Qantas Frequent Flyer is the frequent-flyer program of Australian airline Qantas. Established in 1987, it is administered by Qantas Loyalty, a Qantas Group company, and had 18.9 million members. Members earn Qantas Points on flights with Qantas, Jetstar and partner airlines, including members of the Oneworld alliance, and through non-airline partners such as credit card issuers and retailers. Points can be redeemed for flights, upgrades and other rewards. Status credits, earned mainly from flying, determine a member's tier, which can bring benefits such as airport lounge access.
Qantas Loyalty's core business is selling points to partner companies, which award them to their customers. In the 2024–25 financial year it generated about 12 per cent of the Qantas Group's revenue but 23 per cent of its earnings, and in 2025–26 it reported underlying earnings before interest and tax of A$625 million. The program has been criticised over the scarcity of reward seats and increases in the number of points needed for rewards. It was examined in a 2019 review of loyalty schemes by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), and more than 100 people raised concerns about it with a 2023 Senate inquiry. Members' details were among the customer data exposed in a 2025 cyber-attack affecting Qantas. The invitation-only Chairman's Lounge, offered to federal politicians and many senior public officials, has been criticised as a potential means of influencing decision-makers; former Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has rejected claims that the airline exercised influence through it.
History Origins and early growth Qantas Frequent Flyer was launched in 1987. It was established while John Menadue was chief executive, when Qantas flew only international routes, and members were initially encouraged to redeem their awards for luxury goods for the home and personal use. Within a year it had about 50,000 members, most of them business travellers. After Qantas acquired the domestic carrier Australian Airlines in 1992, members could also earn points on domestic flights. American Express became the program's first credit card partner in 1993, and membership reached 2.4 million by 2000. Qantas was a founding member of the Oneworld airline alliance, launched in 1999, which extended members' benefits to other member airlines. In 2001 the program was relaunched with Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum tiers, and the fixed validity period for points was replaced by a rule under which points expire only after 18 months without account activity.
2008 overhaul and proposed sale In March 2008, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase suggested that the Qantas frequent-flyer program could be worth A$2 billion (US$1.9 billion), representing more than a quarter of the total market value of Qantas.
On 1 July 2008 a major overhaul of the program was announced. The two key new features of the program were Any Seat rewards, in which members could now redeem any seat on an aircraft, rather than just selected seats — at a price. The second new feature was Points Plus Pay, which has enabled members to use a combination of cash and points to redeem an award. Additionally, the Frequent Flyer store was also expanded to include a greater range of products and services.
Announcing the revamp, Qantas confirmed it would be seeking to raise about A$1 billion in 2008 by selling up to 40% of the frequent flyer program. However, in September 2008, it stated it would defer the float, citing volatile market conditions.
After deferring the float, Qantas held exploratory talks with private equity firms about selling a stake in the business. It had also renegotiated its agreements with the banks that issued points-earning credit cards, so that cardholders would earn Qantas Points directly rather than through the banks' own reward schemes. Cardholders had until 31 March 2009 to transfer points from those schemes to Qantas Frequent Flyer if they wanted to keep redeeming them through the program, a change that some cardholders resented and that rival Virgin Blue campaigned against. Qantas again considered floating part of the loyalty business during a strategic review in 2013 and 2014, but in August 2014 chief executive Alan Joyce said a sale was off the table.
Woolworths partnership In December 2008, Woolworths and Qantas entered into a six-year agreement to allow Everyday Rewards members to earn Qantas Frequent Flyer points for purchases at Woolworths. In June 2009, details of the arrangement were announced. Under the arrangement Everyday Rewards members would earn one Qantas Frequent Flyer point for each dollar over $30 spent in one transaction at Woolworths (or Safeway) supermarkets (excluding Tasmania) or Woolworths liquor stores. To earn these points Everyday Rewards members would need to also have and link a Qantas account, with the joining fees waived for new members. Woolworths was to pay the Qantas program for points earned by members under the arrangement.
The program was later expanded to include some of Woolworths's other stores including Big W and BWS. From October 2009, cardholders could collect one point per dollar for every dollar over $50 spent in one transaction at Dick Smith and Tandy, however those stores' participation stopped in September 2012.
In August 2009, of 3.8 million Everyday Rewards cards "registered", 1.2 million were linked to a Qantas account, which increased by August 2010, to 5.1 million cards registered, of which 2.7 million were linked to a Qantas account.
On 26 October 2015 Woolworths announced it was terminating its deal with Qantas to revamp its Everyday Rewards Program. By then the six-year arrangement was estimated to have added about 2 million members to Qantas Frequent Flyer, although about half of Everyday Rewards members had never linked their card to a Qantas account. Qantas was estimated to receive A$70–80 million a year from selling points to Woolworths.
