Where can I find the best bang for my buck with ANZ Rewards points?

I’m Australian, but I spend most of the year overseas in different places. I have a QANTAS Frequent Flyer account with about 13000 points.

I have 63,000 ANZ Rewards points. I want to know how I can get the best bang for my buck. I am rarely in Australia so I think gift cards for Woolworths etc are not useful for me. I don’t have a Velocity Rewards account but I can get 1 point for every 2 ANZ Rewards points that I have.

My problem is that most of my flights will be overseas, such as within Europe or between South East Asia and Europe. I never fly domestically in Australia, so I would need points that can be used on European airlines or something.

The other option could be selling the points. Or redeeming something with the points that I can sell online without having to be in Australia. Is it possible?

Hi DigitalNormad:

Before I answer you anything, I need to let you know the selling of miles or points without the approval of the airline is against their T&C and you may risk award ticket being cancelled and account closed and all points confiscated. So it is not recommended. If you want to do it, do it at your own risk.

I can’t speak for everyone, but many of us in PH community would agree that the best bang for buck for any credit card or frequent flyer points is to use it to fly first or business class, and gift cards or toasters tend to be the worst value.

In your case, your ANZ reward point is not useless and converting it to VA is probably the best value. You can still use it for your need.

For intra Europe flight, VA partners with Air Berlin so you can use it to redeem it, although personally I find for intra Europe flights, as business class is basically economy class with middle seat blocked, so I don’t find it good value.

For traveling to SE Asia, the best use of VA points is to fly with Etihad business or even first class. Their availability is usually pretty good. Or you can transfer it to Kris Flyer points, and fly back from AMS to SIN (and other SE asian cities) in their new business seat on A350 for 51000 KF miles (~68850 VA points = 137700 ANZ points)

But at 63000 ANZ reward (= 31500 VA points) it is not enough to get any decent redemption. Are you still earning points on ANZ card? Or do you have any other ways to earn more VA points? As ANZ reward points don’t expire as long as you have your account open, there is no rush to use it up. Wait for the next 15% bonus, and continue to earn more VA points.

With your 13000 QF points, unfortunately I have to be honest with you, it is rather useless. it might get you a one way economy between London and Paris, but the fuel surcharge makes it not worth while. So keep it. But if it is about to expire, maybe gift it to your families (or still get a Y ticket intra Europe, better than nothing).