Frequent flyer point HACKS!

Episode 29 - Frequent flyer point HACKS! (EDITED)

Tue, Jan 09, 2024 12: 21PM • 37:29

Tue, Jan 09, 2024 12: SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Tue, Jan 09, 2024 12: points, flights, fly, earn, booked, status, pay, virgin, qantas, platinum, credits, airline, business, platinum status, benefit, frequent flyer, big, fare, people, buy

00: 01

00: Do you want to live a life of freedom and adventure? Are you wanting more than the daily grind? Me too. Welcome to the Emma Lovell show, a place where we talk about living a life you love. Now, I'm your host, Emma Lovell. And my number one value is freedom. I've spent the last 14 years running a business and traveling the world. And now I take my husband and toddler along for the adventure to it's possible and I know you can create a life doing what you truly love as well. This podcast will inspire, motivate and encourage you to go after your dreams to create a life you love until you get now don't wait for a time and or someday in the future. I'll be sharing episodes weekly about how I harmonize business travel and self care. I'll also bring on incredible guests to share their journeys, wins the challenges and how they're creating a life they love. Let's jump in and get dreaming. This is a space for you to manifest a life you love.

01: 03

01: I would like to acknowledge and recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first peoples of this place now known as Australia, I am grateful for the continuing care of the land waterways and skies where I work live, listen, learn and play. From here on you can bear country and from wherever you are listening, I pay my respects to the elders past and present.

01: 26

01: Welcome to today's episode, I have been so excited to do this one, almost a little too excited, maybe and I might have built it up to be a bit too much of a big thing.

01: 38

01: You know, sometimes you care about something so much that you're like, oh, it has to be perfect. It has to be amazing. It has to be, I have to include everything, I have to tell you everything there is to know about frequent flyer points. But the reality is,

01: 51

01: I don't know everything. I'm not gonna be able to cover everything, the episode would go too long, it would be too annoying. I don't want to just read out a list to you. I want it to be practical and helpful. And just to share what I have done

02: 07

02: to you young to achieve platinum status with Virgin Australia and to really make the most of frequent flyer points. So I want to tell you, the pros, the cons, and what's worked for me and how you can do it too. So I am Yes, I'm a velocity frequent flyer member. And I have been for a very long time, but I actually have to declare, I was not loyal for a long time. I

02: 36

02: was it was actually 10 years ago 2013. I remember making a real stance against it. And people used to say me all the time, because of all the amount of travel I did. You must have so many frequent flyer points. And I always said no, because I would book The cheapest fare. I booked through travel agents, I booked through a travel agent when I was 20. And I went overseas went to Mexico to study for six months. And I booked with this amazing travel agent. His name was Jerry through sta student travel. And then I booked with him until until COVID. So it was a long time. And unfortunately, obviously what happened there so for like 10 years, I was booking with Jerry and I was just told him to book me the cheapest fare. Sometimes he would push back on me and say like let's do the best layover as well as like a cheaper option, but also the best layover. Now the problem with the cheapest fare is that this is what you don't see. And I don't see there's not just economy Premium Economy, business first class, especially in international airfares. There's also letters attached to that. So there's a class of fear. So I only learned this unfortunately, when I flew to Singapore, with Singapore, sorry, I flew to Sri Lanka, which is amazing. I'm going back to Sri Lanka at the end of 2024 for my incredible retreat. So yeah, I flew Singapore Airlines because they were partner airline of virgin so that I could earn good points. I'd seen for many years that my dad had done very well with frequent flyer points. He's a Qantas member. And actually, because he was CEO, all the business points basically went to him. So a business can't earn what's not true a business can't earn points, a business can't use points. So it has to be allocated to a person and so dad would get the points and then so here also had the like highest status because the amount he'd flew and so as well so

04: 27

04: and you know, obviously as well if you buy a first class fare business class fair Premium Economy fare, you get more points, and more status for flying those anywho So I flew virgin thinking Singapore Airlines because they're a partner of virgin thinking I'd get all these points. And when I followed it up when I got back, they said Well, no, because it was a J class fare. immediate sale fare and that within the certain price like ticket that I wouldn't be eligible for points and I just made a stand a stand to that point and said stuff, you guys. I don't care about loyalty.

