| Frequent Flyer Programs | |
Flying money - disease or reality.
According to the Economist magazine Frequent flyer points are the world's second largest currency. The total number of frequent flyer miles worldwide is worth an estimated $500 billion. This is something many frustrated frequent flyer point holders are quickly realising. There are so many points sitting around waiting to be used that airlines are forced to keep frequent flyer seats limited, or they would find them selves in financial strife.
One conference I attended had a presentation by one of the worlds' 'Gurus' on points and his statement was, 'If all points were redeemed at the one time there would not be enough aircraft to carry the claimants'. A fairly heavy statement and one that someone may write a Phd thesis on one day! Even if it was half correct it is a daunting thought!
One only has to look back to the initial Qantas share prospectus when they went public, and see that their frequent flyer commitment was put into the prospectus as a dollar liability - see if you can find a copy and see HOW MUCH this was!
In the end airlines would like to see this system simply 'go away', but it won't because no airline is willing to take the first step. These points must represent a 'cost' somewhere in the overall cost structure of an airline ticket, so it is the best interest of all our clients that they subscribe.
Frequent flyer points can be a bit of a hassle to
try and redeem. As the number of points held by people increases, the harder it becomes to
actually use them when you want to. Keeping track of points for this and that, keeping
boarding passes to make sure all your points are collected, different numbers for
different airlines. There are some airfares that you will not earn points on as the price
is already so low, so you really need to keep in touch with your travel consultant and the
rule updates the airlines send out regularly. Basically on most flights you will earn
points - and the ticket is no cheaper if you don't take the points - so why not!
17/10/2007: Do you have a large number of Virgin related frequent flyer
points?? Richard Branson reckons you would need about a million points for one
of his space flights.
Fly to this page to read more..
Select from some of the more popular schemes
available.
Member of the One World Alliance. Partners include Qantas, British
Airways, Cathay Pacific, Canadian Airlines, Finnair, Iberia, SAS, Air Pacific and others. Costs to join, and they now have a bi-annual
account keeping fee if you are not one of their top tier flyers. Good points deals with
Hertz and a number of hotel chains. Some cards like Qantas ANZ Visa, AMEX, the National
Gold Visa and Citibank, will let you earn points to boost your points balance without even
flying. There are a 'whole new' set of rules now, so make sure you read
the conditions well...!
Click
here to go to the Qantas Frequent Flyer website Member of the Star Alliance. Partners include, Lufthansa,
Thai, SAS, Air New Zealand, Air Canada, Varig, Singapore Airlines, Lauda Air, South
African Airways, Austrian Airlines, and more. Best for people based in New Zealand.
Latest individual airline
Frequent Flyer programme
Latest Frequent Flyer programme news and changes
Qantas Frequent Flyer
Star
Alliance:
The other 'big boy' on the block.
Members of the Star Alliance. Partners include Lufhtansa, Thai, SAS, Air
New Zealand, Air Canada, Varig, Singapore Airlines, Lauda Air, South African Airways,
Austrian Airlines, and more.
Click here to go to the Star Alliance Web site
Member of the Star Alliance. Partners include, Lufthansa, Thai, SAS, Air New Zealand, Air Canada, Varig, Singapore Airlines, Lauda Air, South African Airways, Austrian Airlines, and more.
Great for people who travel to and from Scandinavia a lot as they have a lower amount of points and flights required to reach Silver and Gold status than the other Star Alliance partners. A bonus for Australian residents are that you can earn and use points from Qantas with your SAS Eurobonus membership, and the membership is free (at time of writing).
Click here to go to the SAS Eurobonus Website
Member of the Wings alliance. Partners include KLM, Northwest Airlines, Braathens, Air Excel, UK Air / KLM UK, and many others.
There are 2 schemes which you join dependant on where you live in the world. Australian residents join World Perks.
Click here to go to the KLM website (then select World perks).
Most airlines are members of one of the bigger alliances, and as such you can fly with them and earn points on your Qantas or other frequent flyer memberships.
Smaller airlines like Garuda, Gulf Air, Polynesian Airlines, Aerolinas Argentinas, LOT etc have their own Frequent Flyer systems. These airlines are generally not members of the big alliances.
