What is the Qantas Frequent Flyer Program?
As the name implies the Qantas Frequent Flyer Program is Qantas’s official frequent flyer loyalty program. As easily the largest program of its kind in Australia boasting over 12 million members. The program’s main rival is Virgin Australia’s Velocity which has a similar structure and largely competing with Qantas for brand loyalty.
The original fundamentals of the program still stand strong today whereby members can accrue points and status from flights that can be redeemed for further flights and privilege down the track. These days however points and even status credits can be earned from many different sources including partner airlines and redeemed at select partner airlines and a wide range of goods and services on the ground.
Technically, membership of the Qantas Frequent Flyer Program is not free and may cost A$99.95 if signing up directly on Qantas website however there are many ways to have this join up fee waived.
Continue reading this guide to find out how to earn free Qantas Frequent Flyer membership and all the best way to earn and redeem points below!
Joining Qantas Frequent Flyer for Free
There are a wide range of partners that Qantas associates with that will offer free Qantas Frequent Flyer Program membership. By far the most two common methods are through credit cards and the Woolworths Everyday Rewards Program. Other ways you can potentially score free membership include from family referrals and companies such as Uber, the Ingogo Taxi App, Luxury Escapes, Red Energy, Hoyts Rewards and singing up to the Qantas Travel Money Card. With so many avenues for scoring a free membership we strongly urge you to think twice whether it is necessary to sign up directly incurring a $99.95 membership fee.
Use a Qantas Frequent Flyer credit card
By signing up for a credit card linked to the Qantas Frequent Flyer Program you will usually be given complimentary free membership if already not a member otherwise of course the utility of them would be greatly diminished without the ability to use those hard earned points attained from purchases with the card. These cards are a great way to kickstart your points balance and often include generous sign-up bonuses and a continuing earn rate of up to 1pt per dollar for most cards.
Singing up to the Woolworths Everyday Rewards Program
Woolworths Everyday Rewards Program is the supermarket giants reward and loyalty program which directly competes with Coles Flybuys Program which offers an avenue to convert points to Virgin’s Velocity Frequent Flyer Program . Shoppers to Woolworths and their associated brands can earn up to 1 point per dollar spent in store and redeem $10 of their shop for every 2,000 points earned. Alternatively for Frequent Flyer members the points can be automatically converted to Qantas Points in intervals of 2000 points which are converted to 1000 Qantas Points. In other words, shoppers can be effectively earning 0.5 Qantas points per dollar spent at Woolworths however will have to wait until Woolworths converts 2000 Rewards points at a time. An opportunity presents to sign up to the Qantas Frequent Flyer Program in the Rewards App or by simply electing to convert your points to Qantas Points automatically and Woolworths will set up the Qantas Frequent Flyer Program for you.
How to earn points
Of course, still the most conventional way to earn points is taking flights with Qantas and partner airlines and booking them whilst you are logged into your Qantas Frequent account or by providing your membership number when booking with eligible partners. These days you don’t even have to fly often to rack up a considerable points balance with the airlines partnering with hundreds of partners meaning points can be earned on everything including everyday shopping, accommodation, car hire, transportation, tours, and other transportation means. Further, your points balance can be significantly compounded through credit cards and financial services.
Earning points through Flights
In a nutshell Qantas Frequent Flyer Program can earn points on all Qantas flights purchased solely with cash, eligible Jetstar fares bundles, Emirates and One world Partner Airlines. A number of factors will determine the number of points earned, but these are generally multiplied with higher fare categories and cabin classes and of course Qantas Frequent Flyer status Tier. Qantas offer a handy points calculator on their website that can give you a guide to how many points your next flight might earn or alternatively how much you might need to redeem for a desired future flight or upgrade. When making a booking with Qantas make sure to double check you are signed into your account or with partner airlines that you provide your number when checking out to save any hassles or disappointment later. If unsure if the airline you are flying with is affiliated with Qantas it may be worth checking the drop-down list of eligible programs when checking out.
Credit Cards, Insurance and other Financial Products
Perhaps the most popular way to quickly compound Qantas Points is through credit cards. Most Australian banks offer Credit Card and other financial products that are linked with the Qantas Frequent Flyer Program which earn points when you do your everyday spending on the card. Up to 1 point per dollar spent domestically and even more when overseas are common features of these cards but it pays to check your card’s exact earn rates which may change according to product category and have exclusions such as transactions to the ATO. Once you have initially linked your Qantas Frequent Flyer account to your card you don’t have to do anything else with points usually being credited to your account at the end of each billing cycle. Other cards may be attributed to the banks own reward program and earn points often at higher rates. These programs offer a wider range of options to redeem your points with one option being to manually transfer points at a pre-determined and usually lower exchange rate to another frequent flyer program which could include Qantas Frequent Flyer. When signing up to these cards it pays to take advantage of sign-up bonuses usually available to new customers which can often land customers bonuses between 30,000 and 150,000 points depending on card tier and minimum spend other requirements been met or card fees being paid. By signing up for the occasional new credit card and managing spending responsibly you can quickly build up an impressive points balance and redeeming that luxury overseas business class quicker than you think!
