Qantas Frequent Flyer Program
There are many frequent flyer credit cards in the market, usually associated with an airline offering frequent flyer programs to its loyal customers. Among such cards, you will find the better ones have partnership arrangements with the Qantas Frequent Flyer program.
There is a very simple philosophy underlying the Qantas Frequent Flyer program: Qantas believes that the more you fly, the more rewards you should enjoy. To this end, Qantas offers different levels of membership. Bronze membership is the entry level, and beyond that you find Silver, Gold and Platinum memberships. Each level progressively begets more privileges and more points you can earn on every transaction.
Status Credits in the Qantas Frequent Flyer Program
You don’t apply for the higher membership levels; everyone starts at entry level. It is your status credits that determine Qantas Frequent Flyer membership level. Status credits indicate how often and how far you fly on Qantas or its partner airlines; they are not the same as Qantas Frequent Flyer points (which you earn separately).
Qantas allocates status credits to you each time you fly on eligible flights on Qantas or on member-airlines in the oneworld alliance (American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malév Hungarian Airlines and Royal Jordanian), Air Pacific, Jetstar or QantasLink services.
Qantas regularly reviews the balance on your credits and moves you up automatically when you’ve earned enough to qualify for the next level. You will retain your latest status for at least 12 months but at the end of your membership year, your Status Credits go back to zero. However, if you continue to earn a required number of Status Credits each year, you will retain the membership status and privileges of your acquired level. The threshold Status Credits for Qantas Frequent Flyer membership levels are:
To Qualify: Silver - 350; Gold - 700; Platinum - 1,400 To Retain: Silver - 300; Gold - 600; Platinum - 1,200 Lifetime Recognition: Silver - 7,000; Gold - 14,000
For lifetime recognition, Qantas continues to tally all Status Credits you accumulated during your entire membership. Once you have enough credits to qualify, the Silver/Gold status will be yours for life, no matter how often you fly afterwards.
Earning Qantas Frequent Flyer Points Assuming your frequent flyer credit cards are linked with the Qantas Frequent Flyer programme, you earn Qantas Frequent Flyer points. You will earn and redeem Qantas Frequent Flyer points on Qantas or eligible oneworld alliance flights and fare types; you also earn Status Credits.
Your Qantas Frequent Flyer membership level is recognised at equivalent oneworld membership levels (in ascending order as Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald). The basic privileges are priority check-in, priority waitlist and preferred seating; higher membership levels have access to business/first lounges and preferred boarding.
You will earn Qantas Frequent Flyer points every time you fly with Qantas, oneworld alliance, and partner airlines, and with over 220 Qantas Frequent Flyer partners.
You earn in the air, at the normal rate of 1 Qantas Frequent Flyer point per mile (1.609 km) travelled on eligible Full Economy flights. With Status Bonus, however, you get bonus points: Silver earns 25% more points; Gold, 50%; and Platinum, 100% or double points. On every eligible one-way flight, Qantas gives a minimum points guarantee of 1,000 points when flying Qantas Economy or Premium Economy, and 1,250 points on Qantas Business or First.
Qantas Frequent Flyer also awards a Cabin Bonus (10% bonus for Premium Economy, 25% for Business, 50% for First) on Qantas Business and First fares. Thus, each of your flights gets you extra Qantas Frequent Flyer points in the form of a Cabin Bonus and Status Bonus.
You also earn Qantas Frequent Flyer points on car rentals, parking or purchases at Qantas car partners. The usual rate is 3 points per $1 spent in Australia and 700 points per rental outside Australia. With Qantas Valet Parking and Qantas Drive, you earn 5 points per $1 until 29 February 2008, and 3 points starting 1 March.
Qantas Frequent Flyer has partner relationships with hotels; entertainment; fashion providers; finance, business and insurance companies; duty-free shops, various services, and real estate. A host of frequent flyer credit cards have also partnered with Qantas Frequent Flyer programme to provide you greater convenience as you earn points.
The thing to remember is that you earn Qantas Frequent Flyer Status Credits only on eligible flights on Qantas, oneworld alliance airlines, and Qantas partner airlines, while you earn frequent flyer points from purchases with other transactions. Status Credits (and the corresponding membership level) help you earn Qantas Frequent Flyer points faster because of cabin and status bonuses.
You do earn more rewards the more you fly on Qantas.
Richard Greenwood is founder of http://www.click4credit.com.au which allows visitors to compare credit cards and apply online. Articles on topics from travel rewards to debt reduction are featured on the site.
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