AMEX - Velocity / Qantas / or AMEX Points?

[dantje7]

Hi All,

I'm looking to sign up for an AMEX Credit Card, and trying to decide between three cards. I will hold my AMEX and then look to churn others to accrue and maximise points. I currently hold ~90K Qantas points, and 20k VA points.
I also thought about the advantage of holding the explorer card to convert points as required.

I am based in Adelaide, so lounge access is not a big deal. I travel overseas 1-2x per year, and my next travel destinations will be throughout Asia (Japan, Korea, SE Asia), South America and the South Pacific. And 5-6 domestic trips/year.

Offers below have the Velocity Card offering 2x the Qantas points - would I be a fool not to take that card?

Current personalised offers being pushed to me: (All with $450 annual fee)

1. AMEX Explorer Card= 110k points bonus sign up (personalized), $450 travel credit
2. AMEX Qantas Card= 70k points bonus sign up (personalized), $450 travel credit, 2 entries to club lounge
3. AMEX Virgin Card = 120k sign up (personalized) + 30k bonus offer = 150k total points, 1x free return domestic flight/year, unlimited VA lounge access

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated - thanks!

 

[Dr Ralph]

Hi All,

I'm looking to sign up for an AMEX Credit Card, and trying to decide between three cards. I will hold my AMEX and then look to churn others to accrue and maximise points. I currently hold ~90K Qantas points, and 20k VA points.
I also thought about the advantage of holding the explorer card to convert points as required.

I am based in Adelaide, so lounge access is not a big deal. I travel overseas 1-2x per year, and my next travel destinations will be throughout Asia (Japan, Korea, SE Asia), South America and the South Pacific. And 5-6 domestic trips/year.

Offers below have the Velocity Card offering 2x the Qantas points - would I be a fool not to take that card?

Current personalised offers being pushed to me: (All with $450 annual fee)

1. AMEX Explorer Card= 110k points bonus sign up (personalized), $450 travel credit
2. AMEX Qantas Card= 70k points bonus sign up (personalized), $450 travel credit, 2 entries to club lounge
3. AMEX Virgin Card = 120k sign up (personalized) + 30k bonus offer = 150k total points, 1x free return domestic flight/year, unlimited VA lounge access

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated - thanks!

Welcome to AFF @dantje7,

As has been indicated in many of these previous similar types of threads, any choice as to which card/which points programme you enter/choose is a personal one. No one can advise you as to 'the best option' and any 'opinion' is utterly subjective. You need to consider MANY variables that impact just you, inter alia, how you wish to 'spend' your points and how you wish to accumulate additional points.

But before you make any choice, I'd encourage you to check the information you have gathered as I can already see multiple errors. The travel credit for the AMEX Explorer card is $400 NOT $450 as you have claimed. And the annual fee is $395 NOT $450 as you indicate. I'd also indicate that the offer of 110,000 points for the Explorer card is not personalised to you, but ratehr is the current public offer for this card (American Express Explorer Credit Card | Amex AU)

 

[dantje7]

Yes, my apologies for that error and thank you for your response!

Welcome to AFF @dantje7,

As has been indicated in many of these previous similar types of threads, any choice as to which card/which points programme you enter/choose is a personal one. No one can advise you as to 'the best option' and any 'opinion' is utterly subjective. You need to consider MANY variables that impact just you, inter alia, how you wish to 'spend' your points and how you wish to accumulate additional points.

But before you make any choice, I'd encourage you to check the information you have gathered as I can already see multiple errors. The travel credit for the AMEX Explorer card is $400 NOT $450 as you have claimed. And the annual fee is $395 NOT $450 as you indicate.

View attachment 439410

View attachment 439409

 

[Bell21]

As dr ralph said, it's a question with quite a few variables --- I tend to think about cards as either 'cards I want to keep' or 'cards I'm more interested in the sign-up points' which impacts my decisions --- I also tend to think about which sorts of points I want to earn (flexible points is key for me in any card I'm going to keep) --- and also have a think about sort of points currency is required for various travel locations (off top of my head, I tend to find Virgin/SQ more valuable in Asia; I'd imagine QFF points more valuable in South Pacific and ?South America)

The Virgin card obviously has some positives such as biggest sign-up bonus points and unlimited lounge access, but it's how you'll use that, that's important - YMMV, but all cards seem to have positives going for them - important to make best decision for you, given 18m exclusion period for AMEX cards and sign-on bonus