Now flying 80-90 times per year, which rewards schemes if any should i use?

[Deleted member 29185]

Could it be enough points to "almost" negate that extra $4,500 spend ?

Without wanting to put words in the OPs mouth, I'd be thinking this work arrangement is to a budget. Let's face it, he's accepted a position in SYD which a Sydneysider may have got without the added burden of airfares and added (maybe) travel time. That cuts into a wage considerably and although there is an upside (cheaper property prices, possible quicker commutes etc) there will also be a "break even" point where the choice to work in SYD and Live on the GC hides behind the 8 ball! What you have mentioned are very valid points, but may be negated by the base proposal. It'll be a balancing act which, if the OP can survive 80-90 flights each year in -Y, will provide an exhausting but workable way to have the job he wants, but disrupt the family as little as possible. This can work for some, but is also impossible for others. It'll depend on the people involved.

 

[Nizar]

Without wanting to put words in the OPs mouth, I'd be thinking this work arrangement is to a budget. Let's face it, he's accepted a position in SYD which a Sydneysider may have got without the added burden of airfares and huge travel time. That cuts into a wage considerably and although there is an upside (cheaper property prices, possible quicker commutes etc) there will also be a "break even" point where the choice to work in SYD and Live on the GC hides behind the 8 ball! What you have mentioned are very valid points, but may be negated by the base proposal. It'll be a balancing act which, if the OP can survive 80-90 flights each year in -Y, will provide an exhausting but workable way to have the job he wants, but disrupt the family as little as possible. This can work for some, but is also impossible for others. It'll depend on the people involved.

Easy tiger, it was just some suggestions

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Easy tiger, it was just some suggestions

Yes.....and very valid suggestions. I did credit that in my post. I did not intend to berate you. (where's the hug emoticon?)

 

[reesy84]

Qantas offering club membership for next 72hrs minus the initial $366 sign up fee. Wondering if i should just buy a years membership? ??

 

[reesy84]

Qantas offering club membership for next 72hrs minus the initial $366 sign up fee. Wondering if i should just buy a years membership? ??

Will answer my own question and say this offer is pointless for Jetstar travelers unless they fly within the opening hours time frame of Qantas Club at OOL.
Which does not work for my situation. As the latest it stays open till is 18:40pm and i would like to fly later than that out of OOL

 

[Mattg]

Will answer my own question and say this offer is pointless for Jetstar travelers unless they fly within the opening hours time frame of Qantas Club at OOL.
Which does not work for my situation. As the latest it stays open till is 18:40pm and i would like to fly later than that out of OOL

I'm in the Qantas Club in OOL right now. I notice that it stays open all morning, from about 7am(ish) until 1.30pm, then closes before re-opening from 4.40pm to 6.40pm. I hadn't realised it doesn't close mid-morning - which is good to know. But as you say, not so useful if you fly in the evening.

 

[JohnK]

Thanks mattg.
im still currently up in the air whether to commit to virgin or not.
there are no flights this year for $69 they are between january and march next year. This years sale between october and december is $85.
It is possible to still get flights for half these prices with jetstar pricebeat so outlaying between $700-850 for 10 flights is seeming a bit hard for me when i can get 10 flights for approx $400 with the lcc

I do SYD-BNE quite regularly.

The other night I booked some flights for October/November/December. Not all the flights I need during that period but the ones I know I definitely need to be back in SYD. The Friday night flights I booked mainly on Qantas from BNE at $115 and some from OOL at $78. The return flights are a mixture of Qantas at $115, Virgin to BNE at $96 and Virgin to OOL at $78.

I then booked some flights for January/February/March and booked Qantas at $95 and some Virgin to/from OOL for $69. I did not book any Virgin airfares to/from BNE at $85. Yes I do try to save money where possible but that flight is too expensive.

All in all I booked around 25 flights. It took ~3 hours to book those flights. The planning earlier in the night took ~2 hours. Will I still be working in Brisbane in March 2016? I hope so but I don't know for sure. It is worth the risk as I believe flights will increase further. I will need to book some more flights closer to travel and I know these will be more expensive but I cannot commit to those dates yet.

I refuse to fly Jetstar. I will fly Tiger if they are really cheap but most of their last minute airfares are expensive.

 

[kevrosmith]

Plenty of good suggestions and points already made.

