AMEX Qantas Ultimate now offers 100,000 bonus points
It's the most generous bonus points offer on the market right now.
As of today, American Express holds the title of the highest bonus Qantas Points offer on the market. Ordinarily offering up to 50,000 bonus Qantas Points on sign up, cardholders can now earn 100,000 bonus Qantas Points when they spend at least $1,500 on eligible purchases within the first three months of owning the card. Only available to new American Express cardholders, you'll need to apply before 30 January 2017 to get the points.
While the Citi Platinum and Signature cards offer of 150,000 Citi Rewards for the duration of the Flash Sale is the highest reward points offer on the market, you have to earn those over a period of 15 months. The Qantas Ultimate deal offers the highest number of bonus points that go straight to your Qantas account. You'll receive 5,000 Qantas Points when you make your first purchase in the three-month period and will receive the following 95,000 Qantas Points if you spend at least $1,500 in this time. As well as the bonus points, you'll also continue to earn up to 3 Qantas Points per $1 spent on eligible purchases.
However, considering you have to spend $1,500 to earn the points and the card comes with an annual fee of $450, do the 100,000 Qantas Points outweigh the costs of the card? Exactly how far 100,000 Qantas Points can take you will largely depend on the destination, fare class and when you book the flight, but we'll use a few examples to see how they could work for you here.
Using the Qantas Points calculator, you could fly Economy return from Sydney to Los Angeles for 90,000 Qantas Points. If you prefer to fly in style, it would cost you 96,000 Qantas Points to fly one-way business class from Sydney to Los Angeles. Depending on when you flew, this could cost anywhere between $951 and $1,537 each way ordinarily.
Fly from Paris to Melbourne in Economy, it would cost you 60,000 points each way, or somewhere between $730 and $1,286 each way. If you want to travel interstate instead, you could travel return in Economy from Sydney to Darwin for 72,000 points (usually available from $369 to $1,368 each way) or from Melbourne to Brisbane in for 48,000 Qantas Points (usually between $199 and $239 each way).
As you can see from these examples, only some of the costs of these flights exceed the spend requirement and annual fee. If the regular cost flight you want to take doesn't exceed the spend requirements and regular fees, you'll want to make sure you're enjoying the full benefit of the other complimentary features of the card to enjoy its full value. Some of the ways you could do this include waiting for your next flight in luxury with the two passes to the American Express Lounge at Sydney International (Kingsford Smith) Airport, enjoying peace of mind thanks to the included domestic and international travel insurance and more flight savings with one complimentary Qantas domestic return Economy flight every year.
So, while the American Express Qantas Ultimate card offers the highest number of bonus Qantas Points for the time being, the full value of the card depends on how you use the points. When comparing the fees and features of the American Express Qantas Ultimate credit card, or any frequent flyer credit card with bonus points, make sure the spend requirements align with your budget and that you consider the dollar value of the reward points and whether they offset the costs of the card before you apply.
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What is the last date for your acceptance of my application, and income criteria for
AMEX Qantas Ultimate offering 100,000 bonus points?
Hi Ray,
Thank you for your inquiry.
Please note that this offer is only available to new American Express cardholders, you’ll need to apply before 30 January 2017 to get the points.
I hope this information has helped.
Cheers,
Harold