Ten, 15, 20 people deep, the crowds lining the Melbourne walk wait hours to catch a glimpse of a F1 driver. Chris Chamberlin arrived by chauffeured car, cruising past the throngs of people who stopped to make way, the crowd parted and held their phones up to film who was coming through. It was nobody famous. It was a travel journalist who knew how to use his Hilton Honours points.
Chris Chamberlin is a freelance travel journalist and frequent flyer points expert whose work appears in the Australian Financial Review, Business Traveller and Traveller. On Ep71 of Away We Go Podcast, Chris chats with Dianne Bortoletto, and he breaks down exactly how he uses loyalty programs to access first class flights, premium hotel stays and Formula 1 hospitality experiences for a fraction of their cash cost.
The episode opens with one of the cleaner pieces of points maths you will hear.
In January, Chamberlin flew Emirates first class from Dubai to Kuwait for the same number of Qantas points as a domestic business class seat from Brisbane to Melbourne. The difference: a private airport entrance, a dedicated first class lounge, Dom Perignon on boarding, and when a bottle of P2 (retail around $1,100) was cracked mid-flight, the crew decanted what was left into a paper takeaway coffee cup before landing so he did not have to go without.
The hospitality conversation is where the episode earns its keep for Formula 1 fans.
Chamberlin was hosted by Hilton at the 2026 Australian Grand Prix to demonstrate what is available to Hilton Honours members through the program’s points auction system. The experience included two nights at Hilton Melbourne Little Queen Street, access through the American Express Lounge where he crossed paths with Delta Goodrem, entry to the McLaren suite above the pit lane, paddock access, and a post-qualifying walk through the team garage while the cars were being dismantled with FIA scrutineers present. The same package went to public auction and closed at 660,000 Hilton Honours points, which Chamberlin breaks down as roughly $3,000 per person across two guests. Race day cash tickets for comparable hospitality at the same event were fetching $7,000 a head.
For those building toward experiences like that, the episode covers practical accumulation strategies: linking Accor Live Limitless to Qantas Frequent Flyer to earn points on hotel stays and flights simultaneously, using DiDi and online shopping portals to keep points flowing between trips, and the case for focusing on Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer and Qatar Airways Privilege Club for travellers who want genuine availability in premium cabins.
Chamberlin also reveals an unwritten Qantas Platinum benefit: members who cannot find a reward seat online can call and ask the airline to create one, a workaround he has used to unlock business class to London in peak July travel periods when the website showed nothing available.
The broader point running through the conversation is that the complexity is the product. A recent Middle East trip required five separate frequent flyer programs, including Alaska miles transferred via Hawaiian Airlines from an Amex card, Qatar Avios, Air France Flying Blue, and Saudi Arabian Airlines, all stitched together to build a single itinerary. For most travellers, that is where the system defeats them. For Chamberlin, it is where the value is.
If you want help navigating your own points balance, Chris Chamberlin offers consulting sessions via his Calendly booking page at https://calendly.com/chris_chamberlin/ and his work can be found through his Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/chris_chamberlin/
The question of whether points travel is genuinely accessible, or whether it only rewards people who already spend enough to accumulate meaningful balances, runs underneath the whole episode and does not fully resolve. Which is probably worth a follow-up conversation.
Reilly Sullivan in Shanghai – check out Ep64
F1 Australian Grand Prix – check out Ep62