Kris Flyer Points

[Limewood]

Does one have to fly to gain Kris Flyer points or can they be gained from CC purchases?, reason I ask I fall into latter category and rack up a great deal from purchases.

 

[cove]

Westpac Platinum Kris Flyer is a real winner and they enrol you thru your application.
That card gets a point per dollar on Visa and 1.5 on their Amex.
You dont have to do a qualifying flight to be in the points feast.
Kris points expire every 3 years so use them or lose them applies.
Availability is excellent on where and when you can fly but a typical J booking might cost $800 odd in fees and charges.

 

[Limewood]

Excellent Cove, will look into this for sure.

 

[Alanslegal]

You could also transfer points from the Ascent Rewards program with American Express to SQ Kris Flyer. So if you spend alot of major supermarkets you could consider the new Amex Edge Platinum Card will earn you 3 points per $1 ... and can transfer to SQ at 1:1. (Just be aware that other purchases will earn 1 per $1.)

 

[cove]

Just tested the product and let me say it was very good.
We chose the F product SIN- LAX via Narita using the 747 after the A330 J flight PER-SIN just to see the service quality.
Narita was a refuel,leg stretch for about an hour which includes a further screening for security. No problem there and then the sleeper leg to LAX was about 9 hours so that worked very well.

 

[cove]

Bearing in mind Mrscove booked her flights 11 days prior to travelling those flights were really good use of her Kris points.
She did spend 76,500 more points because Saver was gone but Standard redemption is still great value for the whole trip.
What I am trying to say is Standard may be about a third extra on points for late bookings but it still represents top value.
Now did I mention the KRUG champagne and the lobster thermidor?

 

[cove]

My sons just booked a J trip to Manchester on Kris points for 2 in about 4 weeks time.
Availability is still one of the key issues of any scheme and SQ still has the goods.
They only had to try out of Perth as that is their ideal starting point.
Sure the Saver deals were gone but Standard points are ok.

 

[Pollywaffle]

I love my KF points!

I will be travelling Aust > Europe > USA > Aust in Bus. class all the way courtesy of my KF points.

I was lucky to have the Wesptac KF card when it first came out. 3 points per $1 spend on the Amex really bumped up the points I accrued.

I also found alot more choice and options when redeeming my KF points than I have ever found on Qantas.

 

[KLN]

Does one have to fly to gain Kris Flyer points or can they be gained from CC purchases?, reason I ask I fall into latter category and rack up a great deal from purchases.

also be aware that Westpac Altitude have a Visa and Amex on the same account.
$1/1 on the visa $1/2 points on the AMex.
but you can also transfer points to other FF such as MH/Emrites/Virgin as well as Singapore.
points transfer at 2 for 1 then. i think these cards are cheaper in annual fee than the Krisflyer card. theres another Krisflyer card card i think that does 3 for $1. but it's annual fee is a lot more too.

 

[deft]

Which card does 3 for $1. Your writing does not inspire confidence.

 

[JohnK]

Which card does 3 for $1. Your writing does not inspire confidence.

Used to be 3 points/$1!

I was lucky to have the Wesptac KF card when it first came out. 3 points per $1 spend on the Amex really bumped up the points I accrued.

The direct sweep Westpac KrisFlyer card....

 

[albatross710]

also be aware that Westpac Altitude have a Visa and Amex on the same account.
$1/1 on the visa $1/2 points on the AMex.
but you can also transfer points to other FF such as MH/Emrites/Virgin as well as Singapore.
points transfer at 2 for 1 then. i think these cards are cheaper in annual fee than the Krisflyer card.

Good point KLN. Depends on where you want the points to finish up.

Spending $1,000 on the two Westpac cards has this impact on points:

Spend $1,000 on Westpac Altitude Visa = 1,000 Altitude points = 500 Krisflyer miles
Spend $1,000 on Westpac Krisflyer Visa = [direct sweep] = 1,000 Krisflyer miles.

The benefit (for me) of the spend going onto the Altitude Visa is to store points for longer than 3 years but it comes at a 50% 'loss". Once the points hit Krisflyer they have a 3 year expiry. At the moment I' have plans to spend as many of the Krisflyer points while I can.

 

[cove]

With 5 additional points users plus yourself it is hard to imagine losing points in 3 years except for remainders that are short of getting you somewhere.
When the 3 year expiry is close you would do bookings to consume those points.

 

[mjward55]

I just received a letter from SQ Westpac Platinum advising that the Visa earn rate will be reduced to $1 = 0.5miles from 15March2011. Also they are discontinuing the Discount Miles Voucher which you receive on your annual renewal.

No change to the amex earn rate, but I can get that earn on my pt amex and transfer them across to SQ at my discretion; so the real benefit on the Westpac card was the visa earn which has been slashed in half.

I just don't understand why Platinium cards don't reward their customers by increasing benefits and not reducing them; just look at the backlash following the QF changes to its FF program.

Seems that Virgin's John Borghetti has been handed an entre into premium market; lookout for a good Platinium offer from Virgin.

 

[yotmojo]

Re: Kris Flyer Points Significant Changes

I am with you on the points issue - halving the accrual rate will result in the Westpac Platinum Krisflyer Visa losing many customers, particularly when the very high taxes and charges for Singair redemptions are taken into account. Which card will we move to from March 15th 2011? Your collective advice and guidance would be appreciated.

 

[mjward55]

Re: Kris Flyer Points Significant changes

I am going to review the web sites that compare these cards. I also recall both Choice and AFR did recent reviews, so will look at that as well.

However I would love to see Virgin take up the challenge and provide a PT card (visa or mastercard) with a good earn rate of at least 1:1, points that don't expire, transferability to all virgin carriers online to Aust and also to their new partner Eithad.

An annual travel voucher would also be a bonus, but something better than the one offered with Virgin flyer card (too restrictive on its routes).

 

[mjward55]

Does this community ever setup online petitions- would love to set one to send to SQ and Westpac over these recent changes

 

[albatross710]

Does this community ever setup online petitions- would love to set one to send to SQ and Westpac over these recent changes

That's exactly the sort of thing I'd love to setup...just don't have the mental capacity for too much more before Xmas.