TIP: Redeeming Amex points for flights

[sunbeamrapier]

Can I ask how much do you guys actually spend on average on your AMEX per year. In terms of dollars. I only spend approx $48000 annually... So I will need to rely on bonus points or sign up bonuses!

When I ran my own business I ran up enough points to fly business to europe annually, on an Amex with 1.5 points per dollar, when points per flight were a lot less than they are today... A substantial house renovation can earn you a lot of points too... I heard of some people who used their Amex merchant account to bill their cards for fake transactions because it was cheaper to pay the merchant fee and use the points to buy an international business or first flight - not sure if that works these days

 

[sunbeamrapier]

If AMEX keeps the 1:1 for Asiamiles, I will be flying CX and QF, BA more often

I hadn't heard of Asiamiles - not a bad deal: 175,000 points SYD-LON-SYD in business on QF and BA...

Is it all Airbus 380's to London with QF these days? Presumably J class on the 380 has flat beds? I stopped flying QF after the last J class refresh when they should have installed flat beds but didn't, and before the 380 was introduced - my last QF flight was a very uncomfortable JFK to Sydney being strangled by my undies as I slid down the seat...

 

[Duffa]

Can I ask how much do you guys actually spend on average on your AMEX per year. In terms of dollars. I only spend approx $48000 annually... So I will need to rely on bonus points or sign up bonuses!

Last year I managed to put 50k through Amex on BAS, personal tax and general expenses. This year it'll be down to 10-15k having switched to Citi Select.
Mind you this spend is chickenfeed compared to some of the bigger players who are putting through 1m plus. I live to dream....

 

[ChrisDPom]

I have an Amex Qantas Platinum + a NAB Qantas Mastercard (with free unwanted NAB Qantas Amex).

Previously had a ANZ Platimum Qantas Visa (again supplied with free ANZ Qantas Amex).

Got rid of the ANZ as costing $295 for nothing that the Amex Qantas was not already giving me & the Amex Qantas gives me a free flight from Perth to one of those wierd places over East - called interstate capital cities I think

When I was hunting around, got a deal from NAB (gave me $1 = 1QFF point on Mastercard) and I don't even bank with them (or ANZ).

Looked at the new QFF linked Woolies Mastercard but the Amex Platinum gives better points & Wollies takes Amex so got the NAB card because same price and slightly better perks.

We fly corporate with Qantas and the office throws in a free QP so it is a bit of a captive market here in Perth for me.

Reason for the QP is the extra luggage (10kgs). I pointed out the excess baggage a number of us were copping (average 6 flight trips a year for 7 of us so often happened when we took a lot of paperwork internally in WA, over East or o/s). Got the bean counters to agree with me so free QP!! (Handy hint for others if the accountants start get snitty).

We are lucky that Jetstar hasn't really impacted here yet (except compulsory for Bali which only takes 3 hours so we suffer them for that, as it is less than a Sydney flight for us sandgropers).

We shop at Woolies with the Amex + Woolies Card and always book our flights with Amex and get the employer to pay us back (and before our Amex is payable - just get your statement or download it, then stand over the accountant and not let them get to the tea and bickies before they authorise the payment - works everytime).

I rack up 150,000 minimim QFF annually by doing this.

I usually hold my QFF points for a number of years and then pick my flights (240,000 PER-SIN-LHR return on J + $900 "taxes").

There is no QF PE from PER to SIN, so the choice is Y or J. As Y is 120,000 QFF points + taxes, I usually shy away from this but have taken it a couple as long as I can get Row 80 windows on the 380 from Singapore - lovely leg room for me !!

I visit UK high season in their so called summer and December for both my parents birthdays (getting a bit long in the tooth to fly now so I go there). I keep an eye out for when the Award flights come up and book about 9 months in advance. No problem getting my Award flights that way.

NB: She who must be obeyed is from Melbourne so I let her use QFF to visit her folks and use mine to mine

Agree the critisism towards QF on these Award bookings - you just have to have a locked in date 9 months early.
Low season they are available more often but I will pay for those times - often $1,000 to $2,500 more expensive to fly in peak so why not be organised and book early? - same amount of points whether it is high season or low season.

On the AFF members raving about VA flights and Amex redemptions with special rates - sounds great guys & gals, as long as you live in Sydney.

Some dedidicated air warriors from Melbourne & Brisbane may be interested in popping to Sydney for these connections.
4 hours extra flying + changeover just doesn't interest sandgropers (especially as Singapore is 5 & 1/2 hours from Perth) and how long is HK or SIN from Sydney?


Another handy hint to rack up some points from a colleague. His son did this and he is not sure whether to strangle him or send him off to be a lawyer as he has the right attitude.

