Qantas Loyalty Bonus: should you choose points or status?

Free Qantas Points or free status credits: what’s not to like? Welcome to the Qantas Loyalty Bonus, which rewards frequent flyers with 8,000 Qantas Points or 50 status credits.

No, you can’t have both – but which option you choose depends on your own goals.

How to earn the Qantas Loyalty Bonus

As a refresher, the Qantas Loyalty Bonus kicks in for every 500 status credits earned on Qantas and Jetstar flights during your Qantas Frequent Flyer membership year.

The Qantas Loyalty Bonus doesn’t apply to status credits earned on partner airlines such as Emirates or any Oneworld member airlines.

Every time you cross the 500 status credit milestone, Qantas will send you an email prompting you to choose if you’d like to take your loyalty bonus as 8,000 Qantas Points or 50 status credits.

Choosing your Qantas Loyalty Bonus

There’s no rush to do make that ‘points vs status credits’ decision straight away – you’ll have three months to do so (with the actual choice made through your QFF account page).

So should you choose points or status credits? Here’s our expert advice.

If you’re likely to fall well short of earning enough status credits to gain or retain Gold or Platinum  status during your membership year, then those 50 status credits really won’t make much of a difference.

In that case, you should take your Qantas Loyalty Bonus as 8,000 Qantas Points and boost your balance towards an upgrade or a free flight.

On the other hand, if your upcoming travel plans will see you come close to the Gold, Platinum or Platinum One threshold, those extra 50 status credits from each loyalty bonus could be all it takes to get you across the line.

Five Qantas Loyalty Bonus tips and tricks

1. The Qantas Loyalty Bonus isn’t triggered by extra status credits earned during a Qantas double status credits promotion.

2. Status credits earned via the loyalty bonus don’t contribute to your overall tally for reaching Qantas Platinum One status.

3. There’s a limit of 200 loyalty bonus status credits (that is, four x 50 status credit bonuses) per membership year.

4. If you don’t choose your loyalty bonus within the three month notice period following that initial email from Qantas, the airline will automatically assign you the 8,000 Qantas Points – so mark your diary or calendar and leave yourself enough time to consider if you’d rather take the status credits.

5. If you trigger a loyalty bonus near the end of your membership year and already have sufficient status credits for Gold or Platinum, you may want to delay choosing your bonus until your new membership year kicks in.

This lets you use those 50 extra status credits to kick-start your run for another year of status rather than getting zero benefit by ‘wasting’ 50 status credits when you’ve already achieved Gold or Platinum.