05: 00

05: View or any other airline, like, what's the point, if you have to know all these ins and outs, and it continues to be true, to be honest, you really have to know what you're doing and you have to play the game. So you might decide it's not worth it for me, it's absolutely been worth it. But you do have to read read into it, your T's and C's and look into it.

05: 18

05: After that, my gorgeous friend started working for Virgin Australia, and I was put on to her account. And so I used to get buddy fares. And so I could fly to America for $100 return, I can fly business class for $1,000 return, I could fly in Australia for like $75 Basically anywhere, or $50, I think it was. So I was on her account for a year or two. And then I got changed to I got a buddy pass, I used to get buddy passes. So she would have a certain allocation of tickets. So I could just go in and book myself flight. So I didn't earn points when I was doing that. So I preferred flying version, of course, because I had that benefit. But I'd like pop up and down to Sydney in Melbourne and wherever for 75 bucks. So that was my life for a long time. I mean, pretty much she was there till 2019. So I had that perk. And then obviously COVID happened.

06: 09

06: I think we got some good points with quanis. So I still have the accounts, I think you always have the accounts and the accounts, but I just found that one the points like to buy anything with the points was so ridiculous. I used to have a credit card where it gave me points. And that was great for Virgin I used to use those whenever I could. And basically my thing was always and it was true. Again, with COVID. I'm not a big one for storing up points, I say these people with millions of points in their accounts, something like COVID happens. Or like an airline, like Virgin, which nearly went bust, you lose all of that. So I'm a big one for use them as you go and use them to help you now. And

06: 57

06: I also do a lot of points plus pay, I find it a lot better way to use the points to reduce the cost of the fare. And then it also weigh it up. Sometimes it's like, you know, when I sit the fares and $79 I go, is it worth me paying 8000 points plus $45? No, it's probably better for me to do $79 upfront, I get the points as well, I get the status credits as well. And I'll save those points for retirement, I really need them. In an ideal world, I would probably I would I wanted to have like 20,000 points, because that was kind of a full paid

07: 32

07: ticket pretty much almost full paid. I mean, 30,000 would be a return flight to Sydney, like they they act like they're really cheap. But they're like, you can get a reward seat from 7000 to six 6900 points.

07: 46

07: You can get a reward seat for 6900 points with Virgin. But you also have to pay $45 to get a full ticket. The cheapest, cheapest one is 11,000 points. So just keep that in mind. So let's say if I kept 22,000 points, I can basically get a free flight return flight if I had to get down to Sydney quickly and I didn't have cash. So I tried to do that. But my account I'm looking at right now is currently at 3677. I'm trying to save up about 15,000 so that I can get some free flights for me and Matt to go down to Sydney for a concert in Feb. So that's how I work it. I know also that I'm about to get a bunch of points that I'm chasing, unfortunately, through a partner airlines unfortunately, this is the problem when you fly partner airlines, United Airlines was amazing. Air Canada, we had to chase a little bit but they came through pretty well. But Singapore, you have to have the KrisFlyer account, the points go to Singapore first and then you have to transfer them back. So I'm trying to weigh up if it's, it might be worth me. If I continue to fly Singapore quite a bit. I'm going to leave the points there and I'll end up using them for upgrades in the future. That's the best use of them. So anyway, I've jumped a few steps here. So why did I start caring about frequent flyer points? Well, it was 2020. Yeah, we've had some good points with contests. So I stored those up, save those up, use them for some things, but then I

09: 13

09: think I just left them actually. And I didn't care at all. I just didn't care. One of my good friends Ken. So I'm all about virgin. He's all about Qantas. And we have these. We love frequent fliers. We talk about all the hacks, so he knows Qantas. And he's really great at that. I can give you a few tips on Qantas but I know a lot more about virgin because I've committed to it. It's my first tip is commit to an airline, commit to an airline and commit to an airline group. So virgin is the Star Alliance. And they have

09: 39

09: Singapore, Qatar, Air Canada united.

