I stumbled upon this a few days ago while browsing the Jetstar Credit Cards and noticed we have yet another Credit Card offered in the Australian market to include a complimentary domestic flight. At this stage, details are scarce and I have tried to obtain all the information I can by calling up, but I can only provide generic information at this stage. Would appreciate if anyone else can share anything else they know about this.
Meanwhile, I'll share what I know.
There are two cards here, but I will focus on the Platinum Mastercard which includes a free return domestic flight (the "normal" only includes a one-way flight)
The Jetstar Platinum Mastercard joins a list of several Credit Cards we now have in the market that provide a free complimentary return domestic flight.
Credit Cards with free flights
- AMEX Platinum Edge (for those who have held the card since before 10 November 2016) - $195 annual fee
- AMEX Platinum Reserve - this card is quite exclusive so there isn't too much information about it and it is not available to everyone - $395 annual fee
- AMEX Velocity Platinum - $349 annual fee - there is currently a 50k Bonus Points offer without referral, or 80k Bonus Points offer with referral.
- AMEX Qantas Ultimate (Ozbargain deal with 112.5k bonus Qantas points) - $450 annual fee
- ANZ Rewards Travel Adventures (Ozbargain deal with 60k bonus Velocity points) - $225 annual fee
Of the cards above, the card with probably the best free flight (considering variety of destinations and availability) is the AMEX Platinum Reserve followed by the AMEX Platinum Edge. The most restrictive one is the ANZ Rewards Travel Adventures card as the flight must be booked in the cardholder's name, and must be booked 60 days+ in advance of travel.
Key highlights of the Jetstar Platinum Mastercard:
- $169 annual fee
- Earn 1 Jetstar Dollar per $50 spent on this card for the first $2500 per statement period (equivalent to 2% cashback - highest of pretty much any credit card out there) - only applicable/relevant if you know you will fly Jetstar
- The alternative is to earn 1 Qantas point per $1 for the first $2500 per statement period
- Complimentary Travel Insurance
- Extended Warranty
- 90 Day Purchase Security Insurance
Key points relevant to the return flight:
- Activated upon spending $2000 within 60 days of approval
- Must opt in to the Jetstar Dollars program (i.e. if you elect to earn Qantas points, you will not be eligible for the free domestic flight)
- Flight must be booked within 6 months of card activation
- Flight must be booked for travel at least 30 days in advance
- "Limited" changes are permitted (very vague wording)
- Can be booked in someone else's name (was informed this verbally) - however, the cardholder must remain as the contact person
- Does not include check-in baggage (unlike the Virgin Australia flights on the AMEX cards)
- Includes SYD/MEL-PER, SYD/MEL-DRW vv
The terms look to be mostly the same for the Jetstar Mastercard, with the key difference being a lower spend threshold ($1000 within 60 days).
This deal is really about the free flight. However, the equivalent 2% cashback as Jetstar Dollars is unrivalled in the market and even better than the majority of even AMEX cards, although only applicable to you if you know you will fly Jetstar.
The fact that this is not an AMEX card is both a benefit and a drawback. You will not be eligible for all those awesome AMEX statement credit deals, but you will benefit from having higher acceptance of your card and/or no/lower surcharges imposed on your Mastercard.
The free flight benefit only appears to be available for approvals prior to 31 March 2017
This deal has the potential to be great for anyone who's not picky with airline (i.e. is willing to fly Jetstar), and knows they can get better value than $69 one-way/$169 return out of the available flights.
If you have any further information, please share in the comments!
As a side, completely unrelated note, I noticed this which may be of relevance to anyone who has a CPA qualification.
Since 10 November 2016, any new applicants for the AMEX Platinum Edge had their travel benefit changed from a free domestic return flight to a $200 Travel Credit. Whilst linking to the AMEX Platinum Reserve in the OP, I decided to see what other cards there were. I noticed the Platinum Edge is still offered here with a free domestic flight!
In fact, it's a pretty decent deal: