Best Credit Cards for Qantas Frequent Flyer Points in 2023

With up to 150,000 bonus Qantas Points to be had from a single application, this collection of top Qantas Frequent Flyer credit card deals give you a great opportunity to stock up on points while looking forward to your next trip.

Whether you're hunting for a new Visa, Mastercard or American Express card to boost your frequent flyer balance, here are this month's top public, personal card sign-up deals for the best Qantas cards from American Express, ANZ, Bank of Melbourne, BankSA, Citi, Commonwealth Bank, NAB, Qantas Money, St.George and Westpac. 

15 best Qantas Frequent Flyer credit card sign-up offers for 2023

1. Qantas Premier Titanium Mastercard

Sign-up Bonus: Apply and spend $5,000 within 90 days of approval to earn 150,000 bonus Qantas Points.

Rewards: Earn 1.25 Qantas Points per $1 spent in Australia up to $12,500 per month, lowering to 0.5/$1 thereafter until the next statement period. Plus, an extra two Qantas Points per $1 spent on eligible Qantas charges. International spend provides a flat earn rate of two Qantas Points per A$1. 

Annual Fee: $1,200, plus $100 per year per additional cardholder (up to four additional cards).

2. NAB Qantas Rewards Signature Card

Sign-up Bonus: Begin with 90,000 bonus Qantas Points when you apply and spend $3,000 within the first 60 days, plus 30,000 bonus Qantas Points when you keep your card for over 12 months, for up to 120,000 bonus Qantas Points in total. Just note, NAB warns that this offer may end at any time.

Rewards: Take home one Qantas Point per $1 spent up to $5,000 per month, and 0.5 Qantas Points per $1 on monthly spends of $5,001-$20,000. No points are awarded on monthly spends exceeding $20,000, or on ATO payments at any time.

Annual Fee: $295 in the first year, and $395 every year thereafter: including on the first card anniversary, which is payable in order to receive the second part of your sign-up bonus. You also get a free Qantas Frequent Flyer membership, which means a saving of $99.50 if you are not already a member.

3. Westpac Altitude Qantas Black Mastercard

Sign-up Bonus: Westpac's Altitude Black Mastercard comes with up to 120,000 bonus Qantas Points for eligible new customers who apply, select Altitude Qantas as their rewards option and meet the spending requirements.

Initially, you'll get 90,000 bonus Qantas Points when you apply and spend $6,000 or more on eligible purchases within 120 days of new card approval. Then, a further 30,000 bonus Qantas Points after making the first eligible purchase in the second year of your card account being active.

Rewards: Eligible purchases generate 0.75 Qantas Points per $1 spent, excluding ATO payments. From 1 January 2022, earn 0.75 Qantas Points per $1 up to a maximum of $250,000 spent on eligible purchases annually. Bonus Qantas Points not included in the cap.

Annual Fee: A $250 card fee applies, plus the bank's $50/year Qantas Rewards fee to earn Qantas Points, although there's no extra charge for an additional cardholder.

4. ANZ Frequent Flyer Black

Sign-up Bonus: Pocket 110,000 bonus Qantas Points and $255 back to your new card when you apply and spend $5,000 on eligible purchases in the first three months from approval.

Rewards: You can earn one Qantas Point per $1 spent on everyday purchases up to and including $7,500 per month, and 0.5/$1 thereafter. Plus, one bonus Qantas Point per $1 spent on selected Qantas products and services in Australia (uncapped).

Annual Fee: $425, although taking into account the $255 statement credit in the first year, the 'cost' of the annual fee drops to $170 in the first year. The full $425 annual fee applies from year two. A $65/year fee also applies per additional cardholder.

5. Citi Prestige Qantas Card

Sign-up Bonus: Apply and spend $7,500 on the Citi Prestige Qantas Mastercard within 60 days of approval to secure a solid 100,000 bonus Qantas Points.