09: 45

09: I think Hawaiian Oh, they got a bunch of others. I can go on the website and have a look. As can you match. There's quite a few airlines, but the major ones like it's good to have a few major ones. So internationally, Singapore are gonna fly most places. Oh Emirates, of course they have Emirates and

10: 00

10: And so that's a big one. Oh, no, they don't that's a lie. They have Eddie Head sorry, at Emirates is cuantas. Etihad, that's the Forgive me they're the same. They both UAE. So I'm really keen to fly at how to because I've flown them in the past and they're beautiful airline and we'd get points as well. But anywho Yeah, 2020 obviously, we weren't doing a lot travel 2021 I think I started to do a bit more travel

10: 23

10: 2222 I was doing a lot more. And then all of a sudden, I got in the post, booked up a few flights. I always still did that, like points use up the points as I got them. And but I wasn't really paying attention. Turns out it was a double status credits thing. Now, if you ever see a double status credits thing, and you know, you've got some trips coming up book during that time booked during that time, because double status credits, add things up really quickly. So apparently, during that time, when I booked up those flights, double the double status credits, I got silver. And so then I went and looked at it. And I was like, Okay, well, there's silver, silver to gold from the timer, that wasn't that hard. I also then realized that I could because Matt and I were now in a relationship, I could family pool. Now, if you are in a family or you have someone you could pull with. That is the biggest hack I could offer. I managed to pull Matt's points and status credits were the most important into my account. So earning status credits from him as well has been the game changer. And at the time, I had 410. And I think I only had about a month in which to get the gold. And I wasn't at that time willing to fly to get it. But I do know people and I would in the future if it got to it fly to keep it to say if you fly to Cannes return business, it's one of the biggest status credit earners you can get. So I know somebody who recently did a flight to Sydney business class just so they can keep their platinum status. And I'll tell you what, once you got it, you don't want to let go of it.

12: 00

12: So yeah, I wanted to get the gold. So we did this transfer, but then the status credits didn't come over. And so I challenged them on it, they're not they said, You're meant to start pulling from the time you from when you transfer onwards like not from when you pull not from, you don't get transferred. So I argued and said, well, points, the points are now redundant. So my husband would never get to use those points. And status credits are redundant, he'll never get all the points, he could use the credit credits, he couldn't, he's never going to get to earn the gold now, because it's all going to come to me, that's just a waste. And that's not fair. And so it was only 90 credits I needed. And so they ended up honoring what I said, which is amazing. Thank you virgin. And so I'm gonna tip over gold. And so once you got gold, gold or platinum,

12: 50

12: you know, then I had a year to get it. Again, it wasn't the biggest jump.

12: 55

12: We added in, we just ended up doing a lot of status credits, I kept an eye on it, burning through Matt. And then once Finn turned to I started earning with him too. So I actually ended up at a we had a couple of weeks to go my renewal date is February, we had a couple of weeks to go, we were going on a United Airlines flight. And the best thing about platinum or gold, gold, you get 75% more points. Platinum, you get 100% more, so you're essentially getting double points. And for an international flight, that's a lot. So on the way to America, my husband and son earn 7000 points each, I earned 14,000 points. And on the way back around another 14,000 points. From that trip alone for us going, we flew a couple places in America to America and a couple places within America, we earned close to 60,000 points from that trip alone

13: 51

13: 60,000 like 28,000 each way and then some within the interim like that's huge. And in the Status credits, we earned more than over half that we need 800 status credits to keep platinum for the following year, we earned over 400 status credits just on that flight alone for the three of us. So that meant we were already halfway there within the first month of my Platinum year. So I'm actually now at 1600 status credits. If you earn over 500 over what you are required, you can then gift gold to someone. So I earned that and I'm going to be gifting it to my brother which feels amazing so that he and his wife can be have a higher level team here. And if I earn 1000 over which might just happen if I can get these status credits from Singapore transferred, then I can give to them platinum. That's a huge gift and it's much easier to maintain it than it is to earn it. So that's what I'm all about now is maintaining it but to earn that platinum. I took the first few weeks of that year I actually ended up

15: 00

15: canceling a flight and I took the cancellation cancellation. I think it was like seven $80. And I rebooked my son because at the time it was double status credits. So I rebooked two flights, which seriously just we needed to tip over like 20 more points.

