Beginner’s Guide to Qantas Frequent Flyer

Qantas Frequent Flyer is Australia’s largest frequent flyer program. The loyalty program of Qantas, members can earn points towards rewards like flights and upgrades, as well as status credits which count towards earning Silver, Gold, Platinum or Platinum One status.

If you’re new to the Qantas Frequent Flyer program, this comprehensive beginner’s guide will help you to get started on your journey to reward flights, upgrades and extra perks when you fly!

How to join Qantas Frequent Flyer for free

First thing’s first – Qantas normally charges Australian residents a ridiculous $99.50 joining fee to become a member its frequent flyer program. For New Zealand residents, the joining fee is usually NZD60. But there is absolutely no need for you to pay this!

If you’re not already a Qantas Frequent Flyer member, you can sign up for free using one of the many available “free join” links. Alternatively, if you don’t live in Australia or New Zealand, just list your overseas address and the Qantas website will waive the joining fee automatically.

How to earn Qantas points

Once you’ve signed up, you can start accumulating Qantas points! These are the “currency” of the Qantas Frequent Flyer program. Points can then be redeemed for a range of different valuable rewards, which we’ll talk about shortly.

There are two main ways to earn Qantas Frequent Flyer points – in the air or on the ground.

Earning Qantas points from flying

Of course, you can earn points when flying with Qantas by adding your frequent flyer number to your booking. The number of points earned per flight depends on the route, class of travel and your type of ticket. For example, Economy Flex and Business Class fares earn more points than the cheaper Economy Red e-Deal tickets.

You can check the tables on the Qantas website or the Qantas Points Calculator to see how many points you’ll earn for any given flight. Note that there’s a “minimum points guarantee” of 800 points whenever you fly Qantas.

You can also earn points by flying with any of Qantas’ partner airlines. This includes all Oneworld airlines and 10 additional Qantas partners that are not part of the Oneworld alliance.

The following carriers are members of the Oneworld alliance:

Here are the other airlines that you can earn Qantas points with:

• Air France
• Air Vanuatu
• China Eastern
• El Al
• Emirates
• Fiji Airways
• Jetstar
• KLM
• LATAM Airlines
• Westjet

Jetstar is Qantas’ low-cost subsidiary. When flying with Jetstar, you’ll only earn Qantas points when booking a fare with a Plus or Max bundle. You also don’t earn points when travelling on a Classic Flight Reward booking (unless you’re in Points Club and flying on Qantas – see below for details).

Earning Qantas points on the ground

Despite being a frequent flyer program, around 60% of Qantas points are not actually earned from Qantas or Jetstar flights! The majority of Qantas points are earned through third-party loyalty program partners such as banks and retailers.

If you live in Australia, there are many different ways to earn Qantas points without flying. Here are just some of the popular methods:

• Spending on or signing up for a Qantas points-earning credit card
• Converting Woolworths Everyday Rewards points to Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Booking accommodation through Qantas Hotels or Airbnb
• Buying wine from Qantas Wine
• Shopping online through the Qantas Shopping online mall or Qantas Marketplace
• Filling up at BP
• Taking out a Qantas Insurance policy
• Booking through Qantas Activities (Viator)
• Hiring a car from Avis or Budget
• Booking a trip on the Indian Pacific or Ghan with Journey Beyond
• Qantas Money home loans
• Trading shares with Superhero
• Watching a movie at HOYTS
• Signing up for a BINGE streaming account
• Completing your step goals on the Qantas Wellbeing App
• Switching to Red Energy
• Buying a Qantas phone plan from Optus
• Riding to or from selected Australian airports with Uber
• Signing up with HelloFresh
• Booking a holiday with TripADeal
• Getting a hearing check or buying a hearing aid from Audika
• Completing Red Planet surveys

Some of these methods of earning Qantas points are even free!

Credit cards are one of the most popular ways to earn Qantas points because you can easily earn points for every dollar spent on purchases you would have made anyway. In Australia, around a third of all credit card transactions are made on cards that earn Qantas points!

You can also earn tens of thousands of bonus points by applying for a new credit card with a good sign-on bonus. With some offers, you can even earn up to 150,000 bonus points! See our guide to the best Qantas credit card offers for current deals.

Buying top-up points

If you need some extra points quickly, it is possible to buy top-up Qantas points directly from the airline. But this isn’t always good value.

An alternative method is to buy a case of wine from Qantas Wine that comes with a large amount of bonus points. Not only will this often cost you less than buying top-up points, but you’ll also get a case of delicious wine!

Family transfers

It’s possible to transfer up to 600,000 Qantas points per year to or from a family member. You can also redeem your points to book flights for eligible family members.

