Qantas American Express Ultimate Card
At first, the standard $450 annual fee is frightening, even with the free flight. However I received a $200 discount on the annual fee as part of a standard signup promotion back in May, and sold the flight on eBay for $250.
A few months later, I noticed an annual fee show up on my statement, and called to query whether this was correct as I thought I’d already paid it when I first received the card. It turned out that because I’d upgraded to this card from another Qantas card, the annual fee was to be paid on my standard renewal date – and I hadn’t actually paid it yet. So, my renewal ticked over and I received another domestic flight, which I resold again for around another $250.
Upshot – I ended up with 30,000 Qantas points and $250 in my pocket, as well as a card earning 1.5 Qantas points per dollar ongoing. Thanks Amex!
American Express Platinum Edge
Another credit card winner. I signed up for this card back in 2010 and didn’t use it much until this year, when I made a conscious decision to start acquiring more Velocity points and spread my redemption options more widely. It quickly became clear how easy it was to rack up points with supermarket spend (at 3 points per dollar), with bonus offers from AAMI & BP, and Membership Rewards offers like the Amex Foreign Exchange signup bonus all contributing to a healthy 50,000 point MR balance from seemingly minimal effort.
OnePath Insurance
I’ll be writing a brief how-to maximise points for minimum spend on the OnePath 10,000 point offer that’s been running throughout 2011 in the next week or so. It’s still ongoing, and for around a $50-$70 outlay you can bring in 20,000 Qantas points (which I value around $300-$400). I did this for myself and my partner. Result – 40,000 Qantas points for some administration and minimal spend.
Honorable Mentions
The Bankwest 22,500 Qantas point signup offer; Qantas 91st Birthday (AKA the we’re sorry for the grounding) bonus point promotion; and the points raked in from my trips in April and December.
Happy point collecting for 2012!
It would be great to get your advice on how to get $300-$400 value from 20,000 QFFs.
Thanks for your time,
George
A good way to maximize dollar value on 20k points is a short one way business redemption, say Sydney – Brisbane. But that’s boring as hell.
You might consider a return redemption on an expensive regional flight, say something like Sydney or Brisbane – Lord Howe. $1000 return ticket value for 16,000 points.
It all depends on where you are and what you like to do, not necessarily how much value you can get.
I’ve never done much regional flying, most of my travel is international and from what I could see, using points for international travel just didnt seem worth it. Apart from all the fees they charge, the upgradeable Qantas flights are always so much more expensive than their cheapest flights. It seemed better value to me just to cash in the points for Supermarket vouchers (hence I could only see a $100 value per 13,500 points).
But you’ve put into my mind the thought of doing some interesting regional flights so I am definitely thinking now of using the points for flights to say, Lord Howe Island or Alice Springs. Would be great as a gift to my parents or inlaws as well.
Thanks again.
George
Happy travels.
Can you please explain how you got the 20K QFF points (per person) from One Path?
The offer is still on and if its under $100 for 20K points, then that’s a great return that I’d like to take advantage.
Also, could you explain how you sold your free flights from your credit cards on eBay? I don’t quite get how you did it, since you have to book the flight for them.
Much appreciated
The OnePath offer has recently been rebranded as an ANZ offer (who own the OnePath brand). The details are at http://www.qantas.com.au/fflyer/dyn/memberSpecials/business/anz-life-bonus-points
To ensure you get the two 10,000 point bonuses, take out two different types of policies in your name, and ensure excesses and extras are reduced to their minimum in the quote process. You’ll need to keep the policies for 3-4 months before you see the points in your account, and then you can cancel if you don’t want the insurance. There’s a 20k maximum bonus per person, so rinse and repeat for other eligible members of your household.
Selling the flight on eBay is pretty straightforward, just requires a bit of admin. The flight needs to be booked by yourself, but can be in any name. I make the process very clear…
1) People can check availability before purchase – I call Amex and check any requested flights once every couple of days to respond to questions
2) Many people know that these flights have limited availability but want to use them for way in advance, and they often just purchase without checking
3) Once someone has purchased, booking is pretty straightforward – just need all the purchasers details for the booking
4) Changes – I state upfront on the auction that one change is OK at whatever cost is charged by Amex, and no more.
That’s it! Haven’t had an issue yet.