New Altitude Black has landed...

[Cruiser Elite]

FWIW - only discovered last night that comp Priority Pass with Westpac Black limited to only 2 x visits p.a. with no free guest rites - from there on you pay $27/visit - not much value in that huh? PP that comes with Citi Select unlimited visits p.a. and 1 x free guest each visit.

I rarely use PP but did need to take advantage of it in PVG last Sat night only to be denied access. I prolly have 5 or 6 PP in total with various CC's I have but the PP I had in ticket wallet was one that came with Cent which I cancelled 2mths ago and PP cancelled also - so just be aware if you are carrying one around with you that it is indeed active.

 

[Jack_OC]

FWIW - only discovered last night that comp Priority Pass with Westpac Black limited to only 2 x visits p.a. with no free guest rites - from there on you pay $27/visit - not much value in that huh? PP that comes with Citi Select unlimited visits p.a. and 1 x free guest each visit.

Depends how you look at it. I pay $150 a year for Altitude Black compared to $700 for Select. I could pay $27 quite a few times and still be well ahead with Black!

TBH I don't think PP is a great benefit anyway unless you travel a lot overseas in Y with no status. I've had various PP cards for the past few years (including the unlimited visit + guest one with Select for a year), and in that time I think I've only used a PP card twice. There have been a couple of other occasions when I didn't have lounge access by virtue of fare class or status, but as it turned out there was no PP lounge either.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Jack please read the post in the vein in which it was meant - the main point I was trying to make was that until last night I was unaware that PP had different access levels and hence those who hold multiple CCs and therefore might have various PPs cards just make sure the one you have in your travel/ticket wallet is indeed current and valid.

I could not give a FF which cards AFF members choose to hold/pay for - personal choice is always yours to make - CC churners just make sure you are carrying a PP card that might actually grant you access to some sort of lounge should the need arise.

TBH I don't think PP is a great benefit anyway unless you travel a lot overseas in Y.

Or even very occasionally in Y out of ports like PEK or PVG or MNL in Y - any respite even in the sh*tty PP Lounges is a godsend.

Who here has tried to dep PVG in Y? The restaurants upstairs pre checkin slaughter anything on offer air side unless you can access the second rate PP lounge - that was the point I was trying to make.

 

[Jack_OC]

Jack please read the post in the vein in which it was meant - the main point I was trying to make was those who hold multiple CCs and therefore might have various PPs cards just make sure the one you have in your travel/ticket wallet is indeed current and valid. I could not give a FF which cards AFF members choose to hold/pay for - personal choice is always yours to make - CC churners just make sure you are carrying a PP card that might actually grant you access to some sort of lounge should the need arise.

Definitely good advice to make sure you know which PP card is which (and have the right one with you).

I'm not sure why you seem to be irritated by my reply though. I was just responding to your comment that "there is not much value" in the PP that comes with Black vs the one that comes with Select. Even if that was just an aside, it's still legitimate for me to reply to it!

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Definitely good advice to make sure you know which PP card is which (and have the right one with you....................it's still legitimate for me to reply to it!

Absolutely legitimate - absolutely - but I will not be the only AFFer here who holds Select with unlimited PP access and another CC with limited access or even expired access - sometimes you just never know when you are going to be caught with no lounge access as I did in PVG Sat night when change of circs reqd sudden purchase Y tix - pain in the cough when you gotta sit outside - I will try to make sure it never happens again - and I will try to make sure no other AFFer is as silly as I was!

 

[PLANT]

Bit of a WIKI for current offer:

The math I have is for the current promotion being offered by Westpac for their Altitude Black credit card(Amex+Mastercard) where if you apply between 1 April and 22 June 2014 for a new account, then you'll get double Altitude points for the first 3 months Ordinarily, each $1 spent on purchases will earn 1.25 points for Mastercard and 3 points for Amex. With the promotion, you'll get 2.5 points for mastercard, and 6 points for Amex. These are Altitude points which can then be transferred to FF programmes for Cathay, Malaysian, Virgin, Singapore Airlines when needed to redeem. As FF points tend to expire after x amount of time, the usual method is to just warehouse in credit card rewards program until needed. Risk is that the credit card rewards program will devalue the exchange rate, but a potential bonus is that sometimes ff programs also give bonuses at certain times for converting points to their FF progams.
My program of choice right now would be Singapore Krisflyer, and the exchange rate from Altitude to KF points is 2 to 1, so the following reflects that:
KF Points per $ spent:
Altitude Black Mastercard - 0.63
Altitude Black Amex - 1.50
Altitude Black Mastercard(Promo) - 1.25
Altitude Black Amex(Promo) - 3.00
So if you have some big bills coming up in next 3 months that you can take advantage of the promotion, then its bonanza time. I just happened to get a tax bill for last year and I have some PAYG instalments I have to prepay for this year, so around $110k, so I'm using that. If you have any friends who run businesses or anywhere which gets a lot of ATO tax obligations, eg. BAS GST, PAYG withholding, etc, then its perfect for this purpose. ATO charges 0.42% for mastercard payments and 1.45% for Amex payments. Obviously mastercard will end up cheaper but amex will generate points quicker, so its a decision you'll have to make depending on whether you want the cheapest points, or you want more points(ie. you have less payments to be made so you have to make the most of it).
Based on that credit card surcharge % for ATO, the calculated surcharge cost per KF point in cents:
Altitude Black Mastercard - 0.67
Altitude Black Amex - 0.97
Altitude Black Mastercard(Promo) - 0.34
Altitude Black Amex(Promo) - 0.48
Since if I redeem the points for premium class flights, I can easily get more than 4c worth per KF point, I'm usually ok with spending up to 1c per KF point.
Simple example to illustrate how I got the figures I posted in the thread:
100k ATO bill - With promo, pay by amex, will get 600k Altitude reward points, which is equivalent to 300k KF points. Will cost $1450 in credit card surcharges to pay ATO via amex(1.45%), similar to what I had quoted in the thread, $1561 for 323k KF points.
I have a car purchase coming up, about $50k, and dealer will charge me 2% for paying via amex. Even with that surcharge, if I can pay it within the promo period, it'll cost me 0.67 cents per KF point in surcharge cost, which is still quite good, so I'll be doing that too. I'll be trying to pay all my major expenses within the next 3 months so I can take full advantage of the double points eg. body corporate, car insurance, medical insurance, land tax, etc..
Annual fee of the card is $395, but I'm sure I'll be able to negotiate this later to get it waived for at least a year or more after I point out how much I'm putting through it.
Extra benefits to be considered
- Current promotion for 0% purchase rate for 12 months from card approval, so pretty much free money on credit for 12 months
- The credit card surcharge fee charged by the ATO also earns points, so the $1450 in the example above will also generate 4350 KF points...
- In a lot of cases, the credit card surcharge fee charged by ATO is also tax deductible(see https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Ded...it-card-payment-fee-deductibility-guidelines/)

