Glad to hear that. I was there last year and had some bad experiences ![]()
Good website.
Is there an agreed upon points system thatās better when comparing Velocity vs Qantas points?
No, both are similar value. Comes down to number of partners available. Qantas has more partners as they have One World members plus some others whereas Virgin has less partners to redeem with but I find them better.
Points hacks and sites like them annoy be a bit as they rely on this false promise that award seats in premium cabins are readily available when in reality they are almost like hens teeth and only going to get worse.
Do you think overall credit cards and point collecting is still worth it?
Since COVID the fam has travelled to Chile/Brazil/Argentina, Thailand/Cambodia, French Polynesia, NZ several times, Canada/US/Fiji, US/Belize/Guatemala and a bit around Oz. All Reward flights, mostly points from cards. Others do more, but yeah, def worth it for us.
Holy moly. Any sneaky tricks or just living expenses onto 1 joint card?
Agreed. We just canāt believe how few people we have seen in our first 24 hours - not that we have done much yet. No doubt this comment will look very stupid after we finish our 3 week trip
We earn, burn & churn under both my name & wifeās so usually have multiple cards on the go at once. Spend to get bonus points, close card & move on to the next one. Points with both Q & V are useful - e.g. for Belize/Guat trip we flew United on V points to LA & the rest of the trip on Alaska & QANTAS using Q points. But itās getting harder. When I first started, you would get, say, 100k bonus points with $0 annual fee for first year. Now bonus points are often spread over 2 years and 1st year fee is reduced not waived. Eligibility for bonus points has also changed - it used to be that you couldnāt have held a particular card during previous 12 mths, now it is typically 24 mths. But I think it is still worth it. Unlike Aceman & others we fly economy to stretch points over more trips.
Great insight. Thanks. So you would go say NAB for 12mo, get points and then switch to Westpac, then 12mo later go AMEX, then CBA etc?
Does that damage your credit score?
I would generally go NAB for a couple of months until I had pocketed the bonus points. Then close NAB, apply Westpac. Pocket points, move on to ANZ. Rinse & repeat.
Apparently applying for lots of cards is bad for your credit rating, but that has never been a problem for us. YMMV.
For economy flights absolutely worth it especially if you want multiple seats.
For business/first class seats itās getting very hard especially with more and more airlines blocking inventory
Asia miles for me has been excellent for business class. They also have a companion ticket for points. You buy one ticket full then add companion and itās about 70% of the usual point cost.
How do you collect asia miles points?
Mainly converting from credit card points.
Unless you can get your hands on a Hong Kong credit cardā¦
Appreciate all those replying.
My last question is when getting a credit card, do you choose an airline point sepcific one (Like Amex velocity) or do you go to a general one and convert to airline points later (Like Amex Platinum)?
I do both - cycle through them based on eligibility. Could be ANZ FF Black QANTAS for Q points or ANZ Rewards Black for ANZ points converted to VV.
It also used to be that eligibility for bonus points was per line of business - e.g. eligibility for ANZ FF and ANZ Rewards cards was distinct, so having had an ANZ FF card in the last 12 or 24 mths didnāt affect eligibility for ANZ Rewards bonus points & vice versa. But now banks are increasingly merging lines of business into eligibility T&Cs so you canāt have held either. NAB remains an exception (for now).
AMEX is fantastic for most programs but I earn and churn other CCās regularly as well as health insurance plus anything else.
We pay everything via CC though and then pay back weekly
Old Delhi is a bit different, but worth the experience. Now is best time to visit Delhi, temp is mild and humidity lower. I have been there when it was 49 C.
Visit the Lotus Temple, it is the most serene place on earth I have ever visited.