Article: Why I Started Collecting Frequent Flyer Points

[Tiki]

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.

The only thing that has saved my travel hacking game is being a dual US/Aussie citizen and the fact that the US banks rely on Fico scores, not pay slips. My 40 years of flawless on-time payments count for something over there. Stupid Aussie banks are looking at demographics and not individual people. A home-owner with over 90% equity, high credit score, small living expenses albeit with small income but managing well because no kids! Should be an easy approval for at least a smaller credit limit, maybe $5000 or so but nooooooooo!

I transitioned from Lonely Planet hardcore $5 a day backpacker in the 80's and 90's to somewhat flash-packer using consolidator cheap airfares and cheap hotels to keep traveling in the 90's and early 00's. Then I moved to Australia and in the mid 00's discovered I could churn US cards using my parent's address and have them send the cards to me here. Aussie card sign up bonuses were still pretty bad back then. And the airlines had some wild promos back in the days of US Grand Slam!

So through the 10's I was able to use points and miles from US cards to keep traveling and bird watching around the world. Airlines stopped doing wild promos because bloggers made them too easy for the general population, not just the FT'ers and AFF'ers who put time and effort into it.

So now in the 20's, I have achieved most of my travel goals and in years to come could go back to my favourites and also transition into Aussie road trips, we do have birds here too! I'm getting older and don't have the stamina for long hikes, especially in mountains, so I have been rushing around trying to do all the difficult trips before I can't do them anymore due to natural aging process. US credit cards are still an option but minimum spends have gone up and are more difficult to do in 3 months. At least I can maximize Flybuys and Woolies shopping promos to get points from grocery shopping!

 

[kgreenuq]

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.

Half a million Ansett points gone (just like that) between self and Mrs. A couple of month prior to the collapse, a colleague had bought lifetime membership.

 

[AFF Editor]

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...

I remember that dinner in Berlin like it was yesterday! It's hard to believe that almost 10 years have passed since then...

 

[Scash]

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.

Happy to report @Seat0B that I have just been approved for a Qantas Premier Platinum card (Up to 100,000 bonus Qantas Points plus a discounted first year annual fee with the Qantas Premier Platinum). They will accept superannuation income and don't ask too many questions. NAB provide the card to Qantas Money and a friend applied direct with NAB but they really drilled down in to the detail in the application. Minimum income is $35k. I just sent them a bank statement and a super statement showing my fortnightly super payment. I'm cautious of sending bank statements that show too much detail (especially expenses) but our super goes in to a separate account and we then transfer to our spending account. I was a little "creative" with my share of living expenses!

 

[fudhyfdy]

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.

Thanks for the information!