lovetravellingoz
Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2006
- Posts
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With AMEX...which FF program achieves the best result in terms of flights earned for Australian based card-holders?
You may seek to maximise point earning by crediting to different programs, particularly if you run multiple cards...or you may just pool it all in the one program.
Depending on your AMEX you have an earn initial earn rate of 1.0, 1.25 or 1.5. For the numbers below you will need to factor them up depending on what your initial earn rate is.
Some like the QANTAS card boost this by 1.0 for QANTAS $ spend.
Another factor here is that some AMEX's can be free (ie I have a free Westpac AMEX with an earn rate of 1.0..which I am keeping but not currently using) or free for the first year (ie Maximiser, QANTAS Premium etc...). If it is not free..then you should factor in the cost of the card....ie $195/year may be the equiavlent of say 10/20000 points depending on what value points are worth to you.
The two favourite programs on this site seem to be QFF & AA.
AA has the advantage of a great burn rate...and low fuelfines/taxes BUT as the points need to go through SPG the earn rate is poor (your points by 0.33)...even if you gain the 25% bonus for transferring in 20,000 point lumps..
(For those going the AA route....evidently Diners achieves a better transfer rate)
For AMEX earn AA in itself does not appear to be that attractive but may of course be a useful addition for flight earn which is very good on many flights.
A good extra perk is also that for lifetime status...the 1,000,000 point mark and beyond that all earn counts...whereas with QFF it is only flights that count.
QFF gets a good earn rate of 1/1.....but then a lousy burn rate with high fuel fines. However one sweetener is that there are sign-on bonuses of 15,000 to 20,000 points. Remains to be seen if you can go to the well repeatedly on this...
An extra advantage of the QFF approach is that you can combine with VISA earn (ie I have a free for life Citibank with an earn rate of 1.0 & transfer rate of 1.0) for the many occassions where AMEX is either not accepted or has a punitive use fee attached. Presently I would estimate that of my CC spend about 60% is AMEX and 40% is VISA.
Nw if you have a very high CC spend and /or fly a lot the ability to pool may not be important...but for my situation I really need to pool all my earn..CC, Flights and other in the one program in order to get flight redemptions without waiting years.
BUT there are obviously other prgrams such Virgin Atlantic that I understand you can redeem too.
maybe there are other programs too which are better for this purpse..
So I my question is.....which FF programs generate the most flights (factoring in fuel fines) for $$ earnt?
I ask this question broadly...so that all readers can work out what is best for them..
Irelease it may be influenced by where you want to fly....
In my personal case....I wil say speand $100/120,000 on CC in the next 12 months @ say 60% Amex/40% VISA.
Flight redemptions would most likely be to SEA..but maybe Europe.
PS...my AMEX points currently go to QFF via the QANTAS premium card......which has been free for the last 7 months..I have just gained another card...and so haveanother free 12 months (and I hope another 17500 points). But maybe..just maybe I should havea Maximiser instead and be stockpiling for Virgin Atlantic or....???????????
You may seek to maximise point earning by crediting to different programs, particularly if you run multiple cards...or you may just pool it all in the one program.
Depending on your AMEX you have an earn initial earn rate of 1.0, 1.25 or 1.5. For the numbers below you will need to factor them up depending on what your initial earn rate is.
Some like the QANTAS card boost this by 1.0 for QANTAS $ spend.
Another factor here is that some AMEX's can be free (ie I have a free Westpac AMEX with an earn rate of 1.0..which I am keeping but not currently using) or free for the first year (ie Maximiser, QANTAS Premium etc...). If it is not free..then you should factor in the cost of the card....ie $195/year may be the equiavlent of say 10/20000 points depending on what value points are worth to you.
The two favourite programs on this site seem to be QFF & AA.
AA has the advantage of a great burn rate...and low fuelfines/taxes BUT as the points need to go through SPG the earn rate is poor (your points by 0.33)...even if you gain the 25% bonus for transferring in 20,000 point lumps..
(For those going the AA route....evidently Diners achieves a better transfer rate)
For AMEX earn AA in itself does not appear to be that attractive but may of course be a useful addition for flight earn which is very good on many flights.
A good extra perk is also that for lifetime status...the 1,000,000 point mark and beyond that all earn counts...whereas with QFF it is only flights that count.
QFF gets a good earn rate of 1/1.....but then a lousy burn rate with high fuel fines. However one sweetener is that there are sign-on bonuses of 15,000 to 20,000 points. Remains to be seen if you can go to the well repeatedly on this...
An extra advantage of the QFF approach is that you can combine with VISA earn (ie I have a free for life Citibank with an earn rate of 1.0 & transfer rate of 1.0) for the many occassions where AMEX is either not accepted or has a punitive use fee attached. Presently I would estimate that of my CC spend about 60% is AMEX and 40% is VISA.
Nw if you have a very high CC spend and /or fly a lot the ability to pool may not be important...but for my situation I really need to pool all my earn..CC, Flights and other in the one program in order to get flight redemptions without waiting years.
BUT there are obviously other prgrams such Virgin Atlantic that I understand you can redeem too.
maybe there are other programs too which are better for this purpse..
So I my question is.....which FF programs generate the most flights (factoring in fuel fines) for $$ earnt?
I ask this question broadly...so that all readers can work out what is best for them..
Irelease it may be influenced by where you want to fly....
In my personal case....I wil say speand $100/120,000 on CC in the next 12 months @ say 60% Amex/40% VISA.
Flight redemptions would most likely be to SEA..but maybe Europe.
PS...my AMEX points currently go to QFF via the QANTAS premium card......which has been free for the last 7 months..I have just gained another card...and so haveanother free 12 months (and I hope another 17500 points). But maybe..just maybe I should havea Maximiser instead and be stockpiling for Virgin Atlantic or....???????????