2013 Point Spending Spree!

Most girls I know enjoy a good shopping spree, especially when a sale is on, be it to buy shoes, clothes, handbags or all. Exhilaration and hysteria is experienced as beautiful items are purchased, money 'saved' and the credit card is handed over to get its workout. As life would have it, I am not most girls - exhilaration and hysteria is experienced when I am sitting at my desk comfortably accumulating 'points', particularly those bonus points that come from new credit card applications, upgrades and referrals! (That is not to say I don't enjoy a good sale either). After years of consolidation and treasuring my beloved American Express Membership Reward points, this year I went on an unintentional point spending spree.

This is how the point-spending blow out occurred:

• 20,000 points for a One Way Economy Class ticket – Melbourne to Sydney on Jetstar
• 46,750 points for a One Way Business Class ticket – Sydney to Shanghai on Malaysia Airlines
• 46,750 points for a One Way Business Class ticket – Kuala Lumpur to Sydney on Singapore Airlines
• 51,000 points for a One Way Business Class ticket – Paris to Sydney on Malaysia Airlines
• 40,000 points for a One Way Business Class upgrade – Paris to Sydney on Malaysia Airlines for my travel partner

Total Blowout = 204,500 points!!

Now that is quite a spending spree and all in one calendar year, but hey, I probably saved thousands of dollars with the business class trips I took :)

In the interest of full disclosure, I did use some personal funds to supplement the point-spending spree as well.

• I applied for a David Jones American Express card this year which came with 20,000 sign up bonus points for a $99 annual fee. Those points funded my one way Melbourne-Sydney Jetstar flight which was a pretty good deal since I was purchasing the ticket one week before a long weekend! (FYI: I used my own money to purchase the Sydney-Melbourne ticket) I made the flight redemption by using a cool feature in Webjet to 'redeem' my points. However, I do not recommend this strategy unless it is last minute! Also, I don't think the DJ Amex points are really worth all that much...but hey I wanted to save some money.

• Since 2011, I have been paying $99 p.a for my American Express Platinum Edge card. I get a discount on the annual fee as I am a member of the ICAA (Institute of Chartered Accountants). The best thing about this card was my sign-on bonus of 20,000 points! Additionally, I have been referring family, friends and colleagues this card and I have pocketed another 70,000 points from that. Another awesome feature of this card is the 'free' domestic flight you get each year - I managed to fly to Launceston for free this year so well worth my $99!

• Each flight redemption triggers surcharges & taxes. For the Asia trip in earlier in the year I spent about $600 on those taxes & surcharges; and for the Paris-Sydney flight on Malaysia Airlines A380 business class I spent about $580. These surcharges do sound hefty, but when you compare it to the actual dollar value of a business class flight and the utility consumed, I think it is well worth it!

So what is the deal with buying one-way tickets everywhere?
I wanted to do a few 'open jaw' trips this year, and a lot of the online flight redemption booking tools do not allow this. To overcome this issue, I bought one way tickets and it allowed more flexibility in choosing my reward flights and carriers. Another reason for this decision is that I lacked points to complete my Europe trip wholly in business class this year + upgrade my travel partner, so it was easier to buy a one way economy ticket combined with a one way business class flight redemption. (The sacrifices I made!)

For example, this is how I structured my short 8 day Asia trip this year

1. Sydney-Shanghai via Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Airlines Business Class - 46,750 points  + $352.71 in taxes & surcharges
2. Shanghai to Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Airlines - bought one way economy ticket for $237.31 - it was cheaper to buy MAS than Air Asia at the time. 
3. Kuala Lumpur-Sydney via Singapore on Singapore Airlines - 46,750 points + +$252.60 in taxes & surcharges - and it gave me a chance to try the A380 cabin!

Total = 93,500 points + $842.62

A Sydney-Shanghai business class flight on MAS is about $5,500, so I definitely think this point redemption was value for money! Not to mention the additional comfort of a lie-flat bed, fantastic champagnes and wines to indulge on, proper headsets, a huge screen to watch my movies etc. To provide some perspective, 95,000 Amex Membership Reward points only convert to a $750 gift voucher. It still puzzles me to learn people would rather use points for a gift voucher instead of treating themselves to a business class flight you otherwise can't afford ordinarily!

I could have avoided the point blow out if I had known that I was going to be flying overseas twice this year. I was only planning on doing one trip this year (hence my logic to blow out points on Asia), but sometimes life takes a turn and new opportunities arise. Sure I could have found a better way to utilise my points to the max, but I am thankful that I had such a healthy balance of Amex Reward points to treat myself another time this year.

