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Qantas American Express® Premium Card
Earn 1 Qantas point per dollar, uncapped, and receive two complimentary Qantas lounge invitations each year with the Qantas American Express Premium credit card.
- Signup bonus
- 20,000 bonus Qantas Points, when you spend a minimum of $3,000 on eligible purchases in the first 3 months of approval date
- Points Earned
- 1 Qantas Point earned per $1 spent on eligible purchases; 1 additional Qantas Point per $1 on selected Qantas products and services in Australia; 0.5 Qantas Points per $1 spent at government bodies in Australia
- Annual fee
- $249 p.a. annual fee
Australian Frequent Flyer is currently not accepting applications for this card offer.
Get notified when it’s live.
Why we like the Qantas American Express Premium Card
With an earn rate of 1 Qantas Frequent Flyer point per dollar spent, and no cap on the number of points you can earn, the Qantas American Express Premium credit card is a solid option for earning Qantas points on everyday spend.
When making a purchase from Qantas, you’ll receive an extra point for every dollar spent. Plus, you’ll get two Qantas lounge invitations to use at domestic Qantas Club or international Qantas Business Lounges each year.
As an added bonus, Qantas Amex Premium cardholders receive complimentary Qantas Wine Premium membership. And of course, all of the Qantas points earned on this card will count towards Qantas Points Club membership!
While the Qantas points earn rate on this card compares favourably to most other credit cards in the Australian market, it’s not quite as good as the 1.25 Qantas points per dollar you could earn with Qantas Amex Ultimate card. That said, the Qantas Amex Premium card has a lower annual fee.
Key Information & How to Apply
Key facts about this card
- Card type
- American Express
- Signup bonus
- 20,000 bonus Qantas Points, when you spend a minimum of $3,000 on eligible purchases in the first 3 months of approval date
- Annual fee
- $249 p.a. annual fee
- Interest rate
- 23.99% p.a.
- Interest-free days
- Up to 44 days
- Minimum monthly repayment
- 2.5% of balance or $30, whichever is higher
- Minimum credit limit
- $2000
- International transaction fee
- 3%
To apply for this card, you will need
- To be an Australian citizen, resident or long-term visa holder aged 18 or over
- No history of bad debt or payment default
- Your Australian driver’s licence number and proof of income
- 10-15 minutes to complete your application
Australian Frequent Flyer is currently not accepting applications for this card offer.
Get notified when it’s live.
Contents
Sign-up bonus
Apply for a Qantas American Express Premium card to earn 20,000 bonus Qantas Frequent Flyer points. That’s more than enough Qantas points for a one-way Qantas Business Class flight from Melbourne to Sydney, or a return flight in Economy (plus taxes & carrier charges).
See our guide to redeeming Qantas points effectively for more information on using Qantas points.
To receive the bonus points, you would need to spend at least $3,000 on eligible transactions on your card within the first 3 months.
This offer does not have a fixed expiry date but may be changed or withdrawn at any time.
This sign-up bonus points offer is not available to existing Amex cardholders, or if you have been the primary cardholder of an Australian Amex card in the past 18 months.
Travel benefits
Here’s an overview of the travel benefits you can expect…
Qantas lounge invitations
As a Qantas American Express Premium cardholder, you’ll receive two annual Qantas lounge invitations to use at any domestic Qantas Club or international Qantas Business Lounge when flying with Qantas or Jetstar. These invitations are transferrable and can be gifted to friends or family members.
To activate your lounge invitations, simply make any purchase with Qantas during your card membership year.
Complimentary travel insurance
This credit card comes with complimentary domestic and international travel insurance, including some cover for COVID-19. This insurance is underwritten by Chubb and is available when you pay for your return trip using your Qantas American Express Premium card.
Before using this insurance, we’d encourage you to read the PDS here.
The Qantas American Express Premium card also offers complimentary Card Purchase Cover & Card Refund Cover.
Earning points
With the Qantas American Express Premium card, you’ll earn 1 Qantas Frequent Flyer points per $1 spent on eligible transactions (excluding government payments).
You’ll earn a bonus point per dollar (i.e. 2 Qantas points per $1 spent) when purchasing Qantas products or services with your card.
There is no monthly or annual point-earning cap. You can earn an unlimited number of points at the full rate.
Points earned from this card will be deposited into your Qantas Frequent Flyer account after the end of each monthly statement cycle. Qantas points expire if there is no activity in your Qantas Frequent Flyer account for 18 months, but if you’re earning points each month this will keep your account active.
Earning point for ATO & government payments
Payments made directly to the Australian Tax Office (ATO) or other government bodies in Australia with your Qantas American Express Premium card will earn points at a reduced rate of 0.5 Qantas points per $1.
However, you can use a payment service such as pay.com.au or Sniip to pay tax and other bills with this card, and still earn points at the full rate!
Amex Offers
From time to time, American Express cardholders receive exclusive offers of bonus points or cashback when spending at specific retailers. These Amex Offers can be quite lucrative.
Amex also runs Shop Small promotions from time to time, giving rewards for shopping at participating small businesses.
