Qantas Airways Frequent Flyer Loyalty Program Review

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

Marriott Credit Cards

Marriott credit cards can be great ways to earn points that can be transferred directly into Qantas miles.

What’s great about earning these points is that for every 60,000 points you transfer to an airline partner, you’ll receive 5,000 bonus points.

60,000 points will mean you’ll have 25,000 airline miles (3:1 transfer ratio + 25% bonus) to use for your next redemption.

To help you earn enough points for a flight, here are the Marriott credit cards we recommend:

MARRIOTT CARDS	CARD BENEFITS & INFO
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ Card	Limited Time Offer! Earn 100,000 Bonus Points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. An additional Free Night Award (valued up to 35,000 points) every year after account anniversary. Automatic Silver Elite Status each account anniversary year. Path to Gold Status when you spend $35,000 on purchases each account year. Annual Fee: $95
Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card	Earn 75,000 bonus Marriott Bonvoy points after you use your new Card to make $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. Free Night Award Complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite Status $125 Annual Fee For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card, click here.

Citi Credit Cards

Citi, like Marriott, is another program that you can use to earn transferable ThankYou points.

What makes Citi’s program unique is that it has regular bonuses when transferring points to some of its airline partners, which can provide additional value for your points.

The only credit card available to new applicants that earns ThankYou Points is the Citi ThankYou Premier. You can find more about it here:

CREDIT CARD	CARD INFO
Citi ThankYou® Premier Card	Earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. Redeemable for $750 in Airfare at ThankYou.com 3 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent on Travel, including Gas Stations 2 points per $1 spent on dining/entertainment Annual Fee: $95, waived for first 12 months

Other Hotel Partner Credit Cards

In addition to Marriott, 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 other 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 is 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

As with nearly all airline award programs, joining is free by filling out this application.

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

In order 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 & 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
• Priority check-in
• 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
• Priority boarding
• Access to Qantas Clubs, Qantas International Business lounges, and Oneworld lounges
• Receive priority for confirmation of international upgrade requests
• 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 provides 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
• 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 to departure
• Waived booking fees for new eligible bookings
• 2 complimentary lounge invitations
• Complimentary Qantas Golf Club Premium 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 you 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 Golf Club membership.

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 miles, from flying with Qantas, Jetstar, or partners to spending on credit cards.

Earning Miles Through Flying

The amount of Qantas miles 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 miles 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 Miles 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 2 of the 4 major flexible point programs (Citi, Marriott) providing you with a couple of options for earning points.

Earning Bonus Miles 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 miles.

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

Lastly, Qantas offers ways to earn miles by using its shopping portals and dining program. This is yet another way to earn miles 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. For more information on the award charts, click this link.

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: Airnorth, 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, 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 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 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.