Amex Says ‘Routine Maintenance’ the Cause for Qantas Transfers Briefly Disappearing

Updated: June 1, 2026, 2:24pm CDT

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Qantas Disappears From, Then Returns to, Amex Transfer Partner List
Final Thoughts

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Update:

An American Express spokesperson provided the following statement regarding the brief removal of Qantas Frequent Flyer from the list of transfer partners: “Confirming that Qantas remains a Membership Rewards^® transfer partner. This was routine maintenance and point transfers are now available again.”

The Qantas Frequent Flyer program has long been an American Express transfer partner, but overnight, it disappeared from the list of airline transfer partners.

However, it has since been reinstated on the list of partners, and transfers should be functioning normally. Here’s the latest.

Qantas Disappears From, Then Returns to, Amex Transfer Partner List

AwardWallet first reported that the Qantas Frequent Flyer program was removed from the list of American Express Membership Rewards transfer partners overnight.

Amex Airline Transfer Partners Without Qantas — Qantas Frequent Flyer was not listed as an airline transfer on the American Express website for a brief period on June 1. Image Credit: American Express

Now, the program appears on the list of Amex airline transfer partners:

Qantas Returns to Amex Transfer partner list — After a brief absence, Qantas Frequent Flyer returned to the list of American Express airline transfer partners. Image Credit: American Express

So, what happened? American Express says it was removed as part of “routine maintenance,” and that transfers should be functioning normally now.

When we first learned of this situation, we were skeptical that anything major was happening. Amex typically gives advance notice if anything is changing with a transfer partner, such as transfers being unavailable for a given period or a partner being removed altogether.

In fact, we saw this exact situation play out earlier this year when the issuer paused transfers to ANA Mileage Club. However, in that scenario, Amex advised users that it was happening. In the current situation with Qantas, it has not.

While Qantas Frequent Flyer isn’t necessarily a heavily used program by U.S.-based flyers, it’s certainly better to have more options than fewer. Qantas is an Oneworld alliance member, meaning the program can be used to book award flights on alliance partners like Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, and more, as well as nonalliance partners such as Emirates.

Note that Qantas Frequent Flyer has partnerships with several other programs, including Capital One Miles and Citi ThankYou Rewards. However, if you don’t have a specific redemption you need to book in the short term, we wouldn’t recommend moving any transferable points into your Qantas account speculatively.

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Final Thoughts

For several hours, Qantas Frequent Flyer disappeared as an American Express transfer partner. But everything should be functioning normally now, and the issuer said it was performing routine maintenance. If you need to make any transfers to Qantas, you shouldn’t have any problem doing so now.