Retaining Air NZ Status Points

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1245 posts

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#1212285 12-Jan-2015 09:48

joker97: "time is money" ;p

good point - but some people may acquire a fancy for an office in the air I suppose.

But there are vendors/contractors I know that fly every week with tax payer dollars necessarily to run miles.

rayonline

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#1212294 12-Jan-2015 09:58

I wondered though if it wasn't for business or work or paid by others. With personal money - how much of the status members would drop off the pile.... How many families would take the partner and maybe the kids on premier business class and go to Disneyland.

khull

1245 posts

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#1212313 12-Jan-2015 10:12

rayonline: I wondered though if it wasn't for business or work or paid by others. With personal money - how much of the status members would drop off the pile.... How many families would take the partner and maybe the kids on premier business class and go to Disneyland.

It is incredibly easy to put it on the personal card for local/small businesses. Back when I was handling accounts for a NZ based company, I loaded my own card and claimed it back from the boss for work expenses. Nothing wrong if there is no explicit policy around it.

For some large organizations it will be a disciplinary action as there are agreements with the corporate card companies with negotiated rates. Status points are always credited to the traveler without any issues

rayonline

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#1212327 12-Jan-2015 10:24

khull:
rayonline: I wondered though if it wasn't for business or work or paid by others. With personal money - how much of the status members would drop off the pile.... How many families would take the partner and maybe the kids on premier business class and go to Disneyland.

It is incredibly easy to put it on the personal card for local/small businesses. Back when I was handling accounts for a NZ based company, I loaded my own card and claimed it back from the boss for work expenses. Nothing wrong if there is no explicit policy around it.

For some large organizations it will be a disciplinary action as there are agreements with the corporate card companies with negotiated rates. Status points are always credited to the traveler without any issues

When I worked on a project. Travel were done via their agency. While I was able to choose the fares / dates for them .. there was this manager consultant paid like $300/hr for a 40-50hr week every week and he wanted the flexi fares and it had to be AirNZ. Many other staff just took whatever was the cheapest.

MikeAqua

7785 posts

Uber Geek

#1212364 12-Jan-2015 11:08

In travel 1 return trip per week between Nelson and Wellington. Most months I would also fly to somewhere else in NZ. I fly non-flexi fares 75% of the time, and flexi-time the rest.

This, plus one economy trans-Tasman trip per year keeps me in Gold, and about 50 - 150 points behind Gold Elite. It will be interesting to see if this continues under the status point rules.

What I like about gold is the increased cabin baggage allowance (one cabin bag can be up to 10kg), the ability to book preferred seats (AirNZ flights) at no extra cost and free access to star alliance lounges. Makes travel more pleasant. Premium check and immigration lanes for international flights are nice too.

Mike

gmball

568 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1212377 12-Jan-2015 11:22

joker97: so it's true they say, if you wanna get rich, start a business. or be part of a big business!

I wouldn't necessarily suggest that starting a business is a guaranteed way to make you rich (often the opposite - guaranteed to make you poor, for the first few years anyway), it often involves a darn sight more hard work and longer hours compared with being an 'employee' working for someone.

You do get the added benefits of accruing airpoints/status points etc when you use your credit card for business expenses, and with business expenses often being significantly higher than the average persons personal expenses, your airpoints dollars and status points quickly add up.

gmball

568 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1212380 12-Jan-2015 11:26

khull:
sbiddle:
khull: I know ANZ won't do that - given the amount i put into the card is considerable they didn't even think twice when I said I wanted the fee negotiated or else cut the card. (Any ANZ employees, please take note of this)

I had my ANZ credit card fees waived for a year after telling them their earning rates were rubbish.

I only ever book reward flights with APD once I know I'll have enough SP to requalify. I much prefer to spend APD on upgrades, which is something that many people do.

For me the opposite. My own flights I always pay by card including upgrades.

Airpoints are useless to me so I end up booking free flights for family members etc. I don't even entertain the Airpoints store because they can be had for cheaper :)

As for 14k for Gold via AKL -> LA business class route, it you could have it for cheaper by just sitting on a plane every weekend on the cheapest seat flight (say $150 return which works or spend approx $8500-9500 on domestic flights)

Agree, but I would personally prefer to spend a few thousand more and make say two business class return international trips each year, would seem a much more pleasant and enjoyable way to achieve Gold Elite.

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

gmball

568 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1212419 12-Jan-2015 12:04

khull:
sbiddle:
khull: I know ANZ won't do that - given the amount i put into the card is considerable they didn't even think twice when I said I wanted the fee negotiated or else cut the card. (Any ANZ employees, please take note of this)

I had my ANZ credit card fees waived for a year after telling them their earning rates were rubbish.

I only ever book reward flights with APD once I know I'll have enough SP to requalify. I much prefer to spend APD on upgrades, which is something that many people do.

For me the opposite. My own flights I always pay by card including upgrades.

