Sherryle ["best Visa/MC that allows transfer points to airlies other than Qantas"]

[sherryle]

Good morning, I am a first timer so please bear with me. As in the near future Qantas is cutting it's affilation with most credit cards I am wondering if anyone knows which would be the best Visa/mastercard to get that allows me to transfer points to other airlines besides Qantas. I currently have a Suncorp Visa, Platinum Amex charge card and Platinum Amex credit card. I belong to most of the airlines frequent flyer programs and Amex is affiliated with most of them. As we know not everywhere accepts Amex, hence why I have the Suncorp Visa. Hope someone out there as a few ideas for me
Cheers
Sherryle

 

[brucek]

re: Sherryle ["best Visa/MC that allows transfer points to airlies other than Qantas"]

Hi Sherryle and welcome to the throng.

Yours is a good question. I would also like to know what QF is up to as I received an email from it today informing me that dissafiliation from some credit cards is planned from early 2009, but the email was not specific about which cards, nor any other details.

We have Citibank Gold Visa Cards, as well as Westpac Altitude Visa and Amex cards.

Citibank: Great rewards scheme; 55 day cards; embeded photo and signature option (that we use and it's great); embeded data chip; can be very difficult to communicate with about serious non-sales matters (e.g. getting past its telephone customer service staff (CSS) is nigh impossible and I suspect they are located offshore, cannot send it a email as you have to use its web based portal to do this that is 500 word limited); I recently spoke to three CSS about a new product and all gave me differing answers to specific questions; its on-line bill payment facility does not allow you to nominate the date you wish the bill to be paid on as it debits your card and pays the bill on the day you enter the bill on to the portal, and not at some future date that you may wish to nominate.

Wetpac: Very easy to communicate with and I suspect its CSS are domiciled in Australia, OK rewards (this is an individual thing and what is good for one may not be for annother); apply for a Gold Visa/Mastercard and get an Amex thrown in for free (and get 2 points per $ on Amex spend, and charges for your Visa and Amex spends appears on the same account albeit segregated); its on-line bill payment portal is excelent alowing you to enter a bill to be paid today, but nominating a future date for the transaction to take place, at say the begining of your next credit card cycle or on the date the bill is due to be paid instead of the date you enter it onto the portal, as occurs with Citibank.

NB: I have attempted to communicate with Citibank about the advantages Westpac's on-line bill payment system has, however Citibank in its usual style, refuses to engage or listen and quite obviously is not interested in one of its long term customer's feedback. We rack up considerable ammounts each month with Citibank but this doesn't seem to cut any mustard with them! We now do all on-line bill payments through Westpacs on-line portal.

I will be interested to read others feedback to your posting.

Cheers

 

[oz_mark]

re: Sherryle ["best Visa/MC that allows transfer points to airlies other than Qantas"]

The Westpac Altitude cards have a range of FF partners (Air NZ, MH Enrich, SQ KrisFlyer, Velocity and Qantas). It would seem from what Qantas have stated that you will have to choose Altitude Qantas to use Qantas, or stick with the standard Altitude program to get the others. (Or at least that is how I interpret:

If you wish to transfer your existing Altitude points to Qantas Frequent Flyer you will need to do so before 31 March 2009. Alternatively, if you have been invited to opt in to Altitude Qantas to earn Qantas Frequent Flyer points directly on all purchases you will need to take up this option by 31 January 2009.

 

[Nutcase]

re: Sherryle ["best Visa/MC that allows transfer points to airlies other than Qantas"]

There is something else that I like about Westpac's internet banking website that they don't braodcast enough. You are able to access your accounts with other banks, Amex, Diners as well as Qantas and other frequent flyer programs.

There are 233 participants in this scheme and it costs nothing.

https://portfoliomanager.westpac.com.au/portfoliomanager/aa/instlistfs.asp

 

[medhead]

re: Sherryle ["best Visa/MC that allows transfer points to airlies other than Qantas"]

its on-line bill payment portal is excelent alowing you to enter a bill to be paid today, but nominating a future date for the transaction to take place, at say the begining of your next credit card cycle or on the date the bill is due to be paid instead of the date you enter it onto the portal, as occurs with Citibank.