15: 15

15: So that meant we got the the extra points that we need the extra credits that we need. Sorry, there's so the difference is you earn points when you fly. The points can be contributed towards flights or to buying hotels or putting towards products. But the credits are what gets you the status. And I'm not just saying status, so it sounds fancy, I'm talking status. As I said, it means there's certain benefits and so the benefits I have as a platinum is that I get access to the lounge, I get four complimentary upgrades a year to business class, if I do a flexi fare, I think they actually change that actually, I've got to follow that up. Yes, I've got to change the follow that you get to upgrade from business even from economy, which is pretty cool.

16: 05

16: I've got some extra lounge passes that I earned. You also get complimentary car, hire memberships, so you get either privileged elite

16: 14

16: with your car or you can get it with hertz so I went with your car and it means when I

16: 20

16: when I go and hire a car now they just upgrade me for free. I'm also a complimentary hotel. You can be complimentary hotel member for the Hilton honors or the IHG memberships. So I keep meaning to join one of those I thought I had but anyway, that's a pretty cool benefit. The other things for the status are

16: 42

16: being able to gift the account

16: 47

16: I get to be Yeah, I'm just gonna see what else I've got. So

16: 53

16: in for rent you get you just get your points for silver you get 50% More points for gold, you get 75% More points, but for platinum I get 100% more points. The four complimentary upgrades, one of the biggest biggest advantages I have is flying ahead so you get to fly ahead so I can fly ahead on an earlier flight if I turn up at the airport and my flight to 8pm I can fly anytime throughout that day. If they can get me on flight which has been a huge bonus you also get priority so if everybody's gonna be moved from your flight, they will move the platinum People First they will move the first class business class platinum People First

17: 35

17: I've also had I get twice the amount of luggage so I for free so that saves me money and get free economy X upgrades I get to be the biggest seat area if my husband and son is traveling with me I can give them all of the benefits they get the lounge access they get the

17: 52

17: the economy x if I booked it through mine and they get to fly ahead with me so the other week we flew we were meant to be flying at 7pm and I called up and they moved us to the 4pm for free so you know to move your flight is a minimum of $35 usually and usually have to pay the flight difference as well but because of my fly ahead with platinum I get to move so they're the huge perks I get this is so why I love being my frequent flyer status now and why I have been loyal to this airline.

18: 26

18: As I said flying Air Canada we got points Singapore, we did get the points but going to KrisFlyer has been a little bit annoying and having to chase them. So I've been a bit frustrated with that. And it does make me sort of question whether that's the best airline for us to fly with. Just depends on the destination though. So

18: 45

18: yeah.

18: 46

18: What someone that will hound you until you do the things that you need to do and absolutely stand there and support you 100% It is no doubt in my mind that it is Miss Emma Lovell. Anyone that has in in the corner does better. She'll be your biggest cheerleader. Whatever she touches in creates is just magical. She thinks about em. She is extremely generous with her knowledge and expertise. And the second thing is that she will hold you accountable long after your in person experience which is correct. If you're not working with them. What the hell are you doing?

19: 21

19: But also that lounge access people are like, Oh, lounge access, whatever. The only people who say that are people who have never experienced it, or the people who have had it for a long time and don't realize what it's like to no longer have it.

19: 34

19: Especially with a child and toddler who doesn't know what they want to eat. Having a quiet space where you can leave your bags, you can put your bags down safely. You've got you've got places to charge your devices and you've got ample access to food.

19: 50

19: That is just a huge benefit. I think we save minimum $100 every time because tough for us to go and buy food for three of us in an airport. Food and

20: 00

20: drinks cost a lot. So it's a huge saving, and especially on that Singapore leg flying into Singapore having a place to go for a few hours. It just makes it so much more comfortable and relaxing. I know how to spend my time. Sometimes you're like, Oh, what am I going to do in the airport where I'm going to go, should I go here, please save myself money from shopping. Because I go straight to the lounge, I don't go shopping. If you enjoy that, that's fine. But

20: 25

20: that's something that has been a huge benefit for me. And it's someone you know, again, talking about the status as someone who's flown a hell of a lot, I have put, I can't even, I can probably tell you some of the flights I've done. And we can average it out

