Qantas Business Rewards is the airline’s separate loyalty program for small to medium businesses, letting you “double dip” by earning extra points on things like flights and hotel bookings.
If you have an Australian Business Number (ABN), even as a sole trader, you’re probably eligible to join.
With Qantas Business Rewards (QBR), you and your employees can earn Qantas points for your business. You can then redeem these directly from your Business Rewards account, or transfer those points at a 1:1 rate to any Qantas Frequent Flyer member.
The program also offers discounts on Qantas flights and other products like Qantas Club memberships. By upgrading to a higher tier within Qantas Business Rewards, you can even access benefits including a fast-track to Gold status.
Our guide explains how to maximise the program’s benefits.
Contents
What you need to sign up for Qantas Business Rewards
To join Qantas Business Rewards, you’ll need:
- A valid Australian Business Number (ABN)
- To operate as a sole trader, partnership, company, or trust
- Have a postal mailing address in Australia
You can sign up via the Qantas website.
Unfortunately, Qantas Business Rewards ostensibly charges a ridiculous $89.50 joining fee. However, at the time of writing, the program is waiving this joining fee. Even outside of these promotions, there are numerous partner links that allow you to join Qantas Business Rewards for free, much like Qantas Frequent Flyer’s join-for-free workarounds.
The program excludes some types of businesses from earning extra points on flights, and therefore attaining a higher membership tier. If your business is any of the following, you won’t be eligible to earn extra Qantas points from flying:
- Not GST registered (unless you joined before 2017)
- Not an incorporated company
- Classified as a Travel Agency business
- On a corporate deal with Qantas
Membership tiers and benefits
Qantas Business Rewards has three tiers. Your tier depends on the amount of amount of Qantas points you earn to your QBR account for business travel on a yearly basis. Points earned for Qantas marketed and ticketed flights, as well as Jetstar fares with points-earning bundles, count towards this.
Here is an overview of the membership levels and benefits:
| Qantas Business Rewards tier | Points required per year | Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | 0-14,999 Qantas points | • Earn 20 Qantas points per 100 from flights taken by you/employees • Save 6% on Economy Flex, Premium Economy Flex, Business Saver and Business Flex tickets • 20% discount on Qantas Club memberships |
| Level 2 | 15,000 – 79,999 Qantas points | • Earn 30 Qantas points per 100 from flights taken by you/employees • Save up to 9% on Economy Flex, Premium Economy Flex, Business Saver and Business Flex tickets • Save up to 3% on some Discount Economy tickets • 30% discount on Qantas Club memberships |
| Level 3 | 80,000+ Qantas points | • Earn 40 Qantas points per 100 from flights taken by you/employees • Save up to 10% on Economy Flex, Premium Economy Flex, Business Saver and Business Flex tickets • Save up to 5% on some Discount Economy tickets • 30% discount on Qantas Club memberships • One status accelerator challenge to Gold status, for one employee per year |
How the Qantas Gold Accelerator challenge works
The status accelerator challenge for Qantas Gold status could be very lucrative.
Upon reaching Level 3 membership, business owners can nominate one employee per year to participate in a Gold Accelerator challenge. The employee will then need to earn 100 status credits on Qantas marketed flights within 90 days to get Qantas Gold status for 12 months. This is much less than the usual requirement of 700 status credits.
How to earn points with Qantas Business Rewards
You can earn points by flying or spending with program partners, as well as with co-branded business credit cards.
Earning points by flying
To earn points in Qantas Business Rewards for flights, you can either book through the QBR portal, with select travel agents, or simply through the normal Qantas website. In every case, make sure both your Qantas Frequent Flyer number and ABN is on the reservation, in order to double dip.
When booking through the Business Rewards portal, you’ll be able to take advantage of any flight discounts you may be entitled to. As an added benefit, the QBR booking portal displays the exact fare class of the flight you’re booking – something that the regular Qantas website frustratingly does not do.
The rate of points earned depends on your level with QBR and are a percentage of the amount of points a Bronze frequent flyer would earn for each flight. That means status bonuses and promotions that boost Qantas point earnings on flights won’t affect your Qantas Business Rewards earn rate.