Airpoints are useless to me so I end up booking free flights for family members etc. I don't even entertain the Airpoints store because they can be had for cheaper :)

As for 14k for Gold via AKL -> LA business class route, it you could have it for cheaper by just sitting on a plane every weekend on the cheapest seat flight (say $150 return which works or spend approx $8500-9500 on domestic flights)

I'm the opposite, I tend to find plenty of ways to spend airpoints dollars, all tasman tickets (just pay tax with cash, last MEL return trip cost me $151), all rental cars, all accommodation, and lately even caught onto wine.airnewzealand.co.nz which allows you to purchase wine for home delivery using airpoints dollars.

I agree the airpoints store charge premium prices, but if you are just wanting to use up your airpoints dollars, why care.

I like the fact you can use your airpoints dollars on things other than flights, many airline programmes only allow you to redeem points/miles for flight rewards.

Batman

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#1212423 12-Jan-2015 12:06

i have a wife, 3 kids and not enough airpoint dollars :D

khull

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#1212611 12-Jan-2015 15:35

joker97: i have a wife, 3 kids and not enough airpoint dollars :D

surprised you haven't traded them yet :)

ScuL

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#1213094 13-Jan-2015 12:09

This thread is very relevant to my interests.. I'm a Flyertalk member as well by the way.
Currently I'm Oneworld Sapphire (BA Silver) and renewing Silver-status within a few weeks.

When moving to NZ I have looked at a few different options. I can't stay on BA as it is not allowed for AU/NZ residents to be a BA cardholder, you are forced to the Qantas program.
When flying Qantas in order to maintain status this always means the dreaded stop-over in Oz.
I opened a thread on FlyerTalk about this and the general consensus was that Air NZ was probably the best way forward

I have poor experiences with *A in Europe, I have been loyal to the alliance for 2 years making 60 flights in the first year and 80 flights in the second year (intra-European, economy) and more than half of the flights did not qualify for any status points for Miles & More because they were "discounted economy fares".
As soon as I shifted to OW with BA, I obtained status within a matter of months.

Because of this I am reluctant to go back to *A, but ANZ seems to be the most logical choice when being NZ based.

Regarding the cards, I currently have an Amex Platinum card with BA and am VERY happy with this card. It's safe to say it's the best card ever.
I've had items refunded when s**t hit the fan either by scams or theft and the service is fantastic. Zero waiting time on the call centre etc.
Also the 2-4-1 flying voucher (when you spend £10,000 on the card you get 1 free award flight) is extremely good value.

When moving to NZ I'm definitely keen to go for Amex again for these reasons, so need to find the best points scheme that I could rack up with ANZ/Amex.

Haere taka mua, taka muri; kaua e wha.

khull

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#1213108 13-Jan-2015 12:40

ScuL: This thread is very relevant to my interests.. I'm a Flyertalk member as well by the way.
Currently I'm Oneworld Sapphire (BA Silver) and renewing Silver-status within a few weeks.

When moving to NZ I have looked at a few different options. I can't stay on BA as it is not allowed for AU/NZ residents to be a BA cardholder, you are forced to the Qantas program.
When flying Qantas in order to maintain status this always means the dreaded stop-over in Oz.
I opened a thread on FlyerTalk about this and the general consensus was that Air NZ was probably the best way forward

I have poor experiences with *A in Europe, I have been loyal to the alliance for 2 years making 60 flights in the first year and 80 flights in the second year (intra-European, economy) and more than half of the flights did not qualify for any status points for Miles & More because they were "discounted economy fares".
As soon as I shifted to OW with BA, I obtained status within a matter of months.

Because of this I am reluctant to go back to *A, but ANZ seems to be the most logical choice when being NZ based.

Regarding the cards, I currently have an Amex Platinum card with BA and am VERY happy with this card. It's safe to say it's the best card ever.
I've had items refunded when s**t hit the fan either by scams or theft and the service is fantastic. Zero waiting time on the call centre etc.
Also the 2-4-1 flying voucher (when you spend £10,000 on the card you get 1 free award flight) is extremely good value.

When moving to NZ I'm definitely keen to go for Amex again for these reasons, so need to find the best points scheme that I could rack up with ANZ/Amex.

The best earn (or burn rate rather) is Kwibank Platinum at the moment. My experience with bank issued cards were negative when it comes to disputes (others have posted positive on the same banks) so it really depends on who you get and the situation. Note that I have no issues with transaction accounts from the same banks either.

No issues with Amex - however you may need to subsidise with a VISA/MCfor smaller establishments

Batman

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#1213110 13-Jan-2015 12:42

would you bank (mortgages+++ so can't just "switch" ... YET !) with one bank and have a single credit card with another bank?

khull

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#1213117 13-Jan-2015 12:53

joker97: would you bank (mortgages+++ so can't just "switch" ... YET !) with one bank and have a single credit card with another bank?

unless you have a private banker/private banking situation, there is no incentive to be loyal to just one bank. I have a card only facility with one and my main bank is with few others.

Batman

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#1213121 13-Jan-2015 12:56

no loyalty involved. just ... cumbersome - i like simplicity. eg one card for eftpos. one banking app, one password to remember. i trust the BNZ CC customer service dept. walk into a branch to sort complex stuff ... i guess a kiwibank CC could be worth the trouble .. *sigh !

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