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The Frequent Flyer Gazette

Monday, 31 May 2021

Which Countries Ban Their Citizens From Leaving?
On 25 March 2020, the Australian government banned its citizens and permanent residents from leaving the country without a travel exemption as an emergency coronavirus measure. Fourteen months later, the temporary ban is still in force (with the exception of travel to New Zealand) and there are no signs of it being repealed anytime soon. This is almost unprecedented in the Western world.
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711 Easy Velocity Points with New 7-Eleven Partnership
Velocity Frequent Flyer members can now earn points at 7-Eleven petrol stations and convenience stores after the ACCC approved the new partnership.
 
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Podcast #61: Frequent Flyer Points & FBT
Qantas Business Rewards points are earned by the business and can then be transferred to employees. But are there Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) implications?
 
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Overview of Australian State Border Restrictions
All Australian states & territories (except NSW) and New Zealand have unfortunately closed their borders again to travellers from Melbourne and/or Victoria.
 
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Popular Threads from the AFF Community
 
What frequent flyer "sins" have you committed?
Qantas proposes free flights for vaccinated members
 
 
Personal COVID-19 vaccination accounts
Ryanair flight "hijacked" by government of Belarus
 
 
AFF Community Round-Up
Featured AFF Member Trip Report
Qantas Supermoon Flight
Trip report by NSun | OK so here are some pictures and thoughts from last night. I did see the supermoon 3 times with my own eyes but couldn't get any photos even of the stars let alone of the supermoon. And I tried both with my regular iPhone Camera plus a couple of apps that were meant to be for star gazing. But still had a good time. read more...
AFF Member Profile
This week we interviewed AFF member TripleB from Sydney. TripleB joined Australian Frequent Flyer in 2012 and has so far made 250 posts.
 
Q: Where did you go on your last trip?
A: A return trip to Cairns over Easter with my family in Qantas business class using points. We stayed at the Novotel in Cairns which has a pool with a graduated sandy entry which is sensational for young children (who can't swim) to splash and play.
 
Q: Where will you go when the current travel restrictions are lifted?
A: To be honest, I'm not desperate to travel overseas anytime soon, although I have been putting money away every month for 3 years now to pay for a long planned family trip to Dusseldorf in February 2022. Sadly that won't happen, which is a total first world problem. The cities in the German Ruhr region really know how to do Karneval. Unlike in other parts of Europe, the key day is Shrove Monday (Rosenmontag).
 
Q: Favourite airline?
A: Japan Airlines because they have 8-abreast seating in economy on their 787 and 9-abreast on their 777s. Their premium economy is pretty good too and often very competitively priced. Having said that, Qantas is also a world class airline.
 
Q: What's one piece of advice you would give to a new AFF member?
A: The best use of your points is to go on a flight you want, to a destination you want, when you want.

Forget about trying to emulate the bloggers who say "I got 10 cents per point of value flying between X and Y in first class". The numerator in their equation (the sticker price of the flight) is only valid if they would have actually paid that amount. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't pay $6000 for a first class flight! So if I use my points for that I don't suddenly get $6000 worth of value from them. Don't get me wrong, if you want to use your points for a flight in first class, you should absolutely do that and have a great time. Just don't get hung up on getting at least X cents per point "value" from them.

Having said all that, you can convert Qantas points to Woolworths vouchers at just a tick over 0.5 cents per Qantas point. Accordingly, this gives you a floor value of Qantas points. So if the sticker price of the reward you actually want (be it a flight, vacuum cleaner or whatever) divided by the number of points you need to use is substantially less than 0.5 cents, then you should think about converting your points to Woolworths vouchers, spending those at the supermarket checkout and using the cash you would have spent at Woolworths to buy whatever it is you want. I say "substantially" less because if it's only a bit less, your time isn't worth the hassle of cashing out via Woolworths points.

 
Q: Favourite forum on AFF?
A: Hands down, my favourite forum is Recent Credit Card Promotions. I derive a disproportionate amount of pleasure from churning credit cards for sign up bonuses. I churn through ~6 cards most years. My favourite offers are the "signup bonus + no annual fee in the first year" cards. A special shoutout to Dr Ralph who is a prolific poster of new offers in that forum. I've earnt many points as a result of his/her posts.
 
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The Australian Frequent Flyer, 2021
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