Qantas Platinum status is one of the highest status you can earn in the Qantas Frequent Flyer Program. While it takes a considerable amount of flying (and spending) to earn the coveted status, it does offer a treasure-trove of benefits that appeal to many Frequent Flyers.

In this post, I want to take a detailed look at how you can earn the Qantas Platinum status, its benefits and whether its worth the effort.

Earning Qantas Platinum Status

Earning status is all about maximising status credits.

• You need to earn 1,400 status credits and fly 4 eligible sectors to earn Qantas Platinum status in the maiden year.
• You need to earn 1,200 status credits and fly 4 eligible sectors to maintain Qantas Platinum status in subsequent years.

If you are not familiar, Qantas Frequent Flyers earn status credits each time they fly with Qantas, Jetstar and on eligible oneworld member airline flights (such as American Airlines). The number of status credits earned per flight depends on the class you fly (Economy, Business, First) and type of fare you buy (Red e-deal, Flex, Business Sale, Business Saver etc). Generally speaking, more expensive tickets earn a higher number of status credits, although there are exceptions.

Qantas will upgrade you to Qantas Platinum as soon as you have clocked the required number of status credits. Once you earn it, the status is valid for the remainder of your current membership year as well as all of your next full membership year.

For instance, if your membership year starts on 1 May each year and you hit Qantas Platinum on 5 May 2023, you will keep the status until 30 April 2025 giving you nearly 2 years worth of status. For this reason, its best to earn the status as early in your membership year as possible.

Another important point to remember is that you generally do not earn status credits on Classic Flight Rewards, ie, on flights where you redeem Qantas points. The exception to this rule is if you are a Points Club or Points Club Plus member. Refer to this link to see how many status credits you will earn when redeeming Qantas points as a Points Club or Points Club Plus member.

Benefits of Qantas Platinum Status

Having done all that hard work earning the status, it is now time to sit back and soak in the benefits your coveted Platinum status bestows upon you. While the full list of benefits is quite exhaustive to cover, I do want to talk about some of the practical benefits that Frequent Flyers most value.

Lounge Access

Access to Qantas Lounges and Clubs is one of the most desirable perk that status holders value. As a Qantas Platinum member, you get complimentary access to the following lounges/clubs prior to your outbound flight.

Domestic Flights

• When flying domestic, Qantas Platinum members can access the Qantas Business Lounge at Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Canberra Airports.
• Qantas Club Lounge at all other Airports.

As a Platinum member you also receive generous guesting privileges. On domestic flights, you can bring up to two guests and up to 2 children (aged 4-17 years) with you in the lounge. Your guests do not need to be flying but will need to clear security to get to the lounge.

Children under 4 do not count towards the allowance and are permitted into the lounge subject to capacity.

International Flights

• When flying International, Qantas Platinum members can access the Qantas First Lounge at Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore & Los Angeles.
• International Business Lounge at all other places.

Qantas First Lounge, Singapore

Guesting privileges before International flights are a lot more nuanced. The most generous guest allowance is when flying on a Qantas operated and marketed flight where you can bring 1 guest and up to 2 children (aged 4-17) into the lounge.

Guest allowances greatly vary on flights with Emirates, Jetstar or other oneworld member airlines. But no matter who you are flying, you will be allowed to bring in at least one guest into the lounge with you. See this link for full details on lounge access when flying on a non-Qantas flight.

oneworld Emerald status

Qantas Platinum status maps to oneworld emerald tier which is the highest oneworld tier you can earn. The emerald tier offers many status-like benefits such as priority check-in and boarding, extra baggage allowance, preferred seating etc when flying on any one of the oneworld or oneworld connect member airlines.

As a oneworld emerald member, you are also welcomed into more than 600 oneworld member lounges worldwide when flying on eligible airlines. The prominent one’s being American Airlines Flagship lounges on domestic travel within U.S. and Cathay Pacific The Pier First Class Lounge in Hong Kong.