20: 40

20: how much money I've spent on airlines and flights. You know, I deserve the frequent flyer status, I deserve it. I've worked for it. And as I'm about to tell you, I and as you've heard already, I had to play it smart, I had to go and do the calculations, we've had to set up the family pulling, we set up all the accounts, I've had to for Singapore, and I don't have to I get to I know that as well. It's not forced. But in order to earn these privileges, you have to do steps. So I had to set up my son and husband with their Singapore Airlines accounts, I've had to follow up to make sure that they've got them. We did the family pooling, I track the credits and where they're up to I do the calculations on whether it's worth

21: 23

21: us paying the money or using the points. I think you might be listening to this and thinking that takes a lot of effort. It's something that's almost ingrained in me now that I just do it automatically. I think planning travel is also fun for me. But it is something that you know, you might consider as your mental load. And I know when you're setting it up from scratch, it can be challenging. So I've got some clients on to one of the biggest hacks and biggest wins and I'll start to go through these points is having if you choose to use a credit card or any bank

21: 52

21: system, so we use Virgin Money because they have a points earning system. So Virgin Money, just our normal everyday account family account, we earn points for spending through that.

22: 05

22: So we set that up because of that. My husband, we changed his credit card so that he's now with Citibank, because it is a point earning credit card for the frequent flyer points. But the biggest one that's been helped for me it was I signed on to AmEx and I had 100,000 sign on bonus. So 100,000 points is huge. That's at least three return flights to Sydney.

22: 30

22: That's a big saving, I can tell you how much they cost. So that's at least $600 saving that you got for free. There is an annual card fee of $200. But the card fee was waived for the first year. And then Amex is one of the highest point and is so basically it's dollar for dollar. So every month I'm getting and there will be bonuses as well, sometimes you get more points with certain companies. And they tend to tell you that so keep an eye on that too. But I'm earning probably average, like 10,000 points a month. For a client, you know, some of my clients have million dollars, businesses, their spend a month could be like $100,000, or $200,000.

23: 08

23: So that's a lot of points. My client basically flew to Singapore for free. Because of that.

23: 15

23: The challenge with credit cards is obviously if you don't pay them up on time, then you pay interest. The other thing is there's an awesome system that I've been using thanks to Katrina Mikado who also talks a lot about frequent flyer points. She's an American credible marketing expert and speaker. And she does a lot about frequent fliers, because she is using it for her her own benefit to and her system is that basically she spends full price in the business even on travel, so that she can have points to use for personal travel.

23: 45

23: I mostly use mine for personal travel to help my husband and my son fly for free and reduce our costs. So the business tends to pay for me to fly.

23: 54

23: And then personal trips, we can use the points. That's how I try to work it. But sometimes, like you know what, I need some cash flow. I don't want to spend money where I don't have to, I'll use the points instead. But Katrina got me on to pay.com that I do. So the problem with AmEx and also just some invoices and businesses, they won't allow you to pay credit card. And so then you don't get the opportunity to earn points. So I use pay dot Comdata you and can actually have the chance to

24: 24

24: double your points, but you do pay a fee. So maybe at some point, I'll sit down and do the math on that and work out maybe the free flights and the points that I get are not worth the fees that I pay or it swings and roundabouts. Right now it helps and it's a benefit. And so I choose to do it but just thinking keeping that in mind. I just want to be fully transparent that yes, there might be fees associated with using credit card. There's a Amex probably has one of the highest surcharges. It's not as high as it used to be but just having that in mind

25: 00

25: But basically, with my husband, he just now puts everything on the credit card and uses cash to pay off the credit card. And so we're just earning points for our daily daily spend, we hope to change my personal credit card too, as well to a

25: 16

25: frequent flyer point anyone. But currently I have a card that's through Khan bank, and it's all there. So I use that for miles points and buying things there.

25: 27

25: But again, I use them. It's like, I need something from Maya, I bought a

25: 32

25: mask, and you'd have so many points, this is such money like you would have so many if you went and looked into it points that you're probably not getting or wasting.

