Rookie to experienced frequent flyer

[Stargazer]

Hi Everyone, just wondering what mistakes you did as a rookie frequent flyer that you now do differently as an experienced frequent flyer

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hi Everyone, just wondering what mistakes you did as a rookie frequent flyer that you now do differently as an experienced frequent flyer

I dunno if I would classify ‘learning’ and ‘proficiency’ as ‘mistakes’.

The more you fly the more likely it is you’ll learn from experience and determine what works when, and how.

The first time you miss a connection due to a thunderstorm ground ‘stop’ at an American airport like Chicago or Dallas is the time you work out you need to aim for two-three hours up your sleeve if connecting through those cities during peak T-storm season. And the same for snow at places like Chicago and New York.

The first time your flight is cancelled or delayed and you don’t receive a notification from the airline is the time you most likely start monitoring your bookings on a regular basis to see if there have been changes.

‘Acting early’ is another key action… wait for the airline to reschedule your flights could mean you miss out on the best alternatives. Monitor your flights and as soon as you see there’s a problem, act on it before everyone else does.

Reviewing your frequent flyer memberships and asking if they are really working for you is something else I’d recommend. Are you spending double the price on airfares to try and get status? How often will you use that status? Could you get a better deal if not in the hunt for points? For example is it better to fly to London premium economy to get some more points and status so you can use a lounge, or pay the same price - or less - for business class on another airline that comes with a flat bed and lounge access anyway? Is having to wait an hour every time you call the airline for a problem worth an hour in the lounge before your flights?

 

[Stargazer]

OK stupid question coming up. As I have yet to book flights (complete newbie) how do you monitor your flights as soon as you see a problem - how will you know there is a problem. What website do you monitor eg QF manage booking.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

OK stupid question coming up. As I have yet to book flights (complete newbie) how do you monitor your flights as soon as you see a problem - how will you know there is a problem. What website do you monitor eg QF manage booking.

There’s regular monitoring in the sense of keeping an eye on things to make sure there’s no changes. These may or may not be communicated by the airline. Schedule changes can happen at any time, or the aircraft can be changed. There are also two major timetable periods - winter and summer. If you have booked a long way in advance your flights could be subject to change as airlines tweak their timetables for these periods. This happens quite often for USA domestic flights.

The other monitoring is if you know there likely to be bad weather, or you’ve been reviewing AFF and see that planned routes aren’t going to open as scheduled, or if strike action has been announced, or if airspace is closed due to conflict or a volcano. If you’ve got flights that could be impacted, see how you’ll be affected, and try and be proactive.

Monitoring an airline’s manage booking function may not be enough. Sometimes for example you might read on AFF that an airline is opening a route later than planned, but the airline as the got around to ‘cancelling’ the flight you’ve been booked on yet. So it still appears as normal in manage booking. You’d be wanting to get in early, find alternative routes, and book those before everyone else does!

 

[Stargazer]

Still not clear on dealing with immediate changes to a flight. For example within one day up to two weeks prior to departure. How will I manage my bookings - what do I check to ensure I can best deal with this situation.

 

[Rich]

Hi Everyone, just wondering what mistakes you did as a rookie frequent flyer that you now do differently as an experienced frequent flyer

Interesting topic.
What sort of FF do you intend to become? The reason I ask is that although I have been a FF member for nearly 30 years I do not fly frequently - just a few domestic flights a year and overseas every couple of years. I get a lot of points from spending and churning. For the record I almost always fly domestic on points (there are plenty of options 2 weeks or more out) but international is harder.
This site is full of people who are travelling all the time (mostly for work I presume) and in a position where things like status runs become worthwhile. There is a lot of information here that will never be relevant to me (but interesting all the same). I am not even going to try to answer you second post because someone will give a better answer.
My mistakes are
- not getting on to credit card churning years ago
- being too conservative on churning once I did get into it (nevertheless tread carefully at first and monitor your credit rating - and consider if it will negatively impact you if taking out a loan in the future)
- not having options with at least a second FF program - this was a short period when I burned all my Virgin points on wine as they were going under a couple of years ago - leaving me with no second option for award bookings
- cancelling a return leg on a domestic QF award booking and rebooking a different trip as our end destination changed. Qantas says once you have commenced your booking there are no refunds, so we ended up losing 60000 (?) points and fees. Where possible I now book 2 x one-way instead of a return for domestic.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Still not clear on dealing with immediate changes to a flight. For example within one day up to two weeks prior to departure. How will I manage my bookings - what do I check to ensure I can best deal with this situation.