Rewards: You can earn 1.5 Qantas Points per $1 spent on international transactions as well as purchases made in Australia directly with major airlines, hotel chains and restaurants, all uncapped. You can also earn 1 Qantas Point per $1 spent at major Australian supermarkets, petrol outlets and national retailers: also uncapped. Everywhere else, the earn rate is 0.5 Qantas Points per $1 spent (uncapped), except on government transactions where no points are earned.

This Citi Prestige Qantas Mastercard also offers a Linked Diners Club Card as an optional add-on, serving up 1 Qantas Point per $1 spent on eligible transactions. However, only spends on the Mastercard count towards the $7,500 tally to unlock the bonus points offer.

Annual Fee: $749, with no additional cardholder fee (up to 4 additional cardholders), and with no added fee for the Linked Diners Club Card.

6. Citi Premier Qantas Mastercard

Sign-up Bonus: New customers who apply and spend $6,000 in the first 90 days from approval on the Citi Premier Qantas Mastercard can receive 100,000 bonus Qantas Points.

Rewards: On eligible Mastercard spend, earn 1 Qantas Point per $1 charged overseas, and in Australia when shopping online. All other eligible transactions within Australia earn 0.5 Qantas Points per dollar spent. A cap of 100,000 Qantas Points applies per 12 month period.

Separately, the optional Linked Diners Club Card generates a flat 1 Qantas Point per dollar spent on eligible purchases at home and abroad, without capping. As with Citi's other cards, points aren't earned on government and government-related transactions.

Annual Fee: $350 in the first year, and $175 in each subsequent year if you spend $48,000 on eligible purchases or cash advances in the previous year – otherwise $350. The Linked Diners Club Card is available at no extra charge.

7. St. George Amplify Signature Visa with Qantas Points

Sign-up Bonus: Apply for the Amplify Signature with Qantas Points card and spend $6,000 on eligible purchases within 90 days of card approval to earn 90,000 bonus Qantas Points.

Rewards: You'll take home 0.75 Qantas Points per $1 spent on eligible purchases up to $250,000 per year – plus a 10% 'birthday bonus' awarded in the month of your special day – taking that to 0.825 Qantas Points per $1 spent. 

Bank disclaimer: Eligible purchases do not include interest, fees and charges, cash or ATM cash advances, cash equivalent transactions, gambling transactions, a purchase from or payment to a local, state or federal government or government related agency, BPAY or similar transactions (such as Post Billpay), refunds and balance transfers debited to the card account.

Annual Fee: $279 card fee, with no additional cardholder fee.

This same bonus points offer is also available on the near-identical Bank of Melbourne Amplify Signature Visa with Qantas Points and the BankSA Amplify Signature Visa with Qantas Points credit cards.

8. Qantas Premier Platinum Mastercard

Sign-up Bonus: Eligible new Qantas Premier Platinum Mastercard customers could earn 80,000 bonus Qantas Points when applying and spending $3,000 or more on eligible purchases within three months of card approval.

Rewards: Earn 1 Qantas Point per $1 spent in Australian dollars up to $10,000 per month, reducing to 0.5/$1 thereafter – except on government transactions which earn no points. Collect one bonus Qantas Point per dollar spent on selected Qantas products and services in Australia, over and above the applicable 'everyday' earning rate. All international transactions provide 1.5 Qantas Points per $1 spent, uncapped.

Annual Fee: $249 for the first year, reverting to $299 p.a. thereafter. A $50/year charge also applies when having an additional cardholder on the account.

9. AMEX Platinum Charge Card

Sign-up Bonus: Start with 150,000 bonus Membership Rewards points when you apply, are approved and spend a minimum of $5,000 within the first three months.

As AMEX Platinum Charge Card holders can convert Membership Rewards points into Qantas Points at a 2:1 rate, that's a total reward worth 75,000 bonus Qantas Points.

Rewards: Most purchases earn 2.25 Membership Rewards points per dollar spent, being 1.125 Qantas Points. Except, that is, for government payments, which earn one Membership Rewards point per dollar spent: 0.5 Qantas Points.

Annual Fee: There's a hefty $1,450 annual fee, although the points you can earn are uncapped, and the card offers an extensive range of travel benefits including a yearly $450 Travel Credit, unlimited airport lounge access, complimentary hotel status and more.

