Qantas launches parental pause for frequent flyers
Maintain your Qantas tier status while on maternity or paternity leave with Qantas' new parental pause for frequent flyers.
When you start a family, wanderlust and travel plans often have to take a backseat. Regularly, if you had a frequent flyer membership, you might see your status credit and points begin to slip as travel becomes less of a priority.
Good news mums and dads, Qantas has made this dilemma a thing of the past. The new ‘Status Hold’ or ‘parental pause’ initiative allows Silver, Gold and Platinum Frequent Flyers pause their status for up to 18 months. So your status will remain the same even if you’re not earning the number of Status Credits regularly required to maintain their tier.
While the status is paused, that doesn’t mean the benefits with the membership are. You can still look forward to receiving perks such as lounge access, bonus points offers and preferred seating options while the parental pause is in place. You can take advantage of the Status Hold function twice during a five-year period, which is good news if you are planning on having more than one bub over the next few years.
Extra perks for families
As well as the new parental pause initiative, existing family benefits have also got a facelift this week. The restriction of four family points transfers has been lifted, meaning you can make as many transfers up to 600,000 Qantas Points (compared to 400,000) as you want each year.
Qantas Loyalty CEO Lesley Grant said the changes were inspired by feedback from frequent flyers who wanted greater flexibility, especially when they take parental leave and aren’t travelling as frequently as usual.
Who can apply for Status Hold?
Parental pause is available to eligible Silver, Gold and Platinum Frequent Flyers who are taking at least six consecutive months maternal or paternal leave from paid employment. Both parents can apply and may be approved if they’re:
- A parent of a baby or babies that are due to be born within the next coming months or were born in the previous six months.
- A foster parent who will be caring for a child within the next three months or who has started caring for a child within the previous six months.
- A parent who will be adopting a child within the next three months or who has adopted a child within the previous six months.
Just because you’re starting a family, that doesn’t mean you should miss out on the perks of being a frequent flyer. Make sure you meet the terms and conditions and take advantage of the initiative when you decide to grow your family.
Competitor Virgin Australia has long offered its Velocity Frequent Flyers a six-month long membership pause for frequent flyers expecting new additions to their family. Once the pause is finished, members hold on to their silver, gold or platinum status for another 12 months.
Both the Qantas and Virgin counterparts require frequent flyers to provide supporting documents such as birth certificates, foster or adopter registration and employer confirmation before they're approved.
Images: Qantas.
