Perhaps you’ve heard of Flybuys – it’s only Australia’s biggest loyalty program. Flybuys is very popular with Point Hacks readers because it’s so easy to earn points. It’s quite simple to use points too, with supermarket discounts and Velocity Points being the two main goals.
From getting hundreds of dollars off your Christmas shop to reclining in Virgin Australia Business Class on your summer holiday, here are two ways to get the most out of Flybuys.
How can I use Flybuys points?
There are a few great ways to use your Flybuys points. You can cash them in for Flybuys Dollars, which reduce your bill at the check-out. Or you could book holidays via Flybuys Travel and offset your ticket price with points. Both options are fixed-rate, where 2,000 points = $10 (or equivalent to 0.5 cents per point). Another option is to redeem your points for merchandise from the rewards store, which we don’t recommend.
Instead, our favourite use of Flybuys points is to transfer them to Velocity Frequent Flyer. Who’d have thought? With the right flights – especially in domestic Business Class – you can easily double the value of your Flybuys balance.
| Reward | Value / Rate | Our Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Flybuys Dollars discount at checkout | 0.5c per Flybuys point | This guide |
| Flybuys Travel | 0.5c per Flybuys point | Guide to Flybuys travel → |
| Velocity Points | Depends on how you use the Velocity Points. It's easy to get in excess of 2 cents per Velocity Points on flights (equivalent to 1c per Flybuys point). | Best uses of Velocity Points → |
| Flybuys rewards store | 0.5c per Flybuys point or less | This guide |
Using Flybuys points for travel rewards
1. Velocity Frequent Flyer point transfers
It’s easy to send your points from Flybuys to Velocity. At current rates, 1,000 Flybuys points are equal to 500 Velocity Points. To get started you’ll need to link your accounts before making transfers.
There are many ways to use Velocity Points – check out our guide for other great ways to use them. We generally find excellent value with Business Class redemptions, such as 35,500 Velocity Points from Tassie to Melbourne to Perth. Now that’s value!
If you start with 72,000 Flybuys points, you could swap them for 36,000 Velocity Points. A Perth to Sydney transcontinental Business Class flight usually costs $1,299, or just 35,500 Velocity Points with a reward seat.
Book that Business reward seat and enjoy a value of 1.80 cents per Flybuys point. That’s nearly four times the value you’d get at the check-out with the same number of points (which is $360, incidentally).
With Coles running major Flybuys bonus points deals at least once every few months, getting enough Velocity Points for a Business Class seat is definitely within reach.
2. Flybuys Travel
Flybuys has its own online travel agent website, Flybuys Travel. This not only lets you earn Flybuys points when you book with any airline – it also lets you use your points to pay for bookings. Be sure to check out our full guide to Flybuys travel.
Since Flybuys travel is essentially a third-party online travel agent, redemptions are not based on distance like most frequent flyer programs. Instead, the Flybuys points needed will be based on the cost of the ticket.
Just like at Coles, each Flybuys point is worth 0.5 cents here as well. Since budget airlines such as Jetstar are included, you may not necessarily need a lot of Flybuys points to score a free flight. You can also use Flybuys Travel to book hotels, cars and travel packages.
Using Flybuys points for non-travel rewards
1. Discount at the checkout with Flybuys Dollars
The easiest use of Flybuys points is getting Flybuys Dollars to use at the checkout. For every 2,000 points you redeem, you can get $10 off (that’s 0.5c per point). Just make sure to log in to your Flybuys account and redeem the points online before heading out to the stores. You’ll need to swipe your physical Flybuys card to use Flybuys Dollars.
It’s not hard to see why this is the most popular redemption option. It’s quick and easy to redeem – no restrictions, no fuss. You can also use your Flybuys dollars in-store at Liquorland, First Choice Liquor, Coles Express, Kmart, Target and MyCar.
2. Flybuys online store
Like most rewards programs, Flybuys also boasts an online store where you can buy a range of items.
You can also choose the points plus pay option if you find a reward that you don’t have enough points for. Depending on which gift you’re redeeming, you’ll find the value of your points can fluctuate a little bit. But for the most part, it will still turn out to be 0.5c per point.
Take these Apple AirPods 2nd Generation retailing for $189 at The Good Guys in November 2021. If you go through the Flybuys store, you’ll end up paying between:
- 48,761 Flybuys points outright (0.39 cents per point), or
- A minimum of 19,505 Flybuys points + $182.85 (0.03 cents per point). Yikes!
Points + Pay really erodes the value of the reward. Why would you pay more than 19,000 Flybuys points + $182.85, when you can just buy the AirPods for $189 directly?
The key takeaway from this? Please don’t use your Flybuys points for getting merchandise from the rewards store, unless it’s really the only thing you want to do with your hard-earned points.
Summing up
Fancy a bit of trivia? Originally, Flybuys was designed as a loyalty program for airline flights. But it’s now morphed into a shopping loyalty program, with links to a wide range of partners.
The partnership with Velocity has opened the door for you to put your Flybuys points towards great-value flights. Saving your Flybuys points for Virgin Australia bookings will get you far more return on your points than a pair of AirPods from the rewards store.
Flybuys points are pretty consistently valued at 0.5c each for two main uses – Flybuys Dollars and Flybuys Travel. But if you transfer those points to Velocity Frequent Flyer, you can really unlock their true potential.
If that’s not your tune, then discounts with Flybuys Dollars are the next best thing. After all, they’re just as good as cash. Don’t feel bad for going down this path if you have no travel plans. We won’t ask you to hand in your Points Hack badge. Ultimately, your points give you the most value for the things you really want.
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This article was originally written by Evin Tan Khiew.
So whilst I’m currently in the UK and previously never had any problem accessing my account to activate promotions etc for family members, this year, I’ve been unable to do so as flybuys cannot be accessed from overseas. You can probably test this through a VPN.
As such, if anyone uses their flybuys account to book something through flybuys travel or whatnot, they will be left stranded and not have any access to their account.
It’s quite the scandal.
“where it is possible to get nearly 2 cents value from each flybuys point.“
In the real life example we give in the text (a $1,299 Virgin Business Class fare for 72,000 Flybuys points/36,000 Velocity points), then you’ll see that is indeed close to 2c per Flybuys point (1.8 to be exact), and double that for the value of each Velocity Point.
I have Flybuys, ANZ Rewards and Velocity memberships. I earn point on all of these on a regular basis and so I have a reasonable balance on all of them. I never know the best option for redemption.
The only place I regularly fly is Sydney to Adelaide return. Am I best to use points for booking flights by transferring balances to Velocity or just keep redeeming things like Flybuys dollars or ANZ store gift cards etc.
Reading flybuys website, they require to login online to make the redemption first before going to the checkout.
Flybuys-Etihad
Or
Flybuys-virgin