How to earn frequent flyer points on your Christmas Champagne

When stocking your cellar with Champagne this Christmas, you could also rake in a stack of Qantas or Virgin Australia frequent flyer points.

You can earn up to three frequent flyer points per dollar or even 7,500 points per bottle under a nifty bonus points deal – and pick up some status credits too.

Whether your tastes (and budget) stretch to vintage Dom Perignon or a more humble non-vintage drop, here’s how you can maximise your frequent flyer points and status credits on Champagne purchases this Christmas.

Earning Qantas frequent flyer points on Champagne

Order your Christmas fizz through Qantas’ own epiQure site and collect one Qantas Point per dollar spent, or three Qantas Points per dollar if you’re a Platinum One flyer or you purchase an ‘epiQure Premium’ membership, priced at $99/year.

Some wines also come with a generous serving of bonus points. For instance, buy a bottle of the Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blanc 2006 (as served in Qantas first class) for $290 and you’ll collect 7,500 bonus points per bottle: buy six and that’s a cool 45,000 Qantas Points.

Those points are on top of what you’d normally earn per dollar spent – either one or three points, as above – and as with all Champagne sellers, pay using a points-earning credit card for another serve of frequent flyer points on your Christmas bubbles.

You can also scoop up Qantas Points at BWS via the Woolworths Rewards program, earning one Woolworths Point per dollar spent, equal to 0.435 Qantas Points. Spend $100 and you’ll get the equivalent of 43 Qantas Points, plus any points earned via your credit card.

Earning Virgin Australia Velocity frequent flyer points on Champagne

Virgin Australia Velocity members can instead earn points on Champagne with First Choice Liquor, Laithwaite’s Wine People, Liquorland and also Virgin Wines.

Ordering through Laithwaite’s Wine People and Virgin Wines returns an easy three Velocity points per dollar spent, while scanning your Flybuys card – not your Velocity card – at Liquorland and First Choice Liquor promises one Flybuys point per dollar, equal to 0.435 Velocity points.

Earning Virgin Australia Velocity status credits on Champagne

In addition to frequent flyer points, Liquorland and First Choice Liquor also churn out Virgin Australia status credits too, helping you gain or retain Silver, Gold and Platinum frequent flyer status.

You’d normally earn one status credit per $100 spent (up to 10 status credits per month), but until December 31, that’s doubled to two status credits per $100 (capped at 20 status credits for the month).

For instance, purchase four bottles of Dom Perignon Vintage 2006 for $1,000 ($250ea) at First Choice Liquor and you’d earn 1,000 Flybuys points – equal to 435 Velocity points – plus 20 status credits: the equivalent of a return flight between Sydney and Melbourne, without leaving the ground.

Also read: Emirates, Moet & Chandon open business class 'Champagne lounge'

Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.