NAB and ANZ online banking also offer this functionality. I'd guess that Citibank are the odd ones out.

 

[brucek]

re: Sherryle ["best Visa/MC that allows transfer points to airlies other than Qantas"]

I received collateral from QF and Westpac this week, but nothing from Citibank so I'm not clear as to how this may affect me.

Has anyone else received anything from their credit card providers; and has FF.com.au got a summary or comparison list posted elsewhere on this site?

 

[oz_mark]

re: Sherryle ["best Visa/MC that allows transfer points to airlies other than Qantas"]

I received collateral from QF and Westpac this week, but nothing from Citibank so I'm not clear as to how this may affect me.

Has anyone else received anything from their credit card providers; and has FF.com.au got a summary or comparison list posted elsewhere on this site?

Not a peep (outside Amex). Nothing from Westpac.

Closest thread would be http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com...t-card-programs-stopping-transfers-14714.html, but probably doesn't have all you are looking for.

 

[medhead]

re: Sherryle ["best Visa/MC that allows transfer points to airlies other than Qantas"]

I received collateral from QF and Westpac this week, but nothing from Citibank so I'm not clear as to how this may affect me.

Has anyone else received anything from their credit card providers; and has FF.com.au got a summary or comparison list posted elsewhere on this site?

I recieved some news from NAB as well. It flagged the QF CC coming end of Oct and also that other changes are being investigated from the gold rewards card.

 

[brucek]

re: Sherryle ["best Visa/MC that allows transfer points to airlies other than Qantas"]

Tnx Medhead et al.

Does anyone know what QF's motives, raison d'être, justification, etc, is for this move?

I can only sumise that it is to funnel people into QF and Oneworld a/c to the exclusion of Star Alliance, et al, and limit or eliminate points holders choices, or am I missing the point?

 

[oz_mark]

re: Sherryle ["best Visa/MC that allows transfer points to airlies other than Qantas"]

There was an article about it some time ago, but the basic motive is to allow Qantas to take control of the loyalty relationship with the customer away from the banks. Whoever has the points owns the relationship.

The expansion of the QFF store was also related to this, allowing more choice in what you can do with points.

 

[medhead]

re: Sherryle ["best Visa/MC that allows transfer points to airlies other than Qantas"]

And, as others have suggested, it makes the FFP more appear more valuable prior to a potential IPO.

 

[serfty]

... The expansion of the QFF store was also related to this, allowing more choice in what you can do with points.

The store might not be going so well; SWMBO received an email this week promoting it ...

 

[rwatts]

re: Sherryle ["best Visa/MC that allows transfer points to airlies other than Qantas"]

The store might not be going so well; SWMBO received an email this week promoting it ...

I also received the email promoting the store. The main point being that it now carries more than 1000 lines. I decided to check it out... Well maybe everyone that got the email was doing likewise at the same time, but its speed was woeful. Enough for me to be worried about transactions timing out half way through if I did decide to purchase. A pity because I was actually tempted to blow some points on an s-series Bravia TV for the bedroom.

I just checked it now and speed has improved but still not great.

The other main point in the email was this...

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]Have you experienced trouble accessing the Store?[/FONT]

The Store website can now be viewed using most Internet browsers, including Internet Explorer 6 and Mozilla Firefox 2, so why not take a look and see what you can buy.

So previously they had a site that wouldnt work for a substantial number of customers ?

Richard

 

[thegurio]

re: Sherryle ["best Visa/MC that allows transfer points to airlies other than Qantas"]

The store might not be going so well; SWMBO received an email this week promoting it ...

I did too... 1000 things to spend your money on i think was the title of the email.

 

[serfty]

The store might not be going so well; SWMBO received an email this week promoting it ...

And I did yesterday ...