Eligible family members include your immediate family as well as de-facto partners, in-laws, first cousins, aunts and uncles. See the Qantas website for details.

Do Qantas points expire?

Qantas points expire if your account is inactive for 18 months, so make sure you earn or redeem at least one point every one-and-a-half years!

Before transferring points to a family member’s account, you should also check that their account has had recent activity because family transfers do not count as account activity. If you transfer Qantas points into an inactive account, the points will immediately expire.

How to redeem Qantas points

There are a plethora of ways to spend Qantas Frequent Flyer points. The best value redemptions are generally for Classic Flight Rewards (particularly in premium cabins like Business or First Class) and upgrades. But the availability of premium cabin reward seats and upgrades can be limited – reward seats will not always be available on the flight you want!

Let’s take a closer look at the options…

Ways to redeem Qantas points on the ground

Here are some of the things you can buy using Qantas points other than flights and upgrades…

• Products from the Qantas Rewards Store
• Gift cards from the Qantas Rewards Store
• HOYTS movie tickets
• Fuel from BP
• Qantas Hotels bookings
• Qantas Holidays bookings
• Qantas Club membership
• Car hire bookings
• Qantas Holidays & Jetstar Holidays bookings
• Qantas Insurance premiums
• Wine from Qantas Wine
• Classic Rail Rewards (e.g. trips on The Ghan or Indian Pacific)

Redeeming points for non-flight rewards is generally easy, but you won’t necessarily get great value for your points.

This chart shows the value you’ll get for each Qantas point (based on the equivalent monetary value of the redemption) when spending on different types of rewards:

As you can see, the best value ways to spend Qantas points on the ground are for Qantas Hotels, Qantas Holidays or Classic Rail Reward bookings. But you’ll get the best overall value by redeeming your points in the air!

Ways to redeem Qantas points in the air

Qantas Frequent Flyer offers four ways to spend points on flights:

• Points + Pay flights
• Classic Flight Rewards
• Oneworld Classic Flight Rewards
• Classic Upgrade Rewards (points upgrades)

If you want to book a flight, the real value is in Classic Flight Rewards. These seats cost a fixed number of points based on the distance of the flight, as published in the Classic Flight Reward tables on the Qantas website, and are usually better value than Points + Pay flights which are priced dynamically based on the cost of a regular commercial ticket.

You can redeem Qantas points to fly with Qantas or any of the other partner airlines shown above that you can earn Qantas points with. In addition, it’s possible to redeem Qantas points for domestic Air New Zealand flights and China Airlines flights between Australia & Taipei.

However, Classic Flight Reward seats have limited availability. These are not available on every flight, and may be difficult to find if you want to fly in Business Class and/or during school holidays. So, it’s a good idea to book well in advance.

Qantas lets you redeem points to book flights up to 353 days in advance – although some seats on Qantas international flights may be reserved for Gold, Platinum and Platinum One frequent flyers until closer to departure.

When searching for Classic Flight Rewards on the Qantas website, make sure you select the “Rewards only” filter on the search results page! This ensures you see all the Classic Flight Reward options, including for travel on partner airlines. It also removes the more expensive “Points + Pay” flights from your search.

If you’re having trouble finding Classic Flight Reward seats, you may find the Frequent Flyer Concierge service useful.

If you cannot find a suitable Classic Flight Reward, you could also redeem your points towards any available Qantas commercial airfare through “Points+Pay”. With this option, Qantas simply converts any available airfare to points at a rate of around 0.65-0.7 cents per point.

See our guide to redeeming Qantas points effectively for more information.

The Oneworld Classic Flight Reward

One of the best value uses of Qantas points is to book a Oneworld Classic Flight Reward. This is a special type of multi-city award that lets you have up to 5 stopovers and fly a total of up to 35,000 miles on Oneworld airlines.

With a Oneworld Classic Flight Reward, you can even fly around the world if you want to! This is not an actual requirement of the Oneworld Classic Flight Reward, but it is a popular way to use it.

A Oneworld Classic Flight Reward costs 132,400 Qantas points in Economy, plus taxes and carrier charges. In Business Class, this costs 318,000 points plus taxes & charges.

Unfortunately, Qantas has been making it somewhat difficult lately to book more complex Oneworld Classic Flight Reward itineraries. It can be done, but may require a long phone call if you can’t book online. (If booking on the Qantas website, you’ll need to use the “multi-city” search tool – don’t click on “round the world”!)

There have also been some problems caused by Qantas failing to issue or re-issue tickets involving flights on partner airlines in time. So, if redeeming points for a ticket that includes travel on partner airlines, make sure your ticket gets issued promptly. (You’ll know that the ticket has been issued once you receive a ticket number beginning in “081”.)

See our Qantas Oneworld Classic Flight Reward mega guide for lots more information (and inspiration)!

Carrier charges

When booking any Classic Flight Reward, you’ll need to pay any applicable taxes & third-party airport charges in addition to the points.

Unfortunately, many airlines also add their own additional fees which are often labelled as fuel surcharges, insurance surcharges or carrier charges. Whether you’ll need to pay these depends on the airline/s operating your flights.

If you’re redeeming points for a Qantas Classic Reward flight, you’ll need to pay carrier charges starting from $14 per flight. See our list of Qantas carrier charges for details.

Upgrading with Qantas points

The other way to redeem Qantas points is towards an upgrade to Premium Economy, Business or First Class! Known as a Classic Upgrade Reward, this is another hugely popular option with frequent flyers.

You can upgrade most types of tickets when flying on a Qantas operated and marketed flight, except for international Economy Sale fares which are non-upgradeable. The number of points you’ll need to upgrade your flight depends on the route and your ticket type, as published in the tables on the Qantas website.

There are multiple ways you can submit a Classic Upgrade Reward request:

1. Log into “Manage Booking” on the Qantas website and select the upgrade option
2. Log into your Qantas Frequent Flyer account, view upcoming trips and click “upgrade” beside any flights you want to upgrade
3. Call Qantas
4. Request an upgrade within the Qantas App
5. For domestic flights, you can request a last-minute upgrade at check-in or in the lounge

When upgrading a Qantas domestic flight, your request may be approved instantly if there is a Classic Reward seat available in Business Class at the time of your request. Otherwise, you’ll be added to a waitlist.

Unfortunately, the process is not as simple for Qantas international flights. Upgrades are never confirmed in advance, and you won’t find out if you’ve won the upgrade “lottery” until a few days prior to your flight (or occasionally even after you’ve already arrived at the airport!).

Qantas gives priority in the upgrade queue to frequent flyers with the highest status tier. Platinum One members receive priority over Platinum members, who are upgraded ahead of Gold frequent flyers, and so on.

If you’d like to learn more about how Qantas upgrades work – and how to maximise your chances of success – have a look at the Australian Frequent Flyer Training course on upgrades.

Qantas Frequent Flyer status

All Qantas Frequent Flyer members start out at the base “Bronze” level. By earning status credits and flying with Qantas or Jetstar, you can climb to a higher elite status tier and receive additional benefits when flying with Qantas and other Oneworld airlines.

There are four Qantas status tiers above Bronze:

• Silver (oneworld ruby)
• Gold (oneworld Sapphire)
• Platinum (oneworld Emerald)
• Platinum One (oneworld Emerald)

The benefits of Qantas status

By earning Qantas status, you can enjoy benefits like airport lounge access, preferred seating, priority check-in, extra baggage allowance, bonus points and more when you fly!

You can read about the full suite of Qantas status benefits on the Qantas website, but here are the main benefits received after reaching each status tier:

Qantas Silver

• One Qantas Club lounge invitation
• Priority check-in
• Extra baggage allowance
• 50% more points on flights

Qantas Gold

• Domestic Qantas Club and international Business Lounge access
• Priority boarding (although Qantas doesn’t always do this well)
• Priority tags on your checked baggage
• 75% bonus points on flights

Qantas Platinum

• Domestic Business Lounge and international First Lounge access
• Ability to request additional Classic Reward seats (this is an unpublished benefit)
• Call centre priority
• 100% bonus points on flights

Qantas Platinum One

• Access to the VIP Service Team & separate Australian-based call centre
• Free exit row seats
• Highest upgrade priority
• Most change fees waived
• Gift Platinum status to your partner
• Invitations to exclusive events

How to earn Qantas status

To upgrade to a higher status level, you’ll need to earn status credits. These are generally only earned by flying with Qantas, Oneworld airlines, Fiji Airways or Jetstar (when purchasing a Plus or Max bundle).

Occasionally, Qantas Frequent Flyer program partners also offer ways to earn status credits on the ground through limited-time promotions. But flying is the main way you’ll earn status credits.

To earn or renew any Qantas status tier, you’ll also need to take at least 4 eligible Qantas or Jetstar marketed flights within your membership year.

This table shows the number of status credits you’ll need to earn within your Qantas membership year to earn or renew status:

	Silver	Gold	Platinum	Platinum One
oneworld equivalent	oneworld Ruby	oneworld Sapphire	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 or Jetstar marketed flights	4 flights	4 flights	4 flights	2,700 status credits
Lifetime status	7,000	14,000	75,000	N/A

Your membership year resets every 12 months and is based on the month when you joined the Qantas Frequent Flyer program. At the end of each membership year, your status credits will reset to zero. But they will still count towards lifetime status.

