How did you become a Qantas Frequent Flyer

[tocal]

when I go overseas I like to maximise the SCs earned by not flying directly to my destination.

That's a really great tip - even though I don't fly o/s with any sort of regularity (the last time was 4 years ago), it's a good thing to keep in mind for someone like me who has a hard time earning *any* SCs, let alone enough to maintain above-Bronze membership

 

[Hvr]

As with others here I started flying for work and was able to join Qantas Club quite cheaply. The flying increased a bit and I went through the status levels, especially once I joined AFF.

Now I am WP and will get 2500 SCs this year. I already have flights booked for next membership year which will earn 600 SCs

 

[tocal]

This is a rather personal follow on, so be as general or vague as you like, but what sort of earning capacity/lifestyle do a lot of you have? I get the impression a number of you are either single or part of a couple without children - not all, but a number. It also seems one would have to have a large disposable income to afford to fly regularly; although my husband earns over $140k, we also have lots of expenses (which are now earning us points!) which mean that saving up for any o/s flights, even for the two of us, seems out of reach at the moment. We also don't have much interest in travelling to Asia, which I suppose is the cheapest international destination excepting NZ, so that also means any international flight we're looking at $3k plus (on a good day!) for the pair of us.

Of course, with me looking hard at finances and my husband being very pro-travelling (when we have the time and money), this may change soon, but I'm curious as to the situations most of you come from. Again, if it's too personal, feel free to be vague, as in "I earn a good wage" or "I'm very frugal" or whatever. I'm all for learning!

 

[munitalP]

This is a rather personal follow on, so be as general or vague as you like, but what sort of earning capacity/lifestyle do a lot of you have? I get the impression a number of you are either single or part of a couple without children - not all, but a number. It also seems one would have to have a large disposable income to afford to fly regularly; although my husband earns over $140k, we also have lots of expenses (which are now earning us points!) which mean that saving up for any o/s flights, even for the two of us, seems out of reach at the moment. We also don't have much interest in travelling to Asia, which I suppose is the cheapest international destination excepting NZ, so that also means any international flight we're looking at $3k plus (on a good day!) for the pair of us.

Of course, with me looking hard at finances and my husband being very pro-travelling (when we have the time and money), this may change soon, but I'm curious as to the situations most of you come from. Again, if it's too personal, feel free to be vague, as in "I earn a good wage" or "I'm very frugal" or whatever. I'm all for learning!

Between wife and I we have a good disposable income at the moment so try travelling OS each year for holidays at Xmas and try a mid year as well. Asia is our choice of destinations usually with a big Euro on the horizon. We are DINKS and enjoy travelling with another AFF couple in a similar situation as us.

FWIW, I won't purchase any premium seat when travelling except the odd J for short haul, but happily burn points like there's no tomorrow on long haul upgrades.

Choose a hotel chain you can afford to always stay in, then build your holidays around staying at these establishments, earn status and suddenly you will notice your hotel costs remain steady, but incidentials all but disappear, e.g. Hilton exec lounges for breakfasts and evening canapés and drinks, you food expenditure dramatically lowers!

 

[Princess Fiona]

I'm part of a WP couple, we have 4 kids and a good income.
I joined QFF in 1998, did very little travel until 2008 when my job changed and travel became a part of it. I went from Bronze to Plat in one year. During 1998-2008 I knew in advance that I was going to be able to get WP in due time, so I have always flown QF and One World airlines if possible and collected as many QFF points as I can through flying, Credit Cards ( paid off in full every month) and latterly through shopping.

 

[Must...Fly!]

I'm single, currently studying undergrad (BComm) at uni. I work part-time once or twice per week (a lot more at the moment, currently working at uni for a few weeks as a second job). I'm still living at home so have little in the way of expenses except food and petrol for my car. Pretty much everything I earn ends up with QF/VA/hotels, as I do enjoy flying a lot. In the past 12 months I've been to Melbourne 3 times, Europe 2 times, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Wellington and Darwin. I don't have the earning capacity to gain a points earning credit card unfortunately, but have managed to save around 65,000 FF points for future use. I typically redeem them during footy finals as fares tend to skyrocket and creative routing can be achieved.

