I understand what’s done is done but out of interest why credit cards that direct credit to Qantas if you don’t fly Qantas? Why not into an airline program you fly or something like Amex Rewards?
And just to clarify for the original poster, one of the challenges with redeeming frequent flyer miles is that the miles you earn for one program (e.g. Qantas) you can only use for that program.
For instance, whilst you can use Qantas points to redeem for flights on Qantas, Jetstar and OneWorld partners like BA, you cannot take those Qantas points and transfer them over to a rival program like British Airway's Executive Club or Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer.
Now you might be wondering, why on earth would I care about that? The main argument for not having all your points in one program is different frequent flyer programs have access to different airlines and airline partners.
For instance, you cannot book an United or Air Canada flight using Qantas points limiting your access to North American destinations. Even within the same alliance, there can be differences. For instance, whilst you can use British Airways or Qantas points to book a British Airways awards, only British Airways Executive club lets you book a BA flight using cash then instantly upgrade into Business or even First class using points.
Every frequent flyer has their own sweet spots when it comes to routes and policies that work in your favour. An award ticket booked with United Airlines miles will let you cancel the booking for free 31 days or more prior to departure.
Collecting towards a flexible currency like American Express Membership Rewards where you can transfer those points to one of many different airline frequent flyer programs instantly is likely more valuable than collecting solely to one program. The big benefit there is that when you want to travel, what you would first do is do an award search at the major airlines like United, Qantas and Delta to see where availability appears, and once you've found that availability transfer the miles over to make the booking right away.
That way instead of being tied to one airline or alliance, you can leverage the inventory of most airlines which I can guarantee you will be way better than simply what Qantas has.
All of that being said, there are some obvious no-brainers in my opinion where collecting to one program makes sense. For instance, if you shop at Woolies, you can convert your reward points there over to Qantas at a competitive rate. Ditto for converting Coles' Flybuys over to Virgin Australia.
This is also a great resource and saves you a lot of time. Have a look.
Award Flight Assist - Frequent Flyer Solutions
Whilst I can't comment on the service provided, I will note that award bookings especially international ones involving multiple carriers, complex routings, etc. aren't for the faint of hearted.
You will invest a lot of time into this and your patience will certainly be tested.
However, if you do manage to get through it you will be better for wear not only for award bookings but flight bookings in general. There are things I know now about making bookings that have made it so much easier for me to plan and book trips, stuff you won't read in the travel section of the SMH or Business Traveller.
If you are planning to deal with these points only once, perhaps make a big round the world journey, it would certainly make sense to avail of the services like Award Flight Assist.
However, if you plan on making many many award bookings in the years to come of varying sizes and complexities, it may in fact be worth your while to invest in learning the ins and outs of frequent flyer rewards programs. Indeed, AFF's sister company,
Frequent Flyer Solutions has some resources that can guide you through the whole flight booking and award booking process in some details
For what it's worth, I've been fairly engaged in this whole travel thing for some time, and have certainly done the time to get there. Here are some exploits that I pulled off thanks to the knowledge I built over time:
- Booked a roundtrip flight in business class on Air Canada from Sydney to Toronto for ~$2000 AUD by purchasing frequent flyer points and redeeming them for the flight (MSRP of flight is ~$9000 AUD)
- Upgraded a $1100 AUD economy flight I had with United from economy to Polaris business class for LHR > SYD (via LAX) thereby entitling me to 25 hours in Polaris business class over 2 long haul flights (LHR > LAX and LAX > SYD) plus 5 hours in the Polaris business class lounge for 35,000 United miles + $600 USD co-pay (the MSRP of that business class flight was significantly more than that)
- Flew to remote places that would otherwise be expensive like Lord Howe Island and Iqaluit in Canada's arctic for peanuts (i.e. 15,000 miles + $100 in taxes and fees versus the $1200+ you'd normally pay for such a fare)
- Access the airline business class lounges you often find at airports with just a cheap economy fare which often include showers, food, business centre, etc (thanks to frequent flyer status)
- Checked 3 pieces of bags on economy fares when I was moving between continents for study without having to pay any extra baggage fees (thanks to frequent flyer status)
- Selected those comfy extra leg room seats you often see in economy on wide body planes like the 777 for $0 (thanks to airline status)
- Changed flights I had scheduled that day for nothing, despite me being on a cheap economy ticket so that I could attend a conference for an additional day (thanks to frequent flyer status)
- Bypassed all lines during check-in, immigration, security, at boarding thanks again to frequent flyer status
As you can see there is quite a bit you can gain if you do end up travelling quite a bit. Which begs the question: does frequent travel create the frequent traveller or does the pursuit of becoming a frequent traveller create frequent travel? Prior to 2012 I rarely travelled.
It was only when business required me to start travelling and I started digging more into things like Flyertalk that I realized, hey this travelling thing is fun.
-RooFlyer88
