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This is the first of hopefully many guest articles that we will have on the Frequent Flyer Bonuses blog:
Frequent Flyer Miles are gold. Used correctly, they can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Being Australian yet living in the USA, I know what it’s like to think “how do I maximize my mileage miles?”. I’ve been a Qantas Frequent Flyer since 1994 and operating my discount hotel booking website I am always interested in hearing stories from other frequent travelers about their experiences with Frequent Flyer programs. So I wanted to share with you some of my observations and tips when traveling to Australia on Qantas.
Qantas Versus British Airways One interesting thing happened to me recently as illustrated by the below points summary from my Frequent Flier Activity Account. Notice that when I flew from Sydney to San Francisco on November 23, I earned a total of 9,275 points compared to only 1,635 on British Airways between Las Vegas and London. Both were discounted priced flights yet depending on the airline and even the discounted fare class the amount of miles awarded can vary. So the moral of the story here is that no matter where you are flying to, even if the distance may be similar the mileage you earn can be drastically different.
Generally speaking, from what I have found, the best value for my miles is to redeem them when travelling long haul between Australia and the USA or Canada. Often fares are upwards of $3000 return so for 96,000 points return, you are getting 3:1 ratio – which is very good!
Co-Branded Credit Cards I’ve seen lots of activity recently with American Express and Virgin offering double points, British Airways offering 50,000 points and now Qantas is offering 30,000 points when you successfully apply for a Qantas Amex co-branded card (Australian version). There are two real benefits:
1.You’ll enjoy the accelerated earning power of 1.5 points for every dollar spent on purchases, so using your Card for things like your petrol and groceries can really help build your points balance fast.
2.You’ll receive a Qantas domestic Economy return flight** between selected Australian capital cities every year
Qantas can offer such good deals because they have such a strong brand and there are only 2 domestic carriers in Australia – unlike America which has dozens.
I hope some of these insights helped you compare and contrast your frequently flyer program and look forward to reading about your frequent flyer insights on points and benefits.
Marc Phillips operates http://www.cheapaccommodation.com.au/, a website specializing in discount hotels and accommodation in Australia.
