How we picked 2020’s best frequent flyer credit card
Which card scored the Finder Award?
Last week, we announced the 2020 winners of the Finder Awards, highlighting Australia's top products across 44 categories. For points enthusiasts, the most interesting category is for Best Frequent Flyer Credit Card.
The 2020 winner was the NAB Qantas Rewards Signature Card. The judge's summary highlights the key benefits of the card: "This card offers at least 120,000 bonus points over the first 13 months and $100 off the annual fee for the first year. It comes with travel insurance and purchase insurance, and earns 1 Qantas Point per $1 spent."
Choosing that card was the result of extensive and detailed analysis. Our expert team looked at the rewards cards available on the market during the year, comparing their fees, bonus points offers and other features and assigning each a score so we could objectively compare them.
For frequent flyer cards, the biggest factors in the score are the earn rate per dollar spent; the bonus points you get on sign-up; and the annual fee for the card. Other considerations included are lounge passes, caps on points, international transaction fees and the interest rate on purchases. (You can read the full methodology for the frequent flyer cards category for all details of how we score and weight those factors.)
The frequent flyer card you choose will depend on several factors, so our Finder Award winner won't always be the best choice. For starters, if you're looking to earn Velocity Points rather than Qantas Points, your choice of cards will obviously be different.
Other factors also come into play. Bonus points offers generally aren't available to existing cardholders. With our winner, if you've held an NAB Qantas Rewards card in the previous 12 months, you won't qualify for the bonus.
And your own habits matter. If you know you'll always pay your card off in full, for instance, the purchase rate won't make a difference and you might focus on other features.
With all that said, the winning card is well worth considering if you're looking to ramp up your Qantas Points earnings, especially when earning through flying is an unlikely option for most of us in 2020.
Want to keep your frequent flyer points balance growing? Check out the latest credit card sign-up deals.
Picture: Getty Images