25: 42

25: We're just letting sit there that you'd be using for things. So I didn't realize that my mind is points for that CommBank awards can be used at Meijer, I was really annoyed with CommBank used to be associated with Virgin and they're not anymore. But I went in there one day, and I realized I had like $300 worth of points. And so we ended up buying our airfryer

26: 01

26: we got an FR for free because we used it and points got points for it. So

26: 07

26: there's yeah, there's some cool things that you can do with that. So just keep an eye out and look up where you could be earning points. And we'd be saving, you know, making savings on those things. So

26: 22

26: yes, so let me talk about how you earn points. So obviously, I said one of the best things is getting your status higher because you earn more points straightaway. So I earn more points simply by being a platinum member earn double points when I fly. So if we are to like I said use points to purchase tickets, it's much better to use points for my husband and son because I don't earn as many points and the pay for fair for me. I'm then you can start earning points for flying. That's a great way to earn points. One of our number one is the next one that biggest one is for us is credit cards, or our money account systems. We then also earn points through our flybys. So fly bys is a big one, shopping at Kohl's but also shopping at some of their partners like Kmart and things like that. Just simply scanning the card at the start of the shop, something I didn't used to do. But having your cards now you can have your flybuys card on your phone makes a world of difference. And basically once a week, I get once a week or every second week,

27: 30

27: excuse me, I get about 500 points transferred to me from my husband, just doing your daily shopping. And he's been really great as well, he's taken on that lead, he goes to and looks at the fly by email. And so he's like, You know what, we need a cat food. And if we buy this type of cat food, we get 500 points extra or he needed some new skincare. He's like, Okay, if I buy this type of skincare, I get 1600 points. So I don't have that advocate for just going and looking at the fly by night. Oh, you know, by all this stuff, it's just like, if you could buy this bread instead of this bread, or this milk instead of this milk, if you're not super precious about brands, that's been a really great way for us to just get points for doing what we're doing anyway.

28: 16

28: Having a business account, so I don't if you knew but through virgin and through corners, you can have a business account. So I earn, I actually double earn you double dip, I earn points. Every time we booked flights, I booked with my company, my business number,

28: 33

28: I get points for dollar spend. So if I spend $300 on flights, I get 300 points. And when you get over 5000 points, it will transfer to your account.

28: 45

28: What you can do as well as you can have like so I have people in my team. So I can then put them onto my business team. And whenever they booked flights, I earn points through them as well.

28: 57

28: What was awesome too is they had a special which I didn't realize I sent it to my client but it's it to me, where if you've booked a certain amount of flights or you booked then had a certain amount of spend through this period, you got some bonuses so actually didn't accidentally met the criteria. And I ended up earning getting to give gold to one of my team members. So I actually have my mom, sometimes we work in my business. So I gave gold to her, which was a really nice thing to be able to do. And I got 20,000 points bonus, which again, it's couple of flights. It's amazing for doing not much just doing it just I didn't pay attention but when you do pay attention to those special offers, just booking something that you get to book anyway, I'm not saying go and book seven flights to Cannes, I'm saying I know that I've got to fly to Sydney in February. I know that I've got to fly to Melbourne in March. I know that I've got to fly to Noosa in September. Why don't I book those flights now and in the Status credits or the points bonus for doing that

29: 57

29: 711 has been a great one for us.

30: 00

30: So 711 It's not Well, I say it's not a huge amount, I mean, every week, we have to buy petrol. And that can be between 50 to $80, some people's $150. You know, that's another set of points. And they had a thing where like, you first you got like 500 points for doing at the start. And again, you get a lot of sign on bonuses for these things. And then just going to their websites, go to Virgin's website or bonuses website and choose, just see who their partners are. So see where you could shop, instead. So if you're, you know, we shop at liquor land instead of BWS. Because liquor land is fly by us. So just some of those small decisions that are it's just a switch, it's just a switch, we don't think about it now. We just we just shop at Kohl's and scan our card, it's not a thing that we think about all the time, my husband has a quick glance at the email, you know, every time I book a flight, I put my business number in, like the setup might take a little bit of time, but now they're just habits. And these habits, stacking has got us to earn huge amounts of points and save big, like, I would love to go back through and I was having a little look yesterday, just how many points I've earned this year, how much I've saved, it cost me only $100 to fly to the business chicks conference in Queenstown, it should have cost me $750 I then went to change my flight, it should have cost me

31: 16

31: $70 To change it, it cost me three and a half 1000 points. So it cost me zero. You know, making those savings and feeling like I'm getting those benefits as I go has been a huge, huge win. The other big hack that I've learned and I haven't had the chance to use it yet, but I'm really excited to in the future. And which where I said I might end up starting to save those Singapore Airlines points in Singapore is that when you

