Hi All, What is the best way to buy 200k Skywards points. I was looking at buying spg points and then transferring but I see there is an annual limit. Any info much appreciated
What are you trying to get 200k Skywards points for? Upgrades, Flight awards??? It might work out cheaper to just buy a paid fare/upgrades then use points. But I've listed some methods you could use to bump up the points bonus.
FYI SPG is no longer in existence so you'd instead be buying Marriott points.
Currently, 50,000 points (maximum amount) is US$625 (~AU$850) which can then be transferred to 16660 Emirates points (which is quite expensive at almost 5c per point).
Opening a new credit card could also net a bulk sum of points. An example is Amex where a card with a $395 annual fee that comes with a 50,000 amex points bonus upon spending $3000 on the card in a few months. The 50,000 amex points could then be converted to 37500 Skywards points (~1c per point). But as it's sign up bonus you can only really do it once.
It's also possible to buy points directly from Emirates (up to 100,000 per year) in 1000 point blocks at US$30 each (~AU$40) which is slightly cheaper at 4c per point but still very expensive per point.
Combing all of those above methods you could net 154,160 points for $5245 which isn't really worth unless what you're redeeming them for is very expensive.
You'd still need an additional 45,840 points which you could possibly acheive by getting a friend and family member to buy 46,000 points from Emirates at US$30 per 1000 point block and then transfer at US$15 per 1000 block. This would be an additional AU$2760.
So a total of 200,000 points with all of these methods would be over $8000.
Thanks for the detailed post. I probably should have explained my situation in a little more detail. I have 200k qantas points. I usually fly Emirates to from Perth or Sydney to Dublin via Dubai. I would like to have the option to upgrade with points but I cannot use the Qantas points for this. So I was thinking about selling the Qantas points to a mate and buying Emirates Skywards miles instead of them if possible. Any other suggestions ?
Obviously as I outlined earlier obtaining 200k points is not cheap. In some cases it might work out better value just to buy a paid business class ticket instead of buying points to upgrade.
In regards to swapping Qantas points for Emirates points... Well whilst you could try and find someone to do a 1:1 swap it's not really possible for two main reasons.
1. Officially Qantas points can only be transferred to family members and potentially if you get audited and it's discovered that you're not transferring to family members then you could potentially lose your 200k points and worst case they could close your Frequent flyer account.
2. Emirates doesn't provide free transfers to "family and friends" and its limited to 50,000 points transferred per year at a cost of ~AU$20 per 1000 points, so even if you could do 200k points (ignoring the limit) it would still cost ~AU$4000 just to complete the transfer.
Really the only way to use your Qantas points on Emirates business or first class is to book it as a business or first class award ticket from the start. Obtaining large sums of EK award points aren't cheap and in a lot of cases it might work out cheaper to just buy a paid cash business class ticket.
Hi Guest, join in the discussion on
Best way to purchase 200k Skywards points
AB7
AB7
Member since 27 Jul 2017
Total posts 7
Hi All, What is the best way to buy 200k Skywards points. I was looking at buying spg points and then transferring but I see there is an annual limit. Any info much appreciated
henrus
henrus
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 23 Oct 2013
Total posts 766
FYI SPG is no longer in existence so you'd instead be buying Marriott points.
AB7
AB7
Member since 27 Jul 2017
Total posts 7
Thanks for the detailed post. I probably should have explained my situation in a little more detail. I have 200k qantas points. I usually fly Emirates to from Perth or Sydney to Dublin via Dubai. I would like to have the option to upgrade with points but I cannot use the Qantas points for this. So I was thinking about selling the Qantas points to a mate and buying Emirates Skywards miles instead of them if possible. Any other suggestions ?
henrus
henrus
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 23 Oct 2013
Total posts 766
Yep makes a bit more sense now.