B E S T Award point systems Qantas FF

[Jamescr]

Dear all,
With the recent closure of the Ezy Mastercard which provided 1 for 1 point, free travel insurance and a lot annual fee of $39 per year, it is getting harder and harder these days to get ahead.

I've had many amazing journeys (4 world trips to europe, asia and the US). I love the program, and want others to enjoy the same experiences.

I gain points by trading CFD's, using CMC Markets (CMC Markets - Asia Pacific), and IG markets (IG Markets - First for CFDs - CFDs, FX, stock indices and more...) paying money into the account by credit card.

I also have my entire family pay all bills, business expenses, and travel expenses they pay me cash, or write out cheques once a week to my account where i replenish the funds back into my credit card.

if anyone else has any good systems please post.

 

[straitman]

Dear all,

if anyone else has any good systems please post.

Welcome to AFF Jamescr

I don't have any wonderfully great systems, however it certainly looks like you have quite a few ideas to offer to us here. Tell us a few secrets :!:

 

[Gulliver]

If you've relied on Ezy's travel insurance you've been lucky never to need it!
(It doesn't cover very much at all.)

I'm in the same situation. I've done a lot of calculations on annual fees vs points I'll earn, and decided on the Amex Rewards Maximiser (free 1st year, then $192 pa; + $36 per additional card pa), earning 1.5 F Fpoints per $ spent.

I intend trying this out while Ezy still exists, to see whether Amex is accepted everywhere I shop. If I'll still be doing substantial MasterCard transactions, I'll go for a Citibank card. Shouldn't need much of a creditlimit for a back-up card, so the Silver should do the job. (1 FF point per $ spent.)

My calculations might be flawed, but I valued a FF point as worth 3c, based on one flight I'm interested in purchasing.

The Reward maximiser doesn't include travel insurance. I prefer to buy my own - I haven't seen any "free" insurance that covers terrorist acts, and when an airport closes down due to a hoax or worse, I want to be covered.

For $395 pa there are a couple of comprehensive Amex cards also including a free domestic flight per year. The Qantas one requires you to also make a Qantas purchase each year, but you get an extra FF point per dollar for Qantas purchases. With the other, the domestic trip doesn't require a purchase, but you just get the std 1.5 points per $.

There is another forum somewhere on this site with heaps more on this subject. Good luck, and let us know which way you go.

 

[Matt_r]

I have an AMEX rewards maximiser (1.5 QFF points per dollar) and also an Earth mastercard & amex (1pt/$ & 2pt/$ until later this year, then 0.5 & 1/$).

The Annual fee on the Earth card is fairly low, I used to have a Westpac Altitude gold mastercard/amex but swapped over to Earth (also run by Westpac) as it is much cheaper than Altitude. I didn't use any of the extras that Altitude provided.

I'm putting everything on Earth until the bonus points offer expires, then I'll stop using the earth amex in favour of the real amex, and use the Earth mastercard at places that don't accept amex - there are only a couple of places I use that don't take amex these days.

If you're just after cheap QF points, check out Earth.

Matt.

 

[aus_flyer]

I gain points by trading CFD's, using CMC Markets (CMC Markets - Asia Pacific), and IG markets (IG Markets - First for CFDs - CFDs, FX, stock indices and more...) paying money into the account by credit card.

Can you explain?

 

[simongr]

I am guessing that he uses his visa card to trade in CFDs. There is a good explanation for them here -> CFDs explained

Basically instead of trading in shares you trade in the movement in price of a share. Like all shares it is essentially a bet on what you think is going to happen in the market. A lot of people are getting into CFDs (banks have been using them for a while) as a way to speculate on the market.

wikipedia has a good reference (as always):

Contract for difference - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Soundguy]

My calculations might be flawed, but I valued a FF point as worth 3c, based on one flight I'm interested in purchasing.

Hmm... I think you might be a tad optimistic here perhaps? Personally I figure at around 1.3 cents but I know others here who reckon at 1 cent.

That said it depends a lot upon what flight and class. Forgetting domestic economy (where the value is close to zero) if you take international economy and factor in QF's exorbitant fees and the taxes I suggest you will probably end up around 1 to 1.5 cents per point. However if you are looking at business class or upgrade then the value can rise considerably, perhaps this is what you are working on?

Actually in a sense it is not so much that the value of the point rises, just illustrates that business class is generally rather over priced and a better return can be had.....