leigh787

Hello all,

I just relocated to New Zealand and am looking to sign up for a credit card for the *sole* purpose of accruing miles. In other words, status/other perks won't matter and something that offers a good earn/burn ratio would be highly valued. From my research the best candidate seems to be the Air New Zealand Airpoints Platinum MasterCard.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Looked through past discussions on FT but the last thread on a similar question was a few years ago.

For more context, I'm mostly planning to accrue miles to use for short haul international flights or just domestic flights.

A second question (and apologies if it sounds really silly!): is it easy to waive annual credit card charges here in NZ? In Singapore, people don't generally pay any annual card fees since you just call in and tell them to reverse it and it's never been a problem for me. Wondering if things work differently around this part of the world since some FT threads seem to reference card fees as a real cost.

sbiddle

Do you understand how Airpoints works? Your questions don't seem to indicate you do because the concept of earning "miles" isn't really how it works in NZ.

On any Air NZ flight or Airpoints branded credit card you earn status points and Airpoints $ (APD). Status points go towards tier status with Air NZ, APD count towards flights with $1 APD equal to $1 NZD as you simply buy reward flights at the normal retail price. Unless you're spending serious coin you're not going to be able to buy many flights.

Most Platinum cards all have their yearly fees waived at present for new customers. I've been an ANZ customer for many years and told them last month I didn't want to pay my yearly fee when it was charged and had it credited back, however I would say this is an exception, not the norm.

Fast6

Are you an NZ resident? You may have trouble getting a credit card if not.

Best combined APD/SP accrual at the moment is the Kiwibank Platinum.

leigh787

Thanks for the clarification. Wow, this is definitely an adjustment from other places I've lived in. In the US, the banks practically trip over each other to give you miles for any number of reasons. Good to know that it's probably a fruitless effort. Will also look into Kiwibank Platinum.

Thanks again!

cavemanzk

Have an look at this page http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/airpoints-credit-cards it has all the cards that currently earn on NZ, what you'll earn.

e.g to get an free $69 domestic flight on an card that earns 1/$75 spent, you'll need to spend atleast $5000.

Xiaotung

If you care about earn/burn ratio, prepare yourself for the worst programme you can find in the world.

sbiddle

If you're used to the US you'll also have to adjust to the fact that if you want to sit at the pointy end everywhere else in the world you'll have to spend your own $$ to sit there - unlike the US where they basically just fill the front of the plane with frequent flyers (and consequently make terrible revenue from the pointy end)

TraderX

Hi, the best CC deal by far has the be the Amex Air NZ platinum, for 1 year at least.

https://www.americanexpress.com/nz/content/airnz-credit-card/

Free domestic return flight, no card fee for first year, 200APD sign on bonus and usual other platinum perks. Essentially circa $400 for free.

Amex are rather good at retention offers, just ask. so may be able to keep going past one year.

I would combine it with Westpac airpoints platinum for those other merchants that don't accept Amex. Westpac has no first year fee also.

Cheers

Mwenenzi

How long do you expect to live in NZ for? A short - medium time or for ever?
What will be you travel & cc spend profile?
How many flights on Air NZ will you do?Read the below post very carefully
Air NZ may not be the best ffp for you, even if you are just getting miles/points fron a credit card

Blackcloud

There are cards in NZ that will allow you to still credit to SQ if you wish, AMEX Platinum will do it.
As others have said have a really serious thought whether you think Airpoints is what you want.

TraderX

FYI updated Amex offer - $800 bonus APD on payment of $395 fee and fairly small min spend, still get the complimentary return flight. So perhaps circa net $600 NZD on offer for all - pretty good deal!

https://www.americanexpress.com/nz/c...zealand-cards/

PS - I've no involvement with amex other than as a customer but I've found them good to deal with and thought you all might be interested

GeorgieNZ

Yeah i just saw this deal - it's the best I've seen from Amex. Immediate ~$600 benefit on signing within a month or two.

jawnbc

Very good deal; just applied online. Had this card until 13 months ago, so hopefully can churn this offer.

rayonline

Yes AMEX offers the $800APD promotion now. Some time ago at least the other major banks here offered $200 or $125APD promotions. In terms of accruing APD all the cards are the same $1APD per $$75 spent. These are the platinum cards.

I mainly accrue points too. What I do is pick your NZ CC and then join maybe a overseas programme that suits you but no CC benefit. With normal expenditure. It's not much but better than nothing.

jawnbc

And got an SMS approval within 5 hours. Well played, Amex, well played.