A warm welcome to the viewers of the Today Tonight show and from across Australia! I really enjoyed filming my segment, and I hope you found my advice useful.
We are currently working on creating an accurate database of all the different cards and airline programs that Australians can use to redeem their frequent flier miles for almost free travel. Our target launch date is sometime in March.
In the meantime, I’ve would like to briefly share my brief thoughts on the Australia frequent flyer and credit card programs.
Qantas Points
The Qantas frequent flyer program is quite weak, especially when compared to its Asian and US counterparts. Almost all routes require more miles, and on top of that Qantas charges high fuel charges that can easily run up to a couple hundred dollars. For first class award flights, you could find yourself having a “fuel surcharge” fee of over $1000 roundtrip.
However, there are some decent miles redemptions you can use your Qantas points on, most notably to fly on Emirates First Class. The taxes and fuel surcharges are also quite reasonable, especially when compared to flights on Qantas.
A first class trip one way to New York on Emirates would cost you 192,000 Qantas points and a couple hundred dollars in fuel surcharge.
One the biggest pros of Qantas points is that it partners with most banks and many retail stores in Australia. However, two cards stand out with relatively high sign up bonuses:
The Qantas American Express Premium card is currently the most valuable card if you’re looking to stash up on Qantas points. For a limited time, it has a huge 82,500 point sign up bonus.
In addition the NAB Qantas Premium Reward Card has a 60,000 point sign up bonus and lower annual fee.
Virgin Australia Velocity
Compared to Qantas, Virgin Australia has a better rewards program, but still a relatively weak one compared to other international frequent flier programs.
They charge less amount of miles for domestic awards and slightly less fuel surcharges. So if you are planning on using your miles for solely domestic flights, I highly recommend you stick with Virgin.
It partners with various airlines including Etihad airways, which boasts the biggest first class seat in the sky, the Etihad Apartments. Not only that, the amount of miles needed is quite reasonable, costing around 187,000 mile to New York via Abu Dhabi. That is over 24 hours of flying in the amazing luxury! If you prefer to save your miles, it is only 125,000 miles in business class.
If flying to the US / Middle East isn’t your ideal option, you can also transfer your velocity frequent flyer points into Singapore Krisflyer miles, which has a very generous award chart and stopover rules.
However, the transfer ratio is 1.35 velocity points for every Krisflyer mile, so make sure you can find available award space before transferring your miles
The NAB Virgin Australia Premium Reward Card currently has a 60,000 mile sign up bonus after spending $1500
In addition, both the Citi Signature and Prestige card can transfer into Velocity Frequent Flyer miles, at a rate of 0.66 point per mile.
Other Frequent Flyer Programs
Like the United States, there are a couple major financial institutions that offer cards that earn bank points which can be converted to different airline programs, including Krisflyer from Singapore Airlines, and Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles. These programs usually charge a lower amount of miles needed and substantially less fuel surcharge.
Fly the Singapore Suites using Krisflyer miles
We will be uploading comprehensive guides to each bank’s programs when we launch in March, but here’s a quick rundown of each bank program and its transfer partners.
CitiBank
Citibank recently went through a bit of a small devaluation, in which now for every 3 citi points, you receive only 2 Singapore Krisflyer miles or velocity points. However, it is one of the best bank points to have in Australia, since they do partner with Singapore Airlines Krisflyer and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, along with a variety of other airline partners.
The Citi Prestige Visa Infinite card comes with a real hefty $700 fee. However, it has priority pass lounge access, which is great if you usually fly in economy internationally.
The Plaza Premium Lounge in Hong Kong – A Priority Pass Lounge
In addition it earns 2x citi points on domestic spend and 3x citi points on international spend, effectively meaning you earn 1.5 Krisflyer and 1 Cathay Pacific miles per dollar spent
However, if you don’t need lounge access abroad the Citi Signature card is more than adequate, earning 1.5x points on domestic spend and 3x points on international spend, which equals 1 Krisflyer mile and 0.66 Cathay Pacific mile per dollar spent.
American Express
Like its American counterpart, American Express in Australia offers a very competitive frequent flyer program that has numerous airline partners, including those typically not found in other major bank programs in Australia. American Express points typically transfer at a ratio of 1:1 to different programs including Singapore airlines, Virgin Australia, Cathay Pacific, and unique among Australian programs, SPG points, although at a ratio of 2 AMEX points for every 1 SPG point.
SPG points are among my favorite type of miles currency, which can be used for some really unique redemption since they partner with so many airlines. These include American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
At the high end, you have the AMEX Platinum Card which offers a whopping 100,000 MR points upon sign up. However, the card also comes with a extraordinary $1250 annual fee.
On the more basic end, AMEX has a no-fee rewards card that allows you to earn 1 AMEX points per dollar spent. However, there is no sign up bonus.
The main drawback for American Express in Australia is the relative gap of a “middle card” that has a decent sign up bonus and a low annual fee. In addition, some retailers ask for a higher credit card surcharge whenever you use AMEX.
ANZ
Rounding out the top three is the ANZ reward program. Like Citi and American Express, ANZ points are a flexible type of miles currency that can be used on a variety of partners including Virgin Australia, Singapore Airlines, and Cathay pacific air asia miles.
The most valuable of these cards is the ANZ Black Reward card, which earns 2 points per dollar spent domestically and 3 points abroad
While the current bonus of 75,000 seems like a stellar deal, ANZ does charge more miles to transfer to airline partners, with the rate typically being 2 or 3 ANZ points per airline mile.
Transfer partners include Velocity Frequent Flier, Singapore Krisflyer, and Cathay Pacific Asia miles.
So that’s the quick rundown into the major frequent flyer programs and airlines. There are other reward programs such as Westpac that we haven’t covered, but typically they don’t offer any kind of significant sign up bonus.
Stay tuned for our March launch!
