Article: How I Earn Qantas & Velocity Points

AFF Editor

AFF Editor

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These are my favourite types of articles on AFF — the mechanics of earning & burning points.

Do you have a limit as to how much you'll pay for a point? Eg you paid $400 for 60K points on that Optus offer. You say you needed a phone plan anyway, but say you could have acquired an equally suitable plan for $15/month, you thus paid $340 for 60K points = $0.0057/point. Do you consider that good value?

I try to keep my points acquisition cost below about $0.002/point for Qantas, but that has become a lot harder with decrease in card sign-up bonuses & increase in annual fees. I may need to revise that to $0.003/point.

The decrease in credit card sign-up bonuses is really hurting the points acquisition game (more than the increased annual fees and decreased regular earning rates). Just over a year ago, ANZ was offering 160K points for its Black card & Amex was offering 130K points for its Ultimate card. Now most bonuses are in the 60K-90K region.
 
levelnine said:
These are my favourite types of articles on AFF — the mechanics of earning & burning points.

Do you have a limit as to how much you'll pay for a point? Eg you paid $400 for 60K points on that Optus offer. You say you needed a phone plan anyway, but say you could have acquired an equally suitable plan for $15/month, you thus paid $340 for 60K points = $0.0057/point. Do you consider that good value?

I try to keep my points acquisition cost below about $0.002/point for Qantas, but that has become a lot harder with decrease in card sign-up bonuses & increase in annual fees. I may need to revise that to $0.003/point.

The decrease in credit card sign-up bonuses is really hurting the points acquisition game (more than the increased annual fees and decreased regular earning rates). Just over a year ago, ANZ was offering 160K points for its Black card & Amex was offering 130K points for its Ultimate card. Now most bonuses are in the 60K-90K region.
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In general, I'm prepared to pay a bit more to earn points if the marginal cost of acquiring the points is lower than the value I'll get from those same points. As a general rule, I'm OK with paying up to around 1 cent per Qantas or Velocity point as I generally redeem for flights where the value I get is higher than that.

In the case of the Optus promotion, the alternative phone plan I would have purchased would have been around $25/month. So, I effectively paid an extra $296 for 60,000 Qantas points. I recently redeemed 57,000 Qantas points (and $195 taxes/charges) for a business class flight from Melbourne to Jakarta, which would have retailed for around $1.5-2k. So overall, I'm pretty happy with the value I got from that Optus promotion. ;)

I plan to publish another article in the coming weeks looking at how I redeem points, and analysing the value I get for my points. That may also help to answer your question about how I value my points.
 
I put all my spending on my Amex Explorer card followed by StG Amplify Visa card, and Fx charges on BW card. Shop at Coles and partake in FB bonus offers which go to Velocity.
 
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AFF Editor said:
I plan to publish another article in the coming weeks looking at how I redeem points, and analysing the value I get for my points. That may also help to answer your question about how I value my points.
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Looking forward to the article on redeeming points. I don't have a problem accumulating points but spending them is much more problematic.
 
AFF Editor said:
In the case of the Optus promotion, the alternative phone plan I would have purchased would have been around $25/month. So, I effectively paid an extra $296 for 60,000 Qantas points. I recently redeemed 57,000 Qantas points (and $195 taxes/charges) for a business class flight from Melbourne to Jakarta, which would have retailed for around $1.5-2k. So overall, I'm pretty happy with the value I got from that Optus promotion. ;)
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Thanks so much for the reply. I'd never pay $1.5K-2K in cash for a sector of that nature, but even if you take a standard economy fare on MEL-CGK return of about $1,000, you paid the same amount as an economy passenger — $500 for half the trip ($296 for the points + $195 in taxes/charges) — and got a seat in business instead. That aligns with my personal benchmark for redeeming points — pay no more than an economy class passenger and get business/first class instead. Even better if one can get it for significantly less than an economy fare.

Anyway, very much appreciate the topic. As someone who is burning well over 2 million points per year across all loyalty programs, any tips on replacing them is welcomed.

