Which cards have you applied for this year (2016)?

[lovetravellingoz]

Interestingly, the accumulation of points appears easier than spending them in an efficient way/where we want to travel. To combat that we've just started tackling the Status level problem - .

Well that is one strategy.

Many of us have discovered that a better strategy (at least for how, when and where we want to fly) is where possible to earn and burn in different FF programs than QFF. Though I still grab QFF points when it makes sense to do so.

 

[mviy]

Cheers Steady, I just took advantage of this and booked a MEL - DWN (with stopover in BNE) return trip, 70 total status points which I'm hoping converts to 140 through this offer (unsure of whether it stacks with my existing status which would get me up 210 in one shot). The boys outback adventure trip I do while I'm there is just a bonus!

DWN is in the US. I think you mean DRW.

It's double what you normally earn so if you earn 70 on status credits instead you would get 140. You'd get the 70 credits soon after flying and the bonus 70 credits would take up to 6 weeks to post (though probably a lot sooner than that).

 

[PDog]

This years cards.... St George points have credited this week (hassle free, are you listening ANZ??) have ordered the lounge passes so will cancel as soon as they arrive. Will also cancel the ANZ adventure as soon as those point that ANZ have finally agreed to pay (plus compo I think!) arrive, and am almost at the minimum spend on the ANZ QFF black (fingers crossed that won't be another fight!)

Will then apply for the new NAB for the 40,000 VA points, after that am undecided, am thinking maybe the NAB Qantas card? Will need to investigate the T&Cs as to whether you can double up.

Any advice welcome, am chasing a trip to HK in late 2018.

 

[nightelves]

This years cards.... St George points have credited this week (hassle free, are you listening ANZ??) have ordered the lounge passes so will cancel as soon as they arrive. Will also cancel the ANZ adventure as soon as those point that ANZ have finally agreed to pay (plus compo I think!) arrive, and am almost at the minimum spend on the ANZ QFF black (fingers crossed that won't be another fight!)

Will then apply for the new NAB for the 40,000 VA points, after that am undecided, am thinking maybe the NAB Qantas card? Will need to investigate the T&Cs as to whether you can double up.

Any advice welcome, am chasing a trip to HK in late 2018.

Have you got the Explorer card? That's another nice points earner also

 

[PDog]

Have you got the Explorer card? That's another nice points earner also

Thanks for the suggestion, sure have! And you're right, it's been a great card- everyone in my family has one
As soon as I dump my points into my SQ account I will cancel it though to start my Amex clock again!

 

[hunghuynh]

After ANZ dumped the American Express on their platinum and black I have since obtained the qantas discovery and explorer and not regretting it yet!

 

[piratematerial]

Last year I churned Velocity Platinum (110k points) and NAB Velocity Platinum (60k points).

This year I've picked up the ANZ Rewards Black and NAB Frequent Flyer Premium for 150k Qantas points. Showing little ongoing value, especially since companion-Amexagaddon so will dump them soon as the points post and move on.

Leaves me with the Citibank Signature (fee free for life), Platinum Edge (around 80k points earn annually), and ANZ Rewards Travel Adventures (for intl Paypal and the free return flight to see the in-laws in Perth), which seems like a decent combo. Would strike out for the Amex Explorer but doesn't seem worth it without the signup bonus, so the next one is probably a juicy sign up bonus from NAB or Westpac.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Would strike out for the Amex Explorer but doesn't seem worth it without the signup bonus, so the next one is probably a juicy sign up bonus from NAB or Westpac.

AMEX explorer does currently have a sign up bonus (100,000 AMEX points) + the $400 AMEX travel credit. Details here:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....-express-explorer-referrals-now-79058-13.html

I'd definitely recommend this card.

Note current bonus ends May 15.

You might also want to think about the David Jones AMEX card - referrals here:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....s/david-jones-american-express-new-81522.html

Note that you can hold the DJ AMEX and Explorer AMEX cards simultaneously and you can have 5 supplementary cards for free for each account - this will help with exploiting the AMEX cash back offers that come around fairly regularly.

 

[piratematerial]

AMEX explorer does currently have a sign up bonus (100,000 AMEX points) + the $400 AMEX travel credit. Details here:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....-express-explorer-referrals-now-79058-13.html

I'd definitely recommend this card.

