Are the days of Points collecting over?

[burmans]

And if every point was worth 1c each off a cash fare, where would be your sweet spot or loophole? Sounds like I found your breaking point pretty easily

Sounds like an unlikely hypothetical though. While I appreciate that many airlines think their loyalty programs are too generous and have decided to wind them back, I’m not of the belief they want to scare everyone away given loyalty programs are frequently one of the few parts of the business making good money.

 

[flyguy77]

Sounds like an unlikely hypothetical though

1c off a fare is obviously unlikely but a max value of 1c per point seems pretty realistic.

Qantas has already valued the vast majority of their seats at redemption rates between 1 and 1.25c per point.

The only way they'll keep increasing the profit is to keep devaluing the return.

Is it really worth the hassle for such a low return?

 

[Aeryn]

Is it really worth the hassle for such a low return?

A lot of people earn their points organically i.e. it is no hassle at all, if i was going to buy something anyway and going to pay by CC for the convenience why wouldn't i also take the points? Its not like reward cards pay a higher card fee than their no rewards counterparts in the same brands.

 

[Dr Ralph]

To secure business class rewards seats to Europe it takes time and effort to churn credit cards and chase points during promos. It takes even more time and effort to research reward seats and find a workable itinerary. After booking you still continuously check availability in case something better comes up. The whole process takes years and a countless number of hours. On top of the cost of acquiring points you still have to pay taxes, change fees and transit hotel costs on your indirect way to Europe.

Meanwhile the folks in economy spent a grand total of one hour of their life planning and booking their flight to Europe on a direct route. They also spent less money in total. They didn't get a flat bed to sleep on during the flight but they also didn't spend years of their life and a countless number of hours for the privilege of sitting in that business class seat.

Anyway, just something that has crossed my mind.

Agree, not everyone is up to it.

But I'll still wave at you when I turn left.

 

[flyguy77]

A lot of people earn their points organically i.e. it is no hassle at all, if i was going to buy something anyway and going to pay by CC for the convenience why wouldn't i also take the points? Its not like reward cards pay a higher card fee than their no rewards counterparts in the same brands.

No, but you pay an annual fee on the credit card and extra payment fees on some expenses.

You would also then need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get a single business class return flight if you are only getting a value of 1c per point. Not overly appealing.

 

[SOPOOR]

No, but you pay an annual fee on the credit card and extra payment fees on some expenses.

You would also then need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get a single business class return flight if you are only getting a value of 1c per point. Not overly appealing.

No, but you pay an annual fee on the credit card and extra payment fees on some expenses.

You would also then need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get a single business class return flight if you are only getting a value of 1c per point. Not overly appealing.

For me, annual fees are evil and are a waste of money, to pay for card that the bank makes money off your transaction doesn't sit well with me.


So I used to have an amex of which the annual fees are offset by travel credit.
And I used to do low annual fee cards with 40-100k bonuses.

But now the bonuses have diminished and the annual fees have gone up..

Now I churn cards and keep them for a little while because I have no other option

 

[Aeryn]

No, but you pay an annual fee on the credit card and extra payment fees on some expenses.

Almost all CC have annual fees and reward ones can come with other value such as included Travel Insurance, lounge passes(airport and concert venues), product/dining discounts, cash back etc. Also sometimes the fee is waived if you have a home loan, are staff/ex-staff; and other times the total value of the fee is returned as a travel voucher.

I've never had any extra payment fees on expenses like interest as i always pay my balance off in full.

You would also then need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get a single business class return flight if you are only getting a value of 1c per point. Not overly appealing.

You are ignoring fact that some card earn more than 1 airline point per dollar spent, plus you can stack bonus offers at places you shop at, points from flying, hotel stays, supermarket shopping etc. Many here are also able to run business expenses through points earning cards.

Ive redeemed OWAs and return internal J flights without spending hundreds of thousands. YMMV.

 

[flyguy77]

Ive redeemed OWAs and return internal J flights without spending hundreds of thousands

yes - but you are talking about days gone by (which were great!) whilst I'm talking about the future direction which seems pretty obvious based on whats already happening in regard to

Credit card churning nearly impossible
Lower points earn, monthly earn caps, worse transfer rates
Less Reward Seats available
More points and higher & higher fees needed to book these rare seats

Not to mention the likely RBA caps on interchange fees which will have a huge affect.

It was worth it in the past due to the outsized value but that's rarely the case anymore I find.

 

[Aeryn]

CC churning is still possible albeit less frequently due to longer exclusion periods.

There are still cards without caps, and even with caps most here would have 2-3 cards at anyone time so you can spread your spend and not exceed caps.

RBA changes to interchange fees might further weaken the situation, but at the moment I can still find some worthwhile value. YMMV.

 

[cove]

I decided to look outside Australia to get better value from credit cards especially with sign ons. We both have Social Security numbers from 1984 so the US cards are open to us.

