Requires a Woolworths Rewards card. Get Woolworths Dollars back with Flight Centre Gift Card purchases. Limit 5 per person. Effectively a 16% discount on Flight Centre purchases.
Buy a $75 gift card plus a $3.75 fee, get $15.75 in Woolworths Dollars
Buy a $150 gift card plus a $7.50 fee, get $31.50 in Woolworths Dollars
Buy using a 5% off egift card and the discount becomes 21.25%.
Yep you're right. Post changed.
It's still 20% back in Woolworths Rewards dollars, but essentially ~16% off.
See this explanation regarding 10% bonus value on Dick Smith gift cards:
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/3315646/redir
Yes but I think may be should mention effectively it is just 16% saving.
Btw, haven't used flight centre before, are the prices exactly the same when booking with them vs booking directly with airlines?
Yes but I think may be should mention effectively it is just 16% saving.
~16% off has been added to the title.
Btw, haven't used flight centre before, are the prices exactly the same when booking with them vs booking directly with airlines?
I don't know if that's the case but that is something you could ask in the forums.
Hmm dick Smith gift vouchers turned out to be a terrible deal. But hey this is the travel agent industry. It's rock solid and here to stay, right?
I just checked… fare is more expensive (Jetstar sells for $89 and they sell for $95) + they have a booking fee of $19.90… like what??
And their selling spiel:
NO CREDIT CARD FEES + JUST A SIMPLE SMALL FLAT BOOKING FEE OF $19.95
Just wondering why would anyone book with them?
@Expon: Who knows, as wildstone states it's apparently cheaper going directly through the airline.
And there were these promotions recently
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/237529
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/236612
@wildstone: Interesting to know, thanks for sharing that.
Just wondering why would anyone book with them?
I'd guess it'd be for the service and for those who would prefer the agent to make most of the plans/bookings etc.
Flight Centre match any airline price I bring to them.
I use them as I also redeem my CC reward points with them also.
@JSQUARED: I've got FC to price-beat a legit online fare before. So I'd say yes, they can be competitive, but better to do own research before going to them. Also, FC now selling budget airlines fares as well.
May I know how that works? And can we still pay with the gift card? If so then it's good cause you get cheapest fair plus 16% off on top of that.
@JSQUARED: same here looking for good deals on skyscanner then go to FC to price beat. works like a charm especially for more complicated international fares. FC has good customer service face to face reminds you the good old days your travel agent sorts out all your travel needs.
@wildstone:
I printed a screenshot of fare, took it into FC and they beat fare by $1.00. Paid with credit card without any surcharge. Haven't tried paying with FC GC as yet, but there's no reason for FC not to accept GC as it's a valid payment method (just like EFTPOS). The disadvantage I can see is if you need to change travel arrangements, you'll have to do it through FC, and they'll charge a fee, in addition to what the airline/ cruise company charges. Hope this helps.
Where did you see that "you must redeem the rewards dollar on your NEXT purchase"?
Do you have to redeem all in one go?
If you buy 5 of the $150 cards you get $157.50 Woolworths dollars. I thought you could use them in multiple shops until your balance is $0.
Anyone know if its max 5 per card even if its linked to the one customer? I have 3 family members with cards.
Hmm pretty good deal. Obviously a pure 20% off would be even better but I think this is probably the best deal I've seen for Flight Centre GCs. Woolies Rewards are probably not that far from real cash for many of us here.
Don't forget you could use the Dan Murphy's eGCs too, which were technically even more than 5% off.
So I can pay in store for the GCs using the eGCs bought through cashrewards??
The woolworths dollars are reedemed automatically on your next shop in multiples of $10.
So please correct me if I am wrong, if you buy the first $150 card for $157.50 you get $31.50 wow$ credit.
Then you buy a 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th $150 (157.50) card and you will pay only $127.50 (plus $30 wow$) for each. And you will have a $37.5 wow$ balance at the end.
If this is how it works, then it's much better for us. Has anyone tried this? Please share your experience! Cheers
Can we use gift cards to pay for flights via phone?
Should be able to.
Did you manage to do it?
