Qantas boosts points, status on American Airlines flights

Qantas Frequent Flyer members will now earn more status credits – and in many cases, more Qantas Points too – on many American Airlines flights, as well as on Qantas flights booked under an AA codeshare flight number.

On some journeys, passengers will now pocket more than four times as many status credits than before when booked onto the same fares, joining substantial boosts to the number of Qantas Points awarded on flights between Australia and the United States.

These changes, effective for flights taken from October 1 2019, follow the recent approval of the Qantas/American Airlines Joint Venture by US authorities, and largely reverse the cuts Qantas made to AA earning rates back in 2017, when that approval had not yet been gained.

Read: Qantas cuts points, status credits on American Airlines

Flights booked directly with Qantas on QF flight numbers – including those operated by American Airlines – are unchanged: but if your travels have you booked with American Airlines on an AA flight number, or a Qantas flight booked under an AA code, here are the improvements you’ll now enjoy.

Some American Airlines fares boosted to a higher Qantas Frequent Flyer ‘category’

When it comes to partner airlines, Qantas matches each type of airfare with one of six specific Qantas Frequent Flyer earning categories: Discount Economy, Economy, Flexible Economy, Premium Economy, Business and First.

Stepping up from one category to the next means a flight will earn more Qantas Points and more status credits: Flexible Economy earns more than Economy, and Economy earns more than Discount Economy, for example.

As part of these changes, several American Airlines fare types have been bumped into a higher earning category, as follows:

It’s these travellers that will notice the most significant increases on the flights covered below, as not only are these tickets being nudged into the next-highest earning category: on many flights, that higher category is getting its own boost to the number of Qantas Points and status credits provided, which sends those earning rates soaring even higher.

Earn more Qantas Points, status credits on Australia-USA flights

Flights from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to US west coast cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco are now more rewarding, again covering American Airlines’ own Sydney-Los Angeles route, along with Qantas flights booked through on an AA flight number.

Here’s how those changes roll out, based on departure date:

As such, all passengers – regardless of fare type and seat number – can now expect to earn at least twice as many status credits on these flights, with even bigger wins for those booking a fare type that has also been realigned with a higher earning category.

For example, with H class being amended from Economy to Flexible Economy (detailed further above), these passengers have gone from earning 3,750 Qantas Points and 20 status credits on a typical Australia-LAX flight (at the former Economy earn rate) to a haul of 9,000 Qantas Points plus a whopping 90 status credits on the same, being the new Flexible Economy earn rate.

That’s almost three times as many Qantas Points and more than four times as many status credits from the same fare on the same flight.

Similar gains can be found across the board when booking Qantas flights from Sydney to New York (on one flight number) and from Sydney to Dallas/Fort Worth as an American Airlines (AA) codeshare.

Again, there’s no change to the number of Qantas Points or status credits earned when travelling on Qantas (QF) flight numbers, either on flights operated by Qantas or a partner airline such as American.

Qantas status credits doubled on short US domestic flights

On short US flights of 400 miles or less – including popular routes like Los Angeles to San Francisco and New York to Washington, D.C. – there’s no change to the number of Qantas Points earned in each fare category, although status credits have been doubled across the board, as below:

It’s worth keeping in mind that although American Airlines brands its better-than-economy cabin as “first class” rather than “business class” on these domestic routes, these flights earn Qantas Points and status credits at Business rates.

Flights measuring slightly longer – between 401 and 750 miles, such as Dallas/Fort Worth to Atlanta – are instead largely unchanged, except that passengers booked on those Business fares will earn 40 status credits per flight versus 30 previously.

Earn more Qantas status credits on longer US domestic routes

Flagship east-west flights such as Los Angeles to New York are also in for a status credit increase, as follows:

Beyond the most popular east-west runs, this also includes flights between other cities categorised by Qantas as “West Coast USA/Canada” and “East Coast USA/Canada”.

“West Coast USA/Canada” includes Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver, while “East Coast USA/Canada” covers Boston, Charlotte, Miami, New York, Orlando, Toronto and Washington, D.C. – so a flight from San Francisco to Miami, for example, falls under the table above.

There’s no change to most other US domestic routes, which will continue earning Qantas Points and status credits at the same rates, except for flights between Dallas and both New York and Boston, which Qantas is improving as follows:

Following the trend, the number of status credits offered on these flights doubles in most cases, with passengers booked on Economy fares noticing a higher increase in reflection of the higher price paid for these tickets versus Discount Economy.

Also in the news: Woolworths boosts supermarket Qantas Points

Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.