Golden Rules for points accrual

[Duffa]

I have just got off the phone from a dear friend who was asking me how I had been able to travel J to Europe with family of four. We are in same business and have roughly the same income. I offered him these "Golden Rules" for points accumulation

1. Never, never accept less than 1 point per dollar on Visa/MasterCard.
2. Never accept less than 1.5 point per dollar on Amex.
3. Never pay more than a 1% surcharge for any deductible expense and 0.5% for non-deductible expense (notwithstanding Cove's and others advice about reaching a points target if you're just short).

Number 4 was going to be "Pay for EVERYTHING on card and naturally pay it off in full - ALWAYS" but that was a no-brainer for this forum.

Anyone got any other pearls which I can throw him?

D

 

[moa999]

Amex is quickly trying to change rule 2.

 

[Meggsy]

One should review their personal situation in regards to utilities, mobile phones, internet, etc as they can all be used to accrue further points on monthly accounts, dependent on your choice of loyalty program and service provider and naturally every day rewards or fly buys for grocery shopping. Every bit helps.

 

[dajop]

Avoid locking yourself into a QF direct sweep card, unless your sole aim is domestic redemptions (or you are Platinum). This is to keep your options open.

 

[11sjw]

Amex is quickly trying to change rule 2.

Agreed. AMEX direct earn (QF) cards from NAB and ANZ still maintian 1.5 for everything.

Look at swapping Credit Cards regularly. The bonus point offers are great.

 

[Gary169]

As a newbie, I only travel a few times per year (read 3-4) and look forward to the use of the Lounge instead of sitting with thousands of others all scrambling for a seat whilst waiting for the flight.
Is this 'bad'?

 

[ashleyn]

Absolutely not, that's a good aim.

 

[ashleyn]

I have just got off the phone from a dear friend who was asking me how I had been able to travel J to Europe with family of four. We are in same business and have roughly the same income. I offered him these "Golden Rules" for points accumulation

1. Never, never accept less than 1 point per dollar on Visa/MasterCard.
2. Never accept less than 1.5 point per dollar on Amex.
3. Never pay more than a 1% surcharge for any deductible expense and 0.5% for non-deductible expense (notwithstanding Cove's and others advice about reaching a points target if you're just short).

Number 4 was going to be "Pay for EVERYTHING on card and naturally pay it off in full - ALWAYS" but that was a no-brainer for this forum.

Anyone got any other pearls which I can throw him?

D

Keep a look out for bonus offers to get a new CC. 35000 points for a joining fee of $290 is pretty good (current NAB offer). The cheaper the better.

 

[cove]

Duffa I think you have covered it really well. I still regularly run into folks who could run up millions of points but laugh it off as being too hard.
This year we got some extra benefits from the Australian Taxation Office lowering the fee for Visa and MasterCard. Next we got payroll tax in Vic,NSW and Qld and finally land tax in WA having the $5000 cap removed.
What you can get points on is a moving target so read the invoices you get to pay.
If you get a tax bill that says you cannot pay it on a credit card it is printed on old stationery so just go ahead and credit card it.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

No. 5 Ensure the friend becomes a member of the AFF Community & subscribes to the US Dividend Miles/Cheap way to fly First/Business thread.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Well unfortunately I don't have a business to rack up points that way. Though good luck for those that do.

However I still manage to generate a healthy earn, and my family of 5 now only fly J, or F, internationally for our holidays once or twice a year.
I never pay now for international flights, and rarely pay domestically. While a decade ago I use to rack uup points from work, as I used to flya lot and stay in point earning hotels, my point earn now is basically only from private endeavours now.

TIPS

It is not just the earn, but the burn too!!! Out perform on both and you will fly in J more often, and for less.

Think Alliance, and not just Airline. And indeed think Alliances, and not just Alliance.

Belong to more than one FF program, as different opportunities can achieve out-perform earn an burn to each.

Think family, and not just individual.

If you are strategic in everything you do, you will out-perform.

Not all points are worth acquiring. Consider the effective earn/burn, cost and effort to acquire.

The more ways you have of acquiring points, the more you will earn. Points can be gained in many different ways. ie My grocery shop at Woolies ( I also buy elsewhere for tastes or price reasons) last year would have been an expense of about $10,000 but has racked up 45K of QFF points and 30K of Amex MR points (to go to KF).

