How much are Qantas Points worth?
If you’ve spent months, or even years, building up your Qantas frequent flyer points, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting the best value out of them. So how much are your Qantas Points actually worth?
Key points:
- Qantas Points don’t have a set value, so their worth depends on how they’re redeemed.
- Through Classic Flight Rewards, you pay a set number of points for a flight.
- Points Plus Pay converts the normal price of a fare into Qantas Points.
We’ve crunched the numbers to find out how much a Qantas Point is worth in dollars, depending on how you spend it.
How much is a Qantas Point worth?
Understanding Your Qantas points value is important to help you plan how best to use them, but unfortunately, there’s no single answer to this question.
Qantas Points don’t have a set value, so their worth will depend on how they’re redeemed.
According to travel website Australian Frequent Flyer, Qantas Points can be worth as little as half a cent if spent on a supermarket gift card, but more than five cents if spent on an upgrade from Business to First Class on an international flight.
To help your points go further, we’ve crunched the numbers to find out how much a Qantas Point is worth in dollars, depending on how it is spent:
- Upgrades
- Flights
- Hotels
- Qantas Rewards Store
Using points for Qantas flight upgrades
You can use Qantas Points to upgrade your cabin class on domestic and international flights.
According to Australian Frequent Flyer, if upgrading from Economy to Premium Economy on an international flight, your points will be worth less than two cents each.
If upgrading from Economy to Business on an international flight, your points are generally worth about 3.1 cents each. But if upgrading from Business to First class on an international flight, your points can be worth more than five cents each.
For a domestic upgrade from Economy to Business class (based on fares listed at the time of writing), a Red e-Deal class ticket from Melbourne to Sydney one-way can currently be bought for about $150. According to Qantas this fare is classed as Discount Economy for the purposes of calculating how many Qantas Points and Status credits you earn, or how many Qantas Points you need to redeem a Classic Upgrade Reward.
A Business class ticket on the same flight can be bought for $981. According to the Qantas upgrade calculator it will cost 10,900 Qantas Points to upgrade this Discount Economy seat to a Business seat, meaning your points are worth about 7.6 cents each.
Your upgrade is a request, but will be immediate for domestic flights if there’s a seat available on your chosen flight.
For international flights upgrades can be a bit more complicated to secure – so much so that they are often likened to a lottery. This is because Qantas will apply various priority rules to decide who gets given the upgrade.
For example, according to Points Hacks, those with a high Qantas Status (Platinum One is the highest status and you currently need 3,600 Status Credits to reach this) will be approved ahead of those with a lower Qantas Status.
With this in mind, Australian Frequent Flyer recommends redeeming your points for a seat in the cabin you want to travel in, if possible, rather than trying to upgrade your seat.
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Using points for Qantas flights
There are two main ways to buy flights with Qantas Points – Classic Flight Rewards and Points Plus Pay.
Classic Flight Rewards
Through Classic Flight Rewards, you pay a set number of points for a flight. The number of points required will vary depending on how far you are travelling and the cabin you choose (Economy, Premium Economy, Business or First Class) but it’s not influenced by the actual price of the fare.
For example, Qantas currently (at time of writing) sells Red e-Deal (Discount Economy) class return tickets from Melbourne to Sydney for about $300 ($150 each way) or 16,000 points (8,000 points each way) for an award ticket. This means your points are worth 1.8 cents each (not factoring in charges, taxes and fees).
By comparison, a Business class return ticket from Melbourne to Sydney comes in at about $1,962 or 36,800 points . This pumps up the value of your points to about 5.3 cents each (not including carrier charges, taxes and fees).
It’s important to keep in mind that award seats are subject to availability. This may be limited for long-haul international flights and premium cabins.
According to Point Hacks, it’s easiest to get an award seat when travelling with Qantas within the Asia-Pacific region (for example, flying to Singapore and Hong Kong) and it’s the most difficult to get a premium cabin award seat for flights to North and South America, Europe and South Africa (which are Qantas’ longest flights).
Points Plus Pay
The other way to redeem your points for flights is by using Points Plus Pay.
Points Plus Pay converts the normal price of a fare into Qantas Points. Because this is based on the commercial price of the seat, this is typically at a lower conversion rate compared with award bookings.