You can also earn extra points by flying on eligible Jetstar tickets with a bundle that earns Qantas points & status credits. When an employee flies Jetstar, your business will earn 20 Qantas points per every 100 earned by the flyer. This is regardless of the your level in Qantas Business Rewards.
The traveller will also earn a flat bonus of 250 Qantas points per booking, to their personal frequent flyer account.
Earning points without flying
Your business can also earn Qantas points on a wide range of everyday business expenses when using Qantas Business Rewards partners. These include:
- BP (via BP Plus)
- Pay.com.au
- Red Energy
- Harvey Norman
- NRMA Insurance
- Deloitte
- Qantas Wine
You can check out a full list of partners on the Qantas website.
You can also earn points on non-flight travel expenses by booking with partners such as Qantas Hotels or Avis car hire. This is on top of the points you already earn as a Qantas member.
Points earned through partners don’t count towards your membership level.
Earning points with credit cards
You can also earn points on your business expenses by using a Qantas Business Rewards credit card. American Express, NAB, CommBank, Westpac, ANZ, St.George and Bendigo Bank all offer business cards that give points for every dollar spent on the card.
You can also boost your points balance with Qantas business credit card sign-up bonus offers. For example, at the time of writing, you could earn 200,000 bonus Qantas points by signing up for a NAB Qantas Business Signature card. The Amex Qantas Business Rewards card also has an excellent sign-up bonus available of 170,000 Qantas points.
Earn Qantas Points on your business expenses
- Card Name
- American Express Qantas Business Rewards
- Earn
- 1.25
- Signup Bonus
-
170,000 bonus Qantas Points
Apply by 8th Apr 2025
- Annual Fee
- $450 p.a. and up to 99 Employee Cards at no additional cost
- Read more
- View Offer
on everyday purchases
How to use your points
You can redeem the points you’ve earned through Qantas Business Rewards for Classic Reward flights and upgrades directly in the QBR booking portal. You can’t make multi-city bookings this way, but for simple bookings it should work fine.
Alternatively, you can easily transfer points into anybody’s Qantas Frequent Flyer account, and they can then redeem those points just like any other Qantas points.
Unlike transferring points between Qantas Frequent Flyer accounts, you don’t necessarily need to transfer points from your QBR account to a family member. You can even transfer points into own frequent flyer account, if you want.
You’ll need at least 3,000 Qantas points to transfer, with points transferring at a 1:1 ratio. Up to 20,000 points transferred from a Business Rewards account each year will count towards Points Club qualification.
Is Qantas Business Rewards worth it?
The short answer is, if you have an ABN (and sign up for free), then yes, it is. It costs nothing to maintain, and you can get some pretty nice bonuses out of it as well.
However, it’s possible that some of the benefits might not actually help you. If you don’t book flexible airfares, or have Qantas Gold (or higher) status already, the main benefit is really just the extra points you can earn.
There’s also the opportunity cost of committing to flying Qantas, as Qantas flights are often more expensive than other airlines. If you commit to Qantas Business Rewards, you might actually be spending more than you recoup in benefits.
Virgin Australia also its own business rewards program – Virgin Australia Business Flyer – which offers similar perks.
You can learn more about loyalty programs for businesses in Course 2 of the Australian Frequent Flyer training. This course is free for all AFF members to access.
Become a frequent flyer points expert!
Learn all the tricks to travel better, for less, with our Frequent Flyer Training courses. The first two courses are free for all AFF members.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Qantas Frequent Flyer is a loyalty program for individuals, while Business Rewards allows businesses to earn extra points on business expenses and employee travel.
Points in the Qantas Business Rewards program expire if your account has no activity for 18 months. Simply earn or redeem at least one point to extend your points’ validity.
To upgrade to Level 2, your Qantas Business Rewards account needs to earn 15,000 points from employees’ flights.
Level 2 in Qantas Business Rewards gets you a bonus of 30 Qantas points per 100 you earn, as well as up to 9% off airfares and a higher 30% discount off Qantas Club memberships.
American Express, NAB, CommBank, Westpac, ANZ, St.George and Bendigo Bank all offer business credit cards that are linked to Qantas Business Rewards, allowing you to earn points when paying business expenses.