31: 44

31: instead of using your points to buy an airfare, you're actually better off buying an international airfare economy and then pay using points to upgrade. It spreads the points further, just like with the hotels, and I had a bunch of points for Qantas and I was actually going and looking for my dad. And I went and looked on there for him for hotels and ended up finding out there was a hotel, the same hotel we were staying at, we could do points plus pay us up my points, we didn't need them. Plus a little bit of pay, we got a $600 hotel for $100. You know, we got another hotel using virgin points should have been three and $50 for an airport hotel paid 100. You know, that's a big helpful savings, the points plus pay is a lot better use of the points, you don't use as many points and you don't spend as much cash. And they caught us we're actually doing a thing where they were like it's 30% Saving if you use the points plus pay. So if you do all points, you'll actually have to waste or use a lot more points just to get that spend these episodes been long like to say that. Yeah, I think

32: 53

32: I think it I think it's worth it. And it took me a long time to see the benefit. But once I started and like I said I have had so many cool benefits like I would never, I would not pay I would not do the paying instead of having my friends buddy account like that was huge, huge win for me. But once I have been paying for my fares,

33: 16

33: it's it's been a huge help. And I tell you what I feel really proud and honored and grateful that I have earned platinum status. By focusing on this paying attention. And through my business and my business activities, I have been able to earn platinum status, which now benefits me and my family. It's not only that if in my husband and my son, it's benefited my mom with giving her gold and giving my brother potentially platinum that he gets for a whole year him and his wife because whenever they fly together, they both get to use the lounge, he can book the flights, you know and earn those points and he can actually maintain the that level because of it. So my tips are to choose the airline partnership that you want to go with. If you're going to be honest, go full all in unconscious and you can get credit cards that go towards Qantas, or if you want to be into virgin, that's fine, but choose an airline group and then think about their international partners too and focus on flying with them as well. Be loyal. Keep an eye on your points and your status credits. My honest opinion is do not bank them up use them as you go.

34: 29

34: And if you want to use Katrina's advice and I think it is wise advice, spend through the business, so pay through the business and then benefit with the points for your personal travel. My husband and son we went to Melbourne in May and we would have cost us $800 It cost us $240 Because I use the points. We've got an upgrade on the car. You know all these things because of the frequent fliers.

35: 01

35: So just keep an eye on his status credits, look at how much it's going to take, do some calculations, a

35: 07

35: little bit of calculating, and then a little bit of changing habits, making sure you're shopping at and using the cards that all contribute to your points. I hope this has been helpful, and I can't wait to hear

35: 20

35: how you're going with your status levels. And you know, maybe see you in the lounge one day, I'll be hanging out there. And you know, the other really cool thing, the thing that I love is that with Virgin, I get to take three people into the lounge with me every time and it's been really, really fun to travel to the airport and to be able to share that benefit and to share that perk with some of my lovely colleagues, clients and friends and treat them to that experience. Because I know it is a luxury I know it is a perk. I know it is very first world

35: 51

35: type of experience. And not everybody will, will I ever get to experience that. So it's my joy to share that and and to have that benefit. So yeah, that's how I travel. So that's one of the reasons I'm able to travel so much is that I have hacked a frequent flyer system, and I work it to my full advantage. If you'd like some more advice or you'd like me to help you to look at your frequent flyer, like where you're up to and how you can make it work for you and your family.

36: 20

36: You can book an hour paroc session on that I'm telling you on every episode. Yeah, you can book an hour an hour coaching call and we can actually talk about that. I can coach you through how to set up the frequent flyer so it works best for you and your business and your family. I'd love to help you with that it will be my own. So check out the link in the show notes for that and yeah, happy flying.

36: 45

36: Thank you for listening lovely one. I hope this has inspired you to dream big and start creating a life you love today. If you love what you're hearing, don't forget to follow and rate on Spotify and rate review and subscribe on iTunes. It helps other awesome people to find this podcast and get motivated and inspired as well. Want to stay connected comm and join the live a life you love group on Facebook or connect with me on Instagram. Emma lovell.au The same as my website. But all the details are in the show notes lovely. I'll see you next episode for more inspiration, motivation and freedom seeking. Go out there and live a life you love