 

[ukh]

Excellent post PLANT!
Today I applied for this card and plan to fly SQ from now on.
Until now I was a loyal QF customer and my ccs all directed points to QF ( about 3,000,000 QF points pa).
My calculations regarding above earn rates with Altitude Black and SQ points needed to fly to Europe convinced me to change from QF to SQ/Altitude Black.

 

[Chimp]

Excellent post PLANT!
Today I applied for this card and plan to fly SQ from now on.

What success have people had booking partner OW rewards via MH? I'd have thought that would open some other nice doors to Europe eg on CX, BA, QF(non-EK)?
I used to live in the UK, and used BAEC avios on partner OW flights quite easily, but is it harder via MH? (My point being that ukh may still be able to fly QF if they wanted, as well as all the other options.)

 

[ukh]

Thanks Chimp.
I was only planning to use Altitude points for SQ and did not realise I may have access to OW via MH. Is this actually possible?

 

[Ghostdunks]

Bit of a WIKI for current offer:

The math I have is for the current promotion being offered by Westpac for their Altitude Black credit card(Amex+Mastercard) where if you apply between 1 April and 22 June 2014 for a new account, .......

Hahaha, when I first started reading this, I thought it sounded familiar "this sounds like what I wrote" in several PMs

Don't mind it posted here on a FF specific forum where members are more in the know, I just didn't want it posted on whirlpool willy-nilly so that people with no clue get ideas, ring up Westpac to verify this could be done, kill the golden goose and all.

Only a few more days left in promotion, get your applications in! I'm even going to charge my overseas wedding to this, even with the foreign exchange loading of 3%, it still makes sense.

 

[quokka77]

Got my cards Wednesday afternoon. Couple of reimbursable work bills later and the Amex is nudging 3k. No way I'll get over 100k like many posters above, but certainly worth using up a credit card application.

 

[kkl]

Will be applying mine on monday, and hope to use it for 3 months from date of activation late june!

how long did it take you from submitting an application to receiving the cards?

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Hahaha, when I first started reading this, I thought it sounded familiar "this sounds like what I wrote" in several PMs

Don't mind it posted here on a FF specific forum where members are more in the know, I just didn't want it posted on whirlpool willy-nilly so that people with no clue get ideas, ring up Westpac to verify this could be done, kill the golden goose and all.

Only a few more days left in promotion, get your applications in! I'm even going to charge my overseas wedding to this, even with the foreign exchange loading of 3%, it still makes sense.

GD I am a bit confused by this post - are you saying what you posted elsewhere was plagiarised?

Apart from that - what is your concern? You don't want too many other people taking up the card and securing 2 x pts for 3 mths? This is EXACTLY what Westpac want - they want as many consumers as possible to take up the card - unlimited! Am I missing something in your post please?

 

[quokka77]

@kkl -- I think it was about a week from application to picking up the cards at the local branch (they insist on pick up in person with 100 point ID check).

 

[quokka77]

@cruiser maybe GD is concerned about newbs ringing the customer line to verify double ato points earn?

 

[Cruiser Elite]

@cruiser maybe GD is concerned about newbs ringing the customer line to verify double ato points earn?

Oh sorry - I am such a dope.

 

[cove]

You are a required player in England Cruiser so do not beat yourself up. Last night we had strawberries from Waitrose that had the original strawberry taste. Now if it takes you away from double points earning that would be like a criminal act but do it anyway.

 

[Powerballsam]

Sorry guys/girls a little OT but can you transfer Altitude points to Qantas? If so what is the rate?

Thanks in advance.

 

[cove]

With Qantas international having shrunk to just above zero for international redemptions in J or First this particular card gets you no points for Qantas. Among others you can get points into Kris Flyer and Velocity.
The Westpac Black Earth card is the one for Qantas points.

 

[Powerballsam]

We already have a Earth Black card, I just thought of this because the double points thing.
On the Altitude site it has Qantas logo but nothing else so that is why I asked.