How to Earn Qantas Status

Qantas Frequent Flyer status is the gateway to a more enjoyable travel experience with Qantas and its partner airlines.

Earn Qantas status and you’ll enjoy perks like lounge access, bonus points, higher Qantas upgrade priority, extra baggage allowance and many more benefits! You’ll also be able to skip the airport queues with access to priority check-in, security and boarding lanes.

Every Qantas Frequent Flyer member starts out at the Bronze tier. To earn Qantas status, you’ll need to accumulate enough status credits and take at least 4 Qantas or Jetstar flights during your personal membership year. This membership year is based on the month when you originally joined the program.

Status credits are completely separate to Qantas Frequent Flyer points. Points are the loyalty program’s reward currency and can be redeemed for things like reward flights, upgrades and hotel bookings. Status credits, on the other hand, help you climb to a higher status tier within the program. And as we’ll explain in this mega guide, there are a few shortcuts to earn status credits faster!

It’s not possible to buy Qantas status credits. You have to earn them – generally by flying with Qantas, Jetstar or Oneworld partner airlines. Your Qantas status credits balance will reset to zero at the end of each membership year.

The benefits of Qantas Frequent Flyer status

There are four Qantas Frequent Flyer status tiers:

• Silver
• Gold
• Platinum
• Platinum One

Each tier comes with increased benefits.

When you earn status with Qantas, you’ll also receive reciprocal status benefits with Oneworld airlines. Qantas Silver, Gold and Platinum is equivalent to Oneworld Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald status, respectively. This means your loyalty will also be recognised when flying with Oneworld airlines including Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and British Airways.

Qantas Frequent Flyer Silver (Oneworld Ruby) tier benefits

Upon reaching Qantas Silver status, you’ll receive benefits including:

• 50% bonus points on Qantas, Jetstar & American Airlines flights
• An annual Qantas lounge invitation (increasing to two annual invitations in 2027)
• Extra baggage allowance
• Priority check-in
• Free seat selection on all Qantas international flights (seat selection is free anyway on bookings within or departing Australia)

See our Guide to Qantas Silver Status for more details.

Qantas Frequent Flyer Gold (Oneworld Sapphire) benefits

The benefits really start to add up once you reach Gold status. Key benefits include:

• 75% bonus points on Qantas, Jetstar & American Airlines flights
• Complimentary Qantas Club and International Business Lounge access
• Priority access to Qantas Classic Flight Reward seats (particularly in premium cabins on Qantas international flights)
• Priority boarding (in Group 2 on selected domestic flights)
• Priority baggage
• Complimentary access to Economy Plus seats after online check-in opens

See our Guide to Qantas Gold Status for more information.

Qantas Frequent Flyer Platinum (Oneworld Emerald) benefits

Key additional benefits of Qantas Platinum status include:

• 100% bonus points on Qantas, Jetstar & American Airlines flights
• Qantas Domestic Business Lounge access (with up to two guests, instead of one)
• International First Lounge access
• Access to Qantas domestic lounges on arrival at your destination
• Priority boarding Group 1 on selected Qantas domestic flights
• Complimentary Economy Plus seats

There are also a few unpublished benefits of Qantas Platinum status:

• The ability to request the release of additional Classic Flight Reward seats
• Less wait time when phoning the Qantas call centre (and are more likely to get the wonderful Hobart call centre)
• On international flights, you might get a personal welcome from the Customer Service Manager (this also happens when flying some partner airlines such as Cathay Pacific and Emirates)

You can read more in our article about the perks of Qantas Platinum status.

Qantas Platinum One perks

For high flyers, additional Platinum One benefits include:

• Gift Platinum status to a family member or friend
• Two complimentary Business/First Lounge invitations to gift
• Qantas VIP Service Team support
• Highest upgrade priority and confirmed international flight upgrades 2-7 days before departure on Qantas flights
• Access to up-front seats from the time of booking on Qantas flights
• Many service fees are waived
• Invitations to special events
• While this is not guaranteed, some Platinum One members receive occasional free upgrades and invitations to the Chairman’s Lounge

You can read more about the benefits of Platinum One status – and whether it’s worth it – on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum.

