ANZ Rewards Travel Adventure Card

[gregff]

Maybe it is time that they got rid of the cap on rewards points earn (1.5 pts up to a max of $2000 per statement period, and then 0.5 pts thereafter). Or at least changed to cap for the higher points earn rate to a more reasonable $5000.00
Unfortunately, the effective annual fee reduction, in its own right, is not nearly enough to compensate for the loss of the one return flight per year benefit.
So, some additional compensation by applying the higher earn point rate to a greater portion of the monthly charges would seem fair and reasonable!

 

[Obi-run Kenobi]

ANZ Rewards Travel Adventures card drops flight, lounge benefits

ANZ Rewards Travel Adventures card drops flight, lounge benefits

ANZ bids bon voyage to key Virgin Australia travel benefits on its Rewards Travel Adventures credit card.

www.executivetraveller.com

Not much point in having this card anymore. Period. $120 annual fee for $0 international transaction fees is not worth it. I can get this for free with the 28 Degrees Mastercard.

A bit disappointing but maybe they'll come up with a better offering as the travel climate improves.

 

[SeaWolf]

I can get this for free with the 28 Degrees Mastercard.

The downside of that is the 28 Degrees card doesn't earn you any rewards points. The thing I liked about the ANZ card was that I could use it anywhere and earn points. I've got an AMEX and this card, which I can use both domestically and internationally and after the flight it was effectively free. But there are only a tiny number of cards that both earn points and have no foreign currency fees. None of them strike me as particularly good value when you consider the annual fee cost.
The ones I know of are:

• Coles Rewards Mastercard ($99)
• Bankwest More/QANTAS Platinum/World Mastercard ($160/$270)
• Macquarie Platinum/Black ($99/$149)
• Commbank Ultimate Awards ($420, waived per month if more than $2500 spend)

Any that I've missed?
I'm thinking I might have to go back to having a separate domestic and international MC/Visa card in my wallet.

 

[daft009]

hmm.. in its own right this card is not worth it anymore...

however without the Virgin perks its similar to the rewards platinum Rewards Platinum credit card | ANZ ??
this has a $95 AF and earns the same 1.5pt/$.

the travel adventures card will now have a $120 AF, so "effectively" $25 for really the no forex perk

I'm not in a position to apply for another card at another bank, just deciding to keep this or swap to the rewards platinum hmm

 

[Obi-run Kenobi]

I'm thinking I might have to go back to having a separate domestic and international MC/Visa card in my wallet.

That's basically what I do anyway. I only used the ANZ TA for the free flight and occasional international spend when overseas. Otherwise, I put everything else on other domestic cards that earn points.

I already have the BW Qantas World, so that can take care of international holiday spend.

 

[ChrisFlyer]

The thing I've also liked about having an ANZ card is the Bonus Points Mall. Very similar to the Qantas Mall or Velocity eStore, but sometimes with a much higher earn rate when frequent flyer conversion is considered. There's no cap on Bonus Points Mall earn, and you don't even have to pay with your ANZ card. I often click through the BPM to earn bonus ANZ points, and then pay for the transaction with an Amex, to maximise my points as best I can. I'm also in the habit of checking the earn rates on the Qantas Mall, Velocity eStore and ANZ (factoring in the 2:1 or 3:1 conversion) to find which one gives the best value for each click. Guess there's some added value in the extra points that the ANZ mall unlocks... whether it's enough to justify keeping the card, I'm not sure.

 

[daft009]

The thing I've also liked about having an ANZ card is the Bonus Points Mall. Very similar to the Qantas Mall or Velocity eStore, but sometimes with a much higher earn rate when frequent flyer conversion is considered. There's no cap on Bonus Points Mall earn, and you don't even have to pay with your ANZ card. I often click through the BPM to earn bonus ANZ points, and then pay for the transaction with an Amex, to maximise my points as best I can. I'm also in the habit of checking the earn rates on the Qantas Mall, Velocity eStore and ANZ (factoring in the 2:1 or 3:1 conversion) to find which one gives the best value for each click. Guess there's some added value in the extra points that the ANZ mall unlocks... whether it's enough to justify keeping the card, I'm not sure.

