics like that as a kid (although the planes were F27’s or DC9’s in TAA livery). My first flight was a 727 from BNE to SYD when I was 9 a solo flyer and I still remember the thrill. I then went on to become an addict of mystery flights on East West and Air NSW. Bless my Dad who’d drive me to the airport and wait til I flew the likes of Tamworth etc return. I thought that was the height of lux living as a teenager. Took me a long time to get to J but there is no looking back once you’ve done it. These days I don’t focus on points collection as I usually pay cash because I don’t want to muck around with times and dates - but I chase the status like a dog with a bone. I tend to blow millions of points on hotels when they’re on special and even bought a Webber BBQ on special this year. (Yes I know this isn’t the best use of points but when you collect millions and don’t spend them, you don’t care) But every now and then I jump on a gem like now when I’ve flown to the Dallas (as I write this) or fly my partner in J to join me for work stuff. If I’d have read this post of mine even 10 years ago I’d never have thought I’d be living this life. But there you go Matt, everything is possible. I hope for you your future is as exciting and you can look back with gratitude on your passion like I have. Thanks for your considered writing for the community.

 

[NoName]

I have briefly mentioned the start of my journey a couple of years ago in in the introduction to one of my trip reports but I will expand on that now.

I had never even considered that earning points “en masse” would be possible. I remember seeing what I now know to be garbage, stories of how earning enough points for a free flight would require some exorbitant amount of spend. And so I never even bothered looking into it. In fact, I never even had a QFF account for many years due to the joining fee (not knowing it could be had for free). In the mid-2000s I used to fly to and from central Queensland several times a year without earning a single point for it.

Then I met Mrs NoName and she earned a paltry amount from occasional work trips to Sydney & Melbourne and a credit card so I joined. Still, we earned virtually nothing for several years.

Fast forward to 2012 and honeymoon planning and a cancelled flight a few months out saw us decide to see what we could do with Mrs NoName’s approx 200k QFF points she had accumulated over the previous 10 years. We ended up jumping on 2xY+ SIN-LHR classic awards. At the time we took these flights we thought it was the best thing ever! It couldn’t get better than a slightly bigger recline and legroom.

Anyway, a couple of months later something about this forum popped up on my Facebook feed and I decided to take a look. Read a few discussions, a lightbulb went off and as they say, the rest is history. The points game has changed the way we think of travel and we’ve experienced things we never dreamt of. It has become a hobby which I love and one which comes with fantastic benefits. We don’t fly anywhere near as often as many/most on this forum but when we do, to be able to do the long hauls in J or F is now standard. We are hanging out for our next trip to Nth America at the end of the year where planning and persistence has resulted in all flights (long hauls and internals) being done on awards.

 

[SydneySwan]

Great read Matt.

I have been an avid collector of points since the early 1990s and made my first ff redemption using BA Air Miles in 1991 - London - Frankfurt return to go to the Europa Cup Athletics final.

A few more economy redemptions followed before in 1997 I cobbled together a Sydney - HK - Zurich - London - Zurich - HK - Bangkok - Sydney trip for Mrs SS and myself in J using a combination of QF and AN points and flying on Qantas, Swissair and BA.

Last year I finally graduated to a J OWA QF redemption SYD - CGK - NRT - HEL - MAN land AMS - HEL - HND - SIN - SYD on QF, JAL, AY, BA.

It used to be that there was plenty of FF availability but I did not have enough points. Now I have plenty of points but there is little availability.

 

[Human]

Great article!

I started collecting points after my family and I moved to Perth for 4 years in 2013. Really it was out of necessity more than anything, because to get from Perth to just about anywhere you have to fly. I was somewhat surprised to discover that I was quite good at it — it takes a certain type of warped, OCD brain but I seem to meet the bill!

My first redemptions were economy class to NZ for a couple of family holidays, but since then we have graduated to Business class to Europe (3 times since borders opened), and I’ve even taken a couple of First class flights. Great fun!

 

[Scash]

I started the points game approximately 10 years ago, mainly through credit card churn. This has enabled myself and Mrs Scash to fly EK F & J, CX F & J and QF J a number of times. We have a trip planned for May next year to Portugal, Sicily, Greece and the Balkans and will be flying EK J to Lisbon, and at this stage AY from EDI to SIN in J (unfortunately there are no CR available to BNE or AUS when we plan on coming back in early July 2025).