SWMBO promoted the following:

Everlast Champs Anti-Burst Gym Ball - 65cm
Foot pump included - Points: 4,600

Gordon Ramsay Oval Pie Dish - 23cm x 12.5cm Porcelain; Dishwasher & Microwave Safe - Points: 6,200

Sterling and teardrop shaped black shell earrings By tiina alexander - Points: 7,900

Glamouflage Glamour Collection Transform yourself into a screen star of epic proportions - Points: 8,200

Sunbeam Slushie Maker Create icy cold, slushie drinks in minutes - Points: 11,800

Suunto T1 Training Watch Measure your heart rate and calories burned in real time - Points: 14,400

Hotel Luxury Collection Queen Size Waffle Summer Blanket Ideal for hot summer nights - Points: 15,400

Radio Flyer Classic Dual Deck Tricycle - With chrome handlebars and fender - Points: 17,900

Mine promoted:

Gordon Ramsay Oval Pie Dish - 23cm x 12.5cm Porcelain; Dishwasher & Microwave Safe - Points: 6,200

Radio Flyer Little Red Roadster Retro style classic Foot to the Floor car - Points: 20,000

Hotel Luxury Collection Queen Size Silk Filled Summer Doona Hypo-allergenic and asthma friendly - Points: 36,000

Gaggia Espresso Dose - Excellent espressos, creamy cappuccinos - Points: 59,000

Delonghi Portable Air Conditioner Perfect for rooms up to 25m2 - Points: 95,500

Sony Playstation 3 80GB Console With DUALSHOCK3 Wireless Controller - Points: 104,000

Callaway Golf 12 Dozen Tour iX Golf Balls - Tungsten infused high-density outer core - Points: 118,000

Panasonic Blu-ray Home Theatre System - With iPod Dock - Points: 204,000

 

[JohnK]

re: Sherryle ["best Visa/MC that allows transfer points to airlies other than Qantas"]

Callaway Golf 12 Dozen Tour iX Golf Balls - Tungsten infused high-density outer core - Points: 118,000

That is expensive. Assuming a value of 1c for each QFF point then those golf balls are worth $1,180 or $98.33 a dozen. :shock: You can buy Callaway Tour iX Golf balls for $65 a dozen, probably find cheaper as well, and even cheaper if ordering 12 dozen golf balls. For another 24,500 QFF points and paying the taxes and surcharges one can redeem a Oneworld RTW award.

The QFF store appears to be very poor value and to use the QFF store you either have way too many QFF points or you are sick of flying....

 

[brucek]

Re: Sherryle ["best Visa/MC that allows transfer points to airlies other than Qantas"

Interesting responses guys.

What is the bottom line?

I was chatting with Sherryle off-line and sugested that she wait a little while to see what else comes from QF, and what the various credit card providers responses are.

My wife and I were kicking this arround over the weekend and, at this point in time, have decided to sit and wait. However one of our options is as follows:

1. Keep our Citibank Gold Visa points in the Citibank rewards scheme as we can purchase Harvey World Travell vouchers through its scheme with which ever airline we like, and
2. nominate our Westpac Visa/Amex account points to go straight into QF points as they are earnt. I.e. The Westpac cards become QF Altitude cards.

However, in a letter from Westpac dated 30 September 2008 it states that in the QF Altitude rewards program you will earn only 1 QFF point per $1 spent using the Altitude QF Amex Card, and 0.5 QFF points per $1 spent using the Altitude QF Visa Card.

At present I earn 2 Altitude points per $1 spent on my Altitude Amex Card, and 1 Altitude point per $1 on my Altitude Visa card. Why the change Westpac??

Any thoughts?

 

[oz_mark]

Re: Sherryle ["best Visa/MC that allows transfer points to airlies other than Qantas"

However, in a letter from Westpac dated 30 September 2008 it states that in the QF Altitude rewards program you will earn only 1 QFF point per $1 spent using the Altitude QF Amex Card, and 0.5 QFF points per $1 spent using the Altitude QF Visa Card.

At present I earn 2 Altitude points per $1 spent on my Altitude Amex Card, and 1 Altitude point per $1 on my Altitude Visa card. Why the change Westpac??

No change. At present 2 altitude points convert to 1 QFF point. Works out the same.

As for the best card, I am also adopting a wait and see approach.