In July 2021, BP announced a special offer of 50 Qantas status credits for making five transactions at BP worth at least $50 each by the end of September.
This has been a popular promotion with AFF members because there aren’t too many other ways to earn status credits without flying. Unfortunately, now that this promotion has ended, it seems there have been multiple problems with the implementation including IT failures and status credits being immediately deleted after being credited.
The good news is that Qantas is now working to fix these problems. But the poor implementation of the BP status credits offer has caused a lot of confusion and disappointment for Qantas Frequent Flyer members.
Status credits backdated and deleted
The first problem with this BP Rewards promotion was that the status credits were being backdated to the date of the first of five qualifying transactions.
For example, if somebody spent $50 at BP on 10 July, then made another four qualifying transactions throughout August and September, the status credits were incorrectly posting with an activity date of 10 July. This is despite the original offer terms & conditions saying only that “you will receive your bonus Status Credits approximately 6 to 8 weeks after the end of the promotion period.”
Status credits are reset at the end of every membership year. So, as a result of the backdating to the first transaction, the status credits for Qantas Frequent Flyers with membership years ending in July or August were being immediately deleted as soon as they posted to the member’s account.
We contacted Qantas and they confirmed that the status credits were initially being processed based on the first eligible transaction date, rather than the last. Qantas is now changing this after receiving complaints.
Qantas Frequent Flyer members who have not yet received their bonus status credits from this offer will now have them tied to the date of the last qualifying transaction date. In cases where members have already received their status credits, but where they made their final transaction after their anniversary month, Qantas says it will redeposit their deleted status credits.
Status credits not rolling over
Qantas flyers who have taken advantage of the recent status extension and rollover offer, as well as Points Club Plus members, are eligible for some of their status credits to be rolled over into their next membership year. But some people had noticed that the status credits from this BP offer were not rolling over.
There was no indication in the offer terms & conditions that these status credits were ineligible to be rolled over. And Qantas has now confirmed that the status credits from the BP offer are indeed eligible for rollover.
People who had a membership anniversary during the campaign period may now receive their rollover in two parts. If the BP status credits are processed onto the member’s account after the rollover has been credited, those eligible will receive an additional rollover of status credits they’ve earned from the BP promo separately. Qantas says they will be credited by the end of November 2021.
The status credits from this offer do count towards lifetime status, which Qantas has recently confirmed. Bizarrely, this is despite the original offer T&Cs stating “Bonus Status Credits will not contribute towards any Platinum or Platinum One Bonus Rewards, Loyalty Bonuses, Lifetime status and any Qantas Status Accelerator”. This proves that you can’t always trust the terms & conditions on Qantas promotions!
Some transactions not being counted
Some BP customers have also noticed that some of their qualifying $50 transactions have not been properly counted towards the five transactions required to earn the 50 status credits.
Qantas didn’t directly address this issue, but noted that BP transactions can take a few days to appear on your Qantas activity statement and that you need to be registered with BP Rewards with a Qantas Points earn preference to be eligible for the offer.
Some AFF members have been able to get this particular issue rectified by contacted BP Rewards. One person wrote:
When I spoke to BP, the rep told me that their system didn’t do a great job of counting eligible purchases, so it’s worthwhile checking with them once you believe you get to 5 purchases, just to check their system gets it all right.
– Bell21, 13 September 2021
If your five qualifying BP transactions have posted correctly but you’re having an issue with the status credits posting to your Qantas account, you could also contact the Qantas Frequent Flyer Service Centre. Hopefully, they will be more helpful to you than they were when one of our members contacted them last week.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: 50SC on offer with BP