We will still have approx 1m points left after our next trip so will be able to do one more trip in F or J. Unfortunately this may be our last points trip as we are now retired so we are unable to apply for new credit cards, as we are deemed to be unemployed with no income despite our strong financial position, as most banks don't count superannuation as income!

 

[Phoenix-1]

I started browsing Ozbargain as a teenager and always ignored any credit card related deals. When I started working full time I figured there must be a reason those deals were always so highly rated, which led me to find out about flying RTW on a OWCA for 318k points (I believe it was slightly lower when I began collecting) and I started slowly churning 1 card at a time.

It wasn't until 2022 that my points earning skyrocketed. After earning 360k QFF across 3 cards back to back, I realised just how quickly one could earn points. I've now been on 2x OWCA flights, booked return business class flight for my parents to the US and my next goal is to take my parents and partner on a J trip to Europe/RTW.

 

[Bindibuys]

A dear friend offered my daughter use of his Amex points (he was no longer travelling for work). She was able to fly around the world for the total cost of $2.10
Points Vs $ became my mantra for my own travels from that point on. (pun)
New credit cards and 140k QF points when Qantas Business Rewards first started (10k to sign on, another 10K when you purchased something from one of the Business partners) x 7 ABN's, and about $36 in expenditure.
AFF has been an absolute wonder, both in meeting people and the vast knowledge base that can be tapped into.

 

[JohnM]

And in October 2014 while I was in the throes of one of many an annual DONEx, I first met @Mattg during the time he was flipping burgers in Berlin - along with @kermatu and @*A Flyer.

Mmmmm... remembering the pork knuckle dinner...

 

[Seat0B]

. Unfortunately this may be our last points trip as we are now retired so we are unable to apply for new credit cards, as we are deemed to be unemployed with no income despite our strong financial position, as most banks don't count superannuation as income!

We are in the same position @Scash and it’s really annoying and quite short sighted of the banks. The first bank to realise that I have heaps and heaps of spending power and let me get a new credit card will have my gratitude, great word of mouth to similarly placed friends and an opportunity to corner a lucrative niche in the market. With no mortgage and lots of cash, the Seat Family is spending big on travel and other things at the moment in those “go-go” years of early retirement - and no bank really wants to know about it. Amex is the main beneficiary of our spending.

 

[TAK]

Matt, great to hear your story, probably haven't paid for a J flight for 12 years (and we do up to 4 Au to Eu or Us annually) the problem is that more and more people are "getting on board" and two things are happening/gong to happen. Availability is shrinking, airlines use AI to calculate loading and allocations; hence no more "fixed" redemption rates.
Eventually the esteemed ATO will FBT these beautiful things. Unfortunately when you retire the cards become harder to churn (also AI driven) and the Amex's will make SQ cost 3x instead of 2x, United's and Avianca's will devalue. Qantas will invent Classic Plus. Anyway, the personalization is aways great as it relatable. And BTW, stop looking so young

 

[Seat0B]

My love of travel started in a similar way to yours, @AFF Editor . In the 1960s my dad did a few work trips, in the so-called “whispering T jets” (that certainly did NOT whisper!) and mum used to take my sister and me to the observation deck to wave him goodbye. Then in 1975, hen I was 15, after 2 years of planning and saving my pocket money and collecting bottles from the roadside to get the 5c refund my parents took us both on our first amazing overseas trip - 8 weeks to UK and Europe on a QF 747. Amazing. Opened my eyes to travel and the value of the limited French and German I had learnt at school, both themes which have enriched my life. I too wondered what was up those stairs on the 747 and got a similar reply to yours @AFF Editor - only for the well to do, not us!

In 1990, Mr Seat 0A and 3 year old Seat daughter finally got a trip in a 747 J class courtesy of an RAAF posting to the USA. My eyes were again opened up, and I remarked that I would know I had made it when I could choose to fly business on my own dime.

In 1996 I started my own business and by 1998 I was diligently collecting FF points on flights and credit card spend, starting with an Amex charge card that gave a ridiculous points per dollar - I think it was 3 points per dollar plus some bonus points. I had to do a LOT of domestic work travel, and before too long, I started to move up the FF tiers and amass a few points. These were used in 1998 to get 4 x Y return to NZ for the Christmas holidays (we had added Seat Son to the family whilst on posting in the USA) for the kid’s first overseas holiday experience - and we got my first ever upgrade . Yes 4x J seats awaited the Seat family on the trip over. The trip back was ….whY!
Took several more family holidays for 4 all on points during the noughties - a memorable trip to Europe and 2 back to USA to reconnect with friends from the posting.
After parental duties ended in 2014 (both through uni and settled into adult life), we really concentrated on points collecting through business spend, and my longed for dream of flying J for long haul became a reality. We had a couple of J points trips to UK/Europe and USA between then and 2018, and 1 to Japan, but relatively short because self employed. It was pretty easy to find seats and being P1 from all my work flying certainly helped. Then I sold the business in 2018, joined AFFand we started to plan in earnest to use up the millions of points we had accumulated. But along came the death of my Dad, then my MIL, then Covid and changes to award seat releases and a serious health issue of my own and….well, things haven’t been quite so rosy. I’m hoping we get back to the golden years of 2014-2018 sometime soon .