Using Qantas Frequent Flyer points
You can use your Qantas Frequent Flyer points towards a wide range of rewards including reward flights, upgrades, wine, hotel bookings, car rentals, Qantas Rewards Store purchases and even Classic Rail Rewards.
Arguably, the best value uses of Qantas points are on Classic Upgrade Rewards and Classic Flight Rewards. You can request an upgrade with Qantas points on any Qantas operated and marketed flight, or book a Classic Flight Reward seat with Qantas or any of its many partner airlines.
Qantas Classic Flight Rewards start at 6,400 Qantas points + taxes & carrier charges for flights in Jetstar Economy Class, or 8,000 Qantas points + taxes & carrier charges for a Qantas Economy Class flight of up to 600 miles (e.g. on the Sydney-Gold Coast route). Qantas Business Class reward seats start from 18,400 Qantas points + taxes & carrier charges (e.g. for a Melbourne-Sydney flight).
Qantas is part of the Oneworld alliance, meaning you can redeem Qantas points to fly with any of the other Oneworld member airlines. In fact, a popular use of Qantas points is the Oneworld Classic Flight Reward which allows you to travel around the world with up to 5 stopovers. This costs 132,400 Qantas points in Economy Class or 318,000 Qantas points for Business Class.
Qantas’ other partner airlines include Emirates, Jetstar, Fiji Airways, El Al and LATAM Airlines.
You can check the number of Qantas points needed on any route for an upgrade or reward flight on the Qantas website.
Classic Flight Reward bookings can be excellent value – especially if you’re booking a seat in Premium Economy, Business or First Class. However, beware that reward seat availability is limited. It can be difficult to find seats on popular routes and peak travel dates, especially if you’re looking for multiple seats.
When redeeming Qantas points for a Classic Flight Reward redemption, you’ll need to pay any applicable taxes & carrier charges in addition to the points. On some airlines, such as Emirates, these carrier charges can be quite expensive. However, other Qantas partner airlines have relatively low or no carrier charges including Fiji Airways, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, LATAM Airlines, China Airlines and Air New Zealand.
For more details on redeeming Qantas points, see our Overview of Qantas Frequent Flyer Redemptions.
Complimentary Qantas Wine Premium Membership
As a Qantas American Express Premium cardholder, you’re entitled to free Qantas Wine Premium membership, valued at $99 per year. This gets you triple Qantas points and free delivery on all orders from Qantas Wine.
Summary
Pros
- A solid Qantas points-earning card with no monthly or annual points cap
- Receive two annual complimentary Qantas lounge invitations when you make a purchase with Qantas
- Complimentary Qantas Wine Premium membership
- Complimentary domestic and international travel insurance
- Compatible with Apple Pay, Google Pay & Samsung Pay
Cons
- International transaction fees apply
- Points are earned at a reduced rate when spending with government bodies
- American Express cards are not as widely accepted as Visa & Mastercard
- High interest rate (this could be a problem if you don’t think you’ll be able to repay your balance in full each month)
- By earning Qantas points rather than Amex Membership Rewards points, you forfeit the flexibility to transfer points to other frequent flyer programs
- Signup bonus
- 20,000 bonus Qantas Points, when you spend a minimum of $3,000 on eligible purchases in the first 3 months of approval date
- Points Earned
- 1 Qantas Point earned per $1 spent on eligible purchases; 1 additional Qantas Point per $1 on selected Qantas products and services in Australia; 0.5 Qantas Points per $1 spent at government bodies in Australia
- Annual fee
- $249 p.a. annual fee
Australian Frequent Flyer is currently not accepting applications for this card offer.
Get notified when it’s live.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
To apply for a Qantas Amex Premium card in Australia, you would need to be an Australian citizen, resident or long-term visa holder. Other criteria may apply.
The minimum credit limit is $2,000.
Yes. Qantas American Express Premium cardholders receive two Qantas lounge invitations to use at domestic Qantas Club and international Qantas Business Lounges during each membership year after making a purchase with Qantas. These lounge invitations are transferrable.
Yes, but payments to government bodies including the Australian Tax Office (ATO) will earn points at a reduced rate of 0.5 Qantas points per dollar (instead of the usual 1 point per dollar). You can still earn full points on ATO payments by using a bill payment service such as Sniip or pay.com.au.
Qantas Frequent Flyer points only expire if you do not earn or redeem any points at all for 18 months. As long as your Qantas account remains active, your points will remain valid and available to use. Regularly using your Qantas points credit card is one way that you can keep your Qantas Frequent Flyer account active.
This card does not offer Qantas status credits as a standard benefit. However, you can of course use your card to purchase Qantas flights and earn status credits for those flights. You’ll also earn bonus points when buying Qantas tickets with your Qantas Amex Premium card. Plus, the Qantas points earned on this card will all count towards Qantas Points Club membership which allows you to earn status credits on Qantas-marketed Classic Flight Rewards.
Yes, this card supports Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. So, you can still use this card to make purchases when you’re out and about without carrying the physical card.
Yes, Qantas Amex Premium primary cardholders can add up to four additional cardholders at no cost. Additional cardholders must be at least 16 years old.