If you’re a business owner and you haven’t already joined Qantas’ Aquire scheme, now is the time to act with 10,000 bonus Aquire points up for grabs to new members.
Or if you’re the one clocking up most of the miles, the number of Qantas frequent flyer points you’ll earn when flying with other Oneworld airlines and with Emirates will soon change.
Also in this week’s wrap, how to score 150 Virgin Australia Velocity status credits without leaving the ground – and up to 60,000 bonus points from the High Flyer credit card – along with how to swap any lingering KrisFlyer miles for flight vouchers with Scoot and Tigerair Singapore.
Winding up the week is the next stage of Darwin Airport’s development work, with an independently run airport lounge on the drawing board for passengers travelling with airlines other than Qantas and Virgin Australia.
Qantas continues rejig of how you'll earn frequent flyer points
Qantas is readying a change of rules on how many frequent flyer points you'll earn when travelling on airlines such as Emirates, British Airways and Cathay Pacific – although the process itself is proving harder than expected.
A revamp of the points-earning chart for partner airlines was first flagged in mid-2014 as part of a dramatic overhaul of the Qantas Frequent Flyer scheme.
This included slashing the number of status credits earned when flying on partner airlines, making it harder to get that prized gold or platinum Qantas card unless you fly with Qantas…
Continue reading: Qantas continues frequent flyer rejig
Velocity High Flyer card: 60,000 points, 150 status credits
New customers signing up for the Virgin Australia Velocity High Flyer card can pocket 150 status credits after using their card for the first time, along with up to 60,000 bonus Velocity points.
Those points are delivered in chunks of 10,000, in each of the first six months when charging at least $3,000 to the card per statement period.
On everyday transactions the High Flyer card has an impressive earning rate of 1.25 Velocity points per dollar on the Visa, set against a $289 annual fee.
Read: Virgin Australia Velocity High Flyer credit card
Qantas Aquire: 10,000 bonus points up for grabs
If you’re not already a member of Qantas’ Aquire scheme for businesses, now’s the time to join: new members can pick up an easy 10,000 Aquire Points when signing-up from April 8 through to May 18, and all it costs is an $89.50 joining fee.
Aquire Points can be converted into Qantas frequent flyer points on a 1:1 basis, so that welcome gift quickly becomes 10,000 Qantas Points – enough for a one-way upgrade to business class on a short Sydney-Melbourne flight, or a return upgrade on the more-expensive flexible tickets.
A new web gadget has also been introduced to help business owners maximise their Aquire Points through money that they’re already spending, which also shows potential members how many Aquire Points they could be earning through the program…
Read more: Grab 10,000 bonus Qantas Aquire points
Darwin Airport mulls new international lounge
Passengers travelling abroad from Darwin could soon be relaxing in the airport’s first international lounge, with Darwin Airport looking to build its own facility to be shared among all interested airlines.
With the terminal split into both domestic and international areas, the only two lounges at the airport are both in the domestic zone – being the Qantas Club and the Virgin Australia Lounge – while premium international passengers currently have nowhere private to relax beyond the bounds of passport control.
While eligible Malaysia Airlines and Jetstar passengers can access the domestic Qantas Club lounge prior to their departure, they’d still need to leave the lounge in plenty of time to clear international passport control and security screening – making an internationally-located lounge a much more convenient option…
Read more: Darwin Airport mulls new international lounge
Redeem your KrisFlyer miles for Scoot, Tigerair flights
Travellers can now swap their Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles for travel vouchers on Scoot and Singapore-based Tigerair, with redemptions available from just 3,200 KrisFlyer miles.
That’s enough for a S$30 voucher with either airline, while 5,300 miles nets a S$50 voucher. For S$100 worth of travel and to get the best bang for your KrisFlyer buck, simply redeem 10,500 miles.
Redeem your KrisFlyer miles for ScootBiz, and earn miles here from later this year
The vouchers can be used to pay for your fares, ancillary services, convenience fees and booking charge fees, although not other costs such as airport and government fees and taxes, carrier surcharges and call centre fees, which still need to be paid the old-fashioned way.
Read more: Redeeming your KrisFlyer miles for Scoot, Tiger flights
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Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.
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