Yes. Spent $380. Got $450 gift cards + $15 WWD + $6.25 gift card
Used it on Bali flight.
does anyone know if there is a limit to the number of gift cards you can use to book a flight?
From personal experience, no limit
No limit and will be easier to open a free account with flightcentre and redeem all the cards. That way it wont expire and you dont have to worry about losing the cards.
Since you have used them, do you know if you can use gift card to pay for matched fare? I asked this above but does not seem to get an answer.
Yes, all the time (about 5 times now)
Hey feihong, thanks. Do you mind listing out the steps for price beating? I know it has some details on the website but would rather hear it from someone who has done it before.
@wildstone: sure. Basically you use say skyscanner to find a fare you want, then call up a FC agent and ask them to give you a quote. If skyscanner quote comes up cheaper than FC's quote, the agent will ask you to send a screenshot to them to confirm whether the quote you find is with an agency with an ABN. Once verified, you have 24 hours to pay the pricematched fare and if you can't pay in person, send photos of FC gift cards to the agent for processing.
@wildstone: I've never for once the life of me had them beat any fare, always an excuse to wiggle out of it.
@feihong:
Do they really accept photos of the gift cards??? I never thought about doing that.
How many gift cards have you done this with?
What if you send them photos of 30 $150 gift cards to pay for $4500 airfares?
@maxi: yes, have done that before (around 22 cards). The very last time I had 40 * $100 cards from Coles I couldn't be bothered taking photos so handed over the gift cards in person instead.
Okay, so you call up, get quote and finally say skyscanner is cheaper. Then from there onwards is it just emailing between agents to send screenshots and gift card?
@wildstone: Not sure if this has been covered in other comments yet but keep in mind that the Skyscanner price may not be recognised as the final price for price beat purposees because Skyscanner usually redirects to another page to make the booking. FC will price match the price shown on the payment page once clicking through all the steps.
Okay thanks. So I should really just show the screenshot of say airasia or scoot website?
@wildstone: I'm not even sure if you need a screenshot because I think they do their own verification anyway by going all the way through to the payment page.
What I do know is that they can beat coupon codes (e.g. if you know of a Scoot coupon code), but they don't beat stuff like Jetstar Price Beat. I think it's because Jetstar Price Beat is not really an "advertised" price (as in you'd be beating Jetstar with another airline, and Jetstar's price isn't actually advertised as 10% off).
you have to do this in person right?
Can't see an online option to open a Flight Centre account.
call any flight centre and you can do it over the phone, or at least I did. I was transferred through to the FC @ brisbane airport, they are open either 24hours or till 12midnight.
I get my flights matched via email, don't even call them. Just send the screenshot as an attachment.
Also do note that they must match like for like in terms of payment fees, for example if you get them to price match a jetstar flight, be sure to mention that you are paying via POLi which attracts no fees, otherwise they will assume you are paying by credit card and charge the credit card fee on top of the price beat.
Now my issue is needing to purchase a lot more than just 5 gcs. I hope they haven't programmed it into the everyday rewards card so that it stops giving you woolworth dollars after 5 times.
@googoogaga:
I assume they have. Very easy for them to do it.
Just get temporary everyday cards and activate them after to use the woolworths $.
Whoa - the credit won't expire that way? That sounds pretty sweet!
Can you post the link to creating this FC account?
there is no link, you have to call or go into your local FC in person
so let me get this straight
$1200 flight to paris with bestjet in the works,
goto flight center get them to match it
duck off to woolies get as many gift cards as possible using 5% discounted egiftcards
winner winner
21% as much as possible
hand the misses the rewards card
i eat snails while she stays home and eats woolies sstuff
whats the link please, one above takes me to wow page but cant see gift cards. thanks
It's in the next week catalogue. Title needs to be edited to reflect that
Have I got my ozbargining skills down pat? As I'm literally minutes away from booking Melb-Seoul via Taipei with China Airlines with a stopover in Taipei on the return for total of $1025, so essentially I could buy a 2x of egift cards, to a value of 500 each for $950, use these to buy $750 worth of flight centre vouchers on my everyday rewards account earning 157.50 Woolworths Dollars (since it's my primary food source being across the road, though lots will likely be used at BWS). Buy another $225 vouchers on my wifes Woolies Rewards, so she gets $47.25 Woolies Dollars.
Grand Total of $975 of flight centre vouchers.
Send in a price match request to flight centre to get the $1025 fare and then use all my gift cards, pay the remaining $50 in cash/credit with a total savings around $250?
That's essentially correct. Again, I just want to emphasise that the price matchee must be an agency with an ABN or else you might not get it price matched.
Personally, I stocked up extra 5k big w physical gift cards last week (10% off) specifically for this deal :D
Dann wish that deal was still around!
Do you know if these Flight Centre gift cards can be used for Cruise About? They are the same group but not sure if they accept the card.
If it is same group then I like your chance of gift card being accepted. Just call and ask.
@feihong:
Coles, Kmart, ColesExpress and 1st Choice are the same group too, but you can't use a Coles only card at the other ones.
I will ring and ask tomorrow.
Yes I have used the FC gift cards with Cruise about. I would give them a call first before you go out and buy them just in case each of the different cruise about agencies have different rules.
Can get that price via either China Airlines or Expedia, I'm certain expedia have an ABN, has anyone price matched expedia before using flightcentre?
If you are price matching with China Airline directly then it's pretty much guaranteed a success. I would also like to think Expedia provides agencies with ABN.
So will they match budget airlines like airasia and scoot?
I believe googoogaga's answer above has adddressed your question :D
Do flightcentre only match prices listed in Australian dollars?
Edit:just saw above comment
Looks like it has to have an ABN
Awesome, thanks for the post!
I was about to jump the gun but just want to double check if my thinking is right.
I'm planning on buying $600 of flight centre gift cards
1) Purchase $500 eGift Wish Card (5% off) and $100 eGift Wish card (5% off) - total outlay is $570.
2) Go to Woolworths, buy $150 flight centre gift card using eGift Wish card for $157.50, swipe Woolworths reward card.
3) Make a new transaction, buy another $150 flight centre gift card using eGift Wish card for $157.50, but get $10 cash back from the first flight centre gift card transaction.
4) Repeat step 3.
5) Repeat step 3.
End result.
Outlay of $570
Results = $600 worth of flight centre gift cards and $96 worth of Woolworths gift dollars.
Are my assumptions above correct?
And does anyone know if a Woolworths transaction can be split partially between gift dollars and cash?
Thanks again for posting up the deal!
You should get $30 cash back for each card after the first one.
Ahhh.. I just double checked. I think gift cards don't qualify as an 'eligible shop' under Woolworths dollars.
From the Woolworths rewards site…
"When your Woolworths Dollars balance reaches $10 scan your card to automatically get $10 off your next eligible shop° in participating stores.
° An eligible shop is a transaction of $10 or more at any participating Woolworths’ businesses, excluding smoking/tobacco products and accessories, gift cards, cash outs, home charges and internet cafes."
Have a look on p38 of the catalogue - it says that you will get $31.50 credit
Got it…it doesn't matter if you get the $10 off the shop of each subsequent gift card.
You'll get it off another basket eventually! Confused myself.
Thanks!
Wish i read that the promotion didn't start till wednesday - out bargained myself. :(
Can you refund the gift cards or cancel the transaction (if it's pending)?
I think that the excluded gift cards they mean are the woolworths ones like the Wish card. Not the third party cards like this one.
You'll get it off another basket eventually!
Just remember to spend it all within 12 months. This could be inconvenient if you don't normally shop at woolies (too far away, etc).
Section 4.3.2 of the Woolworths Dollars T&Cs says "Any unused Woolworths Dollars balance of $10.00, or multiple thereof, will expire 12 months from the date of earning the $10.00 balance (or multiple thereof)"
Please edit the title to add the start date of Wed (23/03)
Yeah, I just bought $300 of vouchers to find out it doesn't start till Wednesday… grrrr :(
"Limit of 5 per person"
Does this mean throughout the promotional period or per transaction or something random like per day?
Will rewards dollars stop being applied after the 5th?
Easy for them to limit it to 5 GC purchases per card.
get another card. i heard some people had several cards. sometimes they got multiple $10 off voucher when woolworths felt generous
i try to book a domestic flight to brisbane with Qantas through Flight Centre, flight centre price is exactly same as what showing on qantas site, but they put on top of a flat fee of $19.95
which make the deal not really bargain …
Is there any way round it? like price beat or price match?
