Qantas Airways Frequent Flyer Loyalty Program – Full Review [2021]

Qantas has more than 50 co-branded credit cards, but unfortunately, none of those cards are available to the U.S. market.

American Express Membership Rewards Credit Cards

Convert your American Express Membership Rewards points to Qantas in increments of 500 points online or by phone. The transfer ratio is 1:1, and transfers are usually instant.

Best of all, you can earn Membership Rewards points with the following credit cards and then transfer them over to Qantas.

Recommended Amex Cards (Personal)

Recommended Amex Cards (Business)

Citi ThankYou Credit Cards

Transfer Citi ThankYou Points directly to Qantas at a 1:1 ratio. It takes about 2 days for the transaction to complete. Earn more ThankYou Points to transfer by using the following credit cards:

CREDIT CARD	CARD INFO
Citi Premier℠ Card Learn More (at our partner's secure site)	Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. Earn 3x at restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, air travel, and hotels; plus, 1x on all other purchases. Annual Fee: $95
Citi Rewards+℠ Card Learn More (at our partner's secure site)	Earn 15,000 bonus points after you spend $1,000 in purchases with your card within 3 months of account opening; redeemable for $150 in gift cards at thankyou.com Earn 2X ThankYou® Points at Supermarkets and Gas Stations for the first $6,000 per year and then 1X Points thereafter. Plus, earn 1X Points on All Other Purchases. Annual Fee: $0
Citi® Double Cash Card Learn More (at our partner's secure site)	Earn 2% on every purchase with unlimited 1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay for those purchases. Annual Fee: $0
Citi Prestige® Card Learn More (at Citi's secure site)	Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 within 3 months of account opening. Redeemable for $500 in Airfare at ThankYou.com 5 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent on Airfare and Restaurants 3 points per $1 spent on Hotels and Cruise Lines Annual Fee: $495

Capital One Miles

Capital One miles now transfer to Qantas at a 2:1.5 ratio. Instead of redeeming your Capital One miles in the Capital One travel portal for cash tickets, you now have the option to transfer them to your Qantas account.

Using Qantas points can potentially save a ton of miles when looking to book first or business class tickets using the Qantas award chart, compared to 1 cent per point of the cash ticket price using the Capital One travel portal.

Make sure you have a Capital One card that has the transferable miles feature. Here are our picks:

Recommended Capital One Cards That Earn Miles (Personal)

Hotel Partner Credit Cards

In addition to Marriott Bonvoy, several other hotel programs allow you to convert your hotel points into airline miles.

While on the surface this sounds great, it nearly always results in poor transfer ratios.

As a result, we don’t recommend converting your hotel points into airline miles unless you are really in a bind or are looking to top off an airline account for an award flight.

Qantas, one of the 2 major Australian-based airlines (the other being Virgin Australia), is the country’s oldest airline and largest by a few metrics, including fleet size.

The name Qantas is actually an acronym that stands for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services, and its nickname is The Flying Kangaroo.

Its loyalty program is called Qantas Frequent Flyer, and the airline is a member of the Oneworld alliance.

Status Credits are what Qantas uses to determine your elite tier in the program. In short, the more Status Credits you earn, the more perks and benefits you unlock.

In addition to Status Credits, Qantas members also earn Qantas Points. Members earn Qantas Points from things like flying, car rentals, and hotel bookings. Those points can then be used for an award flight or an upgrade, among other uses.

Bottom Line: The structure of the Qantas Frequent Flyer program mirrors many of the same aspects of the major U.S. airlines’ programs, so it will feel familiar to American travelers.

Joining Frequent Flyer

Unlike other airline award programs, Qantas charges a fee of AU$99.50 (~$72) to join its Frequent Flyer program. However, if you register via this application form, the fee is waived. The page states that free membership only applies to Australian citizens, but it also works for other countries.

After your application is confirmed, you’ll receive the ability to both earn and redeem Qantas Points.

How to Sign in to Your Frequent Flyer Account

Logging in to the Qantas Frequent Flyer page is easy! Simply provide your member number, last name, and PIN and you’ll have access to your account.

