The ANZ Rewards Travel Adventures card has been a favourite of ours and many other frequent travellers for some time. While the card isn’t a powerhouse when it comes to earning points, it did offer no foreign exchange fees and a few lucrative perks which made it well worth the annual fee of $225.
Those perks were the free return flight with Virgin Australia and the bonus Virgin Australia lounge passes.
This all changes from December 1 and those who do not lock in a flight before November 30, will forfeit this benefit.
The following air travel benefits associated with the ANZ Rewards Travel Adventures credit card account (currently available per account year where eligibility criteria have been met) will no longer be available as a feature of the account:
- One complimentary Virgin Australia domestic return flight
- Two complimentary Virgin Australia domestic lounge passes
In recognition of the changes, the annual account fee for the ANZ Rewards Travel Adventures credit card will be reduced from $170 to $65, effective 1 December 2020. The $55 Rewards Program Fee will still apply, therefore the total annual account fee will be $120.
What you need to do
To take advantage of the benefits of your card, you will need to make a booking before the end of November. This can only be done by calling the ANZ Rewards concierge on 1300 367 763 between 8 AM-8 PM AEST Monday to Friday, while you’re at it, make sure to request your lounge passes as well.
As has always been the case, bookings will need to be made 60+ days in advance, so make sure you plan accordingly. Even if you don’t have a specific date in mind, thanks to the current flexibility on Virgin Australia bookings there shouldn’t be an issue with date changes. Bookings can be made up to 11 months ahead, so there’s some flexibility in that regard.
If you’ve just been charged the annual fee and don’t have any plans to fly in the foreseeable future (for example if you live in Victoria), now might be a good time to call ANZ to see if there’s anything they can do for you in terms of annual fee waiver, bonus points or a refund.
What’s Next?
The annual card fee will be reduced to $120 (this includes the Rewards program fee of $55) to reflect the change in benefits on December 1; this also marks the date that your benefits will be forfeit if you do not take action. ANZ Rewards is the flexible rewards program from ANZ which lets you convert points to Velocity (still suspended right now), Singapore Airlines Kris Flyer and Asia Miles, to name a few.
Summing Up – ANZ Rewards Adventures Card With Keeping?
Personally, I would be looking at switching to either the ANZ Rewards Black or Qantas Frequent Flyer Black card by ANZ which both come with a massive sign up bonus and reduced annual fees. The ANZ Rewards Adventures card is a unique product, but I feel that without the flight perks, the $120 annual fee is too steep to justify it as a pure travel card which will help you save on foreign exchange fees. It will be interesting to see if there are any new benefits and features added to the card next year (or when the world goes back to “normal”) since the card is currently not available to new customers.
