Asia Miles Vs QFF as Main Program

flyingfridge on 11/11/2017 - 22:58

Hi there, just starting to dig into the world of points and cards. I did a lot of reading on Pointhack and I'm tossing up between making Asia Miles or QFF my main program.

It looks like Asia Miles offer better overall value than QFF, however I'm seeing a lot more card offers and ways to get points for QFF - and very few for Asia Miles.

I currently only have a AMEX Platinum Edge with ~$1.5K of spend per month going though it, with minimal points in my QFF account. As a result most of my points will be via credit card signups.

I'm also only planning to travel twice a year (Europe/Asia) and not sure I can get enough status credit to move up the ladder for Qantas.

Based on the above am I better off just going for Asia Miles points cards? Or am I better off focusing on QFF because the points are more abundant?

Travel

Comments

  • tomclancy on 11/11/2017 - 23:41

    Will you be flying economy? If yes, then using points to fly is not efficient. Better to sell the points for 1c each and then book the flight with cash. You will end up with more money in your pocket plus you don't have the issue of trying to find reward flights (sometimes like hen's teeth) or being locked into one airline. As an example, an Asiamiles redemeption Sydney to Paris return on Economy is 110k Asiamiles + $400 taxes (let's call that $1,500). The same flight on other carriers is $1,100 - $1,300 when not on sale.

    If you plan to fly business or first, then yes using points to book the flights is considerably cheaper than paying the cash price for a business class ticket. But who really plans to fly business class for cash prices???

    To answer your question about which point scheme to be using, I think you should have both QFF and Velocity to be able to make use of the best credit card sign-ups in Australia. Any points that you earn in Amex keep them there until you decide how to spend them because they never expire in Amex but do in the other programmes. Then if you get a 100k QFF or VFF credit card sign-up offer, take that and sell the 100k points immediately for $1,000 cash. Same if a Velocity credit card offer comes along. The Amex ones you can shift to whatever program (that your Amex rewards programme allows transfers to) in order to cash out to the next buyer

    • flyingfridge on 12/11/2017 - 01:43
      +1

      Thanks - I'm planning to fly business so not planning to sell the points

  • capslock on 12/11/2017 - 10:55

    Qantas points are easier to earn but award flights cost more. Asia Miles are the opposite. It really depends on your credit card spend and flying habits. If you think you will earn enough Asia Miles from credit card spend and flying in order to be able to redeem award flights to Asia/Europe before your Asia Miles expire in 3 years then maybe Asia Miles would suit you better.

  • Foxtail on 14/11/2017 - 09:12

    We use QF award points for long haul in J (Bus.), 2 seats are hard to find out of OZ so we make our way to Hong Kong in upgradable Y one way and go from there to USA and European cities "direct" on CX (Cathay) and return to OZ as seats are plentiful and fees are usually next to nothing like $300, Qantas charge up to $1000!.

  • branners on 14/11/2017 - 20:11

    I did a late upgrade to Business Class with Qantas last week, so I will pass this on, for what it is worth.
    It was an Airbus 330 with the late-model 'cubicle' seats.
    It was, by far, the best Business Class trip I have ever had, and that includes on a Qantas 747 to JFK (very good), AA back (rubbish, no better than Qantas's Premium Economy), Delta (ditto), BA (quite good), Lufthansa (very good) and Austrian (excellent).
    The on-ground service was terrific, the lounge (hosted by China Eastern) was immaculate (the 'house' scotch was Johnie Walker Black!)
    The new (cloth) seats are very comfy, extremely roomy (I am 6-4) and the amenities first-rate. Good entertainment (though not a huge seclection of new movies) and the food was just fine (good wine too).
    It was an overnight flight and I got nearly seven hours sleep, which is a first.
    I am working hard to get the points for the next upgrade, but this one was a real eye-opener. I would fly Qantas J Class again in a heartbeat.

  • buckster on 08/02/2018 - 11:12

    Asia miles are really terrible to deal with and so many restrictions on flight availability and redemptions, that and point transfers take days, there's a charge for everything.

    Up side is you pay less taxes when redeeming but a huge effort in other areas

  • jayel on 14/02/2018 - 23:24
    +1

    what are your thoughts on krisflyer/star alliance? quite a few point cards transfer just as well into this.

    Also you could supplement your card bonuses with buying points outright in promotions where you know there is a sweet spot route, eg. american/lifemiles etc. where 1 way in thai first to japan can be had for $1000aud when the promos are good. also the risk is low as you redeem as soon as you acquire the points. with bonuses, the points might devalue while your accumulating them (changes in redemption amounts).

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