If you can find a cheaper fare say via skyscanner, then pricematch will work. Otherwise, sometimes you can find an agent that is helpful enough not to charge a fee (I had experienced this at Knox City VIC).
So I don't fully understand the process as I haven't used eWish Gift Cards or Woolies dollars before….
I'm looking at getting a flight to London (Cost $1,672) with Singapore Airlines.
Do I Buy $1338 of Wollies gift cards
Then buy Flight Center gift cards
Then buy more flight center gift cards with the reward dollars?
Pretty much.
But there seems to be a bit of uncertainty as to whether you can use the Woolies Dollars to pay for a GC. I believe it should be ok because it's a 3rd party item (you probably can't use Woolies Rewards on WISH GCs) as someone else mentioned.
And don't forget even if you don't manage to use it up this time, Woolies GCs/Dollars are probably one of the more versatile forms of credit you could have. Most people know they will go to Woolies at least a few times in a 12 month period..
And do I understand correctly that there is 5% Discount on the Woolies Wish Gift Cards?
Yea buy it through CashRewards (it's an eGift Card, not a physical gift card) for 5% off - available all the time, any time. Takes about 2-6 hours "delivery".
If you have an AMEX card you can buy Dan Murphy's eGift Cards which can also be used at Woolies stores. The current offer is pretty good and is better than 5% off.
Note that it's once per card, and you must register your card first.
Assuming you're buying a couple hundred worth of FC GCs, the Dan Murphy's offer probably won't be enough so you'll probably still need to buy more.
@illumination: If you use a credit card to buy the eGift card will you get charged a cash advance fee? I haven't tried doing that before… we have a NAB credit card.
@idaq: No you won't. Have done this myself and I know other Ozbargainers do too.
I have read it happening a handful of times (getting charged cash advance for gift card purchase) on Ozbargain but not often, and it was for a very specific deal.
If I pick up a temporary Rewards card today and I register it tonight will I be able to use it tomorrow and use the rewards $ straight away (assuming that they allow using them for FC gift cards)? Or do I have to wait for them to send me the proper card to use the rewards?
I know you cannot use the rewards with a temporary card until you register online, but once registered the barcode on the temporary card should be the same of the proper card?
just for my own peace of mind. you definitely can use egift cards to buy other gift cards at Woolworths and also for example if i buy 5 ($150) FC gift cards (the max) in one transaction I should have 5 X 31.5 = 157.5 Woolworth dollars to use on shopping?
Yes, iworks
I got $157.50 (+extra $5) of woolworths dollars
How long does it for the Woolworths email to come through for the e gift cards?
I did mine tonight - 2 hrs to get them in email
I bought all 15x $150 at Macquarie Centre. There are still plenty of $75s left.
Tips:
1. Buy eGift Cards from Cash Rewards as mentioned.
2. Self checkout allows 3 cards of any value before an attendant is called. Pay for lots of 3. Every single card after the third will trigger the attendant required message.
3. Though a limit of 5 is meant to apply, this is not enforced at the checkout nor linked to your rewards card. I used the one card for all of them. Funnily enough the attendant went and checked with someone about quantity restrictions and came back saying no problem.
Yes but did you get the bonus rewards for all of them or only for the first 5?
Also if you do them one at a time can you use the rewards $ straight away for the next one?
All of them.
I did them in lots of 3, and just finished the last one at another store - doing only 1 card for the last transaction to maximise immediate cash back.
All 15 on the same rewards card?
I assume you had 15 x $31.50 WW dollar. Have you try to use this to buy flight center GC?
Woolworths dollars were automatically used when I did the next lot of cards. It wasn't 15 in one transaction.
thank you. this flight centre deal comes handy for JR PASS. amazing value.
Price quote from flight centre $375 ( more expensive than other retailer ). but gift card deal is superb.
$375 x 0.84 = $315
combine with dan murphys deal $315 x 0.85 =$267.75
More like 16% discount on the face value.
$126 for $150 value. And you must redeem the rewards dollar on your NEXT purchase.