Annalisa12

I just wonder what card is the best card for my situation. I don't want to spend ages opening and cancelling cards or fiddling around, but some time is ok

I own my own business so could put household and business items on a card/s.

Any tips, or is there anything you need to know to help me.

I know it's a total newb question.

Thanks.

garykung

Even I am nowhere near Australia, I am still able to say that what you have mentioned is not enough.

1. What do you mean by the best? Your best may not be my best.

2. Where are you exactly located? Geographical location may have an impact to your choice.

Annalisa12

1. Tell me the different versions of what you suggest.
2. My profile says I am from Sydney.

Thank you.

Vasco

Well, I think what he meant was: do you want to accumulate points for hotel stays? Or for airline tickets? Or do you want a more general approach? If you have 4 kids, for example, it will take you a lifetime to accumulate enough miles to get 5 First Class tickets to Europe, and then good-luck with availability. But if you're single, then that one and only First-Class Suite is not too far out of reach. Similarly, if you have a large family focussing on hotel stays may be the better bet since it doesn't matter if you're 1 or 5 in a villa or suite sometimes, the points are the same.

So "best" is relative.

And from where you are: Sydney means you have every option of airline at your disposal. If you'd been in a smaller town it might've meant that you were held hostage to whatever few airlines service your nearest airport.

Personally, my advice to anyone just starting is to have a look at the various cards offered by American Express. AmEx's Membership Rewards programme is (mostly) flexible enough, and generous enough for people who don't want to be "fiddling around" as you say.

Also: you have almost 11k posts on FT!!! Crazy.

Annalisa12

Thanks Vasco....

I just travel with my husband and no freeloading kids. Currently we pay for premium airfares and nice hotels. I don't want to take the chance of booking economy and hoping to get an upgrade but it doesn't happen. That's why I have not done the points thing (I'm too lazy and not had the knowledge). I mainly do medium to long haul. Not a massive fan of Qantas. I do like SQ but their routing for example to the US is too long. I want to get somewhere quick.

Also, coming from Australia, if I use Amex I get charged a surcharge for using an AMEX card so my $4000 bill won't end up being $4000. It is sometimes up to 3%. My concern is if I have to pay all that extra 3% my "free" flight isn't free. Let's say those surcharges add up to $5000 extra on top of paying my bills, if I paid $6 or $6500 for a business class airfare I can go exactly when I want and I am not restricted. My biggest issues is restrictions with my business. I cannot go at any time. There are so many things I had to fit in around. How do you think that works with Amex.

So, if I get 1.5 points per $1 going to NYC is about 268,000 points with Qantas I need to spend $178,000? Is that correct.

Would value for points be better to spend on airfares or hotel stays?

Does it matter how much I would spend on bills a week?
Thanks

patrick.barnes

A better forum for this is the Australian Frequent Flier forum. There are Australians around here (I'm one) but they tend to be expats in the US.

Qantas points are ... not worth chasing. There are much better options out there.

E.g. I've done SQ Suites SFO-SYD (KrisFlyer points), then VA J BNE-LAX (Delta points). UA SFO-SYD/SYD-SFO in J with UA points. Etc, etc.

Annalisa12

Your my hero Patrick!I pay for SQ Suites. It would be great to not pay for it or just pay for an upgrade. I'll check out that forum. Thanks. I did recall I thought that other people said that the Australian FF programs are crap compared to our North American friends.

I'm off to that forum. Appreciate it.