Gav is another expat Pom (lots of us over here!!). Took wife, 2 sons and daughter to UK business class with Emirates as best price from Perth.

Never flown them before and unlikely to go again for a number of years. Therefore never thought of joining their program. When they got back, Son #1 signed them all up for the program, claimed the points on their flights and then transferred them all to himself. Got a round the world trip out of it.

You can see why Gav thinks he will make a great lawyer!!

 

[Alanslegal]

To be honest this thread title should be changed as it really isn't a tip as such and could be misleading, especially to someone who is very new to points redemption. The OP is suggesting burning upwards of a million MR points for a single return flight in premium cabin .... when the transferring to ANY other MR associated frequent flyer program will allow at least two return return flights for the same amount of points. Some could even PUSH hard and get 5 return premum cabin flights eg. SQ saver awards.

 

[nlagalle]

incredible value? really? do you mean domestically or internationally?

I never use points for domestic travel - only for international business. Before I stopped flying QF I never saw an international business ASA flight that I could ever afford - mind you it was also becoming impossible to find a classic award in QF J class to anywhere I wanted to go...

Ive had great value on ASA's domestically, have not needed to book internationally. However I know people who have and have had great value. It all depends on where and how.. Personally I hate booking classic awards now as I don't earn points.

 

[cove]

Yes Nlagalle,doing domestic JASAs to get to WP status off either Amex or Visa/MasterCard points is a bit of an art form. It becomes better value if you reside in Perth as every flight is longer than for any up the east coast running like Melbourne to Sydney. For Perthites using a net 40k of points each way or less on Virgin is definitely good points value for lounges and comfort on the flights.

 

[angusburns]

Using points domestically can be worthwhile.

For example, this April our family are flying to Lord Howe Island.

I booked very early and got two economy (one class flight) any seat awards at 16,444 points each, one way. I booked the rest of the family on the same flight at the same time, cost per seat was $487.70ea, one way.

So booking an ASA got me a 3% yield on a domestic ticket, which is not too bad.

I note that points required to a destination are fixed by distance whereas the ticket price on a route is, obviously, determined by many factors, including holding a monopoly on flights to that location.

For me the rule of domestic flying is this pretty basic: Use cash for domestic economy on low-cost main routes with competition & sales (eg SYD-MEL), use points for special situation high-cost economy destinations or business seats (which I only bother with if I need the SC or am going SYD-PER etc)

But generally I think that you are right, the best yield tends to be on business class seats on international flights. Other's MMV.

Hope this helps someone.

 

[zzzhobbes]

All AFFer's Guru's
where can I receive the best dealing using my MR points to get to Hawaii in J Class from Sydney
All suggestions are greatly appreciated

 

[jadeqld1123]

my wife & i accrue approx. 150,000-200,000 qf points a month. these are with our amex ultimate card which can only be directed to qantas @ $1 for 1.5 points. we only travel 1st or bus domestic or international...... if i use our amex plat charge card i can only get 1 point foe every 4 spent, loosing 50% of points available to us. if i choose to use amex plat and leave points in amex a/c allowing us to transfer to to another airline, is there any value to us. as we only fly using points

regards

jadeqld

 

[sparoz]

my wife & i accrue approx. 150,000-200,000 qf points a month. these are with our amex ultimate card which can only be directed to qantas @ $1 for 1.5 points. we only travel 1st or bus domestic or international...... if i use our amex plat charge card i can only get 1 point foe every 4 spent, loosing 50% of points available to us. if i choose to use amex plat and leave points in amex a/c allowing us to transfer to to another airline, is there any value to us. as we only fly using points

regards

jadeqld

You do get $1/1.5 points for up to $250000, then revert back to $1/1 point, so it is not 1/every $4 spent. However, if you are happy with QF points, paying credit card early or a $200k credit limit, it is the easiest way to accumulate points. I personally like to have the choice on where to divert the points as that give you more options to find a good award seat. You also get better spent rates now that Amex has increased the conversion rate from MR to various carriers. I assume with that sort of spent, most of the would be on business expenses, then splitting the expenses across a few amex cards will give the same result.

 

[sunbeamrapier]

Change your Amex card to a different flavour and transfer your points to Virgin Atlantic and get 30% extra points until end of March. I have a platinum credit card giving 1.5 points per dollar spend, and 1:1 transfer to virgin atlantic.

 

[pagingjoan]

How often can you find a FASA fair? Any tips on finding one like 3/4 weeks out?

Plenty of them around - if you have a zillion points.
The trick is to find them at Classic levels or thereabouts.
And it depends on where you want to go.