Recognise that each new day will bring opportunities. Seize the day on the ones that count in particular, as from time to time there are some opportunities that are golden. He who hesitates will but economy!!!!

Look and rsearch for opportunities, including from here on AFF.

Adapt each opportunity to your circumastances, and how you wish to burn.

Work the credit cards offers, and churn the cards. ( ie I have earnt over 400k in just over a year)

It is not just the set earn point earn that is important, but also the promo points, and sign-on points.

Understand how and why promos are offered, and you can "attract" them. It is not just luck that I gain many of the offered promos.

Applying all of the above has meant this last year that for a spend of less that six figures on goods and services that I would buy anyway, that I will have earnt about 6 J flights to Europe.

 

[strance]

Applying all of the above has meant this last year that for a spend of less that six figures on goods and services that I would buy anyway, that I will have earnt about 6 J flights to Europe.

I need to branch out of from Qantas program, even with 3 or 4 sign-on bonuses and > 1:1 cc earn there’s no way I could get 6 x one way J trips to Europe (768k qf points) from a sub 100k spend per year. By your yard stick I’ve been grossly negligent with my cc spend !

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I need to branch out of from Qantas program, even with 3 or 4 sign-on bonuses and > 1:1 cc earn there’s no way I could get 6 x one way J trips to Europe (768k qf points)

Sorry. I meant 6 return J to Europe return in my example..


As an example I this weekend just booked one of my daughters a one J back from Ghana via Cairo and Bangkok for 72500 points, plus $SIN500 in taxes and charges.

The QFF program can have some good redemptions though. ie RTW OneWorld Award in J.

from a sub 100k spend per year. By your yard stick I’ve been grossly negligent with my cc spend !

An average yield of 1 FF point per $ spent is a low bar.

Amex from Oct are making things harder and not just the earn per $, but because it looks like the generous promos that regularly used to occur, and in particular in the second half of the year, have been scaled pack.

ie the current promo will earn say 4000. Whereas in recent years promos would appear where you could earn more than 100K if you worked them. So if this remains the case this will cost myself a J or 2 return to Europe each year.

However even if the quantum is less, there will still be various opportunities like the Qantas Credit Union Card where you can pick up 30K to QFF for no cost apart from one transaction per month for several months.

Everything goes in cycles. So even if there is a bit of a drought be prepared to pounce when some candy presents.

 

[JohnK]

Avoid locking yourself into a QF direct sweep card, unless your sole aim is domestic redemptions (or you are Platinum). This is to keep your options open.

I like keeping options open and I also like the Oneworld award. Can be achieved on SQ but is way more expensive.

That being said though I try to limit to Qantas only spend on the Amex Qantas Premium card as that earns ~2.25 points/$.

 

[dajop]

I like keeping options open and I also like the Oneworld award. Can be achieved on SQ but is way more expensive..

Good point. Although to benefit from these, I think it helps if you are also a platinum, as in my experience, at times, the oneworld awards can be difficult to get (particularly on routes you get the most value out of them). I've done 3 (1 full in J, 1 full in Y and a shorter version in Y, for my brother after he transferred pts to me), on each of these I relied on the platinum ability to request an award seat to be opened on one of the sectors. Without that it would have been more complicated, or impossible.

 

[Norris]

When out for dinner, I ALWAYs offer to put credit card down and pay, especially if its AMEX.
Usually only with close friends who already have my bank details saved and are trusted so they can quickly pay me back on their mobile banking/chash.
Extra 1-2k points p/m

 

[Hvr]

Always check your points post when they due. Otherwise all the effort you have made to collect points is wasted if they don't get posted.

 

[Ausbt]

I recently spent $182 on a hotel that delivered twelve (12) times that value in points i.e. 2,184 points. That seems mad, but combining different offers (Plat + double points + affiliate chain) can do the trick. Then pay for it with a co-branded card and add a further 546 points to that. Also I lodge my retro-claims for hotel on the day of checkout - I know those guys are slow to credit, so why wait? I just lodge the claim straightaway.

 

[paultiffen]

Get your rent on a credit card if it's at a reasonable rate, if your company reimburses you for expenses then take on more if possible. Try some other tricks to inflate purchases (have a look around forums) but keep it spread over multiple cards/providers as spending 10x your yearly income on the card will set off a flag

 

[burmans]

Keep a look out for bonus offers to get a new CC. 35000 points for a joining fee of $290 is pretty good (current NAB offer). The cheaper the better.

This would appear to break rule 3!