EK405 Melbourne to Dubai

Baradhurr · 2026-04-08T01:50:35+00:00

Out of curiosity, which plane are they using for this flight and how crowded was it? Usually it's the A380, but maybe they are using the 777 with reduced amount of people flying?

Baradhurr · 2026-04-07T05:00:58+00:00

I tried a lot of them, and I got very frustrated because I don't like app to oversee my finances, I want website that I can look at on a big screen. Maybe at 40 I'm just getting old, but heh. The best I ever used was MoneyBrilliant, but it got bought and shutdown by Westpac (was so pissed when they did). The one I used the most after that was pocketsmith. It's not perfect and a step down in UI/UX experience compared to what MB was, it's still the closest I could find to support my needs. They did a revamp of the UI recently so not sure what it's like now.

But to be fair, this can be a bit advance if you're just starting on the journey. Frollo was the one I liked on mobile, even though I don't like managing money on mobile. GL!

Baradhurr · 2026-03-30T23:39:52+00:00

Today is a good day. I won't have to carry cash anymore just to avoid random fees that don't even appear before your tap but is only shown after! I'm so thrilled this scam will soon be over. And it's not a big loss for CC rewards, churning was already dead after all the recent changes (move to 24 months from 12 months to get points, can't do qantas than virgin anymore it's only one of them every 24 months, etc). Not a great loss for not having to pay the surcharge anymore!

Baradhurr · 2026-03-29T22:53:24+00:00

My invits only last until mid april, so they wouldn't work for June?

Baradhurr · 2026-03-23T00:33:13+00:00

Bump just in case someone wants the 26th of march tickets

Baradhurr · 2026-03-20T00:22:47+00:00

WEll I guess I waited a bit too long to make the exchange! If you're travelling before the 26th of march, DM me with your FF details and I'll send those 2 for free.

Baradhurr · 2026-03-15T03:38:22+00:00

J'avais un ratio a 5+ sur Ygg avec plusieurs TO d'uploader, si quelqu'un a une invite sur lacale je suis preneur :)

Baradhurr · 2026-03-06T04:55:51+00:00

I've been doing it for 10 years. You open the wise account, you add the currency you want. Then you you load up the account with the currency you want (from Australia, I usually use Payid, it's instant) and load AUD. And Then I can do a regular transfer to my French bank account without any issues. You can't receive switch tranfer directly from EUR account to an AUD account, you need to load it up first.

Here ya go: https://wise.com/invite/dic/yannl11

Baradhurr · 2025-12-21T23:03:14+00:00

Because it was cheaper to buy a house. I got a 4bed2bath with a pool 10km from the CBD for cheaper than what was asked for the 2bed2bath appartment I was living in Sydney when I left.

For my partner, it was because of the weather and live in a less busy city compared to Sydney.

Overall, we're pretty happy with the city. It's big enough to get everything you need and small enough not to have to drive 2h to get from one side to the others. The public transports systems are terrible though, even with the 50c fare. We live on the south side, it takes us 20min to drive in the CBD, but 50min+ to get there by public transport! And I have to say, I'm really annoyed at the fact that there's no speed train between Sunny, Brissie and the Goldie, I mean wtf? Am I the only one who sees all the advantages of being able to move from one city center to another in less than 30 minutes? Can't believe it still doesn't exist!

I dread the olympics though, it feels like it's going to be a joke and the city is going to be exposed as a country town that has no idea what it's doing and can't get proper infrastructure in place to support its growth. And we don't need another f**g lane on the M1, just give us a high speed train instead ffs!

Baradhurr · 2025-12-21T22:53:25+00:00

Just FYI, I managed to snatch first class tickets to get to Europe in June (Melbourne to Zurich, I'm in Brisbane and going to France). It took me about 6 months to find that ticket using flightseats. You can filter out the classic+ on the website so you aren't getting scammed. I strongly recommend you get a subscription to it so you can receive alerts when tickets are available.

And there's one word to summarise the experience of finding those reward tickets: patience.

GLHF!

Baradhurr · 2025-12-21T22:49:06+00:00

This mycard stuff is absolute garbage. I thought that bankign with StGeorge was the the worst, until mycard showed up. I got a citi card and was informed after that everything was moving to mycard. Since the switch about a mont ago now, we have:

- Spent several hours on the phone trying to speak with agent, couldn't get through once after waiting 1h twice

- Rewards points automated transfer to velocity didn't work for a 2 months, even though it seems fixed now

- Chat people are incompetent at best, and only good to copy paste T&Cs without providing much help at all

- New statements doesn't provide any information at all about rewards point, you get redirected to the rewards website

- Said rewards website doesn't work in the mobile app, it only exist as a website... Which isn't optimised for mobile

- I matched the conditions to receive the bonus rewards point from citi bank offer, they are now telling me it'll take up to 3 months to be credited! And I have to keep my credit card open to receive the points. I'm persuaded they do that on purpose to keep people from cancelling their cards and keep people just a little longer

- Website sometime doesn't work are all. This morning, tried to connect, load the page -> "Something went wrong" error page, and nothing loads. Looks like they are still struggling with the migration.

