Qantas American Express Discovery Card

Why we like the Qantas American Express Discovery Card

If you’re looking for a simple, $0 Annual Fee American Express (Amex) credit card that earns Qantas Frequent Flyer points, look no further than the Qantas American Express Discovery card!

With this credit card, you’ll earn 0.75 Qantas points per $1 spent on everyday purchases with no points capping. You’ll also earn an extra 1 Qantas point per dollar spent with Qantas.

This no-frills credit card doesn’t include the extra features of other Qantas American Express credit cards such as lounge invitations, travel insurance and travel credits. You may also be able to get a better sign-up bonus with other cards.

But with $0 Annual Fee, Qantas Amex Discovery could be a great credit card for someone who just wants to earn Qantas points and plans to spend a moderate amount on the card.

Earning points

With a Qantas American Express Discovery card, you’ll earn 0.75 Qantas Frequent Flyer points per $1 spent on eligible transactions (excluding government payments).

You’ll earn a bonus point per dollar (i.e. 1.75 Qantas points per $1 spent) when purchasing eligible Qantas products or services with your card.

There is no monthly or annual point-earning cap. You can earn an unlimited number of points at the full rate.

Of course, any points earned on this credit card will also count towards Qantas Points Club membership!

Points earned from this card will be deposited into your Qantas Frequent Flyer account after the end of each monthly statement cycle. Qantas points expire if there is no activity in your Qantas Frequent Flyer account for 18 months, but if you’re earning points each month this will keep your account active.

Earning points for ATO & government payments

Payments made directly to the Australian Tax Office (ATO) or other government bodies in Australia with your Qantas American Express Discovery card will earn points at a reduced rate of 0.5 Qantas points per $1.

However, you can use a payment service such as pay.com.au or Sniip to pay tax and other bills with this card, and still earn points at the full rate.

Using Qantas Frequent Flyer points

You can use your Qantas Frequent Flyer points towards a wide range of rewards including reward flights, upgrades, wine, hotel bookings, car rentals, Qantas Rewards Store purchases and even Classic Rail Rewards.

Arguably, the best value uses of Qantas points are on Classic Upgrade Rewards and Classic Flight Rewards. You can request an upgrade with Qantas points on any Qantas operated and marketed flight, or book a Classic Flight Reward seat with Qantas or any of its many partner airlines.

Qantas Classic Flight Rewards start at 6,400 Qantas points + taxes & carrier charges for flights in Jetstar Economy Class, or 8,000 Qantas points + taxes & carrier charges for a Qantas Economy Class flight of up to 600 miles (e.g. on the Brisbane-Mackay route). Qantas Business Class reward seats start from 18,400 Qantas points + taxes & carrier charges (e.g. for a Melbourne-Sydney flight).

In addition to redeeming on Qantas and Jetstar flights, you can use Qantas points to book Classic Flight Reward seats on any Qantas Frequent Flyer partner airline, including all Oneworld members.

You can check the number of Qantas points needed on any route for an upgrade or reward flight on the Qantas website.

Classic Flight Reward bookings can be excellent value – especially if you’re booking a seat in Premium Economy, Business or First Class. However, beware that reward seat availability is limited. It can be difficult to find seats on popular routes and peak travel dates, especially if you’re looking for multiple seats.

When redeeming Qantas points for a Classic Flight Reward redemption, you’ll need to pay any applicable taxes & carrier charges in addition to the points. On some airlines, such as Emirates, these carrier charges can be quite expensive. However, other Qantas partner airlines have relatively low or no carrier charges including Fiji Airways, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, LATAM Airlines, China Airlines and Air New Zealand.

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

Sign-up bonus

There is currently no sign-up bonus available on this card.

If you would like an American Express credit card that offers bonus Qantas points when you apply, you may wish to consider the Qantas Amex Premium or Qantas Amex Ultimate products.

Note that American Express does not generally award sign-up bonus points to customers who already have an Amex card or have held one in the past 18 months. Therefore, be aware that signing up for this card may exclude you from accessing sign-up bonus point offers on other Amex credit cards in the short term. However, American Express does from time to time offer bonus points to card members who upgrade to a different card on an invitation-only basis.

Card Purchase & Refund Cover

The Qantas American Express Discovery card does not offer complimentary travel insurance.

However, you can benefit from complimentary Card Purchase Cover which covers stolen or damaged items purchased using your card. There’s also Card Refund Cover, which covers the cost of eligible items purchased with your card if a store refuses a return.

You can read the full card insurance PDS here.

Of course, you can also access American Express’ Fraud Protection Guarantee, emergency card replacement and choose pay off your card using Plan It instalments.

Summary

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)