Whats Your Industry Secret/ Loophole That Gets You Perks?

Hi guys

I am in the aviation industry and I travel a lot
I know a really good trick/secret/loophole which gets me priority boarding, immigration express lane and bunch of other things usually devoted for first class and business class passengers only or people with silver/gold memberships with their relevant airline.

I am too scared to share the secret as it will mean airlines/airport staff will find out eventually since everyone will try to use it and then it wont be there for me anymore.

However, as a sweetener I can share my other secret.
So 4 years ago Subway email me an offer which was buy any 600ml drink and get any 6 inch sub for free - it was a mobile offer, but the loophole is it has no expiry date.
So I can confirm I have been eating $3.80 6-inch Sub and Drink for past few years. And it tastes amazing after a good sat night out.

Comments

        • +1

          Thanks for the links. That's very interesting and an extremely good perk. I have a friend currently studying med, I'll be sure to let him know of this!

        • Any other professions get this?

        • @nurries:

          At one point med student and junior doctors use to be able to borrow 105% or something. Use to be advertised in the students magazines.

          Not sure if thats still the case.

        • @VicKiwi:

          Lawyers, accountants … Whole bunch of professionals. Just depends on the bank for the exact critetia.

        • @sp00ker:
          For BOQ (not affiliated):
          100% for primary residence
          95% for investment I believe

          On another note, any med students on BOQ loans? Was wondering the interest rates… Waiting for a call back from them
          I know personal situations vary, just wanting some figures at the moment.

          Feel free to PM me if youre willing to disclose more.

        • +1

          @lux:

          BOQ Specialist has a $10,000 overdraft account for penultimate (7k only) and final years charged at approx 7% pa and repayments only start in june of your internship year. No annual fee

          Disclosure i have an account with BOQS and they sponsor our organisation as they do with many others.

        • @tony abbott:
          Thanks for the information. Not that interested in personal overdrafts, but thanks nonetheless.

          Do you (or anyone else) have information for thier home loans? They seem to be lacking in that field of information, it's always "give them a call" to discuss further re: home loans. Would like a bit more elucidated… I do understand the intricacies with different circumstances, but nonetheless, would like more info.

  • +6

    Im responsible for refueling the company truck. I buy and use egift card and get reimbursed for full amount. I also spend $5 instore to save another $0.04 per litre making those items free.

    • Gotta be careful with that. Your company might finish up with a big FBT liability, if someone figures out they reimbursing a gift card expense with cash.

    • I worked for a company that would pay for morning tea (team building) once a month, was normally ~$80 for our team and was just put on the Corporate Card. This same lady used to go and do it all the time, claiming that her time wasn't as important as others. I just thought she liked the 30-45 minutes of shopping.

      Turned out she was doing this for a few teams (that she was friendly with) and used her flybuys at the checkout. Those points added up quick and created quite the headache once she was found out. She doesn't work there anymore and company funded morning tea's have been canned.

      • +3

        Turned out she was doing this for a few teams (that she was friendly with) and used her flybuys at the checkout.

        $80 * 4 teams * 12 months = $3840 … That's like 4000 points. Maybe 8000, if she was really good at collecting the bonus points … cash value is like $40-$80 … It's no worse than collecting points on a corporate card. Guessing there's something else to the story here.

        Those points added up quick and created quite the headache once she was found out.

        My guess is, she was padding the bills with personal items/household groceries.

      • +1

        i dont see the harm in her using her flybuys card (as long as she's buying stuff for work).. it's basically the same as offering to go buy people coffee and using your loyalty card to earn stamps and get free ones

        • The loyalty rewards were earned using company funds. FTB event. Lets us an extreme example: I pay for the licencing renewal on for our software, using my personal CC and then get reimbursed by the company. That's a butt load of loyalty points I would accumulate (well into the 8+ figure mark)

          For your example, it's yours/your colleges money, so no problem.

  • +2

    Missus used to get 50% off private health when working for Health Partners.

    We were paying something like $45 a week for 2 people for top cover and gold extras.

    • Hi anzac,
      What fund are you with ? please

  • +1

    Discounted hearing aids for myself or friends/family
    20-40% off depending on the model. Which is a 2-4k discount off a pair of 10k hearing aids & aftercare.

  • +2

    giving your body to science i.e. universities if accepted, entitles you to a free funeral
    i am told that donating blood at the red cross in brisbane city allows one to have free parking which can be used for shopping etc after the donation
    the public trustee offers free will preparation. I think when they execute the will they charge.
    Living in qld entitles the resident to free ambulance coverage oz wide
    paradoxically being thrown into the big house entitles you to tax free stay inclusive of full board, even rehab assistance to get back into society and you don't have to vote

    • The last time i checked a forearm was worth 120K between white-market medical establishments. That makes the dowel they replace the limbs with for the funeral presentation look very cheap indeed..

  • One year out of uni, I sill have my email which means I can still get discounts and free programs which I just recently renewed a few

  • +3

    When I was much younger I was a donut cook at a donut chain. I stared at midnight. For my trouble I had unlimited hotdogs just the way I liked them, great coffee perfectly made to my taste, and fresh donuts with the fondant I liked - slightly undercooked because I loved that!

    • +1

      I used to get free donuts when cleaning as an after school job. Loved them but now the thought of it makes me sick….ate waaaayyy too many

      Completely put me off being a cop

  • +1

    The company I work for gives us free top private health insurance and stocks.

  • +2

    I'm a pornstar and I get paid to have sex with lots of beautiful women three times a week.

    • You should start an AMA thread.

    • +1

      NEEDHELP with that?