You’ll find a full list of tier benefits on the Qantas website.

How to reach a higher Qantas Frequent Flyer tier

This table shows the number of Qantas status credits and minimum flights required per membership year to qualify for or renew Qantas Frequent Flyer status:

	Silver	Gold	Platinum	Platinum One
oneworld equivalent	oneworld Emerald	oneworld Emerald	oneworld Emerald	oneworld Emerald
Status credits to earn	300	700	1,400	3,600
Status credits to retain	250	600	1,200	3,600
Minimum Qantas/Jetstar marketed flights	4 sectors	4 sectors	4 sectors	4 sectors
Status credits for lifetime status	7,000	14,000	75,000	N/A

To earn or renew Platinum One status, there is an additional requirement that you earn at least 2,700 status credits from Qantas marketed flights.

Sometime in 2027, Qantas will increase the “retain” thresholds to match the “earn” thresholds for Silver, Gold and Platinum status. The airline has not yet revealed the exact date when this will happen.

How to earn Qantas status credits from flying

You can earn status credits when flying on any Qantas marketed flight (i.e. when booked on a “QF” flight number), regardless of the operating airline.

You can also earn status credits when flying with any Oneworld airline, provided the flight is both marketed and operated by a Oneworld carrier.

Earning Qantas status credits on Jetstar

You can also earn Qantas status credits on Jetstar, but only under the following circumstances:

• If you’ve purchased a Jetstar Flex, Flex Plus or Business Max Bundle with your ticket
• If you have a Club Jetstar membership with a Qantas Frequent Flyer Extra subscription
• If you’re flying on a Qantas codeshare with a “QF” flight number.

How many Qantas status credits do you earn per flight?

The number of Qantas status credits you’ll earn per flight depends on three things:

• The route
• The marketing airline
• The fare class you’ve booked

In general, you’ll earn more status credits for booking longer flights and more expensive tickets. For example, you’ll earn 10 status credits on a cheap Qantas Red e-Deal Economy ticket from Melbourne to Sydney. But you’d earn 20 status credits with a Flexible Economy ticket or 40 status credits for Business Class on the same route.

On a longer flight, such as Sydney to London, you would earn 70 status credits on a cheap Economy Sale fare or as many as 420 status credits each way if travelling in First Class.

You can find out how many status credits you’ll earn for your flight by using the Qantas points calculator or studying the labyrinth of airline earning tables on the Qantas website.

For example, this table from the Qantas website shows how many points & status credits you’ll earn for a Qantas or Jetstar domestic flight within Australia:

If you’re flying with a Oneworld partner airline, check to see which earn category applies to your fare class. Beware that some fare classes don’t earn any Qantas Points or status credits when flying with partner airlines!

See our guide to calculating how many points and status credits you’ll earn flying partner airlines for more details.

You won’t earn any status credits for Classic Reward flights booked using points, including Classic Plus bookings, unless you’re a Qantas Points Club member on a Qantas flight.

The minimum Qantas/Jetstar flight requirement

As well as accumulating status credits, to earn Qantas status you’ll need to take at least 4 Qantas or Jetstar marketed flights within each membership year.

A Qantas marketed flight is any flight with a “QF” flight number that is eligible to earn status credits, including codeshare flights. Jetstar flights only count towards this requirement if you’ve purchased an add-on bundle that earns Qantas Points & status credits.

Tips to get more Qantas status credits from flying

Generally speaking, you’ll earn more Qantas status credits for Qantas flights with “QF” flight numbers than for bookings with Oneworld partner airlines. You’ll also earn status credits at a higher rate when you book a more expensive fare or travel in a higher cabin class.

Here are some other tips and tricks to increase the number of status credits you earn…

Why fly direct, when you can connect?

As this old saying on Australian Frequent Flyer goes, flying indirect can yield greater returns. You’ll earn status credits for every single flight you take, so taking an indirect routing means more status credits! It’s often the same price – sometimes even cheaper – to choose a route with more stops.

If you need to book a connecting flight anyway, you can also be clever about which itinerary you choose.

