Buy Qantas Points with up to 50% bonus: Is it worth it?

When it comes to growing a Qantas Frequent Flyer balance, purchasing Qantas Points outright isn’t always worthwhile.

However, in some circumstances – including a Qantas Points top-up sale, running now – buying Qantas Points can make sense. This guide delves into how to buy Qantas Points, and more importantly, helps you assess whether this strategy could ever be worth pursuing

Buy Qantas Points with up to 50% bonus – October 2023

For a limited time, Qantas Frequent Flyer members who purchase Qantas Points via ‘top up’ will receive a sizeable bonus. The offer is as follows:

• Receive 25% more points when you purchase 10,000 to 29,000 Top-up Points
• Receive 50% more points when you purchase 30,000 to 150,000 Top-up Points.

You’ll need to be quick to take advantage of this offer, as it ends on 13 October 2023.

A step-by-step guide to buying top-up Qantas Points

First things first, if you’ve decided that purchasing top-up Qantas Points meets your needs, it’s an easy process to complete the transaction in four simple steps:

• Visit the top-up points page on Qantas website
• Log in to your Qantas Frequent Flyer account
• Select how many Qantas Points you would like to buy
• Pay using Visa, Mastercard or American Express

Alternatively, members can buy top-up points by calling the Qantas Service Centre, but note that a $35 service fee applies for Qantas Points purchased via phone.

Not a member? Here’s how to join Qantas Frequent Flyer for free (normally $99.50!)

How much does it normally cost to buy Qantas Points?

Qantas Points purchases are charged a fee on a sliding scale.

Outside of Qantas Points sales, standard top-up purchases start at $56AUD for 1,000 Qantas Points, up to $3,999 for the maximum 150,000 Qantas Points. The table below sets out the cost of Qantas Points in 30,000 point increments:

As can be seen, the larger the quantity of Qantas Points that are bought in one transaction, the cheaper the effective cost is per Qantas Point.

A purchase of 1,000 Qantas Points requires an outlay of a whopping 5.6 cents per point while purchasing the maximum 150,000 Qantas Points results in a purchase price of 2.66 cents per point – less than half the cost.

It’s possible to view the current costs for purchasing Qantas Points by logging into Qantas Frequent Flyer and navigating to the top-up Qantas Points page. Simply select the desired quantity of Qantas Points to view the cost.

The cost of Qantas Points has been known to fluctuate and is subject to change at any time without notice.

Is buying Qantas Points worth it?

In short, usually not! This is due to the highly prohibitive cost of purchasing Qantas Points when compared to other points-earning opportunities.

That said, it could make sense to buy a small number of Qantas Points if you have a specific redemption in mind that is worth more to you than the cost of purchasing the points.

Additionally, the top-up points feature could be useful for those seeking to boost your Qantas Frequent Flyer balance fast.

Let’s say you find availability for a particularly lucrative redemption (for example, a long-haul first class Classic Reward flight that offers 5 cents or more value per Qantas Point). In this instance, if you calculate that you don’t hold enough points to book the redemption outright, it could make sense to purchase the maximum 150,000 Qantas Points at 2.6 cents per piece.

Either way, before purchasing top-up points, it’s important to conduct the in-depth research required to determine the market cost of the redemption in question. How much would it cost to pay for the redemption outright? Does it warrant purchasing the points?

If considering a flight redemption, compare the costs of paying the full fare for the flight, and take into consideration the extra benefits of accumulating more points and status credits by doing so.

Buying Qantas Points with a promotion or sale

Occasionally, Qantas Frequent Flyer runs discounts or bonus offers when members purchase a certain number of top-up points. In the past, these ad hoc promotions have seen up to 40-60% bonus points on offer for purchases of at least 5,000 top-up points.

However, even with a promotion in play, buying top-up points won’t offer comparable value to other methods through which to acquire bonus Qantas Points.

Cheaper ways to buy Qantas Points

Now that we’ve looked at how to purchase Qantas Points directly, let’s look at the alternatives.

