Fast Ways To Boost Your Qantas Frequent Flyer Points

At a family dinner recently I was surprised that relatives who travel often, and who are all Qantas Frequent Flyer members weren’t aware of quick and easy ways to boost your Qantas Frequent Flyer points balance.

Most of these are earning you points by doing what you’re already doing, grocery shopping, dining out, going to the movies – with a little forethought, you can easily earn thousands of additional Qantas points every year meaning FREE FLIGHTS and UPGRADES without much effort at all.

For the novice, there are three types of points memberships referred to:

• Frequent Flyer Points
• Status Credits
• Qantas Club Membership

Qantas Frequent Flyer Points can be used for free flights, flight upgrades or shopping in the Qantas Mall and are earned by flying with Qantas plus their partner airlines, and also from shopping, dining, hotel stay, cruises, car hire etc and as mentioned below.

Status Credits can only be earned from flying on a 100% Qantas Flight. Earning these boosts you up to the next tier of Frequent Flyer Membership which gives you bonus frequent flyer points, additional luggage allowance, lounge entry and is recognised with partner airlines.

Qantas Club Membership is lounge entry only which can be purchased if you travel frequently in economy class. It allows you meals, drinks, showers etc before your flight, in Qantas Club lounges in Australia and around the world (including some partner lounges).

---

---

Everyday Spending at Home or Overseas

Every Qantas Frequent Flyer Card is also a Debit MasterCard with a built in Travel Wallet, able to store ten currencies.

You need to activate the Qantas Money functionality (fill out a form and show your ID at a post office) but once it’s live, you can earn points for everyday spending – 1.5 points per dollar in foreign currency and 1 point for every $4 spent in Australian dollars.

They regularly offer bonus points for loading foreign currency, you don’t even have to spend, just load it up, and you earn points. I’ve seen up to 60k bonus points for loading foreign currency (enough for a free flight to L.A or a business class upgrade).

Right now there’s a promo, load a minimum of $3000 in foreign currency and earn 1.5 qantas points for every dollar loaded up, with no maximum limit. Ends 29 Feb 20. The Qantas Money App also shows your account balances across all your bank accounts which is really handy.

---

Search Discounted Qantas Flights now.

---

Shopping Online – Earn Qantas Points

If you’re shopping online anyway, click the online shopping link from the Qantas website and you’ll earn Qantas Frequent Flyer Points for everything you buy. They regularly have bonus offers. Right now, spend $50 at Dymocks and you’ll earn 400 points.

If you shop at Sephora, Woolworths, Apple, iTunes, Adidas, Anaconda, asos, Bonds, Boohoo, BWS, Kogan, Kate Spade, Kathmandu, Kogan, Lee, Levis, Lululemon, Myer, Patpat, Peppamayo, Rubi, Spotlight, and so many more, you’ll earn up to 13 points per dollar spent with an average of 5 points per dollar spent.

If you think that doesn’t sound like much, I bought two camera lenses from Kogan (which was cheaper than anywhere else) and they had a bonus at the time of 4 points per dollar spent, plus I earned 1 point per $2 spent because I used my Qantas Mastercard, so that one purchase earned me 4000 points, buying something, I was buying anyway.

I also bought a new iPad Pro (including case and pencil), and bought it online from Apple, and again used my Qantas Mastercard. Apple offers 2 points per dollar spent, plus I received 1 point per $2 spent from using my Qantas Mastercard, so all up I earned another 4750 points.

It costs 8000 points for a domestic flight in Australia. Those two purchases earned me a free flight from Sydney to Melbourne, or Sydney to Brisbane! Sure they were major purchases and I was buying them anyway, but may as well get something else for it.

See A Movie – Earn Qantas Points

Hoyts Cinemas have their own rewards program, it’s free to join and with the free membership, if you link your Qantas Frequent Flyer account, you earn 1 Qantas Frequent Flyer Point for every $2 spent. If you pay for a premium Hoyts membership ($50/year) which offers things like free alcoholic drinks, 1000 bonus Qantas Frequent flyer points, $8 tickets for seniors 60+. you also earn 3 Qantas points for every $1 spent at Hoyts.

Do Your Grocery Shopping – Earn Qantas Points

Most who shop at Woolworths knows about their Woolworths Rewards program. If you link your Qantas Frequent Flyer Card, you can earn a bonus 1000 points, for every 2000 Woolworths Rewards points you earn. However, if you shop at Woolies online via the Qantas Mall, you earn an additional 1 Qantas Point for every $1 spent. Use your Qantas Frequent Flyer Debit MasterCard and you earn even more points. Woollies rewards points can be earned at BWS, Caltex and Big W.