On 15 December 2015, Woolworths Rewards announced a new partnership with Qantas Frequent Flyer giving customers the choice to convert their Woolworths Dollars, earned through buying orange ticket products, into Qantas points at a conversion rate of 870 Qantas points for every 10 Woolworths dollars.
On 22 August 2016, Woolworths Rewards announced that members would now have additional redemption options, including converting their savings to Qantas points.
On 1 October 2019, Woolworths Rewards increased the rate at which points are converted to Qantas Frequent Flyer points. Instead of 2,000 Woolworths Rewards points converting to 870 Qantas points, this increased to 1,000 Qantas points. Upon reaching 2,000 Woolworths Rewards points, those points would now be converted within 24 hours (rather than in blocks every 3 months).
2010s A higher Platinum One tier was added in 2011, when the program had just under 8 million members and annual revenue of about A$1 billion; membership passed 10 million in 2014. By 2017 Qantas Loyalty was the only Qantas business to have reported consecutive years of earnings growth since the airline's loss in 2012, including in periods when Qantas's international airline business was losing money. Qantas launched Aquire, a points program for small and medium-sized businesses, in 2014, and in 2017 introduced Qantas Business Rewards, under which businesses earn points when employees fly for work. From 1 July 2014, the points earned on Qantas flights depended on fare type as well as distance, with more expensive fares earning more, and members earned fewer status credits on flights with Oneworld partners. The US consultancy IdeaWorksCompany said the new structure added "daunting complexity".
In 2015 Qantas announced a health insurance venture with nib, Qantas Assure, under which members could earn points for buying health insurance and be rewarded for meeting fitness targets. In 2017 new limits on card interchange fees set by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) took effect, and banks reduced the points earned on many credit cards; the same year, Qantas launched its own credit card with Citibank. After the 2017 changes, Qantas Loyalty's earnings went from double-digit growth to flat.
In June 2019 Joyce announced what he called the biggest overhaul in the program's history. The points needed for business- and first-class rewards and for upgrades increased for the first time in 15 years, while those needed for international economy rewards fell by up to 10 per cent. Carrier charges on international rewards were cut by up to half, one million extra reward seats were added, and Lifetime Platinum status was introduced for members who had earned 75,000 status credits. Points Club, which recognised members who earned large numbers of points outside flying, followed in 2020.
2020s During the COVID-19 pandemic, Qantas Loyalty relied on partnerships with other businesses to keep grounded members earning points, and in the 2020–21 financial year it was the only Qantas division to report positive earnings, with EBIT of A$272 million. Redemptions reached record levels as travel resumed; Qantas said about 7 billion points were redeemed on Classic Flight Rewards from mid-October to late November 2021. In August 2022 Qantas apologised for months of disruption at airports and offered all members a A$50 voucher for a Qantas flight, with status extensions and extra lounge invitations for higher-tier members. A Green tier, which rewarded members for activities such as offsetting the emissions from their flights, was introduced in 2022.
In January 2024 Qantas named Andrew Glance to succeed Olivia Wirth as chief executive of Qantas Loyalty. In April 2024 it launched Classic Plus, which added about 20 million reward seats on Qantas flights, priced in line with cash fares, alongside the roughly five million fixed-price Classic Reward seats offered each year; Qantas put the cost at A$120 million in the 2024–25 financial year. In January 2025 it announced that members would earn up to 25 per cent more points on domestic Qantas flights and that more reward seats would be offered on partner airlines, but that from 5 August 2025 more points would be needed for Classic Reward seats and Classic upgrades on Qantas flights, with most increases between 5 and 20 per cent; the points needed for reward seats on many Jetstar flights would fall. Qantas said it was the first increase in Classic Reward prices since 2019. In 2025 it began a partnership with department store David Jones, and in November 2025 it announced a A$199-a-year Club Jetstar membership under which frequent flyers can earn points, and up to 75 status credits a year, on Jetstar's cheapest fares; previously they earned points and status credits only on higher-priced Jetstar fares.
In February 2026 Qantas announced what it described as the "biggest changes to status in program history". From 8 December 2026 members will be able to roll over some unused status credits into the next membership year and to earn up to 140 status credits from everyday spending with program partners, and Qantas is retiring Points Club and the Green tier. From 2027 each tier will have a single status credit target for both attaining and retaining it, raising the number needed to retain Silver, Gold and Platinum status. In March 2026 Qantas said that Gold and Platinum members and holders of complimentary invitations would no longer have lounge access when travelling on Jetstar international flights, unless they booked Jetstar's highest fare class or a Qantas codeshare ticket, and that complimentary invitations could be transferred only to people on the same flight. The same month it introduced a search tool showing reward seat availability up to a year ahead.