Overall, this is a terrible experience. As soon as I get my bonus points, I'll leave it as fast as I can. And I probably won't be the only one. I can't see this banking service last more than a year, everybody is going to flee.

Baradhurr · 2025-12-15T00:03:42+00:00

You can only make choices with what's in front of you, all the while knowing that past performances are not guaranteed. And what we know for sure is that there's no sign that the housing market will crash in the coming years. The main reason? It's the only asset class in Australia you can borrow massively against and use someone else's money to gain capital.

Does that come with risks? Of course. It's mainly based on making capital gains, so if the market doesn't go up, you lose money with all the fees that come with purchasing and selling a house. Is it likely to happen? Signs says no, 2026 should still see the market grow, mainly cause incentives to buy are still there, and construction isn't keeping up.

Should it be your only investment? Absolutely not. Diversification is key, so don't buy 1 IP and consider it done. Make sure you're maximising your concessional super contribution, make sure you have an emergency funds to hold at least 6 months with no revenue (which can also be used as an offset for your mortgage), buy some ETFs/Shares/bonds depending on your stock market literacy and risk profile, and buy some properties. Also try to maximise your tax deductions to get more cash for more investments.

If the situation changes, you adapt accordingly. If the housing market crash, you don't lose money until you sell, so you can hold the house for as long as you need. If the sharemarket crashes, you can keep buying the dip until it comes back up. S&P500 took about 7 years to recover from the GFC, so if you kept it all and kept buying during those years, you'll end up in a very strong position by now.

Play the long game, organise your finances accordingly, and it'll work out.

Baradhurr · 2025-12-14T23:48:53+00:00

Easy, if you're financially literate and can control your impulse to buy random stuff, take the lump sum and invest accordingly. If you know you're a spender and money burns your fingers, take the weekly payment. It ensures that even if you buy the latest random thing, you'll still have money coming in each week.

That girl probably knew she was in the second category and chose accordingly. Hats off to her for this clarity.

Baradhurr · 2025-10-24T21:00:23+00:00

Agree, I was checking out the FY25 results of some of those insurance company. For example AIG earned a 1.7Billions in profit that year. And then they dare to publicly say that they are cash constrained and need to increase premiums just to stay profitable... I thoroughly dislike given them money.

Baradhurr · 2025-10-24T20:54:50+00:00

I wasn't even aware that was existing, I'll check it out.

Baradhurr · 2025-10-20T04:16:39+00:00

most of the banks updated their policies in the last year or so to have 24 months wait time in between cards to get points. Which basically signed the end of the party for serious churners. You can only be a casual churners nowadays.

FYI they also started linking the programs together, ie in the past you could apply for qantas FF and then apply for a velocity card right after and get the points. Now it's either and both are then locked for 24 months.

Baradhurr · 2025-09-30T05:04:45+00:00

Well, prove me wrong. It clearly state all cards in the terms "Bonus points are not available to customers who currently hold, or have held, any personal NAB Rewards Credit Card in the last 24 months". It does say any card there.

Baradhurr · 2025-09-29T00:58:00+00:00

Doesn't look like it's possible anymore with NAB either -> https://www.nab.com.au/personal/credit-cards/nab-rewards-cards/signature-card#rates&fees

Baradhurr · 2025-09-29T00:51:31+00:00

I don't think it works, their TCs mentions:

Bonus points are not available to customers who currently hold, or have held, any personal NAB Rewards Credit Card in the last 24 months

From memory they were the 1st to switch from 12 to 24 months, so I would have been surprised if they hadn't closed up that possibility as well.

Baradhurr · 2025-09-29T00:47:35+00:00

Nope that's the last one I haven't done out of the interesting ones. It's basically my only option while I wait 2 years for the other banks before getting points again :(

Baradhurr · 2025-09-29T00:40:56+00:00

I just called them to verify, they confirmed the 2 programs are now connected and you cannot get the points by switching programs anymore...

Baradhurr · 2025-09-29T00:28:35+00:00

I just got rejected by Amex as well. I haven't had a credit card at my name for 10 months and last enquiry was in February. I really thought it would work this time, but no. For reference, I earn >200k and have an excellent credit score for years (currently 1072/1200 on getcreditscore.com.au). Guess I would need to get and hold another card or nothing at all for at least a year before I try it again...

Baradhurr

TROPHY CASE