I loved reading Matt’s article and everyone else’s stories too. It’s a bug that bites deep for many of us here, I think. And I have really appreciated the tips and advice so generously shared on this site by members.

 

[Portsoft]

Why I Started Collecting Frequent Flyer Points is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

Why I Started Collecting Frequent Flyer Points

AFF Editor Matt Graham explains why he originally started collecting frequent flyer points as a teenager - and got completely hooked.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

Ah Machu Picchu, I also visited in the days when you were free to roam over the site as you wished..
Now retired, I had collected 300k points which I spent the majority of on a Trip-a-deal trip
points plus pay .. which saved me over $4000.

 

[Disco]

Why I Started Collecting Frequent Flyer Points is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

Why I Started Collecting Frequent Flyer Points

AFF Editor Matt Graham explains why he originally started collecting frequent flyer points as a teenager - and got completely hooked.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

Good article and brings back many memories. I travelled and worked elsewhere when young and have enjoyed travelling ever since. It left me with a dislike of organised "tours" unless in places remote and significantly culturally different. With my partner we travelled frequently, unaware of how best to utilize loyalty programmes, and accumulated a scattering of points/awards in a variety of airlines and hotels. It wasn't until I bumbled across AFF and started reading articles - thanks Matt - that I realised what could be done with the award accumulation of our travels. Since then and with additional knowledge gained from the many long term members of the site we have enjoyed many trips in J. We have also adjusted, since retirement, to a combination of award positioning flights, thanks to @wandering_fred and others, and paid J to various destinations in Europe and USA. It is interesting as well to read the commentary on air incidents from pilots pov and geograhical features, and the trip reports of members. These can be helpful when planning to go places. Thanks to all who contribute.

 

[sumthinfornuthin]

I can't quite remember when my points earning really took off. I remember losing Ansett points in the collapse, so it was a while ago.
Probably Citi prestige and JS were the main catalyst; 3 points per dollar at 0.45% were the good old days.
I have to laugh at the current Insta posts on the like of pay.com.au where young business owners are spruiking their points earning power at 0.75 for 2.15%.

Still plenty of ways to get lots of points for free if you work at it
Worse case is mot much more than 1% per point
0.75 points for 2.15% does not make sense

 

[Archipelago]

Mid-90s got me started - initially with a Qantas return trip from Perth to Harare and back in early '95, but then I took a lot of regional flights with Ansett (and Skywest in WA), so primarily racked up AFF points from there. Took out a Golden Wing membership the same year and kept it going (until sometime in 2001, was it September perhaps? )

(Members who can remember better than me, correct me if I am wrong on this next bit)

There were tiers/distances/zones for both Ansett and Qantas mid 90s on reward flight redemption. From memory it was 20,000 economy or 30,000 business for a return flight anywhere in Australia. (I think this increased to 30k/40k around 1997-1998)

But there was a loophole - you could actually fly around Australia with multiple stops and return to your origin airport for the same points (no backtracking, but no restrictions on min-max layovers.

I did this more than a few times with Ansett and once or twice with Qantas. One example I did PER-ADL-CBR-MEL-SYD-BNE-CNS-DRW-BME-KTA-PER - business class on the same points as a PER-SYD-PER return award ticket.

I was mostly loyal to Ansett Frequent Flyer - Golden Wing membership was cheap in those days and I milked it for all it was worth - but I didn't read the writing on the wall when I moved to SE Asia in 1999. I kept accumulating Ansett points instead of switching to another *A airline (I was mostly commuting with TG and SQ)

Lost nearly 200,000 Ansett points on their collapse.
Switched immediately to TG (Thai Airways) but it took a couple of years to get back in my stride

I have one more anecdote on those 90s "around Australia' reward flights involving Cairns, an upgrade to First from Business, and David Hasselhoff in the Cairns Qantas lounge - but that's not relevant to this thread