Qantas Frequent Flyer

[GlennR]

I will be moving to Melbourne (from London) on 23 Jan 2022. I am a Silver member with British Airways and was wondering if there any HfP members who know the best deals with Credit Cards, etc. in Australia to maximise my Qantas FF points?

If I apply for a personal Amex card in Melbourne, does the fact that I have personal Amex cards in the UK eleminate me from being eligible as ‘not having any other Amex cards’ for Bonus offers?

Also any other tips regarding Qantas and their FF program?

[John]

BA recently started officially allowing Australian addresses for BAEC again.

If you can do the 4 BA flights I think it makes more sense to stick with BAEC for status, unless you really fly QF a lot and pay for premium cabins. Like in the US, you need to buy a separate membership for domestic lounge access with QF.

A foreign Amex doesn’t count as having an existing card.

If you value an Avios at 1p I’d value a QFF point at 1c.

The Australian Frequent Flyer forums are probably the best place to discuss QF.

[Callisto]

I am originally from Australia and was a former Qantas Frequent Flyer member. Several of the banks offer Qantas frequent flyer credit cards and there are numerous other ways to earn, such as shopping, fuel and so on. Flybuys is also big there.

Even so, the one thing I regret is the oodles of status credits that are in my lifetime status credits with Qantas. They can’t be transferred out (of course), so that is one reason you should stick with BA. Also, redeeming Avios for Qantas business class award flights – especially domestic within Australia – is exceptional value.

Qantas FF is a good programme, but you will find rewards cost a lot more. Certainly accrue points through whatever means you can into QF FF, but I would credit any paid flights to BA, if you have any intention of returning to Europe sometime in the future, that is!

[QFFlyer]

QFF looks poor to everyone overseas, but in Australia it actually works really well – almost every bank has credit cards with large SUBs and you can earn points in countless other ways too (even by sleeping – literally, via Qantas Wellbeing).

Rewards do cost more, but the points are really easy to accrue, so it balances out. BAEC is still beneficial, as their rewards are significantly cheaper than QF on certain routes (longer domestic J, for eg MEL-PER, 20k-ish Avios vs 43k-ish QFF). On shorter routes it’s less of a saving (MEL-SYD is, I think, 6,500 Avios (used to be 4,500) vs 8,000 QFF).

The big thing to bear in mind is status credits – QF penalise you for flying partners – so say you earn 80 SC for a flight on QF, the same flight on AY/CX/QR (hypothetically, if the same route were offered) would earn 40 SC (or something like that – less anyway).

QF have historically offered double status credits promos varying numbers of times per year and with varying terms (last one I took advantage of was on international QF coded and operated flights only, but I’ve had them where they apply to domestics too), which can give you a boost up the ladder.

Another plus of holding status is with Jetstar – JQ are owned by QF, so you can access QF lounges on JQ flights (this doesn’t apply to holders of other Oneworld statuses, since JQ are not part of OW). Occasionally these can depart from international terminals, so you could access the MEL Flounge on a $50 JQ Y ticket…(these specific flights currently don’t exist, but did pre-COVID and may return). You can also, if you purchase the relevant bundle with your JQ ticket (a bit like an add-on to an easyJet fare) earn QF points and SCs on these flights, which can be a cheap way of topping up.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by QFFlyer.

[QFFlyer]

John wrote:

BA recently started officially allowing Australian addresses for BAEC again.

If you can do the 4 BA flights I think it makes more sense to stick with BAEC for status, unless you really fly QF a lot and pay for premium cabins. Like in the US, you need to buy a separate membership for domestic lounge access with QF.

A foreign Amex doesn’t count as having an existing card.

If you value an Avios at 1p I’d value a QFF point at 1c.

The Australian Frequent Flyer forums are probably the best place to discuss QF.

You’ll really need to be flying QF a fair bit over here, there’s not much competition, certainly on domestics (other than Virgin Australia, which is not-allianced, much like VS). Lounge access can be paid but is also via Oneworld status, and unlike AA, QF don’t lock out their status pax from domestic lounges unless they pay.

I agree with valuing Avios at 1p, but disagree with your valuation of QFF points, I’d value them closer to 1.8-2.0c each based on the value of actual redemptions vs cash prices I’d pay (both Y and J fares).

Also can confirm that holding an overseas Amex doesn’t stop you being new to Amex Australia (of course) – Amex AU’s policy is now much better than the UK’s, only blocking you for 18m instead of 24m, but we suffered a huge devaluation in early 2019 (used to be 1:1 to airlines, which made transferring UK MRs to AU very profitable, but is now 1:0.5). Signup bonuses seem to have improved massively to compensate recently thought (just recently got 240k MRs on the Explorer card, for eg, and they were also offering 300k on the Platinum charge, though the fee is $1,450 – I hold a UK Plat for insurance purposes because it’s cheaper). Amex referrals are also pretty generous, being in the region of 30,000-50,000 points for each referral (for the referrer) on top of the enhanced SUB for the referee.

One other thing to mention is Points Club/Points Club Plus – these additional “status” levels are earned through accruing points primarily on the ground, 150k/350k respectively, with a maximum of 20k from flying – benefits include earning status credits on reward flights, lounge passes, status credit rollover and full Qantas Club membership.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by QFFlyer.