Are FF programs worth it if you only fly1 p.a. internationally and 6 x diomestically?

[joyvee]

I sometimes get carried away with the enthusiasm and inferences that real benefits are to be had if one utilises FF programs effectively.
Love lurking and reading all your comments.

Think with my flying patterns I might need a magic wand as well,to accrue enough points to take advantage of any scheme at all.
I am retired with limited income and do not have any mortgage or large ATO payments to use to accrue points. Do pay rates and buy food!

Looked at Citibank and 60K points but have to pay yearly fee $295 to gain 60K points and with my day to day expenditure I would have to go to Woolies to take advantage of FF points Nowadays I shop around for current weekly bargains which means a minimum expenditure and maximum savings for future travel.

I will look at ABC's iview "Checkout" program on FF points and also Choice magazine.
Now that .br is closed my options for travelling QF are even more limited . I do not travel to US, prefer Europe or Asia.

My initial feeling is that I am probably better off to buy cheapest available flight or wait for cheap deals as no work commitments.

I would really appreciate some feedback from the FF gurus on this site. joyV

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Are FF programs worth it if you only fly1 p.a. internationally and 6 x diomestica

I sometimes get carried away with the enthusiasm and inferences that real benefits are to be had if one utilises FF programs effectively.
Love lurking and reading all your comments.

Think with my flying patterns I might need a magic wand as well,to accrue enough points to take advantage of any scheme at all.
I am retired with limited income and do not have any mortgage or large ATO payments to use to accrue points. Do pay rates and buy food!

Looked at Citibank and 60K points but have to pay yearly fee $295 to gain 60K points and with my day to day expenditure I would have to go to Woolies to take advantage of FF points Nowadays I shop around for current weekly bargains which means a minimum expenditure and maximum savings for future travel.

I will look at ABC's iview "Checkout" program on FF points and also Choice magazine.
Now that .br is closed my options for travelling QF are even more limited . I do not travel to US, prefer Europe or Asia.

My initial feeling is that I am probably better off to buy cheapest available flight or wait for cheap deals as no work commitments.

I would really appreciate some feedback from the FF gurus on this site. joyV

I think the Checkout program summed it up nicely... if you are flying anyway... it can't hurt to have membership of a frequent flyer program. But... not really much point if the flights within that program are substantially more expensive than the 'best fare'.

While it might be worthwhile to spend an extra $5-$10 to fly Qantas and get points... not so much of a good deal if you are spending $200-$300 more to say fly to the states when United, Virgin or Delta are cheaper.

Taking advantage of points is great if you want to redeem for premium travel. Redeeming for economy is not really worth it.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Re: Are FF programs worth it if you only fly1 p.a. internationally and 6 x diomestica

In my opinion value can always be had.

However you need to be strategic and realistic.

For example Amex Reserve per year with one free Cairns return flight from Melbourne.

Earn 22000 points and redeem through SQ on VA for another flight with no taxes.

So look for good value that you can afford that you want to fly to.

 

[drron]

Re: Are FF programs worth it if you only fly1 p.a. internationally and 6 x diomestica

There is definitely still benefit.With your travel patterns though you need to think smarter.
So what do you prefer-lounge access,premium cabins for less etc.and how far to you plan ahead?
Just did a search on Avianca lifemiles-You can get a return fare in J to Europe for about $4000 using their awards and buying points.If you wait until they give a 2 for 1 bonus that comes down to $3000.As against the cheapest fares 11 months out in Y of ~$2000.Some of the cheapest Y fares were on *A airlines so you could earn avianca LMs on those economy fares and probably every 3rd or 4th year your J return award would be~$1800.

In fact this is the sort of strategy we are now looking at for the future.

There are quite a few CCs in Australia where you can convert the points to Krisflyer.Or even go through the VA system where you can get a choice of awards to Europe or Asia.Easy to get CC points for Velocity as well.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Are FF programs worth it if you only fly1 p.a. internationally and 6 x diomestica

not to mention cheap 'combination' fares to Europe, flying economy to asia and then business class onwards. Possible for around $2500.

No point flying economy on one airline to get points when you could be flying business class on another for the same price.

 

[joyvee]

Re: Are FF programs worth it if you only fly1 p.a. internationally and 6 x diomestica

Thank you for that info. I shall print your responses and consider my options carefully.
Domestic flights tend to be to BNE and QF is almost always too dear cf Virgin.
Last June I flew Y with Royal Brunei to BKK and then flew J with Qatar to FRA return and total AU$3630.
I stopped over in BKK and caught up with friends. Had to pay a little more than cheapest J but wanted to fly in Dreamliner
and wanted a single seat by the window and Qatar fitted the bill.
Would be interested in how the $2500 was arrived at. I also considered convenient flying times and shorter rather than longer stop overs.
Melbourne is disadvantaged cf Sydney which has Asiana which has fantastic stopover in Seoul. Korean Air no longer flies out of MEL.

Irrelevant but I had the opportunity to see the RI Dreamliner inauguration at MEL last Thursday and it looks really big when you are underneath it and walking around it. The coughpit was amazing and full of computerised panels.

Will do a non trip report when I find the lead to get photos onto PC. Thanks again to you all. JoyV

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Are FF programs worth it if you only fly1 p.a. internationally and 6 x diomestica

Would be interested in how the $2500 was arrived at.

$2500 is arrived at with an economy ticket AU-SIN combined with Air India business class SIN-DEL-Europe (USD1500). Transit time in DEL is around 1-2 hours depending on destination. London attracts a premium on the USD1500 for luxury departure tax.

Alternatively Sri Lankan is offering AUD1600-$2000 business class fares ex SIN/BKK to Europe. So again combined with economy to those destinations should give $2400-2800. With Sri Lankan you will get Qantas points and SCs. With Paris as a destination the flight time including transit in Colombo is around 16 hours ex BKK.

 

[joyvee]

Re: Are FF programs worth it if you only fly1 p.a. internationally and 6 x diomestica

Fantastic flights prices - thank you. I somehow missed these on itamatrix.com Maybe they do not do them although I remember Air india shich I overlooked as thought the service may not be great.
Have read good reports of Sri Lankan so must look at that again. apprieciate you advice JoyV

 

[Robbi]

Re: Are FF programs worth it if you only fly1 p.a. internationally and 6 x diomestica

There is definitely still benefit.With your travel patterns though you need to think smarter.
So what do you prefer-lounge access,premium cabins for less etc.and how far to you plan ahead?
Just did a search on Avianca lifemiles-You can get a return fare in J to Europe for about $4000 using their awards and buying points.If you wait until they give a 2 for 1 bonus that comes down to $3000.As against the cheapest fares 11 months out in Y of ~$2000.Some of the cheapest Y fares were on *A airlines so you could earn avianca LMs on those economy fares and probably every 3rd or 4th year your J return award would be~$1800.

In fact this is the sort of strategy we are now looking at for the future.

There are quite a few CCs in Australia where you can convert the points to Krisflyer.Or even go through the VA system where you can get a choice of awards to Europe or Asia.Easy to get CC points for Velocity as well.

I thought there was some recent negativity about LifeMiles?