Westpac Altitude Points Devalue September 2016

[prozac]

Good suggestion cove. Whilst Asa Miles also have a 3 year life cycle I cannot find if they can be extended.

 

[DaveB]

The faint silver lining with devaluations is it provides an opportunity to review strategies moving forward.
Not sure if the devaluation includes business cards and will report when next statement is received. I transferred across from Black after the glory days ended to store points for a further 12 months of no fees.
If business cards also being devalued, will send some points to QF (one of six FF schemes able to) which is not in 7 figures and will likely start using CX more with a daughter now based in Toronto.
QF/VA availability often means only DL availability to the US. SQ/DL whilst more readily available and whilst F/R are nice, it sure takes an eternity.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Altitude balance sent to Krisflyer!

KF is such an amazing program for redemption, especially in Asia.

 

[burmans]

KF is such an amazing program for redemption, especially in Asia.

Hard to disagree with that!

 

[johnny_yh2000]

Altitude balance sent to Krisflyer!

KF is such an amazing program for redemption, especially in Asia.

Finger crossed they don't devaluate their chart like all other programs

 

[chelzmalee]

Anyone know the effect of this on QFF? Dad transfers his Altitude pts to QFF but I can't see any mention in the changes.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Finger crossed they don't devaluate their chart like all other programs

I don't see it happening in the near future until Asia Miles makes a move.

Enrich devalued a couple years back, but still remains a good choice especially with their 50% off sales.

 

[dajop]

Finger crossed they don't devaluate their chart like all other programs

They have just recently updated their award charts. The previous update was about 2-3 years ago. Would not expect a lot of devaluation in the near term, they seem to have used surcharges as the main lever for devaluation recently. Main concern is the 15% online discount ..... Enrich have just abolished that, although Enrich are hardly a serious competitor to Krisflyer, and the 15% has been around a lot longer in Krisflyer.

 

[burmans]

Finger crossed they don't devaluate their chart like all other programs

They did actually make some minor adjustments recently which is probably good news as in general SQ don't like annoying their customers, so they probably wont make any more for a while.

 

[alexy23]

How long do SQ points take to transfer with Westpac, sent them on Monday morning - Thursday morning still no points?

Sent SQ with Amex took 1 business day

Might give them a call

" If you have made a frequent flyer redemption, this transfer should be completed in 3 business days, subject to the relevant frequent flyer terms and conditions. You will be advised via post if your transfer request is unsuccessful."

Post? Really? email doesn't suffice?

 

[ninja-tim]

How long do SQ points take to transfer with Westpac, sent them on Monday morning - Thursday morning still no points?

Sent SQ with Amex took 1 business day

Might give them a call

" If you have made a frequent flyer redemption, this transfer should be completed in 3 business days, subject to the relevant frequent flyer terms and conditions. You will be advised via post if your transfer request is unsuccessful."

Post? Really? email doesn't suffice?

Well, too me, it looks like it's only been 2 full business days.

Has the points transferred across today?

Unless you need the points urgently, I wouldn't look too deep into it and just wait until Monday/Tuesday before I call up about the points. It takes westpac 3 days to clear their own cheques, so I wouldn't be surprised if you waited longer than what they have quoted.

 

[alexy23]

Has the points transferred across today?

Nope - I feel the SQ notice has created a surge in transfers and thus they are taking longer to process then usual. Altitude Rewards hotline are hopeless and they are essentially just screen readers (can't provide any further context then I could find online). They said they would escalate further - but I don't think that happened as they are still not there.

I will wait till next week - it's just I see flights I want and wanted to lock them in before they move to a waitlist.

 

[ninja-tim]

I'm gonna wait till mid Sept to transfer them across. Hoping to pay some more bills before the deadline.

 

[leyy]

Nope - I feel the SQ notice has created a surge in transfers and thus they are taking longer to process then usual. Altitude Rewards hotline are hopeless and they are essentially just screen readers (can't provide any further context then I could find online). They said they would escalate further - but I don't think that happened as they are still not there.

I will wait till next week - it's just I see flights I want and wanted to lock them in before they move to a waitlist.

i transeferred 500k points, appeared in 2 business days.

they might of had issues with your SQ membership, call westpac to confirm

FYI, i bit the bullet and applied for the Citi Prestige

 

[cove]

Hope it works great for you leyy. These two cards have been very productive. Mrscove has the Qantas one but I prefer the non Qantas one in Citi Prestige.
We still have a month to move our warehoused Westpac Altitude points before the proposed devaluation.