Hot Tip: The Qantas Frequent Flyer program requires you to log in to search for an award flight. Qantas, in addition to British Airways, is great to use to search for Oneworld award flights. 

Viewing Your Account Activity

To see your account activity, you’ll need to use the following steps:

1. Log in to your account
2. Click the down arrow under your name on the top left of the page
3. Click Your Points Activity
4. Click Points Activity

Points Expiration

Qantas Points expire every 18 months if you do not earn or use Qantas Points through your frequent flyer account.

Earning or using Qantas Points with the program’s partners is considered qualifying activity and will reset the 18-month clock.

The expiration period starts from the date of your last activity.

Frequent Flyer Elite Status

The Qantas Frequent Flyer program has 4 elite tiers: Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Platinum One.

Silver: The base elite tier comes with the following benefits:

• 50% bonus points on eligible Qantas and Jetstar flights; 25% bonus on American Airlines flights
• Seating privileges
• Complimentary lounge invitation
• Status Hold for up to 18 months for members on parental leave
• Access to selected Qantas Classic Flight Reward seats
• International priority check-in (where available)
• Extra checked baggage allowance
• Oneworld Ruby status when flying on Oneworld flights
• Additional benefits when flying on Emirates

Gold: One of 2 middle elite tiers, which offers the following perks:

• All of the benefits of Silver plus;
• 75% bonus points on eligible Qantas, Jetstar, and American Airlines flights
• International priority boarding
• Access to Qantas Clubs, Qantas International Business lounges, and Oneworld lounges plus 1 guest
• Oneworld Sapphire status when flying on Oneworld flights
• Additional benefits when flying on Emirates, China Eastern, Alaska Airlines, EL AL, Air New Zealand, Air France, KLM

Platinum: The second of 2 middle elite tiers that provide members with the following benefits:

• All of the benefits of Gold plus;
• 100% bonus points on eligible Qantas, Jetstar, and American Airlines flights
• Priority international upgrades
• Access to Qantas First Class lounges plus 1 guest
• Oneworld Emerald status when flying on Oneworld flights
• Confirmed international upgrades from 2 days prior to departure to departure
• Choice of Platinum Bonus Reward at 2,400 Status Credits

Platinum One: The highest elite tier offered by Qantas comes with these perks:

• All of the benefits of Platinum plus;
• Complimentary Platinum membership for a family member or friend
• Highest upgrade priority
• Access to a dedicated Platinum One Team
• Confirmed international upgrades from 7 days prior to departure
• Waived booking fees for new eligible bookings
• Complimentary Qantas epiQure membership

If you’re interested in the benefits available at each elite tier, check out the Tier Benefits Page for everything you need to know.

Value of Frequent Flyer Elite Status

As with U.S.-based airlines, the value of Qantas elite status will vary depending on whether or not you live in Australia.

The elite benefits stack up comparably with what you’d see at other top-tier airlines, but to receive the most value you’ll need to fly Qantas, Jetstar, or Oneworld flights frequently.

For Silver elites, a Status Hold for when you are on parental leave is a unique benefit not found in many other programs.

Lounge access, Oneworld Sapphire and Emerald, and additional benefits with Qantas partners like Alaska Airlines are what you’ll have access to at the Gold and Platinum elite tiers.

With Platinum One status, Qantas offers a couple of interesting perks, including complimentary Platinum status for a friend and a Qantas epiQure membership for access to premium wine.

Earning Frequent Flyer Elite Status

Status Credits are what Qantas uses to determine your elite tier and the benefits you receive on Qantas, Jetstar, Emirates, and Oneworld flights.

As a new member, you start with Bronze status and then move up through the Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Platinum One tiers as you earn more Status Credits.

The Status Credits you earn are driven by your route, airline, and the fare purchased. That is to say: the more flexible the fare and more premium the cabin, the more Status Credits you will earn.

Hot Tip: Qantas uses a calculator to determine the Qantas Points and Status Credits you will earn. Simply enter the required information in this calculator, and the program will show what you’ll earn for your flight.

You can also refer to the earning tables on this page to see how many Qantas Points and Status Credits you’ll earn.