If you are flying a lot with these airlines it may be worth joining their scheme, although it is usually hard to take out points for short trips. So the benefits may not be able to be used in the long term - unless you really do use them a lot!
Point
Redemption
We have had years of experience dealing with this issue, being a travel
business you would expect this! So, let us give you the benefit of this experience and
save you time, which saves you more money.
It is very important for most people to maximise the 'value' of their points. Generally
you get a better dollar return when using points for international travel rather than
domestic travel. The best 'return' comes from using points to upgrade from economy to
business class. With the new conditions introduced this has become
more difficult with Qantas. yes so many people knew this lurk, took advantage of
it and then, of course, Qantas changed the 'playing field'!
Sometimes, domestically, it is better value to buy a ticket and use the
points at another time. This depends on what ticket is available at the time, as
one family recently experienced organising a trip from Melbourne to Brisbane. At present Qantas tries
as much as possible to direct you 'via Sydney'. Maybe this is a result of so many people
wanting to avoid Sydney airspace as a transit point and Qantas keeps more seats for paying
passengers on direct flights! Aside from the increase in travelling time the tax cost jump
is substantial. Sydney is the most taxed airport in Australia. Consequently the dollar
return was minimal.
Some recent 'creative' solutions for people with 'points' to use.
Lateral thought sometimes helps:
Using our world wide connections we arranged discounted airfares via a known
reputable travel agent, from South East Asia to Europe and back and then organised
'frequent flyer' tickets for our client from their home in Australia to that Asian point
and return. They did not have enough points for two to go to Europe and back, but what we
did was easily covered and they earned more points on there Asia/Europe leg!
Using Points from someone overseas:
An American man wanted to use his points accumulated over many years from a hotel chain to
bring his 'inlaws' from Australia to his home. We can coordinate the correct redemption of
this and make the other land arrangements required - who's going to miss Disneyland on the
way to an American city!!
Our Service Structure For You
For our nominal fee our travel consultants will provide a personalised service
ensuring you maximise the return form your accumulated points.
We will:
Listed below is our fee structure for the above services. Remember, our service will save your most precious commodity - "Your Time"
All fees include 10% GST. Additional fees - such as
departure tax and airport security charges - may be charged by the airline or service
provider and will be an additional cost. Any extra, or abnormal courier costs will be an
additional cost.
Click to talk about Frequent Flyer
Spend Your Miles and More miles
The people from the Lufthansa
Miles & More loyalty program have just launched a new online store called
milagestore.com.au where Australian members can cash in their frequent flyer
miles for millions of dollars worth of rewards in goods and services.
The new initiative, with the help of Leapfrog, sees a wide range of products from electronics, to gifts for the kids available to be exchanged for frequent flyer miles. All the products online are sourced from the group over at Leapfrog Loyalty Solutions, and Australian Miles & More members can start redeeming immediately.
Gabriela Ahrens, Lufthansa General Manager Australia said, “Together with Leapfrof, we have created an online reward program for our Australian Miles & More members, covering all of the items that appeal to Australians.
“I think this is a totally different perception for what you can do with your miles. And people can really have fun with this – instead of spending it on flights and upgrades,” she said.
Miles accumulated can still be spent the old fashion way, but the new site, operational from the 1st of February, 100,000 Australian members will now have an alternative.
Miles with Miles & More can be earned on any Star Alliance flight, and application into the loyalty program is free.
Frank Bornemann, Lufthansa Manager Sales and Market Development Australia said, “One of the main features is the minimum redemption amount is kept very, very low and 7,500 miles. Anybody flying with us to Europe in Economy Class, can have that minimum 7,500 miles. So anybody that flies with us, around the world, or point-to-point, gets something.”
“Leapfrog is very pleased to be working with Lufthansa, we struck, up a relationship a few months ago,” said Nick Rudd, Leapfrog Loyalty Solutions Director of Loyalty. “Miles & More is a market leader in award programs in the airline industry, so here we’ve packed up a product offering that interfaces directly with Miles & More. If you’re a Miles & More member, you can join the Mileagestore program. Log on to our program and we can offer you a range of rewards.”
The new online store can be found at CLICK HERE
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