Keep your eye on your booking through the manage booking page. If you see anything on to ward have a look at your options and get on top of it straight away. That's about the best you can do.

 

[Franky]

Keep your eye on your booking through the manage booking page. If you see anything on to ward have a look at your options and get on top of it straight away. That's about the best you can do.

And without wanting to give you information overload, I would suggest that you make an investment that will help you with all of your planning, and take out a subscription to Expert Flyer. There are many here who can give you more info than me on using the site to obtain the best of all the options you will be looking at. Log into the site for a look at what they provide.

 

[UP4014]

After the loss of points during the Ansett collapse I switched obviously to QF but then it took me a year or two to be bothered to read up on the scheme, so two years nothing much happened, flew, earned some points but then got back into it again.

Lesson learned was read up early on how to maximize the earn and get the status credit plan under way for life time gold.

2nd lesson learned from a decade at Ansett, don't hang on to points for eternity thinking you'll do something big with them, use them as you go on what ever makes you happy.

 

[CaptJCool]

Fly on other peoples money
so if you are self-funded, you can’t do that which leads to taking other opportunities

be willing to adapt
what used to work back in the day, won’t necessarily work today (eg status credits on ALL reward bookings but noting today via Points Club it can be done after awhile)

You gotta go from A to B
take the dog-leg options as these earn more points and status credits
pay when you must (sometimes there’s no rewards tics)
know the seasons (school holidays are notoriously more expensive) (but post Covid some routes are STILL expensive)
fly for the hellooo of it
status runs on double credit deals

expand how much money you got to spend each year
what with taxes, home loans and children, often there’s not a lot of upfront cash to splash
so
book during sales
split up travel and if flying overseas look to book to somewhere overseas close to Australia (like Indonesia, bangkok, Sri Lanka) and fly on from there on a much much cheaper tic...
Seminars, conferences and training courses helps to have a professional development allowance to spend and negative gear....

Credit card, credit cards
earn on everyday expenses

churning cards isn’t for everyone at every point in their life. But a seriously FAST way to accumulate FF points
The WINE bonus points
For the entrepreneurs.... run your business turnover through a earning credit card

Earn Max points for minimum cost
some programs earn more points for more $ spent, others earn more points for distance travelled
Spend Min points for maximum (price) value
J upgrades especially when it’s only 10,900 points to upgrade from Flexi fares and the cash fare is mega-high

https://www.qantas.com/au/en/frequent-flyer/calculators.html#/upgrade

Do you pay for full-price business class tickets?

There has been some discussion in this thread about how expensive Qantas' domestic business class fares are, and whether anyone actually pays those amounts - or whether the business cabin is mostly filled with people on upgrades/reward bookings and corporate travellers whose companies got a...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[Stargazer]

What is a dog leg option? What is status runs on double credit deals? Remember this is all new to me and you need to dumb down replies.

 

[CaptJCool]

What is a dog leg option? What is status runs on double credit deals? Remember this is all new to me and you need to dumb down replies.

example of a dog-leg, Instead of going from sydney to christchurch, you fly sydney to Melbourne and then onto Christchurch (the route resembles a dog leg) and each leg has its own status credit value

double status credits ‘sales’ are offered to encourage us to buy tickets. So instead of the advertised status credits amounts the airline will give you twice as many. so if you fly a dog-leg, you get twice as many For each leg of the trip

 

[mrsterryn]

Definitely agree about picking a programme or two. If you travel for work and for pleasure and are relatively young you can probably have two programmes
I wish we had joined at the commencement of our travelling over 15 years ago. We only joined...about 7 years ago ? I think it was
Credit card churning isn't for us as we are retired and banks seem to struggle with income from defined benefits However we are able to take the long way around for status runs
However just remember enjoy the flying that is the fun part