 

[ninja-tim]

i transeferred 500k points, appeared in 2 business days.

they might of had issues with your SQ membership, call westpac to confirm

FYI, i bit the bullet and applied for the Citi Prestige

Got the missus to increase her Citi Signature credit limit over $30k to swap over to prestige. Previous credit limit increases were easy and done straight away over the phone (even from Citi Plat to Sig). This time, they are doing a full income/finance check :S She was only short a few $K of the prestige min. credit limit

 

[alexy23]

Points arrived 4pm yesterday with an email from SQ. Was so happy as I've now booked and confirmed return SYD-SIN-MLE on First class for me and Misses for our honeymoon. All up 374,000 points and 1600 SGD in taxes.

So exited I watched the youtube videos again of both Maldives and R class on A380, Whooo Krug & Lobster here we come.

I could only get SQ231 but waitlisted SQ251 as I felt the 8:40pm-7:15am A380 was a better value flight. Rather then boarding at 12:40am and getting on the plane to basically fall asleep, the 8pm will allow for dinner, champagne/wine and a sleep followed by a breakfast. I do hope the waitlist clears.

I also focused on the 777-200 operated by SQ rather then Silkair (A320) for SIN-MLE-SIN, as the phone attendant told me it's a much better business class. It does however mean a redeye MLE-SIN (11pm - 7am), but the near lye flat bed will do.

 

[ninja-tim]

Points arrived 4pm yesterday with an email from SQ. Was so happy as I've now booked and confirmed return SYD-SIN-MLE on First class for me and Misses for our honeymoon. All up 374,000 points and 1600 SGD in taxes.

So exited I watched the youtube videos again of both Maldives and R class on A380, Whooo Krug & Lobster here we come.

I could only get SQ231 but waitlisted SQ251 as I felt the 8:40pm-7:15am A380 was a better value flight. Rather then boarding at 12:40am and getting on the plane to basically fall asleep, the 8pm will allow for dinner, champagne/wine and a sleep followed by a breakfast. I do hope the waitlist clears.

I also focused on the 777-200 operated by SQ rather then Silkair (A320) for SIN-MLE-SIN, as the phone attendant told me it's a much better business class. It does however mean a redeye MLE-SIN (11pm - 7am), but the near lye flat bed will do.

I'm doing the red eye tomorrow night 12:05am departure. Unfortunantely only time a380 flies out of MEL. Planning on having a few hrs sleep prior to the flight to make the most of it.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Points arrived 4pm yesterday with an email from SQ. Was so happy as I've now booked and confirmed return SYD-SIN-MLE on First class for me and Misses for our honeymoon. All up 374,000 points and 1600 SGD in taxes.

So exited I watched the youtube videos again of both Maldives and R class on A380, Whooo Krug & Lobster here we come.

I could only get SQ231 but waitlisted SQ251 as I felt the 8:40pm-7:15am A380 was a better value flight. Rather then boarding at 12:40am and getting on the plane to basically fall asleep, the 8pm will allow for dinner, champagne/wine and a sleep followed by a breakfast. I do hope the waitlist clears.

I also focused on the 777-200 operated by SQ rather then Silkair (A320) for SIN-MLE-SIN, as the phone attendant told me it's a much better business class. It does however mean a redeye MLE-SIN (11pm - 7am), but the near lye flat bed will do.

Congrats and enjoy! If you happen to be headed for Conrad Rangali, then you'll be able to freshen up in the Conrad lounge at MLE after your flight and partake in a wind-down massage! Sheer bliss!

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Nope - I feel the SQ notice has created a surge in transfers and thus they are taking longer to process then usual. Altitude Rewards hotline are hopeless and they are essentially just screen readers (can't provide any further context then I could find online). They said they would escalate further - but I don't think that happened as they are still not there.

My businesses have a number of commercial agreements with major airlines to award points/miles to our customers.
While I don't have an agreement with SQ - all of the frequent flyer programs we deal with are instant transfers.

To me, this suggests any delay in redemption -> hitting the FFP is either a fraud measure by the bank or a cost saving measure.