Qantas Frequent Flyer members already earn a significantly reduced rate of points and status credits on many Malaysia Airlines flights. But Qantas frequent flyers will soon earn a lower rate of points and status credits on even more Malaysia Airlines routes.
It has already been the case for years that Qantas Frequent Flyer uses different Airline Earning Tables for Qantas & Jetstar flights compared to other partner airline flights. As you might expect, flights on Oneworld partner airlines typically earn fewer points and status credits on routes where Qantas competes.
But Qantas goes a step further with Malaysia Airlines. It awards points & status credits to Malaysia Airlines passengers booked in Business Class or Business Suites, which is Malaysia Airlines’ version of First Class, at an even lower rate than it does for other partner airlines.
(You should also beware that many of Malaysia Airlines’ cheaper Economy fares earn no Qantas points at all.)
A double-whammy for Qantas Frequent Flyer members on Malaysia Airlines
Qantas already punishes its frequent flyers for choosing Oneworld airlines generally, by awarding fewer points and status credits on many routes to/from Australia.
For example, according to the Qantas & Jetstar earning table, you would earn at least 15,600 Qantas points and 240 status credits when flying Qantas Business Class from the east coast of Australia to Southeast Asia and back. But if you flew another Oneworld airline to Asia, such as British Airways from Sydney to Singapore on a round-trip Business Class ticket, you’d only earn 10,000 Qantas points and 120 status credits based on the partner airline earning table.
This is already bad enough, except that Qantas also classifies Malaysia Airlines Business & Business Suites tickets on flights between Malaysia and Australia, New Zealand, Europe (including UK) and the Middle East as “Flexible Economy”. Therefore, Malaysia Airlines flights from Australia or New Zealand to Kuala Lumpur, London and/or the Middle East earn even fewer points & status credits.
Using the example of a round-trip Melbourne-Kuala Lumpur flight in Malaysia Airlines Business Class, this would earn just 8,000 Qantas points and 60 status credits. That’s a quarter of the status credits you would earn if flying Qantas (or a Qantas codeshare flight with a “QF” flight number) on the same route.
Qantas reclassifying intra-Asia Business fares
Until now, Malaysia Airlines Business Class flights on other routes, including within Asia, have continued to at least earn Qantas points & status credits at the regular Business rate. But this is also changing from 1 August 2022.
From 1 August 2022, Malaysia Airlines Business Class flights within Asia that are booked in “I” or “Z” class will also be reclassified so that they only earn Qantas points & status credits at the “Flexible Economy” rate instead of the higher “Business” rate.
Malaysia Airlines’ cheaper Business fares typically book into “I” or “Z” class, meaning Qantas Frequent Flyer members will need to spend significantly more on Malaysia Airlines Business tickets to continue earning at the current, higher “Business” rate.
These are the frequent flyer earn categories for Malaysia Airlines on the Qantas website:
Australian Frequent Flyer understands that this was initiated by Malaysia Airlines.
Why you should credit to a different frequent flyer program
The upcoming change, which affects flights departing on or after 1 August 2022, unfortunately makes it even less attractive to credit Malaysia Airlines flights to the Qantas Frequent Flyer program.
If you’re regularly flying with Malaysia Airlines, we’d therefore suggest switching to a different Oneworld frequent flyer program that doesn’t punish you with lower earn rates on Oneworld partner airlines – such as British Airways Executive Club.
As an example, you would earn 21,000 Qantas points and just 180 status credits when flying Malaysia Airlines Business or Business Suites (First Class) from Sydney to London return via Kuala Lumpur.
But the same Malaysia Airlines Business Class flights would earn you 600 British Airways Tier Points and at least 21,360 Avios if crediting to British Airways Executive Club. If you flew Business Suites, you’d earn 900 British Airways Tier Points and 32,042 Avios. Tier Points are British Airways’ equivalent of Qantas status credits, so that’s 5x the number of status credits compared to Qantas Frequent Flyer!
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Qantas Status Credits when flying Malaysia Airlines