I've never had an anz bonus mall transaction confirm... they remain as "clicked"

 

[Happy Dude]

The domestic hire car excess insurance that goes with this card will be sadly missed. Sigh....

 

[ChrisFlyer]

I've never had an anz bonus mall transaction confirm... they remain as "clicked"

Always works for me, but I always use Chrome. I've tried other browsers with mixed success, but Chrome seems to work every time. Usually get the 'thanks for shopping' email within a few days, and the points into the account within a few months.

Given Chrome is provided for 'free' by one of the world's largest advertising providers, whose primary objective is data harvesting to refine and target their ads, I'm not surprised that Chrome has managed to successfully track 100% of my purchases, ha!

Of course, never click through and shop in a browser's 'private' mode as it blocks the tracking. Even in Chrome, there's some tracking that you can manually disable, but if you do that it probably won't track your shopping purchases. (And, if you leave the window and come back, or search for something via an outside search engine, or forget the password to your account with the retailer and reset it via email - re-entering the website via the email link - you may invalidate the tracking.

Sometimes if I'm not sure, or if I've had to reset my password etc, I'll click through a second time just to be sure. Has helped me earn 1000s of extra points since I've had the ANZ card.

 

[daft009]

Always works for me, but I always use Chrome. I've tried other browsers with mixed success, but Chrome seems to work every time. Usually get the 'thanks for shopping' email within a few days, and the points into the account within a few months.

Given Chrome is provided for 'free' by one of the world's largest advertising providers, whose primary objective is data harvesting to refine and target their ads, I'm not surprised that Chrome has managed to successfully track 100% of my purchases, ha!

Of course, never click through and shop in a browser's 'private' mode as it blocks the tracking. Even in Chrome, there's some tracking that you can manually disable, but if you do that it probably won't track your shopping purchases. (And, if you leave the window and come back, or search for something via an outside search engine, or forget the password to your account with the retailer and reset it via email - re-entering the website via the email link - you may invalidate the tracking.

Sometimes if I'm not sure, or if I've had to reset my password etc, I'll click through a second time just to be sure. Has helped me earn 1000s of extra points since I've had the ANZ card.

thanks. i use chrome too.
i have no issues with cashrewards or velocity estore, qantas mall, shopback tracking, they are all fine. its just anz mall that doesnt track for me...

 

[klm597]

i have no issues with cashrewards or velocity estore, qantas mall, shopback tracking, they are all fine. its just anz mall that doesnt track for me...

My experience is similar, I've only ever got ANZ points mall to work once for me and that was after submitting two missing points claims. Never had any issues with Velocity E-store or Cashrewards.

I'm also in the same boat as many here. Haven't used my "free" flight yet this year and my renewal date is next month. I don't have any immediate travel plans either, and don't really want to book a weekend trip to FNQ just for the sake of using the benefit up.

I'll call ANZ soon and ask for some sort of deal to transition to the ANZ Rewards Platinum card (waved annual fee hopefully) so I can at least keep all my ANZ points (no idea what to do with them just yet) and also keep the same earning rate of 1.5 points / $.

 

[glasszon]

Just a thought, given VA still has the flexible booking policy due to covid-19, can't you book the most expensive flight possible (most likely to PER if you are from East Coast) with the aim to rebook it to another destination?

 

[GSP]

Just a thought, given VA still has the flexible booking policy due to covid-19, can't you book the most expensive flight possible (most likely to PER if you are from East Coast) with the aim to rebook it to another destination?

That is a very good suggestion. I was thinking of booking somewhere I'd like to go, but not necessarily landing on an exact date so booking for say 6-9 months down the track and modifying. There is a risk I have to pay a difference, but if I for example book a flight to Perth or Cairns or Darwin which is almost certainly going to be more expensive than most dates where I intend to use it, that is a good strategy. I'm assuming the change of destination is same as change of date re: flexibility with Virgin/ANZ.

 

[Stealthflyer]

Just a thought, given VA still has the flexible booking policy due to covid-19, can't you book the most expensive flight possible (most likely to PER if you are from East Coast) with the aim to rebook it to another destination?

They charge for change of destination.