---

Book a Qantas flight now

---

Go For A Walk – Earn Qantas Points

The Qantas Wellbeing App for Apple or Google links with your fitness device like Apple Watch or Fitbit and earns you Qantas points as you exercise. There’s a free 28 day trial of the app, where you can earn up to 1000 points. After that, you’ll need to purchase their health insurance, but you can earn up to 20,000 points. Click here for more information. There’s also plenty of points you can earn purchasing car, health or travel insurance through Qantas too.

---

Would your friends like this? ❣️ Share it with them.

---

Eat Out – Earn Points

Login to your Frequent Flyer membership, make a booking at a restaurant and earn 100 points per diner, credited to your account within 7 days. Thousands of restaurants to choose from, easy points.

Take an Uber – Earn Points

Download the Uber app, link your Qantas Frequent Flyer card and earn 1 point per $1 spent with Uber. If you’re new to Uber, then you can earn 2000 bonus Qantas Frequent Flyer points – a quarter of a domestic flight.

Drink Wine – Earn Points

You can order alcohol plus gourmet food from the Qantas Wine Club ($99 joining fee) and earn up to 3 points per $1 spent, plus there’s regular points bonuses. Alternatively, don’t pay the $99 fee and earn 1 point per $1 spent. Includes free delivery.

---

Find Qantas Sale fares like USA fr $694 return!

---

The following points hacks require an outlay, but if it’s something you will use or purchase anyway, then you may as well get Frequent Flyer points as well.

---

Join AFF – Qantas Club Discount

Australian Frequent Flyer is a website dedicated to frequent traveller’s including airline reviews and an online forum.

However if you join their Gold Membership for $75/year (like subscribing to an online magazine) you can obtain a discount for the Qantas Club Lounge costing $704 for the first year (including initial joining fee – saving over $235) plus you’d earn 2112 frequent flyer points.
There’s a bunch of other discounts and freebies – check here for details.

Change Energy Suppliers – Earn Points

If you switch your energy supplier to Red Energy via Qantas, you can earn up to 15,000 bonus frequent flyer points. This won’t apply to everyone, so I’m hesitant to include it, but if you’re in the market for a new energy supplier then it’s a possibility.

Buy Points – On Sale

It’s no secret you can buy Qantas frequent flyer points to top-up your balance ($56 for 1000 points, $208 for 5000 points, up to $3999 for 150,000 points).

However in America, they regularly have point sales. If you join up to American Airlines (One World) and Alaska Airlines (One World in 2021) then wait for one of their points sales.

I’ve regularly seen sales up to 60% off points with a minimum of 25% off. You can then use these to book Qantas Flights or for an upgrade, as they are partner airlines. You can’t transfer them directly to your Qantas account but you can make bookings on Qantas from your American Airlines account.

For the full list of Qantas Partners where you can earn points from, check here. Delta (Skyteam) and United (Star Alliance) offer point sales too but you can’t use those points with Qantas.

Also little known fact, being a member of AA Advantage, allows you to purchase a day pass to some of the American Airlines lounges (including partner lounges for $59).

Start A Business* – Earn Qantas Points

It used to be that starting a business was something only entrepreneurs did, but these days, you can start a business for under $100 (don’t forget to use your Qantas Debit MasterCard.

Here’s how to start a business in Australia (or if you conduct business in Australia):

• Get a free ABN
• Buy a website domain name $15 – I use Go Daddy
• Create a professional website with WordPress fr $60/year
• Create free matching social accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, and Twitter
• You can get business cards starting from $10 from Vistaprint
• Total outlay – $85

So why start a business? Because your business can then earn Qantas Frequent Flyer Points, which can be distributed to a nominated Frequent Flyer Account.

Every Qantas flight you book, if you include your ABN, earns essentially double points. Pay with your Qantas MasterCard and earn even more points. You’re basically double dipping and it’s totally legit. For more information, check here – sign up free before 29 Feb (usually $90).

Need a business idea? Become a Freelance Writer (get free invites, media passes and more), Freelance Travel Writer, Podcaster, Social Media Influencer, Freelance Consultant, Photographer, Online retailer – Add a shop to your website (or set up a shop on eBay) – plenty of easy to establish business ideas you can do from anywhere with no major upfront cost.

*Obviously running a business entails keeping records and submitting additional taxation information but if it’s something you’ve been considering, it’s easier than what most people realise. For professional advice, speak to the Australian Business Registration.

