Fairly new to the points hacking game and looking for some expert advice on how best to get to my goal. I’ve signed up for the beginner emails (which are great) but am now looking to start the journey
My main goal is to try and travel to Europe with my family (4 including myself, my wife and 2 young kids, 2 and 4 year old), hopefully on a regular basis.
Having read a bit of the site I thought I’d choose QFF as the way forward but I am not sure. The main reason I thought I’d go with them is that I could see a few things relevant to me right now would give me bonus points for QFF.
-an upgrade to my mobile plan with vodafone
-swapping to red energy for power
-and signing up to some CC’s that offer bonus points
But after reading the emails I am not so sure if QFF is the best way forward. My wife has a Amex card and I do as well (although I do not use it that often but I will now as it earns rewards points which are flexible)
Just looking to see if there is a best practice or recommended hacking method for trying to redeem for flights to Europe?
I’m looking to either redeem economy or premium economy flights and/or bump up to Business class for whatever routes are available.
Not sure if what I’ve said is confusing or not but hopefully someone has some helpful tips on how to get started.
Welcome to the points hacking game! If you play your cards right it can be great fun!
Qantas vs not-Qantas is like Ford vs Holden. Whatever strategy you go with is fine. Even on the pages of this website there’s disagreement, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
However, unless you have AmEx cards that earn Qantas points (or Ascent Premium points which can be converted to Qantas points) in your specific situation you might like to consider accumulating AmEx Reward points and then converting them to something like Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer points. In my experience Singapore Air flights are by far the most readily available. And flying to Europe in Business Class will cost you 105,000 KrisFlyer points as opposed to either 128,000 or 139,000 Qantas points (depending on which airline you fly). For a family of four taking a return trip, those points differences end up being massive.
So… the dilemma … with Qantas you need more points, but they’re easier to come by. With, say, Singapore Air you need fewer points, but they’re not as easy to accumulate in Australia. Six of one…
Pick a strategy knowing that if you play your cards right, either strategy will get you and your family to Europe.
As a family of four, my strategy is to have an Amex card so I can transfer to multiple partners (I use Singapore Krisflyer mostly for their consistent good availability) and I also have a Qantas account due to the ease of accumulating points (is credit card sign ups regularly for points boosts).
A word of warning, if you are not aware of the VERY high fuel charges Qantas charges, it can come as a shock- hence wouldn’t recommend using your points for economy to Europe when you can consistently get flights under $1000.