Points Club

In June last year, Qantas announced its plans to launch a new program dubbed, Points Club. The program was conceived to encourage members of Qantas Frequent Flyer Program to earn points through a whole host of non-flying activities. Well, there’s good news on that front, the program is officially underway as of yesterday, 17th March 2020.

How does it Work

First up, there is no additional requirement to sign-up for Points Club, as long as you are a Qantas Frequent Flyer member, you are eligible to participate. And just like your Qantas Frequent Flyer membership year, the Points Club also has its own membership year. Thankfully though, they run concurrently, which is great and avoids any potential mix-up.

To track the progress of your Points Club journey, activities and number of points earned, simply login to Qantas Frequent Flyer account and navigate to Points Club.

My Points Club summary

As you can see above, my points earned under Points Club program are marked separately from my overall Qantas points balance.

Points Club has 2 Tiers

The program has 2 levels, the base level called Points Club and the higher level called Points Club Plus, each with their own set of benefits.

Lets take a look at them.

Points Club – Tier 1

To reach Points Club and unlock the associated benefits, you must earn a minimum of 150,000 Qantas points within your membership year.

Earn 150,000 Qantas points and unlock Points Club

Of these:

• You can earn a maximum of 20,000 Qantas points through regular flying activity.
• The additional 130,000 Qantas points must be earned with various on-ground partners, such as Woolworths, BP, Qantas Insurance and so on.
• Lastly, a maximum of 125,000 Qantas points qualifying points can be earned on any one transaction.

For instance, NAB Qantas Rewards Signature Card is currently offering a welcome bonus of 130,000 Qantas points. If you were to earn these, only 125,000 points will count towards the Points Club qualification.

Points Club Plus – Tier 2

The Points Club Plus is the higher of the two tiers of the Points Club program. To attain this level and unlock the associated benefits, you must earn a minimum 350,000 Qantas points with on-ground partners.

Points Club Plus requires a stiff 350,000 Qantas points

The tier is also subject to the same terms and conditions as Points Club.

Benefits of Points Club – Tier 1

Once you have earned 150,000 Qantas points and met the other requirements, you can expect the following benefits :

• 2 single entry Lounge Invitations to Qantas Club.
• 25% extra points on Qantas Hotels booking (excludes AirBnB).
• Complimentary one-class upgrade on hire cars booked through Avis (exclusions apply).
• Ability to earn status credits on Qantas marketed and operated Classic Rewards flights. Refer to this table to see how many status credits you can earn for your flight.
• Complimentary Qantas Wine Premium Membership, free delivery & 3 Qantas points per $ spent.
• 5% discount when redeeming points at Qantas Rewards Store.
• Double points on purchase of Qantas Travel Insurance policy.

Benefits of Points Club Plus – Tier 2

Once you have earned 350,000 Qantas points and met the other requirements, you can expect the following benefits :

• All the benefits of Tier 1, plus
• Complimentary Qantas Club Membership. which unlocks unlimited access to Qantas Clubs all around Australia and select overseas lounges.
• 50% extra points on Qantas Hotels booking (excludes AirBnB).
• Ability to rollover up to 100 status credits to the next Membership year, which is handy for acquiring or retaining your desired status level (excludes Platinum One).
• Complimentary Qantas Wine Premium Membership which comes with free delivery and 3 Qantas points per $ spent on wines. Additionally, there is a 10% discount on wines for Points Club Plus members (excluding Penfolds wine)
• 10% discount when redeeming points at Qantas Rewards Store.
• Triple points on purchase of Qantas Travel Insurance policy.

Refer to the table below that compares Points Club benefits side-by-side.

Points Club Benefits Table

Here’s how to earn 150,000 Qantas points

Earning 150,000 Qantas points and unlocking Points Club benefits is surprisingly easy, at least in the 1st year. Below, I have listed down a few different strategies :

• Sign-up for a new Qantas credit card. Right now, The Qantas American Express Ultimate Card is offering a welcome bonus of 100,000 Qantas points (read full review). This alone will see you progress 2/3rds of the way to Points Club.
• Sign up with Red Energy for Gas and Electricity and earn 15,000 Qantas points. Plus, you can earn up to 7 Qantas points per $ on your bills when you pay on time.
• Sign up for Qantas Health Insurance and you can earn up to 120,000 Qantas points.
• Sign up to Qantas car insurance and you can earn up to 30,000 Qantas points.
• Lastly, if you happen to have The American Express Patinum or Centurion Card, you can transfer 250,000 Membership Rewards points to your Qantas Frequent Flyer account. At the ratio of 2:1 (2 Membership Rewards points = 1 Qantas point) this will give you 125,000 Qantas points.

You can transfer points from your American Express Platinum Charge Card to Qantas

You could transfer more points if you want, but since the number of points from a single transaction is capped at 125,000, any additional points will not be counted for Points Club purposes.

Points that do not count towards Points Club qualification

Whilst there are obviously lots of ways to earn Qantas points, some of these do not contribute to your Points Club balance. These are :

• Points received from Loyalty bonus, Platinum Bonus Reward or Platinum One Bonus Reward.
• Points received via Family Transfer.
• Points received from Qantas Business Rewards transfer.

My Thoughts

Loyalty programs have proven to be quite a money spinner for airlines, and Qantas is no exception. At last count, Qantas had over 13 million highly motivated Frequent Flyer Members. Having such a powerful membership base puts Qantas in the drivers seat and allows it to negotiate highly lucrative deals with prospective partners, who in turn benefit from the business that Qantas members provide them. In that sense, it’s a win for all parties.

Coming to Points Club, I don’t like the fact that the actual name of the program also happens to be the name of one of its tiers. This has the potential to confuse some and I can’t believe this was the best Qantas could come up with 🤦‍♂️.

The most valuable benefit of the program is undoubtedly the complimentary Qantas Club Membership, which is worth $939 in the 1st year, and is unlocked when you attain Points Club Plus status. At 350,000 Qantas points, I wouldn’t call it easy to achieve, but I do expect the Qantas Club lounges to get busier over time. The other benefit members will find valuable is the ability to earn and rollover status credits on classic reward flights.

The remaining benefits aren’t really all that great. For instance, I am not an advocate of redeeming points for anything other than premium cabin flights, so the 5-10% discount at Qantas Rewards Store to my mind is worthless. Similarly, although nice to have, something like one class upgrade on hire cars or complimentary Qantas wine premium membership are perks that can be earned through other means too.

On the whole though, it’s great to see Qantas recognise, appreciate and offer so many travel & lifestyle benefits to members who may not necessarily be frequent flyers, but have the ability to earn loads of points through various non flying activities.

What do you think of Points Club? Leave a comment below.