Go On A Points Run – Earn Qantas Points

Serious points hackers often take short trips, in business class just to build up points and more importantly to earn or keep status credits. Status credits are only earned when flying with Qantas but the more status credits you earn, the quicker your regular points add up. Moving to higher tiers includes additional luggage allowance, lounge access, upgrades and more.

An example of a points run would be a return flight to Singapore (currently $812) in discount economy will earn you 5200 points, and 60 status credits.

There’s also seriously cheap flights from Australia to the USA right now with Qantas from $694 return (there’s also deals the other way, USA to Sydney fr $597 return) Some of these are codeshared flights with American Airlines, but you would still potentially earn 4500 frequent flyer points.

Another example of a points run would be a discounted return business class airfare from Sydney to Christchurch is $1379 which would earn you 5000 points but also 160 status credits (plus you get a trip to NZ out of it, so duty free).

Do this trip NZ twice and you’ve earned Silver Status which means you get 50% more points every time you travel, lounge access, 8000 bonus Qantas FF points, plus additional luggage allowance and more. See the full list of benefits here.

For reference a discounted return economy ticket gets you 40 status credits and 2000 points flying Sydney to Christchurch.

---

Book a Qantas Points Run

---

What does 18,000 points get you? A free flight from Sydney to Perth, just like that. But if you add it to your bonus points collected throughout the year, then it will help you get to your long haul business class upgrade sooner.

Qantas regularly has their companion sale (amongst other deals like double status credits) so you could possibly get a flight cheaper. If you’re just in it for the points, flying Emirates will earn you Qantas Frequent Flyer points (but not status credits) and they’re a bit cheaper. To hear about Qantas Sales, sign up here.

---

Coming Soon – The Qantas Points Club

Expected to launch next month (March 2020), is the Qantas Points Club. This is to recognise that many points earner’s do so from spending rather than actual flying (hence why Frequent Flyer has been removed from the name).

To launch, a partnership with BP fuel will be announced – the business plan is already live and whilst details are yet to be released, it’s expected that you’ll earn approximately 1 Qantas Point for each litre of fuel (depending on the fuel type) or $1 spent in store. Expect more points from everyday spending. Want to know when it gets launched? Sign up here.

---

Credit Cards

Just a quick note on credit cards that earn you Frequent Flyer points. I do not condone credit cards, I do not advocate anyone getting a credit card, they are a death trap.

It is very tempting to fall for the ‘get 120,000 frequent flyer points‘ with a new credit card – enough for a return business class flight to Los Angeles from Sydney, however in order to obtain those, you must spend $3000 in the first few months (plus they have annual fees of around $300 and often there’s a limit to how many points you can earn).

If you’re spending that money anyway as a business, or you’re making a major purchase like a new laptop and you pay it off every month, then sure, it can work out, but for the average person, utilising your Qantas Frequent Flyer Debit MasterCard still earns you points, there’s no annual fee or monthly access fee, so it doesn’t cost you anything to use.

If you’re serious about earning points, set yourself a target and earn at every opportunity. Have family members that earn but never use? Get them to transfer them to you. Save your points till you reach your target and make the most of sales to earn more points for less.

---

Using Points

So what can you do with your points? How many do you need? You can easily find out using the Qantas points calculator. However a few easily achievable examples include:

• Sydney to Denpasar (Bali) Economy Return – 40,600 points
• Brisbane to Tokyo Premium Economy Return – 50,400 points
• Melbourne to Auckland Business Class Upgrade One Way – 28,300 points
• Sydney to Singapore First Class Return – 205,200 points

Points Rewards Sale Fares

It’s rare, but I have seen sales on the amount of points needed to book a reward flight. The destinations change as do the sale amounts (one year it was 50% off points needed to fly to select destinations, the next it was 25% off to only two destinations) and so it’s unreliable, but if you’re not fussed about where you go, this can be a good way to make the most of points you have.

---

Note a Qantas Frequent Flyer Member? Join here.

Earning Qantas Frequent Flyer Points is easier than you realise, and with regular bonuses, you can accrue free flights or upgrades each year from what you’re already doing.

Have your own points hacks you’d like to share? Comment below or get in touch. Maybe you’re a points expert and wish to appear as a guest on my podcast?

Prefer to search flights based on your own dates or city? Compare hundreds of websites and online travel agencies using my flight search comparison tool or find the best price on accommodation

Hot Travel Deals ✈️
Japan fr $269, Virgin Islands $260, Kids Fly & Stay Free in Bali, L.A from $765, Thailand from $310…
>> Check out incredible travel deals here →

Thanks for reading!
Happy travels
cheers,
Jade Jackson – Listen to my podcast Jade Talks Travel
Travel Writer | Podcaster | Photographer