St George Rewards Signature KrisFlyer Devaluation

twiningb said:
I concur with @MooTime that now with QR availability in the mix (and throttled to QF), Velocity compares very favourably with QFF for award redemptions in long-haul premium cabins.

If you want KrisFlyer (possibly backed with Velocity), it seems like the Coles Rewards MasterCard is now pretty competitive:
  • 2.00 FlyBuys per dollar
  • => 1.00 Velocity per dollar (even without bonuses)
  • => 0.65 KrisFlyer per dollar
  • Flybuys>Velocity and Velocity>KrisFlyer transfers are instant
  • 0.00% FX fee
  • $99 annual fee
Of course, NAB's takeover of Citi could devalue this, but it's pretty solid for now. Beyond the end of this month while I consider what to do with my Amplify Signature, this is probably better for daily spend.
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Thinking more about the Coles card; shopping at Coles gets an extra point per $ (that is, 3 FlyBuys points per $ up to $3,000 spend, then 2 Flybuys per $ after that).

At 3 FlyBuys per $, that equals 1.5 Velocity which when transferred to SQ = 0.97 KrisFlyer miles per $. That's not bad for a card with a $99 AF. And as @twiningb noted, that doesn't include any bonus points you pick up along the way. (Unfortunately you don't get the extra point when buying Gift Cards.)

There's currently a reasonable sign-up bonus as well: 60,000 Flybuys bonus points when you spend $4,000 on eligible purchases within 90 days from approval and 40,000 Flybuys bonus points when you keep your card for over 12 months.+ Apply for a Coles Rewards Mastercard by 31 July 2023.
 
You will still get 1 KF point at all major supermarkets and service stations after devaluation in October using the Amex Platinum Edge plus 1 flybuy point at Coles if you have Flybuys card including some gift cards. Annual fee is $195 with a $200 travel credit thrown in. No cap as well. David Jones amex is the same but no longer available to apply for. You can also buy Woolworths wish or Coles gift cards with the above cards leading up to October 4th and get 1.5 Kf points. No expiry on gift card and if over 60 in NSW or Vic you can apply your seniors card in the Woolies app and get an extra 5% off at Woolies, EG fuel, BWS, BIG W and Dan Murphy. You buy the card online and pay $475 for a $500 card.There are less denominations available as well.
 
Recent datapoint: I submitted a transfer on Thursday morning about 09:00 and it was in my KrisFlyer account sometime between 14:00 and 17:00 the same day.
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(I left just over 3000 points in my Amplify account so I'll do a last-minute transfer for the remainder next weekend.)
 
spud60 said:
You will still get 1 KF point at all major supermarkets and service stations after devaluation in October using the Amex Platinum Edge plus 1 flybuy point at Coles if you have Flybuys card including some gift cards. Annual fee is $195 with a $200 travel credit thrown in. No cap as well. David Jones amex is the same but no longer available to apply for. You can also buy Woolworths wish or Coles gift cards with the above cards leading up to October 4th and get 1.5 Kf points. No expiry on gift card and if over 60 in NSW or Vic you can apply your seniors card in the Woolies app and get an extra 5% off at Woolies, EG fuel, BWS, BIG W and Dan Murphy. You buy the card online and pay $475 for a $500 card.There are less denominations available as well.
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While this is true, the problem is that coughulative grocery spend, even boosted with giftcards is not that high a yearly point earn.
It was nice to add to other point earn.

Sadly with the transfer rates reduced from Amex and STG Combined, on top of other devaluations, it is more an more looking like the days of almost free international flights has almost come to an end after three glorius decades for myself. :(

Well I do have enough points left for about 3 more years of normal holiday travel. But it is hard to see the past glory days returning.

Virtually no point runs these days, and % surcharges on spend also mean that for a lot of spend your are "buying" points with that surcharge. Plus various gov spend earning no or reduced points.
 
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ahmen to that - I agree, it's getting harder now and all of the "easy" methods have closed down or become unviable now. Guess it will soon be back to taking less regular holidays given like you said, in many cases, we're buying our points and that cost is going up (I'm looking at something where I'm paying 1.1c per QFF point, I don't think they're worth much more than that to me for flights and even less than that if used to buy product).
 
albyd said:
ahmen to that - I agree, it's getting harder now and all of the "easy" methods have closed down or become unviable now. Guess it will soon be back to taking less regular holidays given like you said, in many cases, we're buying our points and that cost is going up (I'm looking at something where I'm paying 1.1c per QFF point, I don't think they're worth much more than that to me for flights and even less than that if used to buy product).
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Double Amen, although if you're essentially buying points @ 1.1c and redeeming them for J Class seats you're doing well...probably getting 4+ cents in value.

I feel the issue around the change is more about the shifting balance between how many you can earn (viability of supply) and ease of redeeming (demand). It is so hard to get J Class seats more than a year out.
 
Agree, a lot more people are paying attention to these strategies which we talk about on AFF and I’m not surprised as belts are tightening and we all have champagne tastes on a beer budget.

The opportunities when they appear are less lucrative and get shut down much more quickly especially as newbies don’t always keep it to themselves like the recent Beem BPay from CC shut down.

There’s increased competition for these few opportunities and for the few premium seats as everyone is a points millionaire which means nothing anymore.

I agree with you 1.1c cost for use on J redemptions is good but it’s not an easy feat.
 
Anyone had luck with getting their card changed from Rewards to Qantas? My AF only came through a couple of months ago, so it might be worth getting 0.75 QFF/$ as opposed to cancelling the card (there is a $250k spend cap)
 
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TFd my remainder of StG A to KF today...do note the Amplify website will be down on 28th July at certain times.
 
OK so St George, Amex US and Chase US have all been transferred now to Kris.

No need to get body slammed with a big devaluation.
 
kpc said:
TFd my remainder of StG A to KF today...do note the Amplify website will be down on 28th July at certain times.
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Transfered mine to KF on the weekend. With the move to 3:1 and the 3 year expiry policy, I'm far less interested in saving SQ miles. I'll still have the opportunity to earn SQ miles via Fly Buys and Velocity using my Coles credit card but this will be the exception rather than the norm.

I'll most likely concentrate on Avios and QFF going forward. Yes, I realise that availability is more difficult, especially with QFF, but there are only two of us so it is not impossible; especially as we are totally flexible with dates and routes. I feel for those with families who need 3 seats or more (especially in school holidays).
 
and Chase US - is this devaluation going to be across the board? I initially thought it was AMEX devaluing the most popular transfer partners in AU because they could. Is there more to it than we might see at first glance?
 
What is happening is Kris Miles are becoming more expensive after the end of this month. They are really valuable compared with Qantas points.
Kris Miles were a true bargain for redemptions into flights in business and first class.
US Amex and Chase US are high points earning cards compared with Australian credit cards.
 
cove said:
What is happening is Kris Miles are becoming more expensive after the end of this month. They are really valuable compared with Qantas points.
Kris Miles were a true bargain for redemptions into flights in business and first class.
US Amex and Chase US are high points earning cards compared with Australian credit cards.
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I agree but there is no reason to rush amex US cards to KF points as they are staying at 1:1 unless I've missed something
 
dein_gesicht said:
I agree but there is no reason to rush amex US cards to KF points as they are staying at 1:1 unless I've missed something
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Nothing is changing with US credit card transfer rates. This only affects Australian cards. There is no reason to speculatively or preemptively transfer points from Chase or US Amex.
 
Also US Amex (and Chase) have access to several other transfer partners better value than Kris, although I know Cove has had many years of happy redeeming with SQ.
 

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