Last chance: pocket 100,000 bonus points from American Express

Want to earn a cool 100,000 bonus Qantas frequent flyer points or 100,000 Membership Rewards points from American Express? Then you’ll need to act fast, with both these offers running only until April 9.

With Qantas, that’s enough points for a return upgrade from economy to business class on flights between South East Asia and Australia’s east coast, while through Membership Rewards, those points translate into 75,000 frequent flyer points with Virgin Australia Velocity, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer and more.

Here’s what you need to know about each offer before you miss out!

100,000 bonus Qantas Points: Qantas AMEX Ultimate Card

Simply apply before April 9 2018 as a new American Express customer and spend $3,000 on purchases within the first three months to earn your bounty of 100,000 Qantas Points from the Qantas American Express Ultimate Card.

There’s an annual fee to pay of $450, but that’s offset by a $450 Qantas Travel Credit every year to spend on Qantas flights – so if you’d have spent that much on Qantas bookings anyway throughout the year, making those bookings through AMEX instead practically renders the card ‘free’.

Also included as part of the bundle: two Qantas Club lounge invitations plus two American Express Australia lounge visits each year, a complimentary Premium membership to Qantas’ epiQure wine club and a solid earning rate of 1.5 Qantas Points per $1 spent on most everyday purchases, uncapped.

There’s a minimum household income requirement of $65,000 per year to apply for the card, so if you’re living with a partner or spouse and you’re earning at least $32,500 each, you may be able to qualify even if your own personal income isn’t above the $65k threshold: and of course, there’s no extra fee to add up to four supplementary cardholders onto the account.

As of April 10 2018, this offer has been reduced to 55,000 bonus Qantas Points.

100,000 bonus Membership Rewards points: AMEX Explorer credit card

Prefer to earn frequent flyer points with airlines such as Virgin Australia, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Air New Zealand, Emirates, Etihad, Malaysia Airlines or Thai Airways? Then look to the American Express Explorer credit card instead for its own 100,000-point offer.

Served up as 100,000 Membership Rewards Gateway points, these are equal to 75,000 frequent flyer points with all the airlines above when converted at a 4:3 rate, and can be yours when applying before April 9 and spending $3,000 on purchases within the first three months.

In a similar fashion to the Qantas AMEX Ultimate Card, the Explorer card’s annual fee of $395 is offset by a yearly $400 Travel Credit, which can be spent on flights, hotels or car hire via the American Express website, and again makes the card pay for itself.

On top of that, you can earn the equivalent of 1.5 frequent flyer points per dollar spent with the airlines above through the same Membership Rewards program, with two yearly visits to American Express’ Australian lounges each year too, now found in both Sydney and Melbourne.

This card also has a minimum pre-tax income requirement of $65,000 to apply, but again, that’s household income, which makes the card more accessible to working couples.

As of April 10 2018, this offer has been reduced to 50,000 Membership Rewards Gateway points, equal to 37,500 airline frequent flyer points.

Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.