 

[jadeqld1123]

Change your Amex card to a different flavour and transfer your points to Virgin Atlantic and get 30% extra points until end of March. I have a platinum credit card giving 1.5 points per dollar spend, and 1:1 transfer to virgin atlantic.

i have an amex plat charge card with an unlimited spend. the ultimate is a $30,000 spend. the problem with changing is the allowable spend. i don't think i could get a new card with the allowable spend($30,000) i want straight away. and i need that high end spend each month. who is your plat cr card with:?:


regards

jadeqld

 

[cove]

Actually the Amex Ultimate is uncapped and unlimited on points earn.
Currently the Citi Select is my favourite to earn Kris Flyer miles that give you multiple options for travel in First. It is probably the least issued card and there is an income barrier to entry but 1.333 points per dollar on a $700 Visa card is a winner.

 

[sparoz]

i have an amex plat charge card with an unlimited spend. the ultimate is a $30,000 spend. the problem with changing is the allowable spend. i don't think i could get a new card with the allowable spend($30,000) i want straight away. and i need that high end spend each month. who is your plat cr card with:?:


regards

jadeqld

Amex Plat Charge has 1.5 points per $ up to $250000/year. So you really don't have to change anything.

 

[sunbeamrapier]

i have an amex plat charge card with an unlimited spend. the ultimate is a $30,000 spend. the problem with changing is the allowable spend. i don't think i could get a new card with the allowable spend($30,000) i want straight away. and i need that high end spend each month. who is your plat cr card with:?:

Its also with Amex. Just call them and tell them you want to swap your existing card for one which doesn't auto transfer to Qantas. Bear in mind, though, that you will not be able to transfer your points to Qantas from the new card. Qantas tried to tie up the market by insisting that only those cards which auto-transferred are supported by QFF - to stop you transferring to Virgin I guess. That doesn't bother me - I don't like Qantas, and Jetstar is beyond the pale... I have a CBA platinum master card as well, which also earns 1.5 points per dollar, but the transfer to airline is coughpy - I think it is 1.5 master card points per airline point...

 

[straitman]

Its also with Amex. Just call them and tell them you want to swap your existing card for one which doesn't auto transfer to Qantas. Bear in mind, though, that you will not be able to transfer your points to Qantas from the new card. Qantas tried to tie up the market by insisting that only those cards which auto-transferred are supported by QFF - to stop you transferring to Virgin I guess. That doesn't bother me - I don't like Qantas, and Jetstar is beyond the pale... I have a CBA platinum master card as well, which also earns 1.5 points per dollar, but the transfer to airline is coughpy - I think it is 1.5 master card points per airline point...

I think you have mentioned you don't like Qantas 49 times (or more) in 49 posts :!:

Also there is an Amex Card that can still be used to transfer to Qantas.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Can I ask how much do you guys actually spend on average on your AMEX per year. In terms of dollars. I only spend approx $48000 annually... So I will need to rely on bonus points or sign up bonuses!

I have not kept an exact record.... but in the last 12 months I would have spent I guess something around a $100K between my wife and I. Most months my cards would not have had $10K on them. My wife has only had her own Amex since Jan, though was a supp holder prior to that.

In that time I have clocked up just shy of a million in MR points ( I know that as my account is now back in 6 figures after I transferred 1.5 mill to SQ when they had a 15% bonus on), in my MR account and about 140K in my wife's, through by being an avid Points Runner. So as a family unit more than a million in the last year. This is, plus excellent burn at some airlines via it, is why direct Amex's are our card of choice. This is currently backed up by Citibank VISA for when we cannot use Amex, or I deem the surcharge unacceptable. In the last 12 months....we have gained also about 200K Citibank points (say 133K to SQ) with about $20K spend (there were some great sign-on bonii last year which we exploited).

Virtually none of this is from business accumulation, and is from private spend, as I have virtually no ability to put anything more than a few trivial expenses on it.. So I think I go more than ok.

Some on this forum have the benefit of gaining points from business operations to acquire large balances (and good luck to them), paying the ATO etc and get large balances by this, though often at a cost of paying the card fee surcharge per$.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

In your experience, what cities in Europe generally have the most availability for J redemptions on SQ, or are they all the same / vary based on demand?


Thanks!

Angus

1/ As the redemption awards table has just been redone with large changes I expect past experience will now be outmoded.

2/ Having said that in the past cities that were relatively easy to get Saver J' s were not surprisingly to the less thought of destinations such as Amsterdam, Cepenhagen and Istanbul. Manchester too when it was a Saver J route. If willing to pay at Standard Rates fairly good availability could be had in J to most destinations, though I personally preferred to use then them at the much cheaper *A rates booked through SQ on say Thai. The new award rates for both SQ and *A does however cahnge all this. Plus the new 1;1 MR transfer rates for more airlines also now opens other opportunities.