One tip that wasn't discussed in the article that people might want to investigate is churning health insurance providers. Obviously you need to do your own research, but you'll find that there are some very creative ways of getting maximum points for minimum spend. I suggest searching the OzBargain comments section of each health insurance deal posted over the last 1-2 years. Lots of gold in there.
 
Do you buy from Qantas Wine primarily for the wine, the points, or a mix of both? What is the points per $ spend on wine which you find acceptable?
 
AFF Editor said:
How many points have you earned over the last year
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I earned a total of 705k points across various programs, with the majority (575k) coming from churning through credit card sign-up offers. Continuing the momentum into this financial year, with two credit cards in progress (Suncorp and Virgin Money).

I earned 415k QFF points, with main contributions from:
  • 290k credit card sign-up offers - I churned through the ANZ FF Black (110k), Citi Premier Card (80k) and CBA Ultimate Awards Card (70k). Also received 30k for retaining my Westpac Qantas Platinum Card for the second year.
  • 45k from Everyday Rewards/Woolworths - this includes 15k from taking out a Bupa private health insurance package. Interestingly, they have just credited me with an extra 24k points in the last few days - no idea why, but certainly not complaining.
  • 38k - regular points earn through spend on my credit card.
  • 17k - Qantas points earned through staying at Accor properties.
  • 15k - received as compensation for some complaint I raised last year.
  • A few other odds and ends including Qantas Wine, Uber, Points Club milestone etc.
I earned 210k Krisflyer points through taking out the AMEX Platinum Charge Card - this included 300k as a sign-up offer, as well as a whole bunch of compensatory points after multiple AMEX screw-ups and AFCA complaints.

Finally I earned 80k Velocity points through the following:
  • 75k sign-up offer on the ANZ Rewards Visa Platinum.
  • Balance from travelling, 7/11 and Flybuys.
 
Sorry but I can't see how buying wine would be a viable strategy. I mean how much did all that wine cost? And everyday spending/minor offers aren't gonna get you the big points for Business travel. Captain Obvious here, but in reality it's all about churning credit cards and you should be able to churn way more cards than that. Go for the cards with the lowest credit limits (usually $6,000 so you're more likely to get approved and may even have a couple running at the same time). Don't hold them for a year just to get the 2nd year points - it's not worth it. Burn the card soon as you get the points. And I've also switched my mortgage to get 300,000 Qantas points with ANZ 6 months ago, and am just about to switch mortgages again with a Velocity offer with Canstar/Mortgage House to get 250,000 Velocity Points. Bit more effort but there's over half a million points that are well worth the minor re-finance costs and inconvenience just with some paperwork and effort. That Optus offer for the mobile was a good one but I wouldn't get out of bed for the tiny points amounts IMO. And credit cards with no more than about $400 in annual fees maximum.
 
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I noticed the absence of earning points through Airbnb if you click through via the Qantas accommodation page.
 
aikman said:
Do you buy from Qantas Wine primarily for the wine, the points, or a mix of both? What is the points per $ spend on wine which you find acceptable?
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It's a bit of both. I do enjoy wine and would be buying some anyway - so might as well take advantage of the generous bonus point offers through Qantas Wine. Bottles of wine can also make nice gifts ;)

That said, my cellar is looking quite full at the moment so I'll probably refrain from buying more for a while. At least wine is a non-perishable good.

Graham Atkinson said:
Captain Obvious here, but in reality it's all about churning credit cards and you should be able to churn way more cards than that.
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Absolutely, you could earn a lot more points than I did last year by churning through more credit cards. I never said that my strategy is optimal for everyone - it's just a snapshot of the points I earned over the last 12 months. I'll absolutely be applying for more cards later this year, but some people can't or don't want to, and that's fine. In that case, there are other earning methods that may work better for them.