For example, you would earn more status credits when flying from Adelaide to Brisbane via Melbourne, compared to flying via Sydney. That’s because the Melbourne-Brisbane flight is a bit longer and earns more status credits than a Sydney-Brisbane flight, while Adelaide-Melbourne and Adelaide-Sydney earn at the same rate.

Status runs

If your planned travel is going to leave you just a little bit short of the next status level, you can book what’s known as a “status run”. This is where you travel somewhere purely to earn status credits.

If you’re going to do this, make sure the benefits of the higher status tier outweigh the cost of the flights!

Popular Qantas status runs include Qantas Business Class sale fares from Australia to places like New Zealand or Samoa. There are also some good status run options using Oneworld partner airlines.

See our list of the best Qantas status runs for more ideas!

Double Status Credit offers

Qantas typically runs 1-3 Double Status Credits (DSC) promotions each year. Any Qantas flights booked during these promotional periods will earn twice as many status credits. So by taking advantage of these deals, you could earn Qantas status with half the normal amount of flying!

The most recent public Qantas double status credits offer was in August 2026.

Comfort seats

Buying a comfort seat gives you a guaranteed empty neighbour seat on the plane. This product is designed for larger passengers that need a bit more space, but it’s also a little-known method of earning more points and status credits!

When buying a comfort seat, you won’t pay any taxes for the second seat but you will earn the points and status credits for it. Call the airline or use a travel agent to book a comfort seat.

There are some quirks involved when flying on a booking with a comfort seat added, which you can read about on the AFF forum.

How to get Qantas status credits without flying

Currently, you can earn 50 status credits by qualifying for Qantas Green Tier. However, Qantas will retire this sub-program in December 2026.

On the same day that it retires Green Tier (and Points Club), Qantas will launch a new way to earn up to 140 status credits each year on the ground. You’ll be able to earn either 10 or 20 status credits per category, by earning at least 1,000 Qantas Points from non-flying activities. Stay tuned for more details about this!

Qantas Loyalty Bonus

Each time you earn 500 status credits from Qantas and Jetstar flights, you’ll be offered a loyalty bonus (up to 4 times per year). You can choose a bonus of 50 status credits or 8,000 frequent flyer points. By using your loyalty bonuses to your advantage, you could earn Qantas Frequent Flyer status with fewer status credits than would otherwise be required.

Unfortunately, Qantas will retire this Loyalty Bonus in 2027.

Bonus status credits with the Qantas Premier Titanium credit card

If you have a Qantas Premier Titanium credit card, you can earn 20% bonus status credits on Qantas flights booked using your card. This benefit applies to flights that are marketed and operated by Qantas. However, this card has an expensive annual fee of $1,200 and a minimum income requirement of $200,000 per year.

Occasionally, you can also earn bonus status credits as part of the sign-up offers of other Qantas co-brand credit cards.

Qantas Status Accelerator challenge

If you’ve recently made the switch to Qantas Frequent Flyer and already have status with another airline, the Qantas status match challenge could be for you!

Qantas may offer a “Tier Accelerator” challenge to frequent flyers who already hold status with a competing airline such as Virgin Australia, Air New Zealand or Singapore Airlines. If you already hold the equivalent of Gold or Platinum status with another airline, you could be offered a challenge to earn Qantas Gold status.

Read our guide to getting a Qantas Status Accelerator Challenge for more details.

Qantas Lifetime status

Once earned, your Qantas status will be valid for the rest of your current membership year, plus another 12 months after that. If you don’t earn enough status credits in your following membership year to renew your status, it will drop to one tier below in the next year.

Qantas also recognises long-term loyalty through lifetime status. If you earn 7,000 status credits over any amount of time, you’ll receive Lifetime Silver status. Lifetime Gold, which is what many Australian frequent flyers aspire towards, is earned with 14,000 lifetime status credits.

Qantas also introduced a lifetime Platinum tier in 2019, but you would need to earn 75,000 lifetime Qantas status credits to reach it. For many people, Lifetime Gold is worth aiming for. But with such a ridiculously high target, Lifetime Platinum status is surely not.

Join the discussion on AFF!

Visit the AFF forum for more tips on the best ways to earn Qantas status credits, or to discuss this topic with the AFF community: