Best Credit Card for Frequent Flyers

[ramboflyer]

Over the last 12 months I've applied for a few cards :

AMEX Platinum Charge Card - 75,000 MR Points @ $900 (yes, a second card as I'd reached my bonus points limit)

All courtesy of AFF!

what do you mean "bonus points limit"? who imposes that?

looks like you must think it worthwhile. Do you do the maths and work out if you are in front or is that a stupid question :shock:

are they all Qantas FF points? do you agree that Qantas 8000 points is worth around $100 and are they better value than other programs?

I'm certainly going to apply for the Amex card with 10,000 points and no annual fee.

 

[JOC469]

AMEX Platinum Charge Card offers 1.5 MR points per $ spend, up to $200,000 spend. After that you 'only' earn 1 MR per $.
You get a 'free' Platinum Credit Card as well, which has a similar deal up to $100,000 spend.

My problem was that I'd reached both limits.

 

[cove]

Have you been offered an Amex account manager JOC469??
When you get that call you will have spent enough!

 

[JOC469]

When you get that call you will have spent enough!

I don't think I want to spend that much! Still, I was happy that I needed the second card in 6 months, and I went to Europe for 3 months which actually slowed my spending. It was enough for AMEX to offer me a black card, although I did feel like I had to ask for it. All in the first 12 months of being with AMEX.

 

[cove]

Mine says Member Since 1979 so I was young once. All for zillions of points to fly away from here or there!

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

Now that the Citibusiness card is capped at 250K points n a year it's probably the best Visa card for earnign QF points - not so hot for SQ or Velocity.

You can have up to 4 cards on the account for no extra fee - used to be $30 a card.

Add the 40K points for signup at the present and it might be worth signing yaself and SWMBO as 80K points for $300 is something I'd happily pay.

While the CB call centre is not great, I've not had any major problems, and in general things have been fixed on the first call. The Business card does give you the platinum call number, which means I've never had to wait to speak to someone.

 

[cove]

Jeff it is really good to hear Citi is improving because they have some of the best products. For a long time now I have felt the only way for Citi is up seeing their back office had to improve.

 

[ChrisCunard]

Today you could go www.everydayrewards.com.au and pick up the Woolworths credit card for $0.00 and 5,000 Qantas reward points. You get a point a dollar to your Qantas account and you can look up the bonus card partners.
I haven't heard of anything cheaper in the first year and it will probably be $89 in the second year.

I'm with you in this one!!

+1

 

[ChrisCunard]

If you're not phased by an annual fee Earth (westpac) is offering 33,000 bonus points on their platinum card.

 

[Jacques Vert]

FWIW, Prior to this I had the Citibank Platinum card and there was an extra charge on it to be able to transfer points to Qantas. They also would not transfer any points accrued prior to my election to take the Qantas option. Perhaps she was getting confused with this card?

If it is not too late, try this...

I had a Citi Plat and I changed to CitiBusiness when they brought in the $49 fee for direct qf earn. They refused to transfer my points to QF but agreed to transfer them to my CitiBusiness card. Once the transfer came through, I manually transferred them to QF for no charge. Only problem I had was to convince the CSO that 120,000 was in fact a multiple of 10,000!

JV

 

[Robert K]

Now that the Citibusiness card is capped at 250K points n a year it's probably the best Visa card for earnign QF points - not so hot for SQ or Velocity.

You can have up to 4 cards on the account for no extra fee - used to be $30 a card.

Add the 40K points for signup at the present and it might be worth signing yaself and SWMBO as 80K points for $300 is something I'd happily pay.

While the CB call centre is not great, I've not had any major problems, and in general things have been fixed on the first call. The Business card does give you the platinum call number, which means I've never had to wait to speak to someone.

According to my T&C. I can have 99 free supplementary cards.

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

According to my T&C. I can have 99 free supplementary cards.

Not sure how it stands for people who had the card before they made the changes. It used to be you paid $30 per supplementary card, but now you can have 4 for free.

 

[angusburns]

Not sure how it stands for people who had the card before they made the changes. It used to be you paid $30 per supplementary card, but now you can have 4 for free.

Thank you very much - I had not noticed. That will come in handy.

