Qantas’ bonus status credits offers: what you need to know

Unlike frequent flyer points, you can collect Status Credits to ascend the Qantas membership tiers (Silver, Gold, Platinum and Platinum One) and take advantage of exclusive perks. The benefits vary between the tiers, but you can usually expect more competitive points earn rates, travel benefits (such as preferred seating, priority upgrades, priority boarding and check-in as well as waived booking fees) and access to Qantas Club lounges.

Qantas often runs several bonus status credits promotions each year. The most common promotions offer double status credits, where every eligible flight booked during the promotional period earns twice as many status credits it usually would. There are no set dates when you can expect these status credit promotions, although recent promotions were launched in February 2019, as well as February, August and October in 2018. Occasionally, Qantas also runs targeted status credit promotions for select frequent flyer members.

To be eligible for bonus status credit promotions, you’ll have to do the following:

• Register on the relevant promotion page. Each passenger on the booking will need to do this.
• Once you’re registered, you can make unlimited bookings for eligible flights to earn double status credits.
• You’ll need to include your Qantas number on your booking to receive the status credits, which will come six weeks after completion of travel (so keep this in mind if your membership anniversary is approaching).

To keep track of future double status credit offers, sign up to the Points Finder newsletter or follow us on Facebook.

What’s the catch?

Before booking your flight, check the terms and conditions of the promotion. You’ll usually see the following conditions:

• Must fly on Qantas-operated flights. Bonus status credit promotions generally only apply to Qantas-operated flights, and not to Qantas-ticketed flights on Jetstar or partner airlines.
• Flight vouchers are valid in certain conditions. Generally speaking, flight vouchers bought and redeemed for flights during the promotional period should earn bonus status credits. Read the terms and conditions or call Qantas directly to find out if your proposed voucher travel will qualify.
• Not valid with other bonus offers. Qantas will not usually allow flyers to stack multiple bonus status credits promotions.
• Must book through the Qantas website. Keep in mind that third-party online booking sites might not qualify for the promotion, so be safe and read the terms and conditions. You’ll usually have to book through the Qantas website or call centre directly, or use a travel agent.
• Might not count towards other status challenges. Recently, Qantas has stated that status credits earned through these promotions don’t count towards Loyalty Bonus, Platinum Bonus Reward, Platinum One Bonus Reward and Status Accelerator or Challenge requirements.
• Keep track of your status renewal date. Status credits will make it to your account a number of weeks after your travel is completed. For the recent October promotion, this period is six weeks, so keep this in mind if you’re frantically travelling to retain or attain a new status tier. Check your Qantas Frequent Flyer account to find out when your status renewal date is.

How many status credits could I earn?

This will depend on your route, fare and class. Generally, the higher the class and the longer the route, the more status credits you can earn. Flexible full price fares will often also earn more status credits than discounted fares.

For example, here are the status credits earned for flying Sydney to Perth:

Source: Qantas

Here are the status credits earned for flying from Sydney to London:

Source: Qantas

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How do I maximise the status credits I earn from this promotion?

In frequent flyer circles, good value flight routes to maximise status credits are known as "status runs". These can look nonsensical to the regular traveller but are calculated to offer maximum status credits for every dollar spent.

A popular example is the Noumea status run in business class. This takes advantage of somewhat competitive business class prices and better status credit earn rates. An example of the route could be something like: Sydney > Adelaide > Melbourne > Brisbane > Noumea and back again. This would earn 410 status credits during a bonus promotion.

Other examples include flying from Sydney to Denpasar return or Jetstar Max Bundles on domestic travel.

To find out about current status runs, check out the Australian Frequent Flyer forums.

Picture: Qantas