Insurance is another way you can compound significant amounts of Qantas Points – a necessary expense for most people with cars, home and whom travel. If you can find a policy that suits your needs at a competitive price, Qantas offers a range of insurances which like credit cards can offer significant sign-up bonuses and recurring points earn on the cost of the policy. For those travelling abroad Qantas’s Pre-Paid travel card may also worth considering and earns 1 point per dollar spent however it is worth keeping in mind certain credit cards may offer higher earn rates on international purchases and other perks such as no foreign currency conversion fees so it pays to check what is a better value proposition for your own circumstances.
Hotels, Car Hire and Other Partners
Another way to earn points is through Qantas travel partners on the ground or through their own business subsidiaries. For example, booking through Qantas Hotels will earn at least 3 points per dollar spent with Qantas Points Club members earning an additional 25% bonus on points earned. Alternatively, booking with Airbnb and Luxury Escapes is another way to earn 1 point per dollar on accommodation. Qantas Activities earn a point per dollar spent while car hire partners Avis and Hertz, in addition to rideshare company Uber also opportunity to earn points. In a competitive market with cashback and other brand loyalty programs to be had on things such as car hire and hotels it does pay however to assess which avenues for rewards suits your circumstances best on these purchases.
Everyday Spending
There are numerous ways that you can earn points for everyday spending such as on groceries, alcohol, fuel, and pharmaceuticals whereby points can be earned through Woolworths Rewards, BP fuel outlets and TerryWhite Chemist for example. Points at often heavily boosted rates can be earned through the Qantas Shopping Portal with over a 100 different online retailers however with strong competition coming from other banking programs and cash back on offer through programs such as CashRewards it pays to weigh up which programs and promotions offer the best value to you.
Other ways to accrue points
There are also several other ways to transfer or attain points for your Qantas Frequent Flyer account. One popular such way is through transferring from a family member or by purchasing points directly from Qantas which is a great feature if you are shy short of your dream flight redemption. Points can often be transferred from other loyalty programs as well who may be able to convert points into your Qantas Frequent Flyer account.
Redeeming Points
Qantas points can be redeemed for much more than just flights but keep in mine that their utility value wise is almost never going to be as good for non-flight redemptions which can include everything from hotels to gift cards and a wide range of consumer goods in the Qantas Rewards Store. If flying is on the agenda anytime soon it is always best to accumulate those points a classic flight redemption.
Flight Redemptions
Your hard-earned Qantas points in our opinion are always best put to use for flight redemptions on the Qantas website. Whilst you can book ‘any seat’ in theory it is far better to be flexible with your date and routes and redeem a ‘rewards seat’ which maximize the monetary value of your points and won’t dent your points balance anywhere near that of a ‘any seat’ redemption. Qantas Classic flight awards are not based on dynamic pricing but instead a miles table meaning that some routes with high competition and steep rarely reduced fares could be redeemed that are in the same miles bracket to high frequency and frequently discounted routes. On the flip side, availability of reward seats varies greatly and they can be reasonably difficult at times to find especially for business and first-class redemption on flagship international routes. For these flights that are otherwise expensive, a classic economy reward redemption can be an outstanding value redemption (i.e Sydney to Lord Howe Island that can usually retails over $500 one way but only cost 8,000 points). On the higher frequency routes which often feature premium classes a business class redemption for example you can greatly maximize the value of your reward redemption.
Coming in at little over double the cost in points over an economy redemption for Business class these are excellent redemption opportunities as the cash price difference for Business is often 4-6 times that of economy! If you can afford the patience to build up that points balance redeeming a business or even first class overseas is going to be the holy grail of redemptions for most travelers! To help find classic flight awards ensure you tick ‘points’ when searching for flights and can also filter flights to see calendar months worth of reward availability. To compare the points price with the cash price you can toggle between the two to help ascertain how good a value your desired redemption might be. With any case with a reward seat, they may require patience and strategy to find, and they won’t entirely be free and require a co payment to cover taxes and surcharges which are usually less than $50 in Australia but can be significantly more especially for overseas premium class redemptions.
Aside from classic flight rewards customers with a sufficient points balance may be able to use the ‘points plus pay’ feature which as the name suggests allows to you use a combination of points and cash – but keep in mind the conversion rate for points Is rather poor and no where near as points efficient way to redeem a flight than classic rewards. We’d any use this method as last resort.
Another way to seek an upgrade to a higher class of travel such as business class is by leveraging your points for an upgrade. These can be requested on select flights if you are prepared to play the upgrade lottery
Redeeming for Hotels and Shopping
There are many other ways to redeem points whether that is for hotels or consumer goods through Qantas Rewards. If you have a minimum of 5,000 points they can be redeemed on a points pay basis for hotel rooms however don’t expect the redemption value of each point to be anywhere near that for economy flights, let alone business or first class. Alternatively they can be used to purchase gift cards and other goods through Qantas Rewards but again we tend to stay clear of recommending these uses if you have points unless they are due to expire or you have no intentions to be in a position to fly whilst your points are still valid. If this is what you would like to use your points for though then we say why not! To demonstrate the poor value of these redemptions an iPhone 13 513gb can be redeemed in the Qantas store for 325,040 points with a retail value of $1,869 whilst just 216,000 points and over 100,000 points to spare may be all it needs to redeem a Classic first class award seat from Sydney to New York worth over $12,000 cash!