For example, using the Melbourne to Sydney example above, if you were to buy return Economy class tickets using Points Plus Pay, the lowest fare would cost you $300 or 49,744 points (24,872 points each way). This drops the value of your points down to just 0.6 cents each, which is significantly lower compared with the award option where your points are worth 1.8 cents each.
Using points for hotels
What are your Qantas Points worth if you use them to pay for hotel accommodation? At the time of writing Qantas is currently selling one night’s accommodation at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne from $358 or 43,144 points. This means one point is valued at about 0.83 cents.
Points seem to have a similar value whether the hotel is in Australia or overseas and regardless of whether it’s a three-, four- or five-star hotel. For example, to stay at the famous Beverly Hills Hotel, in California, Qantas currently (at the time of writing) charges from $2,257 per night or 251,912 points, so points are worth about 0.89 cents each.
Using points to shop at the Qantas Rewards Store
You can also use Qantas Points to buy products or gift vouchers via Qantas Marketplace. But according to Australian Frequent Flyer, in terms of points-to-dollar value, this is one of the worst ways to spend your points.
“In general, we do not recommend redeeming your Qantas points on the ground unless you never plan to fly anywhere!”
But it might be worth considering if your points are about to expire (they expire if you don’t earn or redeem at least one point every 18 months) or if you don’t intend on using your points for flights.
For example, through the Qantas store you can currently redeem 34,090 points for a Fitbit Luxe. If you buy this directly from Fitbit, it’ll cost you $199.95. This means your points are traded in at a rate of about 0.58 cents apiece.
Here’s what your Qantas Points are currently worth if spent on some other products:
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Qantas Rewards Store product | RRP | Points | $ Value Per Point |
---|---|---|---|
Breville the Toast Control 4 Slice Side by Side | $149.95 | 16,920 (sale price) | $0.0088 |
Dyson V15 Detect Absolute | $1,449 | 252,000 | $0.0057 |
Lego 42161 Lamborghini Huracan Tecnica | $84.99 | 15,660 | $0.0054 |
Source: Qantas Marketplace, prices as at 26 September 2023.
Compared to flights and upgrades, you also won’t get much value if you redeem your points for gift cards.
For example, Qantas sells $100 David Jones gift cards for 20,010 points, meaning your points are worth about 0.49 cents each. You can also get a $100 Bunnings gift card for 24,380 points, which drops your point purchasing power down to just 0.41 cents apiece.
Other ways to redeem your points
There are a number of other ways to redeem your points. For example, you can use your points to purchase or renew a Qantas Club Membership or to partly pay for Qantas Insurance premiums such as for Qantas health insurance and Qantas travel insurance.
Points can also be used for hire cars and to buy alcohol through Qantas Wine. But according to Australian Frequent Flyer, your points will only be worth an average of 0.6 cents if you redeem them this way.
How to earn more Qantas Points
If you’re keen to earn more Qantas Points, here are some tips that could help you top up your balance:
- If you currently have a credit card that earns Qantas Points, it can be a good idea to compare it with other cards on the market and see whether it’s offering you good value. Consider the earn rate and any sign-up bonuses against factors such as the interest rate and annual fee. Bear in mind that frequent flyer cards tend to have a higher interest rate and annual fee compared with other types of cards.
- You can also earn points by shopping with retailers through the Qantas Shopping website. Partner retailers include Apple, David Jones and Woolworths online. These points come on top of any points you earn from a points-earning credit card.
- Another option is to buy Qantas Points but keep in mind this may not be great value depending on what you intend to buy. Points can be bought in blocks of 1,000 up to 150,000 points. A Service Fee of A$35 will apply for Top-up Points purchased via the Frequent Flyer Service Centre.
There are several different ways to earn points with Qantas, including through a Woolworths Rewards Card or by using platforms such as Airbnb and Hello Fresh. If you’re after more tips to help your points go further, read our article on credit card point hacks.
Article originally written by Tamika Seeto, updated by Ann Lund
Cover image source: OlegRi/Shutterstock.com
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This article was reviewed by our Content Lead Ellie McLachlan before it was updated, as part of our fact-checking process.
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