 

[MattA]

Just to add my 2c to this one... saw the changes via Point Hacks the other day (no notification from ANZ at all, not even an email!) I haven't used either the flight or the lounge passes (and won't realistically be able to as I'm in VIC), so I called up last night quoting the bit on the FAQ about asking them to review my Annual Fee -- first up the rep quoted back to me the bit from the FAQ about *next year's* annual fee being reduced, but I pushed back and asked what they can do about *this year's* annual fee (paid in March in my case). After a short wait while she got it approved (supposedly), she came back to say they'd refund in full (AF + Rewards Fee). It was supposedly going to take a few days but it's already credited back to my account as of this morning.

I was pretty much planning to churn this one anyway, but I definitely will now. Considering the poor earn rate it's not good value just for the insurance and the no-FX fee. Obviously I didn't mention that on the call, but getting the AF back is a nice bonus. Better in my pocket than theirs...

 

[GSP]

I received a letter in the post this morning about the changes from ANZ. It did remind me about the Anniversary which is 3rd October, so I better get my skates on and book my flight for this year. I'll close before the 3rd and won't worry about another one.

 

[Mattg]

I also received a letter from ANZ today.

My anniversary is in October and I still haven't used this year's flight benefit. The 60-day advance booking period is a nightmare when we don't know what state borders will be open in even a few weeks from now. I may just book a SYD-CFS flight or something (VA isn't even flying the CBR-SYD route at the moment, otherwise I might just do that). It's a shame as I got great value last year by using this to book a MEL-DRW trip.

I think I will ditch this card next year. The free flight & lounge passes were the main benefits and I just don't see the point in keeping this card now.

 

[Lomandriel]

If you agree to this once off Annual Account Fee reduction, all of your complimentary flight benefits and Virgin lounge passes will be forfeited for the current account year. This includes any existing bookings, travel credits and any unbooked entitlements you may have."

Just got the AFFF email about this change of losing the flights. I managed to ring up and rather than $130 they're saying the $170 fee for the flights if i forfeit could be refunded? So not sure the discrepancy. Unlike the AFFF email mail out that quoted someone getting their entire annua lfee waived, I was told the $55reward fee was not refundable unless i gaveback the points earned? Pretty calculative compared to some companies... I also don't get how someone was quoted as having booked flights after getting the fee waived, must have gotten someone who didn't process the refund entirely to script (e.g. disable their ability to book a flight- so a win for them).

That said for the quoted comment - it says forfeiting includes "any existing bookings, travel credits and unbooked entitlements you have"?

has anyone clarified this? I used last year's flight and redeemed for April. I still have this year's for renewal. If i were to waive my right to use this year's flight for a $170 refund I fail to see why my existing travel booking be voided? I paid the annual fee for that year already and did my time? Is this statement correct?? Surely they can't take existing flight bookings, particularly if made from a prior year annual fee?

Supposedly closing the card later won't void being able to rebook and change the flight should borders remain closed... has anyone experienced the same pre covid where they booked flights and had closed the credit card? Were you still serviced/helped? or kind of forgotten being an 'ex-holder'?

 

[Lomandriel]

The downside of that is the 28 Degrees card doesn't earn you any rewards points. The thing I liked about the ANZ card was that I could use it anywhere and earn points.

I've tried using 28 degrees alongside the ANZ card and I've found the 28 degrees was getting better FX rates. I am not sure but my feeling was the 28 degrees FX rate's % difference to ANZ was greater than the value of redeeming ANZ's points for non-flight benefits (gift cards etc). So with no flights now I'd presume you're better offusing 28 degrees with a better FX rate? Did anyone else confirm/find it to be the same?

The only other card is the bankwest card that has equivalent features. Supposedly the FXrate on that is competitively close to 28 degrees?

 

[GSP]

I've tried using 28 degrees alongside the ANZ card and I've found the 28 degrees was getting better FX rates. I am not sure but my feeling was the 28 degrees FX rate's % difference to ANZ was greater than the value of redeeming ANZ's points for non-flight benefits (gift cards etc). So with no flights now I'd presume you're better offusing 28 degrees with a better FX rate? Did anyone else confirm/find it to be the same?

The only other card is the bankwest card that has equivalent features. Supposedly the FXrate on that is competitively close to 28 degrees?

My understanding it is not a bank to bank comparison but more a Visa v Mastercard v Amex thing. My personal experience is the same.