Disclaimer: First of all a warning relating to air miles for free travel, do not attempt this if you cannot pay off the full charge card limit each month. Credit is not for the foolish! I am not an accountant, tax advisor, financial advisor, business advisor. Membership points and air miles points do change regularly, and this was accurate when written. Please note that not all vendors accept Amex and it is best to have a back-up card to hand. Use Amex whenever possible.
Location scouts, location managers and crew are always surprised that I do a long haul flights every year for my yearly vacation for FREE every year, by leveraging air miles for free travel (except for the bloody tax!)
- Choosing charge card card for location managers, location scouts and crew: There are many cards, but I’m an Amex boy. Select an Amex card that aligns with your needs. The Amex Gold or Platinum cards are top choices for those in the film and TV production industry, offering substantial bonus points. A hefty welcome bonus can kick-start your mileage accumulation. For me it’s the platinum business Amex all the way, you pay for it, but it is expensable. Spend £10,000 the first 6 months and get 25,000 membership reward points. These can be converted later into air miles at your chosen carrier. Plus you get the lounges, so you feel less like cattle at the airport. https://www.americanexpress.com That will start you off nicely.
Amex Pro tip: 1 membership point is roughly 1:1 Air miles with most carriers when you convert.
- Fuel: Guaranteed a pain in the bum. Our main complaint here is the bloody late payments and the usual stitch up on the VAT. However some silver lining. Fuel stations offer air mile points and some per litre. So you get almost 1 point per pound spent on your Amex and 1 point per litre on your fuel membership card. I use Shell. So almost 3 points and per litre. You get up to 54 days, to pay this back, which gives account department time to play hunt the invoice before they pay you. For air mile geeks, call this double stacking.
- Flights: Book your own flight and expense it (Production do not generally like to do it anyway). My experience here is more location department based. Book through the Amex travel portal, it is easy to use and you earn up to 5 membership points per pound spent. My last year scouting, I did roughly £7k in flights, that is 35,000 memberships points. This helps to keep me a little happier when I’m route to the airport at 4am again.
- Business expenses: Endless every year. The yearly fears: 1. The camera breaking and being unfixable (Location scouts). 2. Something serious breaking on the car. 3. An unfixable fault on the Mac. Put it on the Amex. 4k on a new Mac, 4000 points. £10k on a car (I buy old smokers) 10,000 membership points. But this can on be all business spend.
- Smart Transfers: Convert your Amex Membership Rewards points to your preferred airline loyalty program keep an eye out for those valuable transfer bonuses.
- Stay Updated with Amex News Keeping abreast of the latest Amex offers can lead to a bonanza of points. Sign up the Amex newsletter.
- Up to 54 days: As we all know, waiting for your expenses can be stressful. Less of a problem when you are senior in your department, but horrendous when you are a junior and you can barely make rent on your house share in London. The Amex will give you some breathing room, while you wait for your expenses to be paid.
- Airline shopping portals: There are many but I use the one that best suits my strategy. I use the British airways executive club https://www.shopping.ba.com Here you are doing your spending on your Amex, one point per pound roughly, then points per pound in the shop. For example I buy all my Apple products here. A £4k mac would equal 4000 points from amex and then the store offers 3 Avios points per pound spent; that is a whopping 16,000 points in total for a new Mac. You can make these purchases across a great deal of your business spend. Here you are, air mile double stacking again.
- Hotels: Book your own hotel. As a lowly location scout, I tend to book my own rooms. I usually spend £100-£200 per night, which no one seems to blink an eye at. But you can book through the Amex platform. A whooping 5 points per £1 if you pay on your Amex as well. Let’s say £150 spent, you are getting 750 points. You are double stacking here and it will skyrocket your points. Radisson and Marriot also have their own air mile systems.
This is more than enough to get you started. We work like sled dogs, so you deserve as many perks as possible, and air miles for free travel equals happy travels.
Warning: I will finish this with a warning. The Amex is a charge card, is not a credit card. Pay your balance off in full each month by direct debit. If you are poorly organised and bad with credit, do not attempt the above.