How to earn Qantas status credits on flights booked with points

Members of Qantas Points Club can earn status credits across a raft of flights, when booking their trip using Qantas Points.

Previously, only flights purchased with actual money have given status as a reward: but this privilege now extends to eligible Qantas Classic Reward flight bookings, when the traveller is a Points Club member at the time they fly.

When planning your next trip – whenever that may be – here’s how to earn those all-important status credits, when using your Qantas Points to book flights.

How to qualify for Qantas Points Club

Unlike Qantas Club, an airport lounge program for which membership can be bought, Qantas Points Club must be earned.

Qantas Frequent Flyer members who notch up 150,000 eligible Qantas Points during their 12-month membership year get the standard Qantas Points Club tier, while those earning 350,000 eligible Qantas Points (or more) over the same period get Qantas Points Club Plus.

‘Eligible’ Qantas Points are primarily those earned on the ground, including from sources such as credit cards, hotels, car hire, BP fuel, Woolworths supermarkets, and so on. Up to 125,000 Qantas Points are counted per earning transaction.

A maximum of 20,000 Qantas Points earned from flying can also contribute to your Qantas Points Club tally each year.

Points received via family transfers, Qantas Business Rewards transfers, Qantas 'loyalty bonuses' and the like don't count towards your tally, although purchases of top-up Qantas Points do count in full, including if the number of points purchased exceeds 125,000 in a single transaction.

Your Points Club membership year aligns with your Qantas Frequent Flyer membership year, and you can check how many eligible Qantas Points you’ve earned in your current membership year via the Qantas website:

You won’t begin earning status credits on Qantas Classic Reward flights until you’re at least an entry-level Points Club member, so if you’re close to that threshold and plan to take a reward flight, it could be worth making the effort to earn those final few points before that journey begins.

Also read: Your guide to Qantas Points Club

Which reward flights can you earn status credits on?

Booked your reward flight using Qantas Points? As a Points Club member, you’ll be able to earn status credits when you travel, if you’ve booked that trip on a QF flight number.

For the most part, QF-coded flights booked using points are those operated by Qantas itself: that is, aboard an aircraft with a kangaroo on the tail.

Although Qantas normally sells codeshare flights on airlines like Emirates and Fiji Airways to full fare-paying passengers, these cannot normally be booked using Qantas Points on a QF flight number.

Instead, using Qantas Points to book Emirates flights normally finds an EK flight number on your ticket; or with Fiji Airways, an FJ flight number – neither of which would deliver status credits on points-based bookings, when borders re-open.

However, in a small number of cases, it is possible to book a Qantas (QF) flight number on a partner airline when using points, which qualifies for status credits.

Prior to Australia's current travel restrictions, some of those options included Aircalin between Australia and New Caledonia (Noumea); LATAM flights between Australia, New Zealand and Santiago; Solomon Airlines flights between Australia and Honiara; Air Tahiti Nui flights between Auckland and Tahiti, and more.

These bookings, like most others, can be made via the Qantas website – but of course, Australia's travel ban and inbound passenger caps will hamper these opportunities in the short term.

Reward flights booked on Jetstar are not eligible for status credits.

Earning status credits on domestic reward flights

Status credit earning rates on points-based reward flight bookings differ from paid tickets: but on domestic flights, these are still calculated based on the distance flown.

Here’s how many status credits you could earn per one-way flight, when travelling on a Classic Reward booking as a Qantas Points Club member (as travel restrictions permit):

For example, take a return business class trip from Brisbane to Darwin and you’d bring home 72 status credits, when your flight was booked using Qantas Points.

Earning status credits on international reward flights in South West Pacific

Although Qantas' international network remains at a standstill, when international flights return across the South West Pacific, you'll again be able to earn status credits on Classic Reward bookings.

This includes 'travel bubble' routes between Australia and New Zealand, when that bubble resumes.

Here's how many status credits you could earn per one-way flight as a Qantas Points Club member, when travelling on a QF flight code booked using points.

First class and premium economy are not available on all routes – in fact, first class won't resume until Qantas' A380s return to the skies – although many Qantas aircraft are equipped with business class and economy only.

Earning status credits on long-distance international reward flights

If places like Africa, The Americas or London form part of your future travel plans, here’s how many status credits you could earn per one-way flight (as a Qantas Points Club member on a points-based booking), when these routes resume:

These earning rates include journeys with stopovers but which continue as a single flight number, such as QF11 from Sydney to New York via Los Angeles, on which a business class passenger would normally be able to earn 112 status credits, one way.

Where there’s a change in flight number en route, such as when travelling from Melbourne to Los Angeles aboard QF93 and connecting onward to New York aboard QF11, each flight is instead calculated separately.

When those flights do indeed resume, a business class passenger would earn 72 status credits for the Melbourne-Los Angeles leg, plus 32 status credits for the Qantas-operated Los Angeles-New York flight, for a total of 104 status credits.

To see how many status credits you could earn on routes not covered above, check here on the Qantas website.

What do these status credits count towards?

Status credits earned by Qantas Points Club members taking eligible reward flights contribute towards the following tallies:

• Retaining an existing frequent flyer tier, such as Qantas Silver.
• Moving up to the next frequent flyer tier, such as from Silver to Gold.
• Lifetime status, such as to reach Qantas Lifetime Silver, Lifetime Gold or Lifetime Platinum.
• Qantas Loyalty Bonus, offering a further reward of 8,000 Qantas Points or 50 status credits, for every 500 status credits earned on Qantas or Jetstar flight numbers per membership year (capped at 32,000 Qantas Points or 200 bonus status credits per year).
• Qantas Platinum Bonus Reward, where members can choose between Qantas Gold membership for a friend or 50,000 bonus Qantas Points, after earning 2,400 status credits in one membership year from Qantas and Jetstar flights.
• Qantas Platinum One Bonuses, delivering 75,000 bonus Qantas Points when you earn 5,000 status credits on Qantas and Jetstar flight numbers in a single membership year, and 100,000 bonus Qantas Points when you reach 7,000 status credits in the same year from Qantas and Jetstar flights.

Through Points Club, Points Club Plus members have the added ability to ‘roll over’ up to 100 of the status credits they’ve already earned into their next membership year, as an aid towards their future frequent flyer status.

As these status credits have already been earned, they are not counted a second time towards things like the member’s lifetime status tally, the Qantas Loyalty Bonus, or the Platinum and Platinum One bonuses.

However, they can be used to help retain an existing tier or move up to the next tier, except for Qantas Platinum One, to which ‘rolled over’ status credits do not contribute, either for earning or retaining Platinum One status.

Platinum One members can still rely on status credits earned from eligible reward flights to retain their tier in the year those status credits were originally earned: ditto Platinum members hoping to move up to Platinum One.

Also read: When will Qantas international flights resume?

Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.