Hi, I am new to rewards programs so a bit naive on some of the nuances between the various FF programs and CC sign-up bonuses.
My objective is for my partner and I to travel business class Brisbane to London return every second year.
Neither of us have any credit cards currently. We would most likely sign-up for separate cards and pool the bonus rewards together. We are both on good incomes with excellent credit history so I believe the applications would be straightforward.
I’m leaning towards the Citi Premier Card with 100k Velocity miles for the first card. The earn rate looks reasonable and 100k points seems like a good start.
Our current domestic spend of between $5-$10k per month is between both of us.
The best strategy for collecting enough points to get to London every second year is to take advantage of credit card sign-up bonuses. Also don’t neglect programmes such as FlyBuys and Everyday Rewards which can easily get you an extra 50,000 points per year or more.
We can’t give specific advice regarding which cards you should get but, as you have discovered, there are plenty of cards around which have very large sign-up bonuses, such as the one you have identified. When I’ve been wanting Velocity points, I’ve found the Virgin Flyer and High Flyer cards to also be worth having.
I have two pieces of specific advice for you. First, consider accumulating points in a flexible rewards programme such as AmEx membership rewards. The article below outlines the considerable benefits of such programmes.
Second: read, research and learn! Visit this site frequently, read the articles, case studies and community questions/answers, and glean as much knowledge as you can from them about how to go about booking reward flights (it’s not always easy!). Also do some “dummy” searches (searches where you don’t intend to book but are “practice runs” on your part) so you can discover the features and foibles of various airline websites.
And of course, feel free to ask more questions here any time.