No more redemption vouchers and fewer Krisflyer Miles on Westpac Visa Card

[Gunners]

I received a letter from Westpac/SIA yesterday regarding the Premium Krisflyer Credit Card.

They advised that Westpac/SIA have changed the terms and conditions of the contract and were no longer offering the annual SIA redemption vouchers. They also advised for domestic expenditure in Australia the earn rate on the Premium Visa Card has been reduced from 1 Krisflyer Mile per AUD$1 spent to 1 Krisflyer Mile per AUD $2 spent.

The AMEX earn rate remains the same at 2 Krisflyer Miles per AUD $1 spent.

The Krisflyer Miles and overseas earnings rates seem to remain the same for both cards.

I guess the changes represent further cutbacks by Westpac and SIA in relation to their offerings.

Gunners

[Logan^]

I thought the AMEX earn rate is 1.5 points per $1AUD, at least thats what I have on my card.

The voucher doesnt have that much use really though unfortunatly...

[SQ238]

I thought the AMEX earn rate is 1.5 points per $1AUD, at least thats what I have on my card.

The voucher doesnt have that much use really though unfortunatly...

Thanks for posting the thread Gunners, I didn't get time to do it myself yesterday.

Yes AMEX rate is 1.5 miles per $1AUD.

I agree the voucher is not a great loss, but this reduced VISA earn rate is just another example of something being sold to us and then "enhanced" in a short period of time, leaving nothing the consumer can do except lump it.

I didn't see the annual fee of $250 being reduced because of the reduced miles earn.

I naturally always use AMEX where possible but many of my household bills and small businesses are unable to be paid by AMEX leaving me with a 50% reduction in my miles earn rate when using VISA.

In Australia and flying out of MEL to BKK quite often this is still my best credit card option. If Emirates flew direct through BKK from MEL instead of SIN and KUL, like it does from SYD, I'd be happily on the phone telling them to take their card back and go with Citibank and Emirates, especially with the price hike of SQ and the continued lack of saver upgrades.

SQ238.

[jetpilot1983]

I myself hold the platinum cards and just received the revised information concerning the changes. I'm disgusted personally.
SQ238, a great point you've made, they sell you the product with all the "perks" but soon cut a lot of the worth while features (Great point about the annual fee, they water down the mileage earning rates but keep the annual fee at the same price).
I thought the discount miles voucher was a very good feature as flights out of PER don't really require a lot of miles in saver form so you really notice a discount when redeeming points on the shorter sector's with SQ. My discount voucher was valid from September up until March 1st next year. I had the opportunity to use the voucher but was tempted by a cheap promo out of PER, I paid under 200AUD one way with Air Asia to BKK via KUL. I'm flying out late February. At the time of booking the ticket, it crossed my mind to use the redemption voucher but thought to myself 200AUD is too cheap to give up and I can always make use of future discount vouchers. As a result my friends at SQ with the help of WBC have cut future vouchers and halved mileage earning rates with the more common Visa card. Once again the consumer gets done like dinner after being a loyal client.
An angry SQtalker.

[Sethor]

The removal of the 50% off redemption voucher I don't mind but to half the earn rate on the Visa is taking away too much. I plan to switch back to the Westpac Altitude Platinum when the AUD$1=1 Krisflyer Mile Visa earn rate ends in March.
-It has same earn rate of the revised Krisflyer card, AUD$1=0.5 Krisflyer Miles on Visa or Mastercard & AUD$1=1.5 Krisflyer Miles on AMEX.
-It allows you to transfer points to NZ, SQ, MH & DJ frequent flyer programs.
-No points expiry.
-Control of points going in to your FF account.
-Bonus point retailers (i.e. JB HiFi purchases get 3 bonus points so you can earn up to 3 Krisflyer Miles per AUD$1)
-Lose out on double miles on SIA site & 1.5 Krisflyer Mile earn rate on the Visa overseas.

[lee_apromise]

I really don't find bank-issued CCs useful. Apart from car registration and electricity bill, I can pay everything with AMEX. Besides, nowadays you can get 3x for groceries and 2x for fuel with AMEX platinum edge. If you belong to a professional association like CPA or Engineers Australia, annual fee is ridiculously low or even zero. It's just we lack of competition in Australia and this really irks me.

[Logan^]

Personally I find the benefit of the double miles quite handy when booking on singaporeair.com.au + if you use the AMEX card it works out quite well and since I dont fly OneWorld i prefere my points to be going to a Star Alliance account.

Whilst I agree the Visa downgrade is annoying, I dont put alot through Visa apart from overseas purchases which still get 1.5 points anyway.

[hsf]

Pathetic!

To think that the card was launched only not so long ago.

[Trawler]

Yep, launched a little over a year ago. I question the timing of these changes, just a month or two after the early adopters have paid their annual fee for the second year.

[Gunners]

Yep, launched a little over a year ago. I question the timing of these changes, just a month or two after the early adopters have paid their annual fee for the second year.

It is certailnly unethical behaviour.


I am going to ask Westpac to waive the annual fees given that they are will no longer provide redemption certificates and reduced the earn rates for Visa.
There are reasonable offering from other industry groups such as ACA Amex Card or CPA Amex Card that offer good redemption rates with lower annual fees. CPA Amex Card fee is $99 per annum and offer a free annual domestic return flight each year.

Gunners