American Express launches new Qantas Business Rewards charge card

American Express’ new AMEX Qantas Business Rewards Card allows businesses with a turnover of up to $10 million per year to earn frequent flyer points on their everyday spending: credited directly to the company’s Qantas Business Rewards (QBR) account every month.

The card replaces the previous, gold-coloured American Express Qantas Business Card for new applicants, and funnels those Qantas Business Rewards points into personal Qantas Frequent Flyer points when transferred to any QFF account of the business owner’s choosing.

This can be to reward an employee, thank a client, reduce business travel costs, or for the owner to use for themselves (although you'd be wise to speak with your accountant about any tax implications).

On most transactions, businesses will earn 1.25 Qantas Points per dollar spent, uncapped, while purchases made directly with Qantas, such as flight bookings and Qantas Club membership, earning a higher two Qantas Points per dollar spent.

Utility, insurance and government transactions – including payments to the ATO – instead fetch 0.5 Qantas Points per dollar spent: although eligible new AMEX customers who apply and are approved by March 29 2018 can also unlock 100,000 bonus Qantas Points when spending $3,000 in the first two months.

Complimentary Qantas Business Rewards membership is also included for businesses that aren’t already enrolled, which itself provides perks like discounts of up to 8% on eligible Qantas airfares when travelling on business, and 10% off Qantas Club lounge memberships.

The card carries a $450 annual fee, but business owners can add up to 99 supplementary cards onto the account at no extra charge – essentially reducing the annual ‘cost per card’ to just $4.50 at the top end of the scale, and allowing businesses to maximise their points, regardless of which employee makes each purchase.

No pre-set spending limit also makes things like hotel pre-authorisations a non-issue (where an amount of ‘available credit’ is reserved for use by the property upon check-in), provided you pay the full closing balance every month (after enjoying up to 51 interest-free days) and spend within the business’ means.

Also part of the parcel: triple Qantas Business Rewards points on Qantas flights – being three times as many points as a business would normally earn after one of its employees takes a flight – and two Qantas Club lounge invitations each year after the business’ first spend with Qantas (given per account, not per supplementary card).

Domestic and international travel insurance is also included for the primary cardholder, their partner and dependents, and for supplementary card members: so issuing a card to your employees could save the business money on its usual travel insurance costs.

Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.