Sadly, a number of high profile lounges such as Qatar Airways Al Safwa First, British Airways Concorde Rooms etc are excluded from the arrangement. Nonetheless, as a oneworld emerald member you will always have access to a high quality lounge even where there are exclusions.

Bonus Points

As a Qantas Platinum member:

• You will earn 100% bonus points on eligible Qantas, Jetstar and American Airlines flight.
• You will be offered a Loyalty Bonus in the form of Bonus Qantas Points or Bonus Status Credits each time you earn 500 status credits. You can choose from 8,000 bonus Qantas points or 50 bonus status credits as your Loyalty Bonus which can be earned up to 4 times per membership year, giving you up to 32,000 bonus Qantas or up to 200 status credits.
• You will be offered Platinum Bonus Reward upon earning 2,400 status credits in a membership year. The reward is in the form of 50,000 bonus Qantas points or Complimentary Qantas Gold membership for a family member or friend.

Redeem Qantas Points to fly Qatar Airways First Class

Priority Phone Service

This is a hugely valuable benefit if you ever need to contact Qantas over the phone. Qantas Platinum members have access to priority phone service and on most occasions, they can expect the call to be answered by a competent representative within a reasonable period of time.

Qantas Platinum members and above are mostly (but not always) serviced by the Hobart based Call Centre, which, if you have ever dealt with overseas phone agents will greatly appreciate. This is specially handy when booking or making changes to a complex itinerary where there is a greater risk of agent making a mistake.

Priority Upgrade

As a Qantas Platinum member, your International Classic Upgrade Reward requests take precedence over Qantas Gold, Silver and Bronze members. Where possible, these requests will be confirmed up to 48 hours prior to departure and you will be notified of the outcome via text message.

On eligible Domestic flights, you can redeem Qantas points and request an upgrade to Business Class at a Qantas Club or Business Lounge up to 3 hours prior to departure.

Early & Preferential Access to Classic Flight Reward Seats

Qantas prioritises several benefits according to the membership level, higher your status in the program greater your chances of availing the benefits. As a Qantas Platinum member, you may have access to reward seats up to 353 days in advance. This compares favourably to Qantas Silver and Bronze members who are offered access up to 323 days and 297 days ahead of departure.

That’s not all, everything else being equal – on select flights Qantas Platinum members may also have access to reward seats that Qantas may not make available to Gold members or lower. If you are someone who frequently redeem Qantas points, this benefit can be highly rewarding.

Ability to request Reward Seats

This is not a published benefit and so, knowledge about this is fairly limited. As a Qantas Platinum member you are able to request Qantas to release reward seats even when there may be none available.

Qantas Platinum status may unlock non-existent Reward Seats

Note that this is NOT a guaranteed benefit and is largely dependent on how full the cabin is on the date of your travel. Even if there were large number of unsold seats in the cabin, Qantas may deny your request unless the seats on sale are in the right fare class.

For instance, it could be that the cheaper fare classes (of which there are typically only a few seats) are sold out but there are large number of seats still available for sale in higher fare classes. Under these circumstances, your request for extra reward seats will generally be unsuccessful.

Qantas sometimes releases extra reward seats closer to departure for Gold, Platinum and Platinum One members. So its a good practice to keep close watch on any changes in availability in the lead up to your flight.

In Conclusion

As you can tell, Platinum status is highly sought after by Qantas Frequent Flyers given the multitude of highly aspirational benefits it offers. That said, for an average person it does not make sense to go out of the way to earn status.

If you mainly fly Business or First Class, are not particularly loyal to Qantas, or frequently redeem points towards premium cabin travel, you will find that your ticket already includes many of the perks that status offers.

However, if you frequently travel for work and your employer picks up the tab, or own a business and are in a position to expense the flights for tax purposes or just want bragging rights (don’t do it), holding Platinum status with Qantas might make sense for you.

Which Qantas Platinum benefit do you most value? Leave a comment below.