Turn Your Supermarket Shop and Petrol Spend Into a Free Trip to Bali Every 18 Months!
The average Australian adult spends around $170 at the supermarket and $50 on petrol, every week.
If you’re the average Australian, by using a certain credit card and a certain airline loyalty program, you can turn your supermarket shop and petrol spend into a free economy return flight to Bali every 18 months!
With some credit cards and some airline loyalty programs you would need to spend far more than $220 a week at supermarkets and petrol stations. As one example of many, if you paid for your supermarket shop and petrol spend with a Westpac Altitude Rewards Platinum Card and then used the points earned to book your flights using Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer loyalty program, you would need to spend on average $2,150 at supermarkets and petrol stations every week. That’s over 850% more!
But what’s the trick? Well, it’s not actually a trick. It’s just one of the many pointers you would be given as a Pointrs subscriber. But you don’t need to subscribe for this one – we’re letting everyone in on the secret for free.
Step 1 – Pointr #8806: Pointrs Best Credit Card To Use At Supermarkets (Personal)
Firstly, you need to obtain and use Pointrs best credit card to use at supermarkets, the American Express Platinum Edge Credit Card, which also happens to be one of the best, if not the best, credit card to use at petrol stations.
The American Express Platinum Edge Credit Card earns 3 American Express Membership Rewards (Ascent) points for every $1 spent at major supermarkets and petrol stations, uncapped.
You can transfer American Express Membership Rewards (Ascent) points to airline loyalty programs at the rate of 3:1 or 2:1, resulting in 1 or 1.5 airline loyalty program points or miles for every $1 spent at major supermarkets and petrol stations. This is at least 33%-100% more than you generally earn with Visa and Mastercard and 33%-50% more than you earn with Pointrs Best Credit Card Overall (Personal).
Importantly, the American Express Platinum Edge Credit Card allows you to transfer points earned to many airline loyalty programs, which is the key to spending the least number of points and miles on flights. You can transfer points to Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer (2:1), Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer (3:1), Cathay Pacific Cathay (2:1), Qatar Airways Privilege Club (2:1), Emirates Skywards (3:1), Etihad Airways Etihad Guest (2:1), Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (2:1) and Malaysia Airlines Enrich (2:1).
If you don't already have an American Express Platinum Edge Credit Card you can apply for one here.
This card is currently $195 a year, but free in the first year for new American Express cardholders. This fee is offset by many benefits including:
- $200 American Express Travel Credit Annually (why just fly to Bali?)
- Travel Insurance
- Smartphone Screen Cover
- Buyer’s Advantage Cover
- Card Purchase Cover
- Card Refund Cover
- Amex Offers
- American Express Experiences
- Entertainment Lounge Access
Step 2 – Use Your American Express Platinum Edge Credit Card For All Your Major Supermarket Shopping And Petrol Spend
Major supermarkets include Bi-Lo, Coles, Harris Farm Markets, IGA and Woolworths. Major petrol stations include Ampol, BP, Caltex Woolworths, Metro, Shell, Woolworths Petrol and 7 Eleven.
You can use it on other spend as well, although the earn rate is not as high as some other credit cards.
Step 3 – Determine Which Loyalty Program To Use
Once you have spent $17,334 at major supermarkets and petrol stations, you will have earned 52,000 American Express Membership Rewards (Ascent) points.
You then need to transfer these points to an airline loyalty program as this is by far the cheapest way to fly using your points. But which loyalty program?
Well, that all depends on where you are flying from and to, who you are flying with and what class you’re flying in. Normally, you would need to do hours and hours of research to work out the cheapest loyalty program to use. But with Pointrs you don’t need to. Simply bring up the flights you want to take and Pointrs will immediately tell you which loyalty program is the cheapest! Don’t have enough points? No worries! Pointrs will also tell you how you can easily earn those points.
There are six Pointrs for flights to Bali in economy:
Pointr # 6383 – Fly Sydney to Bali Economy Return with Virgin Australia (non-stop) for only 26,000 Airline Points
Pointr # 6384 – Fly Melbourne to Bali Economy Return with Virgin Australia (non-stop) for only 26,000 Airline Points
Pointr # 6385 – Fly Brisbane to Bali Economy Return with Virgin Australia (non-stop) for only 26,000 Airline Points
Pointr # 6386 – Fly Adelaide to Bali Economy Return with Virgin Australia (non-stop) for only 26,000 Airline Points
Pointr # 6387 – Fly Gold Coast to Bali Economy Return with Virgin Australia (non-stop) for only 26,000 Airline Points
Pointr # 6403 – Fly Sydney to Bali Economy Return with Qantas (non-stop) for only 26,000 Airline Points
Pointr # 6404 – Fly Melbourne to Bali Economy Return with Qantas (non-stop) for only 26,000 Airline Points
By clicking on any of these six Pointrs, you will instantly be told that the cheapest loyalty program to use is Qatar Airways Privilege Club. You will only need 26,000 Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios (their term for points) instead of up to 68,000 points with other airline loyalty programs, a saving of 62%!
By clicking on “Earn Points/Miles” you will instantly be told that you need to transfer 52,000 American Express Membership Rewards (Ascent) points to Qatar Airways Privilege Club.
And it doesn't matter if you're not already a Qatar Airways Privilege Club member – you can join for free!
Step 4 – Pointr #1102: Transfer Your American Express Membership Rewards (Ascent) Points To Qatar Airways Privilege Club
Now that you know that Qatar Airways Privilege Club is the cheapest loyalty program to use, you now just need to transfer your points from American Express Membership Rewards (Ascent) Points To Qatar Airways Privilege Club. You just need to follow the simple instructions of Pointr #1102.
From time to time, there will be special bonus promotions for transfers from American Express Membership Rewards (Ascent) to Qatar Airways Privilege Club. Pointrs subscribers will be notified on their Dashboard when this occurs. A quick check of Pointr #2512 shows that there was a 10% bonus promotion in Jun 2024 and a 20% bonus promotion in Jul 2023.
With a 20% bonus in place, you would only need 15 months instead of 18 months to earn enough points to fly to Bali – bonus!
Step 5 – Pointr #1113: Book Your Flights!
Use your 26,000 Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios, along with any taxes, fees and surcharges, to book your flights and go! Pointr #1113 gives you step-by-step instructions on how to do this.
And then rinse and repeat in 18 months’ time!
Not keen on Bali? You can do similar to fly to Fiji and New Zealand!
You can also earn additional Qantas Frequent Flyer Qantas Points or Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer points along the way by using an Everyday Rewards or Flybuys card at certain supermarkets and petrol stations. Fly even more often!