 

[andye]

Dog leg is when instead of flying A to B you fly A to C to B ideally for a similar price to get more Status Credits. Leads to the phrase Why fly direct when you can connect

A status run is a flight that you wouldn't otherwise have taken to climb a Status level

Double Status Credits is a promotion run on occasions by Qantas where you get double the Status Credits on their own flight booked during the promotion period.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

The frequent flying game, or 'the Great Game' as I like to call it , is so broad with ever changing rules that even someone who's been at it for over 20 years can come unstuck at some point. But perversely I see this as an advantage: it is exciting to keep up to date with all changes and find new ways to exploit them for the best travel options.

What I would say is that I've learned to not bother or whinge about the fabled 'enhancements' to FF schemes. These changes, >90% of which are in the airline's favour, are part of the game. Adjust to them quickly and use them to your advantage if possible.

 

[Stargazer]

Just curious - apart from the example given of flying Sydney/ Melbourne/Christchurch which doesn’t demand much additional flying time - are there examples of dog legs flying internationally (Say to Europe or America). And in doing a dog leg if the resultant price is greater than the direct fare price would you still do it. I understand this is an option if you are close to climbing to the next status level but if far off is this a viable option.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Just curious - apart from the example given of flying Sydney/ Melbourne/Christchurch which doesn’t demand much additional flying time - are there examples of dog legs flying internationally (Say to Europe or America). And in doing a dog leg if the resultant price is greater than the direct fare price would you still do it. I understand this is an option if you are close to climbing to the next status level but if far off is this a viable option.

Literally thousands of ‘dog legs’ where you’ll get multiple sets of points or status credits by flying indirect or via a hub. The status credits won’t be double, but they’re usually slightly more than a single or direct flight.

The key is a change of flight number(s) en route.

Instead of BA or QF direct SYD-LHR - both with a single flight number and single set of points and status credit earn - you could fly Qatar, Sri Lankan, Cathay or Japan Airlines via their respective hubs. Instead of New York -London non-stop you could fly Finnair via Helsinki, or Iberia via Madrid.

The prices are usually lower because you are flying indirect and taking an extra hour or two to complete your journey.

 

[harvyk]

My biggest mistake was not joining an FF program early enough.

I remember joking about joining in 2006 when I did my first flight in 8 years, if only I'd realised the flying that I was going to start doing in 2007. Even then it wasn't until 2008 that I pulled the trigger and joined (a trip to the QP convinced me that joining would be a good thing, back when the QPs were special)

There are many things that I do now that I didn't do when I first started, but that had been trial and error and went work for everyone. An example of this is HLO (hand luggage only), works for me as I can travel the world with less than 7kg of stuff. Wouldn't work for someone who wants everything from their wardrobe to come with.

 

[Dr4manyspecies]

Just curious - apart from the example given of flying Sydney/ Melbourne/Christchurch which doesn’t demand much additional flying time - are there examples of dog legs flying internationally (Say to Europe or America). And in doing a dog leg if the resultant price is greater than the direct fare price would you still do it. I understand this is an option if you are close to climbing to the next status level but if far off is this a viable option.

Doglegs can be done anyhow, anywhere and that's where you go down the rabbit hole searching fares (I just started playing with the 'ITA Matrix this week... a whole 'nether kettle of fish ) with multi city searches (often times 'nearby' airports are cheaper and/or actually closer to where ya want to go, particularlyin the US). As far as whether or not to do it... that depends... do you wanna go somewhere else? Are you paying or is work? Do you wanna try and get some extra points or status credits (SC)? Often times you're just shy of next level but if it's a double SC promo people often do all kinds of random diversions to rack 'em up quickly.

 

[Anna]

An experienced flyer knows that journeys with multiple connecting flights carry more risk of delays causing misconnections, or of causing your bag not to make a flight even if you make it. If you're a nervous rookie flyer you might want to start with direct flights where possible. Plus if you do some time flying without status you'll appreciate it more when you eventually earn some status