Flybuys Travel: earn and redeem Flybuys points on flights, hotels, car hire

By Chris C., April 6 2016
Flybuys Travel: earn and redeem Flybuys points on flights, hotels, car hire

Flybuys members can now earn and burn Flybuys points on flights plus hotel bookings and hire cars through a new Flybuys Travel website, in addition to the frequent flyer points usually earned in the air.

That means you could book a domestic or international flight with Qantas, Virgin Australia, Singapore Airlines and the like via Flybuys Travel for much the same price as you’d pay directly via the airlines’ websites to scoop up both Flybuys points and frequent flyer points.

You’ll earn one Flybuys point per dollar spent on travel bookings after your journey is completed, and when you’ve built up at least 2,000 Flybuys points in the kitty, one Flybuys point returns 0.5 cents of value towards a future reservation:

Earn 125 Flybuys points on this flight, or book it for 25,000 Flybuys points...
Earn 125 Flybuys points on this flight, or book it for 25,000 Flybuys points...

What’s more, all bookings made until April 19 2016 attract five times the usual number of points, with $125 spent returning 625 Flybuys points, the equivalent of $3.12 towards your next trip.

It’s a marked improvement in value over Flybuys’ previous tie-in with Webjet which inefficiently saw Flybuys members using their points to pay for Webjet-imposed fees not charged when booking directly with the various airlines.

The move expands on Flybuys’ partnership with Etihad Airways which introduced direct Flybuys points transfers to the Etihad Guest program, plus the earning of Etihad tier miles at the checkout and earning Flybuys points on Etihad flight bookings.

Also read: Etihad, Coles Flybuys unveil points partnership

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Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.

Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer

13 Dec 2014

Total posts 79

Reading through their FAQs there are two important points to consider if you wish to maximise points or miles for awards and status:

  • Can I earn frequent traveller program points in addition to earning flybuys points?
    • Subject to the terms and conditions of each frequent traveller program, and travel supplier, your bookings may be eligible for earn in these programs. You can enter your frequent traveller program details while booking your travel.
    • It is your responsibility to ensure you earn any membership points apart from flybuys points.

Sounds OK, but as fas as earning points in different fare types (eg: W, Y etc.) within the fare classes (Economy, Business, etc.) it seems there's no way of doing this:

  • Can I book for all classes?
    • You are able to make bookings in all fare classes (Economy, Premium Economy, Business and First Class), but you may not be able to book all fare types within a fare class (e.g. flexible fares).

Does this mean you can only earn points (miles) in the fare type they choose? A fare type that has all the restrictions? So if you are looking at a fare that will give you 100% accrual in Economy (as an example), you may end up earning 10% or nothing at all. If I'm wrong please correct me.

Cheers

24 Apr 2012

Total posts 2431

It means you can earn points on fares booked via Flybuys Travel where the same fares would traditionally earn points, but that Flybuys Travel may not offer for sale all fare types on every airline's flight at any one time.

Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer

13 Dec 2014

Total posts 79

Thanks Chris. I had done some dummy bookings ADL-HKG with SQ in Economy and the fare type was Economy Restricted. Not sure if that equates to V class (10% accrual). Tried QF and CX and got the same result. Either in Economy or Premium. When booking Business Class on SQ I got Business Restricted. That may equate to D and 125% accrual. Maybe the best thing to do is call FlyBuys Travel just to be sure. It would be great to score both FlyBuys and frequent flyer points/miles if possible.

Cheers

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

02 Jul 2011

Total posts 1374

So 200 flights for a free one (effectively a 0.5% rebate).

Big questions are what the change fees are, which is my normal issue with agents for domestic travel.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

02 Jul 2011

Total posts 1374

additional fees buried in the faq.

change/refund on domestic $27.50
change on international $55
refund on international $110

QFF

12 Apr 2013

Total posts 1560

I am curious  who is still use those flybuys? I use to use them and they where great when started – I even managed to fly to Sydney for free. But since introduction of different FF program flybuy value became so miserable that I simply ditched their card into rubbish bin.

Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer

13 Dec 2014

Total posts 79

I double up on points everytime I shop at Coles, Kmart, Target, etc., with FlyBuys and Amex. There are other combinations too with MC and VISA, but with less points. So there's still value having FlyBuys. I guess even more now that this is available and that Etihad is a participant in the programme.

Cheers


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