Frequent Flyer Analysis: How much is 1 Qantas Point Worth?

Discover exactly how much your Qantas Points are worth and the most cost-effective rewards to redeem them for.

The best part of belonging to the Qantas Frequent Flyer program is that you get to redeem your hard-earned Qantas Points for rewards. The gamut of goodies on offer to members has grown over the years, and now you can redeem literally anything travel-related as well as 3,000 products and gifts cards available in the Qantas Store.

From homeware to tech toys, car rentals to fine wine, gold class movie tickets and first class air ticket upgrades, your Qantas Points can get you a variety of earthly pleasures. Their individual value, however, is not fixed and your points can go further depending on how you spend them. This table illustrates the varying values of a Qantas Point when used to redeem different rewards.

How much is a Qantas Point worth?

Use the table below to compare the value of a Qantas Point when used to redeem flights, hotel packages, gift cards and more.

_{*Prices are accurate as of May 2016. Flight prices are based on single legs of a return ticket.}

Complete guide to using Qantas Frequent Flyer points

Which rewards offer me the best value for my money?

Based on the table above, we observe that one Qantas Point is worth an average of 0.7 cents. Depending on what you spend them on, your Qantas Points can be worth as little as 0.567 cents or as much as 0.762 cents each. In general, Qantas products give you the best value per Qantas Point, with values above 0.7 cents for flights across the board. Hotel stays offer a lower value at just over 0.6 cents, while Woolworth gift cards are barely better at 0.667 cents per Point. The portable BBQ is by far the poorest reward at 0.567 cents per Point. At this sort of rate, you might be better off buying the item with cash and collecting more Qantas Points on the purchase.

How can I get the most value out of my Qantas Points?

• Classic flight rewards

Classic flight rewards are the cheapest flight rewards you can redeem with Qantas Points. There are special conditions attached to these flights which you should be aware of, including the fact that you have to pay taxes, fees and carrier charges in cash, and the fact that you cannot earn Qantas Points or status credits on these flights. Also, only a limited number of seats are available for this class of redemptions, and some flights don’t even offer seats for classic flight rewards redemptions. This means you have to book early if you want to redeem a classic flight reward.

So how much does it cost? Following the example of redeeming an Economy flight from Brisbane to Hong Kong in the table, you’d need to pay 28,000 Qantas Points and $162 for taxes, fees and carrier charges when redeeming a classic economy reward flight for that same route. Setting aside any comparisons regarding ticket restrictions, this ticket price compared to the Economy Saver fare of $489 means that 28,000 Qantas Points is worth $327(i.e. the difference between $489 and $162). This makes each Qantas Point worth 1.168 cents, which give far greater value than any of the other rewards in the table.

• Do your research and do the maths

A lot of people believe that Qantas flight redemptions give you the biggest bang for your buck (or point, in this instance). Unless you’re redeeming a classic flight reward, the fact is that other flight class redemptions deliver marginally better value than some of the other products. You might miss out on getting the best value for your points if you head straight for flight redemptions and automatically pass over on the other available rewards that are actually on your ‘to-buy’ list.

For instance, the pair of Gold Class cinema tickets gives better value per Point than almost all the flight options, and the Nespresso machine delivers pretty competitive value too. If the Qantas Store stocks items that you already need or want to purchase, there’s no harm researching how much they cost in Qantas Points and comparing that to retail dollars. The way to calculate the value of a Qantas Point is by dividing the item’s retail/dollar cost by the number of Qantas Points you’d need to buy the item. This easy step will help you get the most value out of your points.

• Points Plus Pay

Qantas also allows you to supplement your points with cash when purchasing an item. This option is not available only for goods at the Qantas Store, but also for hotel stays, deals and flights. The minimum number of points you can use on a flight is 5,000, so you must have at least 5K points in your account if you want to pay the difference with cash.

Each Qantas Point you use on a flight redemption instead of cash in the ‘Points Plus Pay’ scheme is worth 0.7 cents, which is marginally less than if you redeemed the flight entirely with points. This scheme rarely works in your favour though, and is not designed to be a sly way to stretch your Qantas Points. You’d only want to use this if you’re genuinely short of points for a purchase.

While your Qantas Points are designed to reward you, they can become a burden if they’re not worth the price you’re paying to get them. Weighing up their value also means you have to factor in the cost of your Qantas Frequent Flyer credit card, because those points become more expensive to earn if you’re paying a high yearly premium for the card. So make sure you’re using the right card, and make sure you’re redeeming the right rewards.