The Velocity points offer on Canstar mortgages could also be a lucrative one, as you say. I personally don't have a mortgage but for those who can take advantage of this, then go for it. 👍

Claudia said:
I noticed the absence of earning points through Airbnb if you click through via the Qantas accommodation page.
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This is of course another way to earn points - I just don't stay in Airbnbs that often :)
 
Adding a couple of minor earners that haven't been mentioned much:
  • Not huge, but last year I scored some 2k, 5k, 10k bonuses from various transaction account promos or card-issuer promos - one ANZ one where you got 10k for putting your telco direct debits on your CC, as well as the QF 3 month bonus promo
  • Red planet surveys - this has landed me 7k or so points in the last year
  • 3k from 'shopping' - qantas card offers (occasionally there's a brand i was going to buy from anyway), booktopia (now not an option), kogan, digidirect
  • A handful of 250 point bonuses where paid flights were linked to a qantas business rewards account
  • 1k from an Accor stay after Qantas gave us Accor Gold
As others have listed, majority of points were from CC spend, paid Y flights, and Woolworths rewards. Any newer forum members who haven't discovered the Woolworths gift card thread and Everyday Rewards Targeted Offers threads should certainly subscribe!

The small stash of velocity points for me currently come from flybuys, when there is a bonus transfer promo. Maybe by the time I have enough to redeem an NH J seat ex-PER, they'll be bookable via VFF!
 
Based on the figures provided, if you had really tried to churn credit cards, you should have earned more than a million points over that 12 month period. Given your conscious efforts to try to earn points, that's a lot of points to choose to miss out on.
 
Just wondering about the BankWest transaction accounts. HAS no overseas fees, bu tit doesn't seem worth it just for the points. i have a mortgae offset account which makes more sense for me
i think, but if thi is your main tx account then it may may make sense.
 
I‘m going to post something similar in the QF PC thread on completion of my current membership year to show how hard getting PC+ is if you don’t churn or run a shed load of business expenses through QF earning cards. I was already on Optus, so couldn’t get that offer and I’m tied into several very good insurance products that aren’t worth breaking off… But there was a good promo from Superhero (online trading).

I’m looking at just short of 300k towards PC from something like 350k QFF points total (including extra flying miles). I think I’ve burnt ~500k this year on past, present and future trips. Mostly J international.

QF Wine is an exceptionally good option - if you drink wine. There’s some quite decent midweek quaffers with 10k bonus points offers. QF Hotels / AirBnB also excellent earners and AirBnB points drop in only ~3 days (Hotel stays tend to take 4 to 6 wks).

Red Planet has been kind this year. Almost 19k!
 
Dr Ralph said:
Based on the figures provided, if you had really tried to churn credit cards, you should have earned more than a million points over that 12 month period. Given your conscious efforts to try to earn points, that's a lot of points to choose to miss out on.
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In your opinion, how many points per year can a person with regular spend acquire through churning on a sustainable basis?

If the average bonus is about 75K points for Qantas & 50K for non-Qantas options and you can easily do one every 60-90 days without risking too many denials from providers, that means you can collect 200-450K points per year.

That's only one return business class trip to Europe/US per year, maybe one and a half if you push the upper end of that points count. To be fair, it is also one OWA per year, but they only suit very particular forms of travel.

It shows you how bad even churning has become for those taking regular long-haul business class trips. I miss the days of easy 130K+ bonuses!
 
AFF Editor said:
In this article, I explain what I do to earn Qantas & Velocity points, and share a breakdown of the points I've earned in both programs over the past 12 months:


How many points have you earned over the last year, and what are your tips to earn more points?

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.
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Great article. So many ways to earn points. I've been building them for over two years and love the perks. My everyday card is the Qantas Premier Platinum and secondary card is Amex Platinum. They are both great points building work horses. Looking forward to your next article 😊
 
As mentioned, those 20x points on certain gift cards are a great source. I was desperate to reach minimum spend on a card so I put a $5,000 airbnb payment directly on a CC (stupidly forgot to go via Qantas site) but if I didn't need that I would have bought 5k worth of gift cards during the going promo and collected 50,000 QFF points. Same with Apple store. Bought an $800 ipad and pocketed 8,000 points.

I really need to get my in-laws onto a rewards card. They're farmers and they put a ton of expenses onto no-rewards (because they're no fees) CCs. They just don't want the hassle I guess and I don't blame them
 

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