Flyby points

[Genie]

I've just seen a link to flyby points and wondered if anyone using it has an opinion on the scheme. Is it relatively well known in NZ or do you find you go into some retailers and they look at you like your from Mars when you produce your card??

I'm also wondering if there is another scheme that might be similar on offer? I know we have store cards in the UK, and I've just cut all mine up (had to have a sit down after that). Is the same thing available to larger stores?

Final question (thank goodness I hear you groan) we are about to book our flights with Air New Zealand and I can only find Air NZ holiday shops on the flybys site. Has anyone any experience of getting points from international flights?

I'll leave you in peace now, I'm off for a bacon butty, ooops, no I'm not, I'm off for a 10K jog

[dylan]

Sorry haven't got any answeres for you and not wishing to "hijack" your thread but what are "fly by" points???

[gil]

https://www.flybuys.co.nz/pages/default.aspx

This is the link to Flybuys, a reward card system that is very widely used in shops here. Most participating stores ask you if you have one at the checkout which is handy, cos I used to forget all the time!

There is also the AA Card, which I don't have, so can't comment on.

So to answer your question Genie, it is very well known here. I think you need to spend $20 min. before you can have your card swiped to regiset your Flybuys points.

Foodtown supermarkets have the Onecard system, but that is Foodtown only (with the rare inclusion of the odd Coundown as a promotional event) and that basically entitiles you to special discounts in store, so not really a reward card.

HTH,

Gil

[DMcG]

I never know who takes fly buy cards - but if a store takes them, they generally ask you. Minimum spend to get any points is $20 and as ever, it takes a lot of points to get anything useful (although I think we've got enough for a gas heater - which is good timing!).

For AA rewards, you need to be an AA member (which is worth it if you do any amount of travelling). Sometimes, you'll get points, sometimes you get a discount on things.

These are both "loyalty" cards not credit/debit cards (although i think some credit cards can get you fly buy points as well), so there's not really any harm in having them - apart from taking up wallet/purse space and receiving the occassional bit of junk mail.

Dougie

[StevieD]

Not flown Air NZ or used Flybuys for points, but joined the Kris Flyer scheme with Singapore airlines last year. After our flight down and return flights this year we will each have enough points for a return flight to one of the pacific islands, so no harm in checking to see if there are points available with AirNZ.

[jubjub]

I am pretty sure you can swap flubuys for airpoints with AirNZ.

Its taken us 3 yrs to get enough flybuys for a slow cooker, so its not the fastest rewarding scheme ever! but lots of places do take it, and now we have swapped from using Gull to shell for petrol we get flybuys in petrol too (we were a bit slow with that
one)

We also use a visa card that gives us points too, so we get rewards there too, we usually get vouchers for whitcoulls/farmers and we go treat ourselves!

[kanatakiwi]

I am pretty sure you can swap flubuys for airpoints with AirNZ.

Its taken us 3 yrs to get enough flybuys for a slow cooker, so its not the fastest rewarding scheme ever! but lots of places do take it, and now we have swapped from using Gull to shell for petrol we get flybuys in petrol too (we were a bit slow with that
one)

We also use a visa card that gives us points too, so we get rewards there too, we usually get vouchers for whitcoulls/farmers and we go treat ourselves!

Yes you can use your fly buy points on Air NZ but not directly, you have to have a global plus credit card (!!! they get you every way they can eh?) and then you exchange the points. However the good news is this is one of the best ways to use your fly buy points because you get a very good exchange rate. 7 fly buys gives you one Airpoint dollar I think, so it can add considerably to your Air NZ points,

[mgbridges]

Just briefly, dashing to get to school on time...

Flybuys - loyalty card, accepted in a lot of places, points can clock up quite quickly if you remember to ask if places take it (assuming they don't ask you first). In less than 9mths we've got enough to get a slow cooker but then we did get quite a few Flybuy points when we purchased our car.

Onecard - loyalty card for Foodtown (not sure if you can use it anywhere else) which we use all the time, you can get some good price reductions and then every now and again you get money off vouchers sent out to you (like the Tesco card). You can link cards together so OH and I have a card each which are linked to 'pool' the points.

Airlines - we signed up with Kris Flyer too as we flew out with Singapore Airlines, worth it to get enough points for a 'local' return flight. OH is also with Emirates who he signed up with when he came out on his reccie. He used his points to upgrade himself for part of his journey back to the UK when he came to collect me and our son.

Credit cards - we have an NZ Amex card and have transferred all our UK Amex points and have TONS, we're hoping to use them for a flight somewhere!

UK store cards - I've discovered you can transfer your Boots advantage card money to another card, I've just given my MIL £5.09!! Nectar points you can use over the internet to send gifts, thinking of sending my brother some wine for his birthday. Tesco I haven't worked out yet what I can do with once you leave the country but I'm working on it!

In general it seems to me that pretty much everywhere in NZ has some kind of loyalty card I have ones for Maxwell dry cleaners, Muffin Break, Bakers Delight, a local coffee shop, Take Note (local newsagents), Sharing Shed (hairdressers), Camera House AND Flybuys & Onecards. Given how tight things can be finanacially I'm glad of every one of them even if they do take up space in my purse!

HTH
Anneliese

[napiers]

Great summary Anneliese - particularly the bit about Nectar and Boots points as over the years I've accrued loads and although the idea of a spending spree is great it will be more use to be able to use/transfer them. Another small bit of info that will help. My points are very important to me! Thanks, have added to your rep but it went before I could make a comment!!

[Derv]

In three years we've used our flybuys points to get a jet washer, an iron and a coffee filter machine. You can also put your flybuys points towards the cost of some more expensive items.

See their website www.flybuys.co.nz for all the details of what, where and how.