Travel loyalty schemes

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Wide

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Recently started following a number of international blogs on how to travel overseas (mainly on points/miles) for much, much less. Ideally this would involve earning and spending miles/points using unorthodox methods.

As I understand in summary, you earn points using credit cards (amex, diners etc), which is maximised through bonus allocations and through other unconventional methods. Then also try and obtain elite status and points at hotel chain groups and airline alliances, and wait for bonus breaks and other sales to maximise allocations. And on the odd occasion wait for error fares and other insane specials/ tricks to get cheaper rates and upgrades on airfares and hotels.

The problem is that most of these tips and cards are for America and Europe, with limited information for South Africa, save for the SAA Voyager program which is somewhat restricted.

Are there any South Africans maximising on these? if so would appreciate any tips ? Which local based credit card works best ?

PS. not interested in ebucks, Vitality, Smart shopper etc.
 
I've also been interested in getting a card that gives points good enough for rewards, and yes the USA and Europe does it well and SA is lagging behind, well one can convert AVIOS points for travel on BA, the fact is you have to spend lot to make it work for you, even in Usa, and be loyal to one airline/Alliance partners whether it be airlines or hotels. AMEX is a good card and if you get the platinum card your get unlimited priority pass but even tho you think it's free, you pay for it hidden with your yearly fee
 
From what I can tell the SA market is very limited. Realistically you only have one option and that is SAA with the Voyager credit cards. The second option is the American Express cards, but from my understanding the points accumulation rate per rand coupled with its transfer rate into other airlines is not competitive, however it does offer you five airlines to choose from. The card is more for its other travel benefits. Standard bank used to have a BA co-branded card but it seems to be discontinued. There is also Diners Club, however its the same story as American Express except it costs less and has less perks. There are probably some things I missed.
 
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SAA Voyager Premium Card (Amex not MasterCard) earns you the most miles. There is no limit on how much miles you can earn. You'll have to spend to earn though. If you have your own business, there are ways to boost your spend and earn a ton of miles.

You can also look into ebucks if you can qualify for PC or PW. Spend a lot = earn a lot of ebucks and use it to purchase airfares etc..
 
Don't bother.

I've got one of the European amex cards, so practical example to demonstrate the problem:
You have enough Avios for a return flight from London to Geneva in Business. The full Avios price is 18,000 Avios + taxes, fees and carrier charges.
Click to expand...
Pretty cool right? Until you crunch the numbers. 18k points on my card = 18k gbp = 300k zar spent.

Hotels are similar. Silver on the Hilton program...took 150k zar worth of hotel stays.

There is a reason most of these things are geared towards business travellers - it's difficult to push that kind of money through a card without an expense account.

Plus I'm pretty sure eBucks has a better return % anyway. The amex cards are at like 1%, the Hilton seemed a bit higher - round 2.5%. Not familiar with ebucks but I seem to recall 5%?
 
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