Hey friends,
I hope everyone has had their heaters cranked up over the past week because it has been chilly š„¶š„¶
āļø Secured my return flights from Europe
So a few weeks ago I mentioned that I had booked my flights to Europe next year flying in Qatarās Q-Suite business class!
Iām happy to report that Iāve also booked my return trip home flying with Singapore Airlines in business class!
The tickets ended up costing us 99,000 Krisflyer points each, for which we ended up transferring 306,900 Velocity points across to Krisflyer (transfer rate is 1.55:1) And the mind-boggling bit is that the taxes and fees only cost us $156AUD! š¤Æ This is a stark comparison to the $700AUD that I had to pay with Qatar.
There are two main reasons for this difference:
Firstly Singapore Airlines does not apply any carrier charges to its flights, potentially saving hundreds of dollars as seen in this example.
Secondly, Turkey has one of the lowest airport taxes in Europe. The differences in airport taxes between flying out of London and Turkey are also potentially several hundred dollars! Iāve talked about how your departure city can significantly impact your airfare costs in a video here - How to Book Cheaper Flights In 2024 (Tips That Actually Work)
The cash price of these tickets was USD 3,353 or just around AUD 5,040. So the effective value we received from our velocity points ended up being around 3.2c/point in value which isnāt bad, but less value than what I received for redeeming my Qatar business class flights.
Ever since multiple programs devalued their transfer rates to Krisflyer (Iām looking at your American Express!) This has meant that the value you get from redeeming Krisflyer reward flights has also been reduced.
Nevertheless, I still think Singapore Airlines is one of the best to redeem reward flights. They have great award seat availability and donāt apply carrier charges to their flights.
In my opinion, the best way to earn Krisflyer points now in Australia is by transferring Velocity points across, as all other transfer methods like American Express have devalued their transfer rates to 3:1.
What do you guys think, is transferring your Velocity points to Krisflyer the best use of those points? Or would you just rather book directly with Virgin Australiaā¦
š¤ UBank Increasing Their Interest Rates
Iām going to be honest I was pretty worried about the upcoming rate changes from Ubank especially as they talked about a tiered system. I was 100% expecting them to apply the current 5.1% rate only up to 100k and gut the rate for anything beyond that. But Iāve been pleasantly surprised with the new announcement!
From July 1 2024, if you meet the bonus criteria, you can earnĀ 5.50% p.a. on combined savings of $0 up to $100K and then 5.00% p.a. on any combined savings between $100K up toĀ $250K.
Hereās a breakdown of how the new interest rate tiers will work starting from July 1:
So it looks like I wonāt need to switch banks anytime soon!
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Love your content, keep up the good work. Enjoy your trip!