Points Count [How many do you have?]

[11sjw]

Beginning of Dec '18 I had 1.1M. Today I have 14.5k. Can't wait for the trip next Xmas though!

Yes, I've started the accumulation towards the next trip!!

 

[samh004]

Unfortunately for me、 my downfall is that im worried that I will get too used and addicted to premium flying that if i have to fly and dont have enough points、 its going to kill me inside、 that i always have enough for a second trip at all times in case I need to decide to fly.

I've travelled F and J, but if I need to be somewhere and don't have the points, it's not a worry. I guess, I look upon the status as cushioning me in Y.

 

[JohnK]

Unfortunately for me、 my downfall is that im worried that I will get too used and addicted to premium flying that if i have to fly and dont have enough points、 its going to kill me inside、 that i always have enough for a second trip at all times in case I need to decide to fly.

I love the thrill of travelling somewhere way more than worrying about saving points for premium travel.

Personally I find premium cabins highly overrated and I'm not going out of my way to ensure that I only travel in premium cabins.

I guess I'm lucky that I can sleep in economy and actually enjoy travelling economy. It was quite good when I was travelling alone but now there's great joy travelling with family. Wife would love to travel business occasionally and I might make that a goal once in a while. I booked a CNX-SIN-BNE economy award for 3 last night and I got great pleasure preselecting aisle, middle seat and window for the 3 of us.

 

[SOPOOR]

I love the thrill of travelling somewhere way more than worrying about saving points for premium travel.

Personally I find premium cabins highly overrated and I'm not going out of my way to ensure that I only travel in premium cabins.

I guess I'm lucky that I can sleep in economy and actually enjoy travelling economy. It was quite good when I was travelling alone but now there's great joy travelling with family. Wife would love to travel business occasionally and I might make that a goal once in a while. I booked a CNX-SIN-BNE economy award for 3 last night and I got great pleasure preselecting aisle, middle seat and window for the 3 of us.

I've only travelled in a coughpy J before、long haul.

I buy the cheapest jetstar flights for a trip to bali for example、 anything 8 hrs or under with no stop over economy is fine for me.
Settle down、 watch a few movies、have a nap eat some food ive brought on、 buy a drink
And in no time its time to get off.

But long haul for me is different、 the long periods can be tough、 especially back to back flights
Watching 8 hrs of movies in cramped Y is surprisingly tiring

The lounge、 even if its a cheap one makes it a deal dealer for me.
In fact lounge access would be in my top3 rrasons to go premium. But i guess you could book Y and then just pay for a lounge、 which is a fair point.

It's just nice to be wowed by premium food.
Economy food i dont mind but its always a nervous "I hope its not terrible" mindset for me!

 

[Matt_01]

I have way more than I know what to do with

Same here and I am not in CC churning game. In the past few years MrsM and MissM years have burnt through about 4M QF and 1.2M SQ/VA points. I still have a QF balance in the 7 figures and SQ just short of 7 figures. Planning to use a fair chunk of them this year for flights next year, even then I will still be left with a QF balance in the 7 figures.

 

[SOPOOR]

Same here and I am not in CC churning game. In the past few years MrsM and MissM years have burnt through about 4M QF and 1.2M SQ/VA points. I still have a QF balance in the 7 figures and SQ just short of 7 figures. Planning to use a fair chunk of them this year for flights next year, even then I will still be left with a QF balance in the 7 figures.

is that a gloat!

anyway, good on you! you worked hard for the points, you deserve them, thats my philopsophy,
I just dont agree with the poor availability and taxes on redemptions, but thats another story

 

[Matt_01]

I just dont agree with the poor availability and taxes on redemptions

I always try for EK or other OW carriers first and if that fails just request the seats from QF.

 

[911tphil]

I had 1.1M QFF pts until I redeemed a couple of tickets for next week up to HKG and return in F and J. Now down to around 750K pts. Which should be topped up the 1M again soon with some tax payments and large CC spends.

I have had my own business for the past 40 years and all pts are earned thru travel, business spends (my own money) and occasional CC signups. My issue with using FF points is availability of flts or upgrades when I NEED to travel. I rarely use points for vacation travel or at minimum combine a business trip with some vacation travel. I am only now at a stage of my life where time is more flexible and I can travel when a good deal is available using points (like next weeks HKG trip).

I have had Plat status for a while but now back to Gold although not far off LTG, which will be nice, , etc. but still without high level status, availability of multiple J seats for long haul flights is limited. Having been flying up front for many years (mainly paying for it), its hard to accept Y for long haul flts and frankly my age and health don’t allow comfortable travel in cramped Y seats. I am not that in love with flying as are some members here who seem to put up with sitting many longs hours on convoluted routes in an effort to use up points; eg: flying to USA via asia etc.


For me I just want to get there as efficiently as possible and at times that suit me and the business I am usually doing at the destination. And of course these flts are usually the most popular and with limited FF award seat availability. I am also very tied into calendars and timetables (and locations) for various Trade Shows and dealer meetings I attend annually and trying to book these so far ahead is always problematic. I try to book a Y seat and upgrade but without high status, it’s a gamble ensuring you get your upgrade seat. I am sure many small business owners here agree and like me, just don’t have the time to sit for hours trawling the Net and multiple sites looking for FF points deals.

