Australian traveller Julian Luedekaens says that over roughly ten years he has saved about 500,000 US dollars on airfares by using the Qantas Frequent Flyer and Virgin Velocity loyalty schemes.
According to him, thanks to the points he has accumulated he has repeatedly flown in business and first class on leading airlines around the world, paying only part of the ticket price or just the taxes and fees.
Recently Julian has become popular on social media after sharing his tips on finding good-value flights from Australia to Europe using only reward points. He believes that at the moment Virgin Velocity is particularly attractive for this, thanks to its partnerships with Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines, which regularly release business class seats for points bookings.
He stresses that there is no “perfect” loyalty scheme, and the best choice depends on where you are flying. In his view, Qantas Frequent Flyer is better suited to flights to Asia and the United States, particularly thanks to the airline’s membership of the OneWorld alliance and its extensive network of partners and lounges.
At the same time, the traveller says many Australians struggle to find premium business class reward seats on Qantas flights to Europe, whereas via Virgin Velocity and its partners it is easier to book flights to European cities. Qantas explains that Classic Reward seats are in very high demand and availability changes daily within a 12‑month booking window; every day passengers book around 14,000 such seats on Qantas and partner flights, of which about 1,000 are in premium cabins on international routes, including to Europe.
Julian advises travellers not to limit themselves to a single scheme and, where possible, to earn points in parallel with both Qantas and Virgin. To this end he has created his own service, Flight IQ, which is designed to help Australians earn and spend their frequent flyer points more effectively.
He has earned most of his points through credit cards – both from sign‑up bonuses and from everyday spending. He collects additional points through flights, hotel stays and taking out insurance policies. By his estimation, all this has allowed him over a decade to save on tickets an amount equivalent to more than half a million dollars.
At the same time Luedekaens sounds a note of caution: before chasing frequent flyer points, you need to weigh up the real cost of earning them. He points out that excessive spending just to collect points, or high annual card fees, can wipe out any benefit from cheaper flights, so it is important to keep a close eye on your outgoings and not spend more than you normally would.