Qantas vs Velocity: which points actually go further?
Same seat, same day, both programs. Velocity is cheaper domestically — and I concentrated on Qantas anyway. Both halves are worth explaining.
Writing
honest, specific, occasionally unflattering
Domestic business class for under 20,000 points
19,300 points and about $80 to sit up the front. Whether that's good value depends entirely on one number most people never check.
The cheapest way to use Qantas Points
5,700 points gets you on a plane, and it isn't a Qantas one. But cheapest and best value pull in opposite directions.
Two lots of points for one hotel stay
Link two accounts once and an Accor stay earns Qantas Points and ALL points at the same time. I put it off for over a year.
CommBank is closing Awards. Here is what it actually costs.
The program that produced more than half my points balance shuts on 29 September. I ran the change against my own numbers and found something I was not expecting.
Bali wasn't quite what I expected
Nobody warned me about island time — or how many Australian accents I'd hear in Seminyak.
94% funded, a year early
One transfer and one sign-up bonus took the balance from distant goal to almost done.
The pram problem nobody warned me about
Half of Europe was built before wheels needed smooth ground. Still working out what we take.
We paid for our wedding in cash and earned points on all of it
$32,600 of spend, and the statement cap that quietly cost me 8,000 points.
Earning Qantas points without a credit card
Cards aren't for everyone. The gift card trick, and how to make it run by itself.
Why Malta
Three generations going back and forth across the same stretch of water.
Does my son need Maltese citizenship?
I assumed a mountain of paperwork. I had the whole thing backwards.
How I shoot accommodation photos
My kit, my shooting order, and exactly what I charged for my first paid job.
Full-time job, toddler, two courses at once
The systems that hold it up, and the one thing I'm getting wrong.