I wish credit card companies still let you have supplementary cards for under 18s...

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

Thank you very much - I had not noticed. That will come in handy.

I wish credit card companies still let you have supplementary cards for under 18s...

I'm sure westpac let you get a supp card for someone 16 and over.

 

[ramboflyer]

If you're not phased by an annual fee Earth (westpac) is offering 33,000 bonus points on their platinum card.

I've now got the Westpac Earth Amex as well as the Citibusiness Gold card. Got total 73,000 QFF points for signing up. I use the Amex first if accepted (1.5 QFF points) and if not the Citibusiness (1.25 QFF points). For annual fees of $399 I think its good value because of the bonus points and the extra spending points. The transfer of points from Citibank to Qantas was very easily done. I've yet to speak to anyone at Citibank without an accent but have found them really helpful after a shaky start with a question about fees. Not sure if the $250 for the Earth card will be justified next year - will see how it goes. Neither card charges for additional card holders.

 

[JOC469]

Have you been offered an Amex account manager JOC469??
When you get that call you will have spent enough!

I just got a letter today from Amex advising me they have given me a "Relationship Executive".I now think that I either must be spending too much, or have stopped spending as much and they want to encourage me to spend more. Either way, I'm not sure if I should be happy or not?

 

[Foreigner]

I just got a letter today from Amex advising me they have given me a "Relationship Executive".I now think that I either must be spending too much, or have stopped spending as much and they want to encourage me to spend more. Either way, I'm not sure if I should be happy or not?

As I did, you can expect a call in about a week and the chap or lass will repeat what's been stated in the said letter.

Good thing about the rep is if you were to call Amex, you eventually speak to the rep and in case he or she is not there, you leave a message on voice mail.

I found the rep very quick in responding. And now, you'll have a direct email address...same as that stated on the business cards you received with your letter.

I can't say whether or not you should be happy. I am.

 

[Jacques Vert]

.... I use the Amex first if accepted (1.5 QFF points) and if not the Citibusiness (1.25 QFF points). ....

I do similarly; but be aware of the Citibank bonus partners such as Hertz and IHG brands Intercontinental, Holiday Inn and Crown Plaza, and others (where you will get an additional 3 points per $, making 4.25 per $ on the CitiBusiness plus any points you receive directly from the partner).

And of course, there is always the Citi Privileges wine offer!

JV

 

[ChrisFlyer]

If you book on Qantas a lot and only want Qantas points, Westpac Earth Platinum is great - 2.5 points/$1 on Qantas charges, and 1.5 points/$1 on normal Amex charges - with no points cap! Only criticisms are the lack of bonus partners besides QF, and the 0.5/$1 earn on the MasterCard.

 

[DC9]

It was helpful to read the threads of experiences by AFF members here toward mydecision on taking up the Citibank Visa Signature card. The Citi Platinum Visahas been great, at no charge these years, and finally got (I hope) thedefinitive Citibank response that I have been earning CitiRewards points, withpotential to translate into $1:1point with Virgin, or similar ratio if I chose topay the $49 annual QFF link.

As mypreference has been Qantas over Virgin, I had to resign my consideration ofthis Citi Signature Visa to be used for Velocity points only in future. At somepoint, I'll transfer the load of CitiRewards points I have banked over toVirgin, but with no Status Creds to be gained by that exercise, unfortunately.

I have theAMEX Qantas Premium card for $1:1.25pts, but, use of AMEX, as a whole, isdeclining, from the stand of more merchants either refusing AMEX or by statinghigh/er charges for purchasing via AMEX. With my enduring preference for Qantaspoints, this still leaves me without a staple Visa/MC card for both majority ofpurchases and Qantas points >1 per dollar.

The WooliesEDR Qantas MC is a straight $1:1QFF ratio, with some enhancements, for $89/yr.I am wondering if AFF members have found that more attractive credit cardoffers for points with Qantas & bonus points appear at the beginning of acalendar year.

BTW, in myresearch, to cut through potentially inaccurate information, I referred to this page in Qantas:

qantas.com.au/fflyer/dyn/partners/card

Unfortunately,the CitiBusinessGold Visa is not in that list.

Cheers &Thanks!