Qantas has finally launched its much-anticipated Qantas Points Club, which offers benefits to “frequent buyers”.
Qantas Frequent Flyer members that earn at least 150,000 points per membership year will automatically receive Qantas Points Club status. In addition, Qantas Points Club Plus membership can be reached by earning 350,000 points per year.
Most of these points will need to be earned on the ground, as only up to 20,000 Qantas points earned from flying will count towards Qantas Points Club membership annually. In addition, a maximum of 125,000 Qantas points per transaction will count towards attaining Points Club membership. Points received from family transfers, loyalty bonuses or Qantas Business Rewards transfers do not count.
That’s quite a lot of points that you’ll have to earn to become a Qantas Points Club member. But there are some substantial perks available, including Qantas Club lounge membership and the ability to earn status credits on Qantas Classic Flight Rewards.
How to become a Qantas Points Club member
If you’re already a Qantas Frequent Flyer member, you don’t need to enrol separately into the Qantas Points Club. You’ll automatically become a member if you earn the required number of points within your Qantas Frequent Flyer membership year (which is based on the month that you joined the program).
If you’ve already earned enough Qantas points to reach a Points Club level in your current membership year, you’ll automatically become a member from today. You can log into the Qantas website to track your current progress or see if you’re already a member.
Points Club benefits
Here are the benefits you’ll receive as a Qantas Points Club member:
- Two Qantas Club lounge invitations (transferrable)
- Ability to earn status credits on Qantas-marketed Classic Flight Rewards
- 25% bonus points on Qantas Hotels bookings
- Complimentary Qantas Wine Premium membership
- 5% discount at the Qantas Rewards Store (editorial note – this is still a poor deal!)
- Double points on Qantas Travel Insurance policies
- One-class vehicle upgrade on Avis car hire bookings in Australia or New Zealand
Points Club Plus benefits
Here are the benefits you’ll receive as a Qantas Points Club Plus member:
- Complimentary Qantas Club membership (non-transferrable)
- Ability to earn status credits on Qantas-marketed Classic Flight Rewards
- 50% bonus points on Qantas Hotels bookings
- Complimentary Qantas Wine Premium membership + 10% off purchases
- 10% discount at the Qantas Rewards Store (editorial note – this is still a poor deal!)
- Triple points on Qantas Travel Insurance policies
- One-class vehicle upgrade on Avis car hire bookings in Australia or New Zealand
- Roll over up to 100 unused status credits each membership year (excludes Platinum One status)
Earning status credits on Qantas Classic Flight Rewards
As a Points Club or Points Club Plus member, you’ll be able to earn status credits whenever you book a Classic Flight Reward on a Qantas-marketed flight. This is a unique benefit, and something that could come in very handy if you’re points-rich and want to climb to the next Qantas status tier. It hasn’t been possible to earn status credits for reward flights booked using Qantas points since Qantas Frequent Flyer axed Any Seat Awards in 2014.
However, you won’t quite earn status credits at the same rate as you would if you’d paid for a commercial ticket. For example, you would only earn 7 status credits for an Economy reward flight from Sydney to Melbourne (instead of the 10-20 status credits received for a paid ticket). For a Classic Flight Reward in Business, you’d earn 16 status credits instead of 40.
You can view the status credit earn rates for Qantas Points Club and Points Club Plus members on Qantas-marketed award flights on the Qantas website.
Keep in mind that only award flights marketed by Qantas will be eligible to earn status credits. This also includes a limited selection of Classic Flight Rewards operated by airline partners, such as Aircalin flights to Noumea booked with a “QF” flight number. However, you would generally need to fly on a Qantas aircraft.
There is some discussion about this on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: SC earning with Points Club and Award Flights
Is Qantas Points Club worth it?
You could benefit greatly if you earn a lot of Qantas points on the ground, e.g. from credit cards, but don’t normally fly enough to earn Gold status. The Qantas Club benefits alone have significant value. You could also benefit if you regularly fly on frequent flyer reward bookings, as you’ll now have an opportunity to earn status while doing so.
If you already fly enough to maintain Qantas Frequent Flyer Gold status, or higher, the benefits are marginal. Qantas Gold status already comes with complimentary Qantas Club membership, although the extra status credits could come in handy for renewing your status. The hotel and rental car benefits are nice, but not worth going out of your way to reach a Points Club tier.
If you don’t travel often, the benefits are also marginal. That’s because most of the rewards are only available if you fly with Qantas, or otherwise book a hotel or rental car.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Points Club Live