      Not that I would be able to, would probably last two seconds, despite it probably being like throwing a cocktail weiner down a hallway…

  • +2

    I used suspended cards for my hotel reservations at booking.com and never got charged for no show fee

  • +1

    I used to work for a cinema chain, when i resigned i was never asked to return my card (maybe they didnt know i had one). That card entitled the holder to free movies, and was based off the old voucher system which meant all the same cards had the same barcode. Until they deleted that code from the system, i continued getting free tickets and discounted F&B! was great, for a while…

  • +1

    I work for an airline, get one staff ticket each year, no confirmed booking though

    • +1

      That's poverty ! Etihad/Qatar/Emirates you get unlimited ID90 and ID50 for yourself and upto 10 people on your buddy list !
      I went home to aus for like $430 return :D

      • +3

        The staff ticket I was talking about is ID00, basically I only need to pay tax, the fare is free. I can apply for ID20 as well but can't remember what the quota is.

        I went from Aus to China for $160 return :)

        • +1

          ah nice ! yea ID00 is for staff only so I cant get that - but ID90 is good enough

        • @CI

          ID90 is great as long as you don't get stuck. Never had a major issue but a friend got stuck 3 days trying to get home.

          I used to get ID90 plus 2 business tickets home each year with Etihad (confirmed booking zero cost) …although we had the option to cash it in which most did. Fortunately we also used Etihad for crew positioning on multi crew ops. Always flew us business and had enough points to last for several years.

          Wasn't as much fun as pre 911 working as a freight dog. We could jump seat position anywhere we wanted with almost any freighter company. Just roll up with ID, get Captains permission and off you go.

        • @slipperypete:
          Was it good working for Etihad?

        • @Hirolol:

          Sorry I was a bit vague, I didn't work for them, I was flying Boeing Business Jets (BBJ's) for a private operation in UAE. We just used them for transport.

          Know quite a few pilots there and they all find Etihad to be pretty good. Generally look after their crews. To be honest it's one of the better companies to work for if you don't mind living over there.

        • @slipperypete: I live here. Its lonely. Haha

        • @CI:

          A decade there…it sucked. Well not all bad but was totally over it by time I left

        • @CI:

          Just sent you a pm

        • @slipperypete: they are one of the best airlines so I figured they would be a good company to work for

      • My dad worked for Philippine Airlines for 20 years as an accountant. When he was working, we got (all family members; 3 kids and mum) 2 x ID00 we can use annually. 1 for domestic destinations and 1 for international ones. Philippines to Australia is considered a domestic flight for them (i think their basis is the mileage/distance travelled) so basically we get 2 international flights annually. Plus the ID 75 and ID 50, not to mention my dad's siblings get this perks as well and of course my Grandma and Grandpa when they were still alive.

  • +6

    Is ATO trying to get intelligent from Ozbargain community?

    Some of these "benefits" (except for the staff discount) are supposed be reported as income or fringe benefit you see…

  • Worked for 1 of top 2 big pizza chain. Ex-colleague constantly brings his taxi driver mates to have free pizzas then cut food for customers who pays to ensure nightly food count doesn't look bad.

  • Back in uni days i worked at the local subway. At the end of each shift i could make myself one sub… with no limits. So as a hungry teen does, i would always make the mother of subway subs: almost one of every meat and the salads. I would squish almost the entire menu list into my sub, it honestly struggled to close. But was it was super yummy and filling. I always wondered how much it would cost if i optioned it up via the register.

    • +1

      I always wondered how much it would cost if i optioned it up via the register.

      Just the coke?

    • A lot. Subway is expensive.

      Were you allowed a free 6 incher or footlong?

      • footlong all the way! i dont eat subway anymore, but the last time i did, it looked really small?

  • I've learned through flying with Jetstar I can book a seat anywhere in the plane and when I go to hand my boarding pass in to check in, you can just ask for a seat with more leg room and they'll fix it right up. Being 6'4 extra leg room is a godsend.

  • +7

    After working at Maccas:

    • I always ask for no ice at fast-food restaurants because you get more drink (not to mention the ice is gross). Because the preset button accounts for the ice and with none there, the server has to manually press for more drink.

    • Always change something in the food (even extra pickles which is free) because it gets a grill slip and needs to be made fresh (in peak time, extra burgers are made and you'll get whatever is there).

    • Instead of a McFlurry, ask for 2 or 3 soft serves in a sundae cup plus whatever toppings at 50c each.

    • Have noticed using McDelivery that the $20 Family Dinner box let's you get 4 shakes/ frappes at no extra cost (would usually cost a fair bit extra).

    Plus,
    If you ever get annoying telemarketer calls saying "don't call me again" doesn't mean anything. They are trained to only stop if you say "remove this number off your call list".

  • Pretty sure the pens at work are free.

  • +1

    Save an opal card with +$3.80 free trip to the airport. Throw card away after tapping off.

    • +1

      Find massive coles shopping docket. Go back claim flybuys. You got a week to claim.

  • I work in public transport. Get free public transport, saving almost $2000 a year.

    • That's a good perk to have.

  • I'm currently studying again.. But, a few years ago (2011) I worked at a Uni in Saudi Arabia and was issued a .edu.sa email address. To this day it still works which means (even though I have an edu.au address now) I can get student discount on software online and MS Office etc for free with it.

    Come to think of it.. Whilst useful, it's pretty rubbish, certainly wasn't worth the two years of my life I wasted in KSA.

    • +1

      Wouldn't call it much of a Kingdom. I think shithole would be a better and more accurate term to use.

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