Advice for newcomer to Frequent Flyer

[drcam]

Hello....

I am a newcomer to Frequent Flyer resources, and I am thinking about tactically maximising full use out of my available Frequent Flyer income.

I have just graduated from university and have started a new job as a doctor. This year I was able to get a new Amex QFF Premium card with a 20000 point offer. I also decided to ditch my Commonwealth Awards Visa and get an ANZ QFF Visa, which also came with another 10000 points.

I want to upgrade to an ultimate card at the end of the year when I have the evidence to prove that my income has exceeded 65k. I will probably end up with about 80k points by December, I don't know whether I still qualify for the 40k offer if I get an Ultimate card.

My family live in NSW and I would probably fly MEL-SYD-MEL about six times a year. This August I am also going to TYO and back for a vacation.

I love travel; next January I am hoping to go to Tasmania, and to Shanghai in July 2009 also to see the eclipse.

My big project is a RTW trip in 2010 when I am going to take a break from my job and locum for a while. I am thinking about saving for a J fare RTW, but it will be a challenge to do this. Or otherwise, how much chance of scoring upgrades on an economy RTW fare in sectors?

Any advice on how I should accumulate and spend my points over the next few years?

 

[Jobu]

Do you mean saving points for a RTW J flight or saving $?

Points-wise you need 280,000 for a RTW J award, plus 2,500 points if you use the phone assisted booking.

The disadvantage of this is that it's very hard to secure award seats in J for certain sectors (e.g. SYD-LAX) and so as I've been told, you need to plan very far in advance (seats are released 353 days ahead), you need to be flexible (both with timing and with flights) and you need to be patient (and keep checking on availability over and over and over).

The disadvantage of scoring upgrades on Y class sectors is that no matter how far in advance you put the request in, you only find out if you got the upgrade when it's almost time to fly, so nothing's guaranteed.

Good luck and welcome aboard.

Cheers,

JOBU

 

[Mal]

I presume you're a member of the AMA being a doctor, so have you looked at their co-branded cards with Amex?

AMA - American Express

In particular the Plat credit card would give most of the benefits of the Ultimate card cheaper. You miss out on the bonus FF points where you purchase Qantas tickets with the card, but gain some other flexibilities. Although, if you can find a fee free Ultimate card for a year with bonus points for applying, I think that would be a great deal.

There is also a thread around here discussing the Citibank Gold Credit card free for life (if that offer is still current). It earns points 1:$1, and you can redeem points back to Qantas (min 10000 points at a time though).

 

[drcam]

I think I will stick with the Qantas cards, because you probably get bonus points with them, both as an offer and with Qantas bookings.

If I go on a RTW trip in J, I will save up for the $ rather than the points.

My first RTW trip was last year courtesy of points given to me by my family and then a cobbled up itinenary. It went as follows:

MEL-KUL-HKG on Malaysian airlines (got a last-minute offer to upgrade to J for $300 on the first sector, why didn't I do it!!!! I could afford it then!)
HKG-LGW on Oasis Hong Kong, $250 including taxes (RIP)
Side trips to Oslo, Stockholm and Geneva
LHR-BOS - first class on AA using points, my first premium trip, and I got indigestion the hour before!
BOS-NYC-Toronto-YVR-SEA by train
SEA-ABQ on Southwest Airlines
ABQ-LAX-SFO by train via the Grand Canyon
SFO-SYD-MEL on Qantas using points

It was the first time I had gone outside my own little nook in my whole life (27 years). Wonderful trip though, except for having everything stolen in Oslo.

P.S. That girl below looks remarkably good for someone who's 47.