A CHOICE community member wrote in to tell us about an experience he had, which demonstrates the value of shopping around before blowing your hard-earned frequent flyer points. Not only do frequent flyer programs gain customer loyalty, they also contribute a significant profit to airlines' bottom lines. Airlines sell points to third parties, such as credit card companies, or businesses such as hotels and car hire companies, who use the points to entice customers.
So long as they sell the points for more money than it costs them for customers to redeem them, the airline is winning. Even better for them if the points expire before they're redeemed. It's clear who benefits most from the frequent flyer scheme. It's "definitely the airline", says Steve Worthington, an adjunct professor at the Swinburne Business School. In addition to being a great money maker, he says the real cost to the consumer of loyalty programs is the personal data that you give away almost for free.
When spending your points, you're sharing what you're buying through the airlines' online stores as well as through all the other frequent flyer incentives. This consumer spending data is very valuable.
I don't think we realise how much information we give away when we join," says Worthington. To determine the value of a reward flight, we looked at the cheapest economy return flight including baggage to six destinations, over four different periods in the year for both Qantas and Virgin Australia 24 flights for each airline, including fees and taxes and then divided the points by the dollar value of the standard flight including fees and taxes.
In both the Qantas and Virgin stores, we looked at four gift cards, one TV and one vacuum cleaner. Skip to content Skip to footer navigation. Top of the content. Frequent flyer points — are they worth it? We weigh up whether chasing frequent flyer points is worth the time and money. Zoya Sheftalovich. Jemma Castle. Virgin Australia lounge reviews. Frequent flyer news.
Frequent flyer fanatics. About these examples. For flight examples, we used the Qantas Points calculator to work out the points needed. We worked out the dollar value of flights by searching for flights on 15 July , for travel between October a weekend. The dollar value of the flight upgrade was calculated by looking at the difference between the retail cost of Economy Red e-Deal and Business flights. For the hotel stay, we looked at the values in points and dollars that were listed on the Qantas Hotels website , with a check-in date of 1 October The Fitbit dollar value was sourced from the Fitbit Australia website on 15 July Data updated regularly.
Go to site More Info. Qantas Premier Platinum. Cashrewards Max benefit. Now offering Cashrewards Max. Qantas American Express Discovery Card. Qantas American Express Ultimate Card. ABN required. Qantas American Express Premium Card. Enjoy 30, bonus Qantas Points, 2 complimentary Qantas Club lounge invitations per year and the protection of complimentary insurance covers.
David Jones American Express Card. Membership Rewards. Bank of Melbourne Amplify Signature. Amplify Rewards. George Amplify Platinum. Plus, a first-year annual fee discount. George Amplify Signature. Prev 1 2. Compare up to 4 providers Clear selection. Don't miss out on more points! Our weekly Points Finder email sends all the latest frequent flyer and rewards deals and offers straight to your inbox.
Don't miss out! Follow Points Finder. Was this content helpful to you? Thank you for your feedback! Amy Bradney-George twitter linkedin. Rapid antigen tests: When will RAT stock be available? Where to watch DC series Peacemaker online in Australia He believes in peace at any cost — no matter how many people he has to kill to get it. Compare rapid antigen test brands: How do they stack up?
Not all tests are created equal here are the different brands compared. Ask an Expert. Display Name. Your Email will not be published. Your Question You are about to post a question on finder. Your Question. Ask your question. Arnold June 16, Hi David, Thanks for your inquiry. Hope this information helps Cheers, Arnold Reply.
Dawn March 23, May March 26, Staff. Hi Dawn, Thanks for your inquiry. Cheers, May Reply. Brian July 10, Thanks Brian Reply. Jonathan July 12, Hi Brian! Thanks for the inquiry! You can inquire about this matter with Qantas for further verification. Hope this helps. Cheers, Jonathan Reply. Jono April 17, Harold April 18, Staff. Hi Jono, Thank you for your inquiry. Cheers, Harold Reply. Sarkon March 29, How many frequent flyer is needed to redeem flight Sydney to Phuket return flight Reply.
Dee March 29, Staff. Hi Sarkon, Thanks for your question. You need the following points to redeem a flight from Sydney to Phuket return: Economy — 48, Qantas points Business — 96, Qantas points You may also use the Qantas points calculator on their website to check the needed points for other destinations.
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What is your feedback about? In addition to its Oneworld partners, Qantas also has the following non-alliance partners that allow you to earn miles:. Qantas miles can be redeemed for award flights as far out as days in advance, which is a bit farther than most airlines about days is the standard.
Also, note that Qantas Frequent Flyer is one of the rare loyalty programs that only allows you to redeem miles for family members. Qantas offers different distance-based tables for redeeming their Classic Flight Rewards. The first and most favorable one covers award fights operated by the following carriers:.
Qantas should be commended for offering its customers three months notice before changing its award charts, so we have plenty of opportunity to redeem miles at the current prices. Here are some of the best options between now and September 17, In contrast, one-way flights under miles in distance are only 8, Qantas miles in economy, and one-way flights that cover , miles in distance are just 12, Qantas miles. Another way to extract value from distance-based award charts is to fly between two points that fall at the top end of the distance range without going over.
For example, awards that are 2,, miles in distance cost just 22, Qantas miles, and the distance between New York and London happens to fall at the high end of that range: 3, miles.
This means that you could fly to London round-trip in economy class for just 45, miles. Just be sure to avoid ticketing awards on British Airways, which imposes massive fuel surcharges that Qantas passes along. For example, flights between New York-JFK or Newark EWR and Tel Aviv TLV are just under 5, miles long, meaning that you can book an economy class award for 42, miles each way, a premium economy award for 63, miles and a business-class award for 78, miles.
While these might not be super bargains, they are often your best options for these routes. For example, the flight from Tel Aviv to Johannesburg JNB is 4, miles, which equates to a mere 35, in economy and 65, in business class. So if you have to change planes, Qantas just adds up the total miles without making you redeem the equivalent of two awards like the British Airways program does.
However, Qantas opens award seats to its own members days in advance, giving you a valuable day head start. Flights from LAX to Nadi NAN are just 5, miles in distance, which falls just within the award zone for 35, miles each way in economy and 72, miles in business. You should even be able to add on a short inter-island flight for the same price.
Emirates flights from several East Coast destinations are within 7, miles in distance and are just 40, each way in economy and 84, each way in business.
Qantas is one of a dwindling number of carriers that still offer Round-the-World awards , which is essentially Zone 10 of the OneWorld Classic Flight Rewards table. You can take flights that cover up to 35, miles in distance for , points in economy and , in business class. Nevertheless, there are some decent options for redeeming Qantas miles, and since the program is a transfer partner of Citi, Amex and Capital One, you may have a lot of these miles at your disposal for your next award trip.
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