The point blowout obviously means that I am not sitting on a healthy Amex Membership Rewards balance anymore, nor do I see any bonus points coming my way soon. (If anyone in Amex is reading this, please feel free to send some bonus points my way!) For my upcoming travel endeavours, I will be going back to my 'purchased' US Airways points to make a redemption. Once you've sat in business class a few times on a long haul flight, it is pretty hard to go back to Economy.

Meanwhile, I am diversifying my points portfolio and really hoping the HSBC Platinum Qantas card I have applied for will be approved so I can start building on my Qantas Frequent Flyer points! Always good to have options when it comes to travel and point redemptions :)

Business Class Rocks!

The one unattainable dream for the longest time - scoring a business class flight. I'm not as fortunate as some people that travel on business for work all the time; or am one of those lucky few that get picked by some random formula to be seated at the pointy section of the plane. No, no such luck for me. I've always had to work for things in life, and that includes scoring a business class flight. If you want to find out how I scored a business class flight, read my post from a few months ago.

Alas my 2012 Summer Holiday was going to be THE holiday - not just because I was going to be in Spain, England and France during June, but because I was finally going to experience Business Class Travel! I can report that it was fabulous! How did I survive those long haul flights on Jetstar, United Airlines before? How did I convince myself that Singapore Airlines A380 Economy was the best experience? 

There's a world of difference between Economy & Business. I cannot even imagine the quantum leap between Business and First!

Now lets break down my Thai Airways experience :

Business Class Travel...it is possible!

A few weeks ago I booked my trip to Europe for June 2012! Holiday planning is definitely one of the best ways to start the new year! My destinations will include and not be limited to Madrid, Barcelona, London and Paris for a 25 day period. Aside from seeing these great cities, I am most excited about experiencing business class travel for the first time ever! Yes, that's right I am a newbie to business class travel. For someone that does zero business travel for work, I think I have done quite well to achieve my return business class ticket on Thai Airways. 

I have shared this with some of my friends, and everyone is asking - how did you score a business class flight for the price of an economy price ticket? 

I am about to share my secret, which is not so much a secret when you ask google about it. 

The secret: points. 

Points? But it takes FOREVER to accumulate credit card points &/or frequent flyer points unless you are travelling for work all the time. That statement is correct. However, another option is to buy points. 

Over a 2 year period I have been buying US Airways miles (points) whenever they have the 100% bonus special on. This enables you to buy up to 100,000 miles for about US$1,600. (I have to thank my travel savvy cousin for sharing this secret with me 2 years ago) Now to travel from Australia to Europe on business class requires 120,000 miles, which equates to approx US$1,900. To me, that sounds like a bargain, especially when economy flights from Australia to Europe are about AU$2,000+. But why would I be buying US Airway miles if I am in Australia? Thankfully US Airways is part of the Star Alliance network which inclues Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand to name a few. Once you have accumulated the required miles, you can claim on ANY of the Star Alliance airlines. All you need to do is pick up the phone and call US Airways (I use skype since it is an international free call), tell the call centre representative the trip you would like to make, wait for them to do the relevant searches, confirm your booking and pay the taxes and fees. For my Europe booking the taxes and fees was about $250, so all up less than $2,200 for a return business class trip to Europe.  I think it was worth all that effort and planning! 

Easy! 

Kind of. 

It's been a learning experience, but I am willing to share more secrets. 

1) If you are planning to redeem a business class flight on Singapore Airlines - forget it. 

SIA make it pretty much impossible for business class flight redemptions. In 2010 I tried to book a business class flight with the points I bought from Singapore-Munich. But because I was such an amateur back then, I ended up booking an economy class ticket! Now that was a waste of points  because I didn't even save that much money! However, given the circumstances of that trip, it all worked out OK. 

2) It is best to know the exact route you want before calling up US Airways. Otherwise, you will spend over an hour on the phone trying to make a booking. How to find my exact route? Use the Star Alliance website to find out which member airlines will suit your itinerary. There is also another tool to use to find business & first class availabilities, but that requires another lengthly blog post. 

3) Book your holiday more than 3 months in advance. I actually tried the business class redemption method last year for my mum's holiday to the UK. I booked 3 months in advance, and whilst I managed to get her to London on business class from Sydney, she had to go via Bangkok & Zurich. A long way, but she got there in the end! 

4) Best to book tickets more than 6 months in advance to popular destinations like London. Unless of course you are willing to travel for more than a day to get there. 

Now I just have 4 months of waiting to look forward to this!

Thai Airways A340-600 Royal Silk Business Class

Important Note: US Airways have recently increased the value of points. So even if they do have the 100% bonus special on again, it is unlikely that you will be paying US$1,600 for 100,000 miles.  But given I don't accumulate points fast enough, it is still a viable option to make business class travel possible!