Once you’ve earned any Qantas status tier, you’ll get to keep that level until the end of your next membership year. You’ll need to earn the required status credits during your following membership year to renew your status for another 12 months.

How many status credits do you earn per flight?

Status credits are earned for each flight you take with Qantas, a Oneworld partner airline or Jetstar (if purchasing a Plus or Max Bundle).

For example, if you fly from Sydney to Hobart via Melbourne, you’ll earn status credits for both the Sydney-Melbourne and Melbourne-Hobart flights. That’s why some frequent flyers prefer to connect instead of flying direct. 😉

The number of status credits earned per flight depends on:

• The route,
• The marketing airline (there are different rates applicable to Qantas/Jetstar and other Oneworld airline flights), and
• Your fare class

As an example, when flying with Qantas from Sydney to Melbourne (one-way), you would earn:

• 10 status credits with an Economy Red e-Deal ticket
• 20 status credits with an Economy Flex ticket
• 40-45 status credits with a Business Class ticket

Here’s the full earning table for Qantas (and Jetstar) domestic flights within Australia:

As another example, when flying Qantas from Sydney to London (return), you would earn:

• 140 status credits with an Economy Sale ticket
• 190 status credits with an Economy Saver ticket
• 280 status credits with an Economy Flex ticket
• 280-320 status credits in Premium Economy
• 560-620 status credits in Business Class
• 840 status credits in First Class

But you might earn less status credits if flying with another Oneworld airline. For example, if flying with Oneworld partner Malaysia Airlines from Sydney to London (return, via Kuala Lumpur), you would earn:

• Zero status credits on cheaper Economy fares
• 90 status credits if booked in a Flexible Economy fare class
• 180 status credits in Business Class or Business Suites

You can check what you’ll earn on any route using the Airline Earning Tables or Points Calculator on the Qantas website.

When flying with some Oneworld airlines, beware that some fare classes are not eligible to earn any Qantas points or status credits. You can check which fare classes are eligible on partner airlines using the Qantas Frequent Flyer Earn Category tables.

If you book a Qantas marketed codeshare flight with a “QF” flight number, you’ll earn Qantas points and status credits as if it was a Qantas flight. This includes Qantas-marketed flights operated by non-Oneworld partner airlines like Emirates and Aircalin.

Lifetime status

Qantas Frequent Flyer offers lifetime Silver, Gold and Platinum status based on the number of total status credits you’ve accumulated since joining the program.

The targets are:

• Lifetime Silver – 7,000 lifetime status credits
• Lifetime Gold – 14,000 lifetime status credits
• Lifetime Platinum – 75,000 lifetime status credits

For more information about status credits and climbing the Qantas status ladder, see our guide to earning Qantas status.

Qantas Points Club

If you manage to earn 150,000 or more Qantas points during a single membership year – with at least 130,000 points earned from non-flying activities – you’ll automatically become a Qantas Points Club member! This gives you access to additional benefits including Qantas Club lounge passes and free wine & hotel vouchers.

Plus, if you earn at least 350,000 Qantas points within a year, you’ll automatically upgrade even further to Points Club Plus membership. This comes with complimentary Qantas Club membership for yourself and the ability to rollover up to 100 status credits into your next membership year, among other benefits.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of both levels of Qantas Points Club is the ability to earn status credits on Qantas Classic Reward flights. This is a huge advantage if you’re regularly flying on points and want to earn status.

See our beginner’s guide to Qantas Points Club for more on that program.

Want to learn more about Qantas Frequent Flyer?

If you’re new to the Qantas Frequent Flyer program, this guide will help you to get started with the basics. But if you really want to maximise the value you get out of the program, there are lots of useful tips & tricks on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum!

You’ll be sure to pick up lots of tricks, like taking advantage of Double Status Credits offers or where to find the best Qantas “status runs” by browsing AFF’s Qantas forum. You’re also welcome to ask questions on AFF, harnessing the knowledge of Australia’s largest frequent flyer community.

If you haven’t already, make sure you subscribe to the Australian Frequent Flyer Gazette to stay up-to-date with the latest frequent flyer news & deals delivered to your inbox for free each Monday & Thursday morning!

Finally, have a look at the Australian Frequent Flyer Training. Over 10 courses, their training program explains everything Australians need to know to maximise their frequent flyer points and travel better, for less. The training is easy to follow and packed with practical tips and tricks!