 

[Flying mermaid]

I am not sure how you define good income - what is good to one person is a pittance to another. We have 3 kids all grown up now, so that is helping the flying budget. However we did fly with babies and toddlers. We have a pretty simple life apart from holidays. One small car, don't spend much on clothes, dinner parties at home, rather than eating out, dom't smoke etc etc. Books are another expense. So it gives us a fair bit of disposable income to spend on travel. - I am also quite diligent to search the Internet for deals, although not as good as many others on here.

We became Qff members in 1998 after a friend became frustrated that we weren't members when we were spending so much on air fares. He filled in 5 forms for me and said he would take the points if I didn't want them. I did book a return trip to Thailand for him using points, but since then I have found points very useful. Particularly use them for Domestic JASA which is a great way to keep status going. AONE4 or DONE4 is a another great way to maximize travel for the $ and status credits as well. I have tried to sneak in some indirect routings to maximize status credits when traveling, but they never get by MR FM, who doesn't like spending any more time on a plane than he has to.

It is quite fun and a bit of a game really . We've managed to rack up over 31000 status credits as a family.

 

[tocal]

I'm single, currently studying undergrad (BComm) at uni. I work part-time once or twice per week (a lot more at the moment, currently working at uni for a few weeks as a second job). I'm still living at home so have little in the way of expenses except food and petrol for my car. Pretty much everything I earn ends up with QF/VA/hotels, as I do enjoy flying a lot. In the past 12 months I've been to Melbourne 3 times, Europe 2 times, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Wellington and Darwin. I don't have the earning capacity to gain a points earning credit card unfortunately, but have managed to save around 65,000 FF points for future use. I typically redeem them during footy finals as fares tend to skyrocket and creative routing can be achieved.

Is there any way your parents (same last name) would sign up to a CC with you as the responsible one (even though listed as a secondary cardholder), knowing your financial history, just to get the extra points?

 

[11sjw]

QFF Member reaon: Changed jobs about 6 months before AN went belly up and went from an Ansett to a Qantas preferred policy hence changed FF programs (lucky for me).

SC's: Really didn't do much status-wise (3-4 years) until joining an EPCM firm in Perth. Regular Pilbara trips (full Y SCs) saw me hit SG and they + 1 very cool trip to the US Masters golf in '08 saw me retain it. Been comp'ed SG once and again thanks to lots of regular Pilbara trips, @ full Y, saw me hit WP and will see me retain it this year. Given that things are slowing down in the West I can see a soft landing on my horizon. Oh well, need to think of a reason to go through SYD/MEL in the next 20 months to get some more FLounge love!

Points: More from credit cards than flying. Both business and family expenses were through an AMEX Platinum Charge (came with 75k bonus) for a couple of years. Recent enhancements have seen me trash it and pick up a QFF direct earn AMEX/Visa platinum combo (ANZ, another 32k bonus there).

 

[casanovawa]

Wow. For us, no business travel, but a quick look at the site shows that for a return trip to Sydney with Jetstar in Economy (which could be as low as $100 return, up to $200 return), I'd get a minimum of 2,000 points (the 1,000 minimum points guarantee one-way). I have a friend in Sydney who I plan to visit in a few months, and the same for my grandmother in Hobart; on top of that, another 200 points by using my Woolies EDR card. That's 2,200 for $200 spend - an 11-to-1 ratio (much better than anywhere else!).

Just FYI, not commenting on whether this might be a good earn ratio for flying or not, but credit card sign up deals are much more lucrative... For example you often see bonus deals for say an ANZ card and for about $95 you can get 16,000 QFF points so 168-to-1...

I have gotten a couple of credit card deals but I think the best earner opportunity was an insurance deal i saw on here and which quite a few of us signed up for and got 40,000 QFF points (plus about 132 for the 3-4 months of monthly payments) for about $132... There have even be much better deals that people on here have gotten several years back but the credit card companies have wised up i think to not allow deals to be so open ended, but some interesting reading... But look for point e3arning opportunities that people find on here, its amazing what they find sometimes!!

As for me and QFF, i signed up in 2003 i think when as a couple we did a couple of RTW trips in '03 and '04... Think from one of these i made it to silver but then didn't even fly again the following year or use the complimentary Qantas Club pass...

Did little travel after that but seperated in 2008 and since then am trying to do some decent travel every year, so 6 weeks around Europe in 2008, 3 weeks around Asia 2009, 6 weeks around Europe/North Africa 2010, 2.5 months around South America, NorthAmerica, Europe and Africa in 2011 and 5.5 weeks around the US/Mexico and Europe this year...

I have a decent paid job but have actually taken several weeks of unpaid leave or bought extra leave in the last few years so has reduced my take home pay a bit, but live somewhat frugally and when i travel i stay in backpackers or with people most of the time which reduces costs massively... Took my first business class flights this year as i found the US Air deal on here that made that feasible (say $2000 for business class to the US and Europe) and have since bought enough miles for my next trip in business as well to two continents...

I mainly save up my QFF points for 140,000 OW award trips (which i also found about on AFF), which is partially how i took my 2011 RTW trip, i personally find them the best value, nearly have enough for my next RTW trip...

I don't chase SCs as i usually only do one big trip a year, so even if I earned enough to get to Silver (it gives almost no benefits i use anyway) but would probably run out before i left on my next trip, so as i said i don't worry about SCs but do look to earn points any which way i can, and generally value them at about 1 cent/point (even though i probably get better value than that)...

 

[Mardi]

I joined the QFF program in 1997 when my ex-husband and I were booking a trip to the UK. The travel agent suggested it, because we were flying BA and would earn enough points for a return flight somewhere domestic. It was paid membership, of course, I don't think there were any ways around it back then. It seemed a really weird thing to do - only real jet setter types were frequent flyers back then! I'm secretly quite proud of my 16xx_x FF number, being so much lower than anyone else's that I know of (I'm sure many of you can better it though).

I didn't do much about earning QFF points because at that stage it was only international flights and the next international flight I was to take would be in 2009!

A bank manager signed me up for a Westpac card that earned points that could be transferred to Ansett - was it Altitude? I know it is now but not sure it it was then. She said "put your groceries and everything on the card so you can earn points". I used to feel really embarrassed about putting my groceries on CC back then but of course it is pretty normal now.

So we started using points to fly Ansett on the odd occasion we needed to fly. Then Ansett went bust but I don't THINK I had a huge amount of points at that time - I only used to transfer what I needed from Altitude or whatever it was.

Since then I've gotten more and more aware of earning QFF points through spending and probably earn ~100,000 per year now by ensuring we maximise our opportunities. This year I forced us to switch our grocery shopping to Woolies, a very hard thing for us because I've shopped at Coles for about 25 years, but I'm used to Woolies now.

Currently points are being used for JASAs to get my husband to Platinum, and hopefully for an upgrade to F on the MEL-LAX leg of our upcoming trip to NYC.

I guess we are on a good income. No kids, one dog and eight cats. I work part time, three days a week, and my husband is a CEO (of a charity so not the usual massive CEO salary unfortunately). The hardest part about travel for us is finding a house sitter to look after the zoo!

 

[Sprucegoose]

Oooh, that sounds awesome. But Bronze members can't use lounges, can they?

there is a thread here where members will guest you in. they advertise what flights they are on and very social people.

do you do any international flying?

 

[tocal]

Just FYI, not commenting on whether this might be a good earn ratio for flying or not, but credit card sign up deals are much more lucrative... For example you often see bonus deals for say an ANZ card and for about $95 you can get 16,000 QFF points so 168-to-1...

I actually signed up to the EDR CC partially 'cos of the 16,000 bonus points - there were better options (like 20,000 for ANZ), but since I am a household engineer (a friend introduced me to the term, as she doesn't consider herself simply a "housewife") I have no actual income, and my husband isn't as points-mad as I am to sign up to a card for the bonus points without actually needing to use the card for more than a couple of hundred dollars. I do agree they do look like some of the best deals, and I signed up for pet insurance via Woolies for the bonus 1,000 points (not a huge amount, but considering we just started out, something decent) for that sort of reason. It does look like the more you hang around here and look for deals, the more you find

 

[tocal]

there is a thread here where members will guest you in. they advertise what flights they are on and very social people.

do you do any international flying?

I don't, no, although after my baby is born and at least 6 months old, my husband and I are looking at doing more of it. We are planning to fly to NZ early next year though. That's really awesome, that people here are so friendly and happy to share the love - I suppose none of us lose out by sharing, and we all gain something from everyone else here!

 

[tocal]

No kids, one dog and eight cats. I work part time, three days a week, and my husband is a CEO (of a charity so not the usual massive CEO salary unfortunately). The hardest part about travel for us is finding a house sitter to look after the zoo!

Is it worrying that this was my favourite line? Someone who has more cats than us! (We have six ) And yes, I hear you in the house-sitting - we live out away from anyone we know, so for a few days the cats are fine by themselves, maybe five days at most (in the temperate months), but longer than that just isn't really viable without someone checking on them.

 

[amaroo]

SWMBO & I joined 1996.

Unfortunately we had already been on a few international & heaps of Dom flights before realising this thing called a "FF program"

Took a couple of years to work out the benefits of QP, joined and started to enjoy the QP life Then worked out the value of status and started to manipulate bookings (work & private) to ensure benefits flowed through.....the effort required to ensure QFFF bookings for work trips was painful however, well worth the effort.

Achieved gold status around 2000 and started to enjoy the QP for free Took another 6 years of Golding to achieve Platinum and have been fortunate to retain every year since.

SWMBO is also Plat - leisure rather than work trips.

It takes time, effort & money (hopefully someone else's) to have a happy status life - I'm very close to hitting LTG, less than 800SC to go......but it's taken me 16 years & counting:shock:

IMO credit card earn is the critical key to a successful & fulfilling FF life

 

[Maca44]

I reluctantly migrated to QF after NZ killed off Ansett :!:

My flying in those days was limited business which was paid by my employer.

These days almost all my flying is personally funded so I am very conscious of getting the best value for my $$ and taking the opportunities that present themselves.

Ditto:
I still consider Ansett to have been a much better carrier, and I was a Life Member at the Golden Wings Club (and got my monies worth before the collapse)

 

[Must...Fly!]

Is there any way your parents (same last name) would sign up to a CC with you as the responsible one (even though listed as a secondary cardholder), knowing your financial history, just to get the extra points?

You have a decent point (excuse the pun ). However I really don't spend that much annually as I don't earn that much, it would be lucky to be 10,000 pts probably. I have a credit card as an additional cardholder for hotel purposes (guaranteeing extras etc) so that wouldn't be a problem but it's not worth it.

Dad earns a few hundred thousand every year through work, and I occasionally use his points to fly, so in the end I come out ahead anyway.

 

[simongr]

I was an AN flier but not to any major extent - maybe 8-10 flights a year. However I lost all those points when AN collapsed. I then switched to QF but didnt fly much for the next 5 years. Then I changed jobs to a more international role and changed jobs again to a similar role that has a lot of domestic travel. I have a good income (although if you speak to my boss please ensure you stress I have a low income).

I still love my int'l travel but DOM I am over The only redeeming feature of DOM travel is Hilton South Wharf...

 

[FerrariFlyer]

Joined QFF in 1998 as I was travelling a little for work and remained a member ever since, with varying amounts of travel.

These days I travel a lot from east to west for work as well as an annual UK training trip (which will soon become a twice a year run to Singapore or Kuala Lumper). Only 10% of travel is leisure.

Have now reached the 'dizzying heights' of WP with over 250,000 points and nearly made it to the next level...one more month in the year and I'd have made it. Sadly, most travel is booked in Y though last year I scored a great J deal to Europe with JAL. FF points earned through bonus from WP status as well as a CC with NAB which has been a great little earner. We also pay our rent while we build via our CC and it pays reasonable dividends.

The benefits of being a SG were good and WP is a little better but I have not personally found any substantial difference.