Qantas Points Club: The complete guide

Qantas announced Qantas Points Club, an extension of its existing and very successful Qantas Frequent Flyer scheme, in June 2019 (we wrote up the news at the time). It officially launched on 18 March 2020.

The idea is simple: to give extra rewards to people who have earned their Qantas Frequent Flyer Points through non-flying activities, such as sign-up rewards for frequent flyer credit cards or transferring Woolworths Rewards points. Qantas calls it "frequent buying".

Sound good? Read on to learn all about the program.

How does Qantas Points Club work?

Prior to Points Club, it was difficult to maximise your Qantas Frequent Flyer membership if you weren't a frequent flyer. While you could earn lots of points from shopping and credit cards, the only way to earn Status Credits was by flying. And Status Credits are key to getting onto Qantas's higher membership tiers (Silver, Gold, Platinum and Platinum One). Higher tiers make it more likely that you'll get upgrades, as well as offering a better choice of seats and reward flights. Higher levels give you free access to Qantas lounges too.

Qantas Points Club makes that a little more accessible by recognising the points you've earned that don't come from flying and offering some Status Credit perks. This kind of earning is very common. Qantas's own data shows that two-thirds of Qantas Frequent Flyer Points aren't actually earned from flights.

Qantas Points Club will have two tiers:

• You'll qualify for basic Points Club membership when you earn 150,000 Qantas Points during your membership year (which kicks off from when you first joined Qantas Frequent Flyer).
• You'll hit Points Club Plus if you earn 350,000 Qantas Points in your membership year. That's a very high threshold. If you earned that on a credit card that offered 2 Qantas Points per $1 spent, you'd have to spend $14,583 on eligible purchases on the card each month to get that status. Scoring a credit card sign-up bonus will make it more attainable, but it's still going to be a stretch goal for most of us.

A key note: You can earn 20,000 Qantas Points during each membership year from flying, which will count towards Points Club. The rest of the points have to come from non-flight activities. You also can't count more than 125,000 Qantas Points from any single transaction or transfer.

If you purchase top-up Qantas Points, they will also count towards the total (and count separately to the 20,000 you can earn from actual flights).

What benefits do Qantas Points Club members get?

Here's a summary and comparison of the benefits that Points Club and Points Club Plus members get:

The two most notable benefits for Points Club Plus are the free Qantas Club membership and the Status Credits rollover. The Qantas Club costs $939 in your first year and $540 each year thereafter, so that's a decent perk. And the ability to roll up to 100 Status Credits into your next year gives you a head start in trying to reach higher membership tiers.

Both Points Club groups are able to earn Status Credits on Classic Reward flights, something you can't normally do at all. This is a tasty bonus, though it's unlikely you'll get enough credits from a rewards flight to push you onto a higher tier in itself.

Qantas also says Points Club members will receive "regular flight promotions, redemption deals, discounts and bonus point offers". We'll be keeping a close eye on these and updating this guide to note any major offers. Make sure you've signed up for the Points Finder email to stay on top of Points Club bonus offers.

How do I join Qantas Points Club?

Qantas tracks all the points you earn and where they come from and will notify you by email and in the Qantas App once you've hit Points Club or Points Club Plus status. The only prerequisite (apart from earning those points) is to have a Qantas Frequent Flyer membership. You can easily get that for free.

What traps should I watch out for?

Like most frequent flyer schemes, you need to read the rules carefully. Here are a few of the key rules to be aware of:

• The 125,000 Qantas Point transfer cap. If you earn more than 125,000 Qantas Points in a single non-flight transaction, only the first 125,000 will count towards Points Club. That won't happen often, but bear it in mind if you're looking at a high-earning credit card bonus sign-up deal. Some offers do top 130,000 Qantas Points. Similarly, if you're transferring from Membership Rewards or other programs, don't do more than the equivalent of 125,000 Qantas Points in one transfer.
• Rolled-over Status Credits don't count towards Platinum One. Rolled over Status Credits you earn through Qantas Points Club won't help you get to Platinum One. That remains the preserve of very regular flyers. Realistically, most people won't get anywhere near this level, but it's something to remember if you are lucky enough to be Platinum and think Platinum One is in your sights.
• You can't transfer your Points Club Qantas Club membership. If you're a Gold or higher member, you'll already effectively have Qantas Club membership (with some extra perks). Unfortunately, in this situation you can't gift your Qantas Club membership if you do hit Points Club Plus.
• No bonus earn on Airbnb bookings. The bonus points earned on Qantas Hotels bookings do not apply when you're booking an Airbnb.
• Bonus, transfer and refund points don't count. Any Qantas Points you get from the Loyalty Bonus, Platinum or Platinum One Bonus, family transfer or refunds for cancelled flights don't count towards your Points Club total.

Picture: Angus Kidman