With Westpac, Kiwibank, ANZ and Amex all offering Airpoints credit cards how do you decide which is the Best Airpoints Credit Card for you? While the best Airpoints credit cards for you would depend on your personal circumstance we hope the details below would help you make an informed decision.
What are Airpoints?
The Airpoints program is a rewards points system offered by Air New Zealand that allows members to earn Airpoints dollars by flying with Air New Zealand or other Star alliance airlines and partners of Air New Zealand, shopping at Airpoints partner stores or using Airpoints earning credit cards or debit cards.
In terms of value, one Airpoint is equals one New Zealand dollar. Airpoints earned can be used for flights, car rental, hotel booking and to purchase items from the Airpoint store or partner stores.
What’s the best Airpoints Credit Card
So back to the question what is the best Airpoints credit card in New Zealand? In terms of Airpoints earned the American Express Airpoints Platinum card earns you the highest number of rewards points per dollar spent for non-business credit cards.
As of this writing, you get 1 Airpoint for every $59 you spend on your Amex Airpoints Platinum credit card but of course there are other factors to take into considerition such as the annual fee of card, sign up bonuses, status points, plus other benefits offered by each card such as Koru membership discount, travel insurance, airport lounge access etc. You would need to take all the benefits into consideration but we would focus more on Airpoints and travel related benefits in this guide.
What are Airpoints status points
You can earn status points which allows you to move through membership theirs from Airpoints membership, to Silver, Gold and Elite. Each tier requires a number of status points every 12 months.
The rate at which you earn status points varies for each credit card and you need to take that into consideration if that matters to you. Some credit cards do not earn you any status points but you can still earn points from the Air New Zealand when you book flights with them. As of this writing, you need 450 status points for a Silver membership, 900 points for Gold and 1,500 points for Elite. Frankly speaking you would need to spend a lot of money on your credit card to get even the lowest 900 points but if you tend to fly often then you can earn more points from your flights.
The membership tier benefits including thing such as flight upgrades, airport lounge access, extra baggage, priority checkin, frequent flyer sitting etc.
What about the annual fees?
Of course the annual fee of the credit card should be something you take into consideration when chosing a credit card. Most of the high Airpoints earning credit card come with an annual fee of $100 plus. The highest earning Airpoints (non-business) credit card has an annual fee of $195 and the second highest earning card has an annual fee of $310. The American Express Airpoints credit card on the other hand comes with no annual fee but only earns you 1 Airpoints for $100 spent on your card.
Sign up bonus points
Something else to take into account is the sign-up bonus points that some of the credit cards provide. As of this writing, all the platinum Airpoints cards from Westpac, Kiwibank, ANZ Bank and Amex offer 200 sign-up bonus points. That’s a one off $200 worth of points which if you take into account the annual fee that the platinum cards charge isn’t much in my opinion.
What else to consider
You should consider all the other benefits offered by the credit card and what it means to you aside from the Airpoints, Status points, Sign-up bonus and annual fee. For example, all the Platinum Airpoints cards offer discounted Koru membership and joining fee waiver. If you are intested in the Koru membership then this alone would almost make up for the annual fee. Another benefit I am sure most people interested in an Airpoints credit card would like is the travel insurance benefit offered by all the Platinum credit card.
We hope this helps you to choose the best Airpotins credit card to suit your need. You can also compare all the Airpoints credit cards on our Airpoints credit cards page. You can also review to find the best credit card in New Zealand on our website.
For more information and tips to help you choose the best credit card in NZ, visit our website Credit Cards Compare.
