Best use for 200,000 DC points

[econgdon]

I am being bombarded with offers to transfer my 200,000 Diners reward points. They are equal to 1 to 1 Qantas ff point. I see Qantas next year will not accept them and Ill be stuck, but I suspect that this is a ploy by Qantas to sell points to gain more revenue that will take a while to be spent ( If thats how it works) Any suggestions as what to do with them? The Velocity transfer rate seems of low value seeing I reckon a V point is only worth half a Qff point. Is that correct?

 

[serfty]

Et Tu Diners?

Diners Club Rewards Program Changes

Qantas has announced that from 1 April 2009, Qantas Frequent Flyer points will no longer be a reward option in some credit and charge card reward programs. ...

Oh well ...

 

[simongr]

Personally I would transfer them to American Airlines AAdvantage program.

There are lots of posts about that program here.

Just to compare the possibilities for a First class Award to Singapore on BA.

200K Diners -> 200K QFF: Award cost 180K points plus around $500 in surcharges
200K Diners -> 100K AA: Award cost 90K points plus around $200 in surcharges

There is a straight cash saving. Also your 100K has contributed to your lifetime total on AA - 10% towards lifetime gold status (same as lifetime silver on QFF).

 

[kpc]

I would change them to SPG which is at 2:1 ie 2 DC = 1SPG (a good exchange rate). You can get some some amazing hotel awards (with no surcharges, taxes etc) for 100,000 SPG points!! I'm staying in a suite in Sheraton Krabi for 3 nites in 6 weeks' time for 22000 SPG ponits; each nite goes for at least AUD$300, probably more now as the AUD plunges:shock:

PS from SPG, you can still transfer them to AA at 1:1 ratio. Importantly, if you transfer in blocks of 20000 SPG points, you get 25000 AA points! So even if you want to transfer your 200000 DC points to AA, you should do it via SPG as you will (if done correctly) net an additional 25000 AA points cf to tranferring directly from DC to AA.

 

[serfty]

Going by the above posts:

• 200K Diners -> 100K SPG
• 100K SPG -> 125K AA (with 5 x 5K bonii)
• Therefore:
  • 200K Diners ---> 125K AAdvantage

 

[simongr]

Good points on that re the SPG transfer.

This is why I joined this site - think you know everything and someone can ehnance your knowledge

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Going by the above posts:

• 200K Diners -> 100K SPG
• 100K SPG -> 125K AA (with 5 x 5K bonii)
• Therefore:
  • 200K Diners ---> 125K AAdvantage

I don't have a Diners..but I do note:

Well for me it is the much maligned Diners club.You can redeem in 11 FF programs,all major hotel loyalty programs at rates that are often better than others-eg SPG 2 points=1SPG point.
Value is a problem if you have to pay for the card but i have an affinity card with no annual fee and 1.5 points per dollar spend.
Everyone goes on about acceptance but virtually all hotels,TAs,dept stores,supermarkets and petrol stations accept it and it is only very occas.that i pay a surcharge(and then only if it is no more than visa/mc).I can easily rack up over 100000 points per year.
So example
-I get 0.9375 AA miles per $A spend making it as good as having an american card.
I certainly also have a visa and mc for those occasions it cant be used.

So based on what Drron posted I assume that

200,000 would transfer directly as (200K *0.9375)/1.5 = 125,000

So it is better to not go through SPG.

 

[kpc]

I don't have a Diners..but I do note:

So based on what Drron posted I assume that

200,000 would transfer as (200K *0.9375)/1.5 = 125,000

You are correct! I have amended my post above. Serfty will need to do the same!

 

[mhen]

I logged in this morning intending to ask the question what to do with my 165K Diners points and lo and behold the answer was already there - transfer to SPG and then to AA. Thanks guys.

My next question is are there any other Aussie based credit cards that allow transfer to SPG and/or AA or should I stick with my Diners (which I was planning to cancel once I had redeemed all my points)? Inability to get call centre staff to understand let alone resolve an issue earlier this year meant I switched my 80K a year to another card but AA is not an option there.

 

[serfty]

What's a nominal $50 worth of points among friendly members ...

I have amended relevant posts so as not to confuse ...

*Actually, with the current value of the Roo against the greenback point/miles transfering CC to US based loyalty schemes and NOT to Qantas can vastly increase their value.

e.g. I spent 25K HHonours points for a stay at the Singapore Hilton in June, replacing a SGD280 booking I had. (Cheapest Flexible) - worth AUD216 at the time; today those same 25K HHonors points in lieu of an SGD280 stay would have been worth AUD315!

 

[simongr]

My next question is are there any other Aussie based credit cards that allow transfer to SPG and/or AA or should I stick with my Diners (which I was planning to cancel once I had redeemed all my points)? Inability to get call centre staff to understand let alone resolve an issue earlier this year meant I switched my 80K a year to another card but AA is not an option there.

Amex -> SPG - 1000 -> 330

Not as good as Diners though...

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I logged in this morning intending to ask the question what to do with my 165K Diners points and lo and behold the answer was already there - transfer to SPG and then to AA. Thanks guys.

My next question is are there any other Aussie based credit cards that allow transfer to SPG and/or AA or should I stick with my Diners (which I was planning to cancel once I had redeemed all my points)? Inability to get call centre staff to understand let alone resolve an issue earlier this year meant I switched my 80K a year to another card but AA is not an option there.

I am not sure you read my post???

See above on DC which gains more points by direct transfer than via SPG.

Cheers.

 

[gibspmuh]

I am not sure you read my post???

See above on DC which gains more points by direct transfer than via SPG.

Cheers.

From the sums you did, I'd have to guess that Drron's calculations are done on going via SPG, rather than a direct transfer to AA.

Given the transfer rate from Diner's Club is 2:1 for both SPG and AA, and SPG transfers at 1:1 to AA and gives 5,000 points bonus for every 20,000 points transfered, I can't see how it's better to transfer the points directly to AA.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

From the sums you did, I'd have to guess that Drron's calculations are done on going via SPG, rather than a direct transfer to AA.

Given the transfer rate from Diner's Club is 2:1 for both SPG and AA, and SPG transfers at 1:1 to AA and gives 5,000 points bonus for every 20,000 points transfered, I can't see how it's better to transfer the points directly to AA.

Maybe Drron was wrong then (or the rate has changed) ??? He has posted a number of times though that he gets better transfer from DC than Amex though...and that (plus that he gets DC free) is why he keeps using it.

I took note of his past posts as I would love to finda good way to get points to AA from CC.

A large chunk of my spend is on School Fees and the School takes Amex...but not DC.

So for the time being the best use for me is MR to SQ as I normally want 4 or 5 award tickets ata time.....and so I cannot get enough points to AA to make that possible ina reasonable period of time.

With SQ I can with good "effective" earn to burn rates.

 

[gibspmuh]

Maybe Drron was wrong then (or the rate has changed) ??? He has posted a number of times though that he gets better transfer from DC than Amex though...and that (plus that he gets DC free) is why he keeps using it.

If you're comparing the transfer rate from Diners through to American Airlines, compared to going from Amex through to AA then the transfer rate is definitely better using Diners (now that the Amex rate via SPG has reverted from 1000:600 to 1000:330).

The transfer of Diners Club points to American Airlines through SPG is still a better option than transferring directly to American Airlines though.

 

[simongr]

drron's rate is also compounded in that he is comparing $1 spent rather than 1 point earned as he earns 1.5 points per $1.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

drron's rate is also compounded in that he is comparing $1 spent rather than 1 point earned as he earns 1.5 points per $1.

Which is why in my calculation above that I divided by 1.5 (to make it calculation on points rather than spend)...as well as highlighting the 1.5 rate in bold.

 

[kpc]

I don't have a Diners..but I do note:

So based on what Drron posted I assume that

200,000 would transfer directly as (200K *0.9375)/1.5 = 125,000

So it is better to not go through SPG.

Which is why in my calculation above that I divided by 1.5 (to make it calculation on points rather than spend)...as well as highlighting the 1.5 rate in bold.

You had it right the first time.
Irrespective of how you earned the 200000 DC points:
1) a direct transfer to AA nets 100000 AA points (2:1 ratio)
2) an indirect transfer via SPG nets 100000 SPG points (2:1 ratio), which in turn nets 125000 AA points (if you transfer in 5 lots of 20000 SPG points to get the 5000 bonus AA points per 20000 SPG points transferred).

Please consider using the 100000 SPG points for hotel stays - there is great value redeeming them for nice hotel stays

 

[serfty]

And of course, with a USD30 fee, that 125,000 AA points converts to 250,000 HHonors points.

 

[simongr]

I am not convinced on CC points -> hotel (note I have earned 600K of HHonors points on stays alone over the past 18 months so my view is probably coloured).

Just in our current example.

120K AA points gets me a return to LHR in J - valued at say $9000 or maybe $6000 if one could find a comparable J option.

That 120K AAdvantage miles could be 240K HHonors points being 6 nights at the London Waldorf Hilton. That has a value of around $5,530.

Obviously the Waldorf is the most expensive Hilton I could find in London but that reinforces that the value I am getting from those same points would only go down...