Regardless of how you start out, you'll become accustomed to certain things over time and your perspective and habits will change. You'll refine what works best for you, so don't stress too much in the beginning. Starting out a certain way doesn't mean that you can't change what you do later. As others have suggested, try a few things and see what works for you. A few weeks of travel that might not contribute to status on one airline is not going to impact too great in the scheme of 4-5 years of travel.

As Reload mentioned, a couple occurrences of things going wrong will help you work out what is important, and when it comes to the crunch, whether you really do want to forfeit that $120 fare to buy another $300 fare at the last minute (providing that is even possible, especially during peak times). And when you've possibly missed that really important family event back at home because TT cancelled their last flight out of SYD, you'll re-evaluate how you value your purchases then. At the time, you'll be thinking how expensive that flight is and what a PITA it is, not how much you've saved over the whole year.

I've been doing the commute for 4.5 years now, and while the cost for me is a business expense, I have slowly changed my purchasing and flying habits to the point now where I only fly VA and QF, and I buy Flexi fares without even looking at Savers/Red eDeals. After missing a half of day's work at a client when flying JQ, I quickly worked out the income I lost and inconvenience wasn't worth the $40 I'd saved on the fare compared to VA or QF.

I also did the sums after 12 months of travel and added up all the change fees on saver/red edeals compared to the original fares, and it wasn't much different, and then worked out how many points and SCs I'd missed. It took me about 2 years of flying to get to this mind-set.

If you're parking at OOL, make sure you look at the online pre-book options to save some money.

If you do settle on VA, go and get the Amex Velocity Platinum card to earn 3 points per dollar on VA purchases. The Westpac Earth Black gives you 2.5 points per dollar spent on QF. And make sure you learn the Gift voucher trick for QF purchases to avoid credit card fees.

Flight purchases and processing upgrades takes up a fair bit of my business admin time already: I'd hate to imagine the extra time required to do fare comparisons and price matches (though I heard recently it's pretty easy online now with JQ Chat).

 

[justcallmeryan]

VAs fly-ahead for SG+ would appeal to me with that type of commute. Could book a comfortable time to get from work to airport (so you are not worried about missing your flight every week) and still get home early if the traffic is good

Bingo. If I was commuting weekly this would be an enormous advantage, particularly on a well serviced route like SYD/OOL. You'd save heaps by booking the late fares and likely be home at normal time anyway. For my semi regular SYD - MEL trips I now only buy the 9pm flights in either direction and 99% of the time have success on moving forward.

 

[lastrow]

I have noted these arguments with interest and it seems to me that VA wins hands down.

The QF service to OOL is patchy, in fact until last year it was non existent

The QF lounge at OOL only opens on restricted hours and is pretty basic.

The VA departure gates in SYD T2 are at least within a quick walk from the VA lounge.

The VA velocity points you will earn will come in handy in future, either for reward commuter flights (which offset the extra cost) or perhaps for overseas travel

Back in my business days I recall that it was possible to 'contract' with an airline to provide a specific service on a regular basis at a discounted price. For instance if you were prepared to lock in a seat on the same flight on the same day for a period of some months then the cost was almost half price. I recall doing business with Ansett on this basis and the deal was also available for regular freight shipments.

Has anyone attempted to lock in a deal with one of the airlines on this basis?

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I have noted these arguments with interest and it seems to me that VA wins hands down.

Only as far as status goes. Not playing the status game possibly wins hands down, but only time will tell. I think the OP will certainly be able to ignore status for some time, but that amount of flying will wear thin after a while. That's the point at which time status will shine (IMHO).

 

[Bunty]

Don't forget to get an Amex Platinum card to give you:

*unlimited complimentary Virgin Lounge access for you and a guest (may be useful for the first year flying Virgin until status is reached),
*80,000 Bonus points,
*2 points per dollar for travel related spend,
*$200 Travel Credit, Travel Insurance (including Travel Inconvenience and Accident cover),
*a range of other perks.
for $1,200p.a.

 

[andye]

Don't forget to get an Amex Platinum card to give you:

*unlimited complimentary Virgin Lounge access for you and a guest (may be useful for the first year flying Virgin until status is reached),
*80,000 Bonus points,
*2 points per dollar for travel related spend,
*$200 Travel Credit, Travel Insurance (including Travel Inconvenience and Accident cover),
*a range of other perks.
for $1,200p.a.

Thats a pretty hefty fee in context. The Virgin Amex Plat would make more sense IMO but could still be daunting in terms of annual fee and limit