 

[burmans]

Agree, not everyone is up to it.

As this thread makes obvious!

 

[ScotchAussie]

Not over for me but a totally different experience. Most of my points are now being bought from the airline or hotel programs. It generally means a. 10 to 30% discount on sale J fares or hotel rooms. Not what it was but still has value.

I bought my annual allocation of points for IHG, and made ~20% saving on my latest hotel booking only to discover I then needed to pay 21% in fees/day at check-out. Beware of the small print :-(

 

[burmans]

I bought my annual allocation of points for IHG, and made ~20% saving on my latest hotel booking only to discover I then needed to pay 21% in fees/day at check-out. Beware of the small print :-(

Where was that? Not my recent experience!

 

[ScotchAussie]

Where was that? Not my recent experience!

Bali (InterContinental Bali Resort):
"Description of taxes and additional charges:
11% per night not included in rate effective 21 April, 2026 through 27 April, 2026.
10% per night not included in rate effective 21 April, 2026 through 27 April, 2026."

 

[levelnine]

Sounds like an unlikely hypothetical though. While I appreciate that many airlines think their loyalty programs are too generous and have decided to wind them back, I’m not of the belief they want to scare everyone away given loyalty programs are frequently one of the few parts of the business making good money.

Many, many, many programs have gone that way.

More generally, this is what has happened to the points space for Australians just this year:

Points Redemptions
- Devaluation of Qantas points (classic and classic plus)
- Devaluation of Singapore points
- Devaluation of Velocity points
- Reduction in Emirates flights from Qantas points redemptions
- Reduction in United flights from Velocity points redemptions

Points Earning
- Devaluation of Amex points
- Decrease in earn rate of Westpac points
- 18-24 month mandatory wait time on all major bank credit card bonuses
- Commbank eliminating most transfer partners
- Reserve Bank announces plans to cut interchange rates, which will lead to a further reduction in points earn

As I've said throughout this thread, everyone has a breaking point. And I expect more and more people to hit their point in the future, especially if the RBA changes come into effect.

 

[aikman]

I sense that all of the devaluations don't really matter to those who enjoy doing this as a hobby. They probably enjoy the extra challenges that it brings.

 

[levelnine]

I sense that all of the devaluations don't really matter to those who enjoy doing this as a hobby. They probably enjoy the extra challenges that it brings.

To give you a sense of what the future might look like.

No one 'games' Delta miles anymore because their points are worth a fixed value. Millions of people still collect Delta miles because they have a value — if you're going to spend money on a credit card and fly Delta, you might as well still collect their miles.

But the hobby aspect of it is dead.

 

[drron]

I bought my annual allocation of points for IHG, and made ~20% saving on my latest hotel booking only to discover I then needed to pay 21% in fees/day at check-out. Beware of the small print :-(

But that 21% charge is on a value 20% less than the punter who didn't buy the points. all bookings attract that charge. At least IHG do let you see what the rate is with Taxes included before you actually book. There is a box to tick for the tax inclusive rate.
That said I find it difficult with IHG to find points rates that give 1 cent or more value per point.

 

[SOPOOR]

I sense that all of the devaluations don't really matter to those who enjoy doing this as a hobby. They probably enjoy the extra challenges that it brings.

I love the collecting points side of things , but dont do it anymore.

Until recently, a credit card fee was free -$150, now they're $250+
I valued a point at let's say 1c now credit card surcharges are 0.6% to 1.5% everywhere except super markets( exc aldi)
It used to be (for the most part) 1-1.25 point per $1 spent for many programs.
This has changed from 1.25 to 1 to 0.67 to 0.5
Redemption requird has gone up say 5% x2-3 times.

So for example, a flight i look at has gone up from 100,00 points to 120,000. To earn that I need to spend $120k to $240k whilst paying $200 in annual fees and $2400 in surcharges , plus paying full surcharges which a tiny few are not bad but a few are outrageous

These airlines make a heap of $ , from these programs and yes the rba rules have changed but the changes are just greed,
Maybe its human nature/naitivty to be happy to get anything for free such even if its financially pointless but it appears people aren't boycotting them. Or maybe the small number of business users are enough

 

[Happy Dude]

So for example, a flight i look at has gone up from 100,00 points to 120,000. To earn that I need to spend $120k to $240k whilst paying $200 in annual fees and $2400 in surcharges , plus paying full surcharges which a tiny few are not bad but a few are outrageous

Only in the worst possible scenario does 100k-120k points cost $120k to $240k plus surcharges.

This weeks Woollies gift card offer sees 100k QFF cost a tick under $1,200. And that's not an especially good deal but you do end up with $20,000 of visa cards to pay bills that wouldn't normally earn points. There may or may not be a fee to use the visa cards.

Sadly, as you've described, the credit card points are becoming more and more expensive to earn and convert. That's only getting worse with the impending changes in surcharge rules. Then the issues of award seat availability, scarcity really, and co-payments materialise.