Unlike the trend we’ve seen recently with a revenue requirement as part of elite status qualification with many airlines, Qantas only requires you to earn a certain amount of Status Credits.

Some airlines, like American Airlines, offer co-branded credit cards that help you earn elite status. While Qantas does the same, the airline doesn’t offer a credit card for the U.S. market.

Bottom Line: You’ll need to earn Status Credits if your goal is to have elite status with Qantas.

Qantas offers a number of ways to earn lots of Qantas points, from flying with Qantas, Jetstar, or partners to spending on credit cards.

Earning Points Through Flying

The amount of Qantas points that you earn is based on your elite status, distance traveled, and type of fare purchased.

After logging into your account, the easiest way to see the number of points you’ll earn is by using the Qantas Point Calculator.

Simply enter your elite status, where you are flying from and to, and the type of fare and the Point Calculator will show you exactly how many Qantas Points and Status Credits you’ll earn after taking that flight.

If you’re interested in seeing how many Qantas Points and Status Credits you’ll earn on all Qantas, Jetstar, and partner flights, check out the partner earning page.

Earn Points With Credit Cards

Qantas does not offer any co-branded credit cards for the U.S. market, so you’ll need to look into cards that earn flexible points.

When you earn flexible points, these can be transferred directly to the program’s airline partners.

Qantas partners with 4 of the 5 major flexible point programs (Amex, Capital One, Citi, and Marriott Bonvoy) providing you with a few different options for earning points.

Earning Bonus Points in Other Ways

Major airlines tend to offer a number of unique ways to earn miles, and Qantas is no different.

By following the Qantas social media pages like Twitter and Facebook as well as checking its Promotions Page, you’ll be able to stay on top of the latest offers to earn additional points.

It’s also important to leverage the Qantas partner network since you can earn points with your car rentals and hotel stays simply by adding your Qantas Frequent Flyer number to all reservations.

Lastly, Qantas offers ways to earn points by using its shopping portals and dining program. This is yet another way to earn points on spending that you would already incur.

Hot Tip: Note that if you add your airline loyalty program to other services, you won’t also earn status points with these franchises unless it’s a preferred car rental agency that has specifically partnered with the airline — this partnership acts as a sort of alliance between airline and rental agency.

Similar to Cathay Pacific, Qantas uses a number of different award charts that can make it initially challenging to ensure you’re using the correct one.

But don’t worry! Each award chart is included below. 

Qantas Points required for Classic Flight Rewards with Qantas, Jetstar, Fiji Airways, Air Vanuatu, and American Airlines:

Points required for Classic Flight Rewards when traveling on flights operated by Jetstar (JQ), Jetstar Asia (3K), Jetstar Japan (GK), and Jetstar Pacific (BL):

Qantas Points required for Partner Classic Flight Rewards with Air France, Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, China Airlines, China Eastern, Cathay Dragon, EL AL, Emirates, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, KLM, LATAM Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian, S7 Airlines and SriLankan Airlines:

The Oneworld Classic Flight Reward table only applies when your reward itinerary includes travel on at least 2 Oneworld alliance airlines other than Qantas and does not include any travel on any airline that is not a Oneworld alliance airline:

Booking Online

You won’t be able to book all Qantas partners online, so if the partner isn’t listed below, you’ll need to call 800-227-4500 to book the award flight.

Only these partners can be booked online: American Airlines, Air Vanuatu, Aer Lingus, Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, China Eastern, Dragonair, Fiji Airways, Emirates, EL AL, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Jetstar, LATAM, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, S7 Airlines, and SriLankan Airlines.

Qantas and British Airways are the 2 search engines we recommend using to search for Oneworld award availability.

If the partner you’re looking to book is part of the Star Alliance, like Air New Zealand, search for Star Alliance award flights on the United or Aeroplan websites.

If the partner is a SkyTeam member, like China Eastern, we recommend using the Delta and Flying Blue websites to search for SkyTeam award availability.

Hot Tip: You may want to consider an Expert Flyer subscription for hard-to-find award flights, such as long-haul flights from the U.S. to New Zealand on Air New Zealand.