I often wonder when reading this Forum what status most members have who are trying to amass a big points balance only then to find the frustration of not being able to get those 2 x J RTW tickets they aimed for many years ago. If you are wedded to QF (as I am) finding these seats is very hard but that’s how my FF points have evolved and just like a bank, you end up being stuck with them as its too hard to change.

I think its time to start looking at other carriers when they have deals available and start buying best value J tickets provided the service level, aircraft type and quality and schedules are acceptable.


Or am I being too picky choosing these criteria over just getting a cheap (or free) seat somewhere ?

 

[SOPOOR]

I always try for EK or other OW carriers first and if that fails just request the seats from QF.

ive had a look at EK via virgin points and the points required and taxes combination is exhorbant,
so are you saying that if you call Qantas using your qantas points, they can find you unavaiailbe seats?

 

[Toula92122]

We have approx. 2.6 million points all in. It’s not a deliberate effort to hoard but circumstances have limited international travel past 18 months and it rarely makes sense to use points for domestic redemptions. My intention I the near future is to spend all our hotel points (700k) and get out of hotel loyalty programs. We’ve already redeemed 250k miles so far in 2019 and have plans to burn another 800k if life allows us to get away. However like a typical addict, with a large tax bill looming, I’m eyeing off signing up for some more cards to boost those balances.

 

[911tphil]

...... However like a typical addict, with a large tax bill looming, I’m eyeing off signing up for some more cards to boost those balances.

yes you are right, points accumulation is like an addiction with the rush being just seeing that number get larger, but this all crashes down when you start trying to use them for travel when YOU want to go.

 

[JohnK]

is that a gloat!

anyway, good on you! you worked hard for the points, you deserve them, thats my philopsophy,
I just dont agree with the poor availability and taxes on redemptions, but thats another story

There are quite a few on AFF.

Points are easy to use when you are lucky enough to be generating millions of points each year. The surcharges are irrelevant as you're paying as much as someone using points for an econony award.

 

[Ekka]

Always remember the old adage: "The only good frequent flyer points are used frequent flyer points."

As adapted from the old westerns, one imagines.

 

[Ekka]

Who or what on earth is a Ryan Bingham? A Yank putter?

 

[VPS]

Who or what on earth is a Ryan Bingham? A Yank putter?

Up in the Air (2009 film) - Wikipedia

 

[Matt_01]

ive had a look at EK via virgin points and the points required and taxes combination is exhorbant,
so are you saying that if you call Qantas using your qantas points, they can find you unavaiailbe seats?

@SOPOOR I did not realise you can book EK via VA, I assume you meant EY.

To answer your second question, yes I can call up QF and request seats to be released, however it is on QF only not other OW carriers or QF partners. This is available to all WP or higher. Like others I do not like paying QF taxes so CX was always a good option until the rewards dried up, QF is used when I cannot get on the likes of CX, JL, QR, EK etc.

Also I did not mean to sound like I was gloating about redemption's or the number of points. I am P1 and some time back we made the conscious decision to start redeeming points for as many international F and J flights as possible either straight out rewards or upgrades while I can still request them and QF are pretty accommodating. My plan is to use almost every QF point I have prior to falling back below WP.

 

[Kremmen]

I've had 1.1 million QFF points for quite a few years but cannot use them as the fuel surcharges are ridiculous.

Quite agree that the fees are ridiculous, but it's simple enough to use QF points to fly on other carriers that charge little/no fees (AA, AS, EI, etc) and use those carriers' schemes to fly on QF. Now that QF is greatly limiting awards to partners, that's harder, but it mostly means I fly QF less.

I think a massive QF balance is insane. Find ways to diversify your earnings into other schemes. A couple of years ago, I booked a trip between Australia, the USA and Europe. The main carriers were Cathay (booked on AS), Air France (booked on DL), United (on UA itself!) and Fiji Airways (on AA). If I'd concentrated my points in any one scheme, at least 50% of that trip would have been impossible. (e.g. There was absolutely no OW availability in the week I wanted to fly from Europe to the USA, except possibly BA, which I ignore because its fees are even worse than QF.)

 

[911tphil]

Good strategy.

 

[eminere]

Who or what on earth is a Ryan Bingham? A Yank putter?

Up in the Air (2009 film) - Wikipedia

 

[JohnK]

Quite agree that the fees are ridiculous, but it's simple enough to use QF points to fly on other carriers that charge little/no fees (AA, AS, EI, etc) and use those carriers' schemes to fly on QF. Now that QF is greatly limiting awards to partners, that's harder, but it mostly means I fly QF less.

I have no need to go to USA or Europe. I go to Thailand 3-4 times a year. If you can recommend a carrier to use my QFF points and not pay a ludicrous surcharge then I'm listening.

Each year I pay for enough flights to maintain QF Platinum and Virgin Gold as most of my flying is domestic. Without greater spend it would be impossible to accumulate meaningful status or frequent flyer balances on other carriers.

So stuck with 1.1 million points for another 5-6 years which is not a good strategy.