Are the days of Points collecting over?

[burmans]

Haven't used MrsPs card in about a month. Still waiting...

The point of the bonuses is not to reward you for your spend (that you are making anyway) but to try and convince you to spend more. Anecdotally if you spend nothing you get no offers but spend a little and it will try and convince you to spend, that’s certainly what happened to when I put a couple of small transactions on my wife’s card. Or get a new card and try that.

Or go to Coles, they seem to have bigger bonuses at the moment. But this is OT for this thread, there are threads for both EDR and flybuys rewards.

I know, I know … there is more than one way of working out “value”. You’ve used one method, I (clearly) used another (ie. dividing the money fare, minus carrier charges by the number of points required).

I’m aware of the arguments for and against using each method, and I’m also aware that each method has its advocates. Happy not to go there in this thread.

There may be two opinions on this but according to economic theory it’s clear which is correct, and this is after all an economic question at the end of the day!

 

[Beer_budget]

I know, I know … there is more than one way of working out “value”. You’ve used one method, I (clearly) used another (ie. dividing the money fare, minus carrier charges by the number of points required).

I’m aware of the arguments for and against using each method, and I’m also aware that each method has its advocates. Happy not to go there in this thread.

I have seen the argument a fair bit that you can't use the equivalent cash price of the award fare as a value benchmark because "you wouldn't really pay that", but people do; I certainly have.

Sure, you can make up an imaginary "real" price to compare, but that's not how I'm deciding if it's a good use of my points balance (especially true for domestic redemptions where the value for a given flight can range from "reasonable" to "taking the mickey"). What if the world were made of pudding?

 

[burmans]

I have seen the argument a fair bit that you can't use the equivalent cash price of the award fare as a value benchmark because "you wouldn't really pay that", but people do; I certainly have.

There’s the whole point though, value is subjective, one persons value isn’t the same as someone else’s. Price, however is absolute.

I keep getting offers on wine, $120 reduced to $20. Now someone might pay that $120 (I have seen it advertised as such), but I certainly wouldn’t. So my valuation is not the same as someone else’s.

 

[levelnine]

If you are serious, then I'd counter that taking the woolworths credit off shop is purchasing $10 at the a cost of $30 because of the potential outsized value extracted from QFF points when used for flight redemptions. That of course would then devolve into an argument about whether you could even get a redemption and is completely unnecessary because we've never used that as the basis of value of points acquisition, only points redemption, which is not what you said above (purchasing).

When we talk about cost of acquisition of points, it is NOT the cost of alternate redemption options, it is the additional fees or surcharges that you paid to acquire the benefit that you selected. For woolworths, I pay no nominal surcharge to recieve those points, therefore the cost of acquisition is 0c. The most you could argue is the cost differential between Woolworths and other retailers and then we go right down a slippery slope that is irrelevant as we don't seem to apply this to any other acquisition source.

I haven't seen a similar calculation done for all the myriad of redemption options you have for credit card partners, either. Only for this specific redemption option which in the eyes of most is a lower value outcome than the QFF redemption option.

The very first sentence in this quote makes a fundamental mistake — the cost to acquire the points is not the same as the value of a points redemption. The rest of the analysis reveals a misunderstanding of a very basic economic principle — opportunity cost.

Every time you choose 1,000 QFF points, you have spent $10 more on your next shop than the person next to you at the check-out choosing to redeem their WW points for $10 off their shop.

You might satisfy yourself with the fact that you are getting $30 in value from your QFF points (assuming you would have paid full retail fare for that premium cabin flight — otherwise you're engaged in yet further self-delusion), but that doesn't change the fact that you paid $10 for those points.

Edit: I'll also add your reply conveniently missed half my post. Where are you getting 15 points per dollar (what a 90K SUB for $6K spend earns) at WW? The rate of points earn matters as much as, if not more than, the cost of points earn.

 

[andye]

In defence of Y redemptions, I also find points useful for positioning flights even if not individually great value
Eg Mrsandye quite recently decided to attend a family event in Scotland at end of May. She could go Y but I was able to find QR SIN-DOH-LGW in J for 75k Avios. Nothing above Y available for SYD-SIN but still makes sense to position using KF points in Y (she does have a backup CX SYD-HKG-BRU in Y+ if the middle east flares up again)

We (well I more than mrsandye) also quite like multicentre family trips often due to the competing demands of seeing rellies and having true holiday. Y awars can be useful in these circumatances.

And also award seats are pretty cancellable at a fraction of flexible revenue