Some Qantas frequent flyers can now get Gold status with one flight

Remember that Qantas status match which the airline rolled out across November-December last year, targetting frequent flyers on 16 competing airlines – among them Virgin Australia, Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand?

Dubbed the Qantas Status Fast Track, this status challenge offered 90 days of key Qantas Gold perks such as lounge access and extra checked baggage, with the opportunity to lock in a full year of Qantas Gold status by earning just 100 status credits within that time.

(That represented a significant discount against the usual 700 status credits required to reach the Gold tier.)

Travellers who took advantage of this Qantas Gold status challenge, but have yet to take the flights and squirrel those 100 status credits away, can now get Gold with just 50 status credits – but they'll need to move fast. Very fast.

The key is Qantas' current Double Status Credits promotion, which the airline kicked off on March 25 for all domestic Qantas flights.

Although the fine print under the DSC deal noted that "bonus Status Credits earned from this offer do not count towards ... Status Accelerator/Challenge earn requirements", Qantas is now emailing successful applicants who registered for the Qantas Status Fast Track to advise that they do indeed qualify under for the Double Status Credits promotion.

This means that Gold is within your grasp for just 50 status credits.

That's just flight in business class on the longer domestic routes such as cross-country, Sydney-Cairns or Melbourne-Cairns (we suggest those will be most comfortable on Qantas' twin-aisle Airbus A330s instead of the smaller Boeing 737s), or a return flight in flexible economy on those same routes.

Check the online Qantas Points & Status Credits Calculator to determine the status credits haul on other fare types on other routes.

However, you don't want to dally: the Double Status Credits promotion ends at 11.59pm (EST) on March 30, so bookings ust be made by then, although the eligible travel can stretch months ahead until the end of the Qantas Status Fast Track challenge qualification period.

Also read: Qantas app will soon include upgrade alerts within hours of a flight

Power up your Qantas Points balance with our roundup of Australia's best Qantas Frequent Flyer credit card sign-up offers, beginning at a hefty 150,000 points

David Flynn

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.