Note current bonus ends May 15.

You might also want to think about the David Jones AMEX card - referrals here:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....s/david-jones-american-express-new-81522.html

Note that you can hold the DJ AMEX and Explorer AMEX cards simultaneously and you can have 5 supplementary cards for free for each account - this will help with exploiting the AMEX cash back offers that come around fairly regularly.

AMEX Explorer I'm aware has a chunky signup bonus, but all signs are pointing towards nothing posting if you have an existing AMEX and the Edge is better for regular spend for me. DJ AMEX, NAB Rewards and Westpac Black are tempting for cheap points coming up...

 

[Dr Ralph]

AMEX Explorer I'm aware has a chunky signup bonus, but all signs are pointing towards nothing posting if you have an existing AMEX and the Edge is better for regular spend for me. DJ AMEX, NAB Rewards and Westpac Black are tempting for cheap points coming up...

You're likely right about the explorer but I am aware of a small number of people,who have recently slipped past the 18 month exclusion period.

 

[oh_lol]

Planning to churn my Explorer, Edge and Westpac Black.

What cards should I be looking at?

(PS: Never intended to churn the AMEX issued cards, but they've stuffed me around so much in the past 4 months I've had enough of them).

 

[Lemon_Party]

Planning to churn my Explorer, Edge and Westpac Black.

What cards should I be looking at?

(PS: Never intended to churn the AMEX issued cards, but they've stuffed me around so much in the past 4 months I've had enough of them).

Doesn't appear to be too much on offer VA wise at the moment. I grabbed the ANZ QF visa last month for 75k points. Considering purchasing a return flight to go for the 75 SC's but I'm red with QF and I don't have any immediate oneworld travel plans, so probably won't. The ANZ card has a min limit of $15k so I'll likely get rid of that once bonus has posted as I think/hope keeping combined credit limits down helps with new applications and there's no real benefits to having the card (although I do like apple pay).

This month I'll probably look at HSBC as they have a 60k QF point card expiring at the end of this month - unless someone I read a better idea.

Holding westpac alititude black, explorer and ANZ currently, plus an explorer for the wife.

 

[PDog]

Am waiting for the points to land on my ANZ QFF black (any day now!). Cancelled my explorer this week to restart my Amex clock

Applied for 2 cards last month- the virgin money (4 x10,000 VA points for 4 x $1500 spend. PAINFUL application process. Cost is $129, offset by a $129 VA voucher) & westpac altitude (free for customers) for 50,000 QFF points, hit minimum spend on the weekend.

Next will be the new (free) NAB for 40,000 points, then the HSBC (60,000 QFF). These offers finish end May & June respectively, so am hoping to offload the ANZ soon.

Holding the Citi signature, as converts to KF and will get me into a lounge in Bristol in August. Will cancel if they won't waive the annual fee when that's due.

 

[Lemon_Party]

Am waiting for the points to land on my ANZ QFF black (any day now!). Cancelled my explorer this week to restart my Amex clock

Applied for 2 cards last month- the virgin money (4 x10,000 VA points for 4 x $1500 spend. PAINFUL application process. Cost is $129, offset by a $129 VA voucher) & westpac altitude (free for customers) for 50,000 QFF points, hit minimum spend on the weekend.

Next will be the new (free) NAB for 40,000 points, then the HSBC (60,000 QFF). These offers finish end May & June respectively, so am hoping to offload the ANZ soon.

Holding the Citi signature, as converts to KF and will get me into a lounge in Bristol in August. Will cancel if they won't waive the annual fee when that's due.

Any restrictions on the NAB? I held the velocity platinum last year... I'd seen the citi signature and forgotten about it, perhaps that is worth considering. I quite like the explorer as a card. I'm in two minds about cancelling - but resetting the bonus clock is probably a good idea. I'll cancel the wifes for sure - just need to use the travel credit.

 

[PDog]

Any restrictions on the NAB? I held the velocity platinum last year... I'd seen the citi signature and forgotten about it, perhaps that is worth considering. I quite like the explorer as a card. I'm in two minds about cancelling - but resetting the bonus clock is probably a good idea. I'll cancel the wifes for sure - just need to use the travel credit.

re NAB- not that I'm aware of, and I had 3 last year (with annual fees).

I like the explorer too, so my husband has kept his & ordered me a supplementary today (I cancelled it a week too early now knowing about the supp card bonus & the 15% VA bonus, dammit!) Hold onto one so the other can use the referral link in 18 months!

Virgin money is good (annoying, but essentially free) if you need VA points & can push through $$ each month.

 

[oh_lol]

Doesn't appear to be too much on offer VA wise at the moment. I grabbed the ANZ QF visa last month for 75k points. Considering purchasing a return flight to go for the 75 SC's but I'm red with QF and I don't have any immediate oneworld travel plans, so probably won't. The ANZ card has a min limit of $15k so I'll likely get rid of that once bonus has posted as I think/hope keeping combined credit limits down helps with new applications and there's no real benefits to having the card (although I do like apple pay).

This month I'll probably look at HSBC as they have a 60k QF point card expiring at the end of this month - unless someone I read a better idea.

Holding westpac alititude black, explorer and ANZ currently, plus an explorer for the wife.

Phew that's a big min limit on the ANZ. Might look at it though and do what you said.
Open to any cards that give points to Asian carriers as well. Not interested in QF, don't really do much flying with Aus carriers in the first place, so VA is plenty enough for me.

 

[Lemon_Party]

Phew that's a big min limit on the ANZ. Might look at it though and do what you said.
Open to any cards that give points to Asian carriers as well. Not interested in QF, don't really do much flying with Aus carriers in the first place, so VA is plenty enough for me.

I wasn't interested with QF as a rarely fly them, but the 100k QF westpac altitude card was too good a bonus to turn down, and there's a few other high 60k-75k offers around that makes it relatively easy to amass a few hundred thousand points.

I also noticed last night that as well as the citi prestige that gives 70k QF points for an eye watering $750 annual fee, they have a $200 fee card that gives 50k QF points.

 

[oh_lol]

I wasn't interested with QF as a rarely fly them, but the 100k QF westpac altitude card was too good a bonus to turn down, and there's a few other high 60k-75k offers around that makes it relatively easy to amass a few hundred thousand points.

I also noticed last night that as well as the citi prestige that gives 70k QF points for an eye watering $750 annual fee, they have a $200 fee card that gives 50k QF points.

Very good points. Looks like I'm unable to get the Westpac offer though as I've only just literally cancelled my Altitude Black this morning.
I think it's time for me to be very non loyal and just take as many points as I can get!

 

[DontGetMeStarted]

Hi Just looking for some assistance here with the cards I currently have and looking to sign up for bonus cards as they come on board.

Have ANZ Black Visa/Amex (ending 5/8) - Limit is $42K have had this for many years and don't need that much credit should I drop it back ? Will probably keep the Visa because of travel insurance and plans already made
DJ Amex - $4k limit - but this is stopping me from getting other Amex Cards with bonus's I think or any suggestions on other Amex cards that I could apply for
NAB Velocity 6K limit - Received the Virgin points so I should cancel this now

Any suggestions or help appreciated - have previously held and cancelled the St George, Westpac but that was over 12 months ago

 

[blueythecat]

Hi Just looking for some assistance here with the cards I currently have and looking to sign up for bonus cards as they come on board.

Have ANZ Black Visa/Amex (ending 5/8) - Limit is $42K have had this for many years and don't need that much credit should I drop it back ? Will probably keep the Visa because of travel insurance and plans already made
DJ Amex - $4k limit - but this is stopping me from getting other Amex Cards with bonus's I think or any suggestions on other Amex cards that I could apply for
NAB Velocity 6K limit - Received the Virgin points so I should cancel this now

Any suggestions or help appreciated - have previously held and cancelled the St George, Westpac but that was over 12 months ago

Unfortunately I believe you are right (at least according to the T&C's) - holding a DJ's AMEX does preclude you from earning signon bonus points for another AMEX card eg the 100k points on offer from the Velocity Platinum Card - although the reverse is allowed. Interestingly a Points Hack clarification from AMEX in May this year says that you would be eligible for the 100k Velocity points (or other non-DJ signon bonuses) - what to make of that who knows!

I'd certainly be cancelling any cards you non longer need, eg you NAB card to reset any waitout periods (not relevant to NAB is they allow back to back apps).

The 80k points on offer with the Westpac Altitude Black could be worth considering if you were so inclined.

Good luck whichever way you choose to go!