If you’re looking to boost your Qantas Frequent Flyer balance quickly, perhaps with a specific flight redemption in mind, it’s good to know there are a range of ways to obtain points more cheaply than purchasing direct, often with additional benefits attached. Here are some of our tips:

Earn Qantas Points via Qantas Wine

Rather than purchasing top-up points, Qantas Frequent Flyers can leverage bonus points offers when buying via Qantas Wine.

From time to time Qantas Wine may offer up to 20,000 bonus Qantas Points on wine purchases. However, at the time of writing, the most lucrative Qantas Wine promotion on offer is 10,000 bonus Qantas Points for a case of 12 wines costing $294. This means a cost of $1,764 would result in an outlay of 60,000 Qantas Points.

While buying a case (or six) of wine for bonus points equates to roughly the same cost as top-up points purchases, getting the same number of points for an almost identical cost plus a product (72 bottles of wine in this instance) is a better deal.

Of course, there’s additional value in the fact that the purchase will earn Qantas Points on each dollar spent.

Take up a Qantas Points earning credit card

Depending on your circumstances, a Qantas Points-earning credit card could unlock the ability to earn a pile of bonus Qantas Points.

Most cards will offer bonus points for an annual fee, and you’ll need to meet minimum spend and eligibility requirements. Selected Qantas-linked credit cards offer ongoing benefits, including the ability to earn Qantas Points for ongoing spend.

Signing up for a NAB Qantas Rewards Premium Credit Card, for example, will currently earn 70,000 Qantas Points for a $250 annual fee (reduced to $150 for the first year) when cardholders spend $2,000 on everyday purchases in the first 60 days.

Bear in mind that sign-on bonuses from rewards credit cards can take up to three months to credit. This can be a problem for those chasing a time-specific Qantas Frequent Flyer redemption.

Comparison: Buying Qantas Points vs other earning options

As we’ve highlighted above, purchasing Qantas Points usually represents a poorer value proposition than other points-earning avenues. What’s more, the top-up points function on the Qantas website lacks the appeal of any side benefits.

The table below compares the cost of 60,000 Qantas Points across three different activities:

When does it make sense to buy Qantas Points?

Bearing in mind that it can take months for points for bonus points promotions to reach a frequent flyer account, purchasing top-up points should only be considered when there is no other practical way of obtaining points from other sources quickly.

Paying for points tends to make the most sense when a top-up is required to earn a high-value redemption, such as a Classic Flight Reward. In this case, the top-up points function is serving the purpose of getting a frequent flyer balance over the line, rather than accounting (and therefore paying) for a large portion of the points required to earn a reward.

Of course, purchasing points to ‘top up’ a Qantas Frequent Flyer account balance does not necessarily mean that you’ll secure the desired reward. There are no guarantees, particularly in regards to upgrades, which is something worth considering before you decide to buy.

Buying Qantas Points: digging into the fine print

While purchasing top-up Qantas Points seldom makes sense, there are some further limitations to consider if you do wish to buy points.

Qantas Frequent Flyers must be members for 30 days before they can buy top-up points. It’s best to be sure before taking the top-up plunge, as once purchased, Qantas Points cannot be refunded.

Top-up points can be purchased in blocks of 1,000 (from a minimum of 1,000 to a maximum of 150,000 points) up to four times per 12-month period, per member. That means a Qantas Frequent Flyer member could theoretically purchase a maximum of 600,000 for a cost of almost $16,000.

A full list of Qantas’ top-up points terms and conditions can be found here.

Can I buy Qantas Points from other people?

No. Aside from the Family Transfer functionality, Qantas Frequent Flyer members cannot obtain points from other people. Selling Qantas Points goes against the Qantas Frequent Flyer terms and conditions, and gives grounds for Qantas to suspend a membership, which could of course be a dire waste of points.

A quick search of forums including OzBargain and Reddit shows that Qantas actively shuts down accounts it suspects of violating the program terms, so it isn’t worth the risk.

Conclusion

Buying Qantas Points for a quick and easy boost to a frequent flyer balance can sound appealing. However, before deciding to purchase Qantas Points from the Qantas website, you should be sure that the value of the reward you seek is worth more to you than the cost of buying top-up points.

FAQ – Buy Qantas Points

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