Qantas Frequent Flyer Status
There are two key complementing features of the Qantas Frequent Flyer program, obviously the first is its points earning and redeeming functionality that has been so successful in attracting millions of members, the other is its status program. Qantas Frequent Flyer Status has five tiers with each affording an ascending level of privilege and perks to a flyer’s membership. These are the starter level Bronze ascending to Silver, Gold, Platinum and Platinum One. Apart from the entry level Bronze which has no tangible benefit other than been acknowledged as being able to earn and redeem points higher levels can be unlocked through earning both status credits to reach and further credits to retain each calendar year. Lifetime tier status can be rewarded for those who reach certain thresholds of status credits through their lifetime. To advance beyond Bronze tier, the member must take at a minimum 4 eligible flight sectors to attain and a further 4 eligible flight sectors yearly to retain their given membership level in addition to the status credit requirements.
Silver
Silver status is usually the first level budding Qantas Frequent Flyer members will ascend to. To reach this level you to initially earn 300 status credits while 250 are required yearly to retain the privilege. Even at only the second lowest tier, the perks really start to come in with members enjoying 50% more Qantas points every time they fly eligible Qantas, Jetstar and American Airlines, a complimentary lounge invitation each year and preferential access to classic flight reward seats. This is topped off with priority check in and extra checked baggage allowance. This status comes similar perks on the ground for partner airlines with Ruby One world status and similar benefits when flying Emirates
Gold
Gold status is where the perks really start to get serious. To reach this tier you need to earn 700 status credits and earn a further 600 per year to retain. It will award 75% more Qantas points on eligible flights with Qantas, Jetstar and American Airlines. Lounge access included prior to all Qantas and Jetstar flights courtesy of Qantas Club membership and access to over 600 lounges globally through complementary One World access and Qantas’s own international lounges is a seriously good perk. On departure upgrades with Qantas points are also a possibility at this level. Other perks on the ground include priority baggage and priority check in along with One World Sapphire Status affording similar benefits on partner airlines in addition to Emirates and China Eastern.
Platinum
Platinum members get further upgraded benefits from the Gold Status. To reach platinum you need to earn 1,400 status credits points and earn an additional 1,200 yearly to retain it. Platinum members will receive 100% more Qantas points on eligible Qantas, Jetstar and American Airlines flights and priority international upgrades up to 48 priors to departure. On the lounge front this is upgraded to include access to Qantas and Emirates First Class international lounges, in addition to business lounges domestically. With Emerald One World Status even more top-tier international lounge access is unlocked
Platinum One
Platinum One is the highest level of status you can attain in the Qantas Frequent Flyer Program. To attain it requires at least 3,600 credits of which at least 2,700 must have come from flights with Qantas flight number on the ticket. The same requirements apply on a yearly basis to retain. At this level members gain access to the Qantas VIP Services Team, the highest upgrade priority and access to reward seats, the ability to share benefits to loved ones, a complimentary Platinum status for a family member or friend and Emerald one world status.
Qantas Points Club
Another less commonly heard feature of the Qantas Frequent Flyer Program is the Qantas Points Club. For those who do not fly frequently or not hold a higher than base level tier of status the club offers another avenue to earn some very handy privileges and perks with the airlines. The program aims to reward members who earn high amounts of points within a year whether in the air or through its partners on the ground. To automatically unlock points club requires the member to earn at least 150,000 points on the ground in the membership year which can come from things such as credit card use and hotel bookings. The higher-level Points Club Plus requires its members to earn 350,000 points or more in a membership year. With some impressive sign-up bonuses for new credit cards it can be very easy to quickly accumulate membership of the Qantas Points Club!
Qantas Points Club (Base level)
Members of the base level Qantas Points Club receive some very handy perks which can come particularly beneficial for less frequent or leisure traveller. These include two lounge invitations per membership year and the ability to earn status credits on Qantas marketed Classic Flight Awards. A $50 Qantas hotels vouchers with no minimum spend is also afforded as well as opportunities to earn boosted points at Qantas Hotels and other Qantas services.
Qantas Points Club Plus
Members of the second and highest tier of the Qantas Points Club are awarded complimentary Qantas Club membership, a $100 Qantas Hotels vouchers in addition to the other perks of Qantas Points Club
Summing Up
It is not hard to see why the Qantas Frequent Flyer Program is the most dominant program of its kind in Australia and one of the most appealing frequent flyer programs in the world. With over 12 million members it has something to offer from the most occasional flyer to corporate travelers and VIPs alike. Provided you sign up for free via one of the listed avenues in this guide there is little reason not to join the program even if you rarely fly. With so many opportunities to earn points and ways to redeem them most members should find some benefit from the program even if it’s the occasional classic flight reward covering a short flight such as Melbourne to Sydney for 8,000 points or a gift card from the rewards store. For the most serious of travelers, loyalty to Qantas and full participation with the program can bring some seriously outstanding perks such as complimentary lounge access and corresponding One World status.