10. ANZ Frequent Flyer Platinum

Sign-up Bonus: Apply and you could take home 70,000 bonus Qantas Points plus $100 back to your card when you spend $2,500 on eligible purchases in the first three months from approval.

Rewards: You can also earn 0.75 Qantas Points per $1 spent on eligible purchases up to and including $3,000 per monthly statement period, reverting to 0.5 Qantas Points per $1 spent thereafter. Plus, one bonus Qantas Point per dollar spent on selected Qantas products and services.

Annual Fee: $295, but with the $100 cashback offer for eligible new customers, the net cost is reduced to $195 in year one. A $65 fee applies per additional cardholder.

11. NAB Qantas Rewards Premium Credit Card

Sign-up Bonus: Earn an easy 70,000 bonus Qantas Points when you apply and spend $2,000 on everyday purchases within the first 60 days of opening your NAB Qantas Rewards Premium Card account.

Rewards: Earn 0.66 Qantas Points per $1 spent for the first $3,000 of everyday purchases each month, then 0.33 Qantas Points per $1 spent for the next $3,000 ($3,001-$6,000) of everyday purchases each month only. Plus, 1 bonus Qantas Point per $1 spent directly with Qantas.

Annual Fee: $150 in the first year, and $250 every year thereafter. There's no extra charge for an additional cardholder.

12. Westpac Altitude Qantas Platinum Mastercard

Sign-up Bonus: Apply for the Westpac Altitude Platinum Mastercard and spend $4,000 on eligible purchases within 90 days of card approval to earn 70,000 bonus Qantas Points.

Rewards: Earn 0.5 Qantas Points per $1 spent on everyday purchases. This excludes government spend such as ATO payments. From 1 January 2022, earn 0.5 Qantas Points per $1 up to a maximum of $100,000 spent on eligible purchases annually. Bonus Qantas Points not included in the cap.

Annual Fee: In the first year, get a discounted base card fee of $99 (plus a $50 annual Qantas Rewards fee). From the second year onwards, the card's normal $150 card fee applies (again plus the $50 annual Qantas Rewards fee). You can apply here.

13. Commonwealth Bank Ultimate Awards Mastercard

Eligible new Diamond Awards customers can earn 70,000 bonus Qantas Points when applying and spending $5,000 on eligible purchases within 90 days of card activation.

Just note, you'll need to select the bonus Qantas Points as your preferred deal upfront – as the alternative is 100,000 CBA Awards points, which doesn't stretch quite as far.

Rewards: Choose Qantas Frequent Flyer Direct and earn 1.2 Qantas Points per $1 spent on international transactions; 0.8 Qantas Points per $1 spent at major supermarkets, department stores and petrol stations; and 0.4 Qantas Points per $1 spent elsewhere. However, all monthly spending above $10,000 (regardless of category) earns rewards at the reduced rate of 0.2 Qantas Points per $1 spent.

Annual Fee: There's a monthly fee of $35, which is waived if you spend at least $2,500 in your statement period and receive statements electronically, with no fee for an additional cardholder. However, a $30/year fee for the Qantas Points opt-in Flyer Direct applies regardless.

14. Commonwealth Bank Diamond Awards Mastercard

Sign-up Bonus: Apply for the CommonBank Diamond Awards credit card and spend $5,000 on eligible purchases within 90 days to earn 70,000 bonus Qantas Points. Again, you'll need to select the Qantas Points as your preferred deal upfront.

Rewards: Reel in 0.5 Qantas Points per $1 spent on eligible purchases, up to a maximum of 400,000 points per year.

Annual Fee: A $349 card fee applies, plus the banks $30/year Qantas Rewards fee to earn Qantas Points. A $10/year charge also applies when having an additional cardholder on the account.

15. St.George Amplify Platinum Visa with Qantas Points

Sign-up bonus: Apply for the Amplify Platinum with Qantas Points card and spend $3,000 on eligible purchases within 90 days to earn 60,000 bonus Qantas Points.

Rewards: Earn 0.5 Qantas Points per $1 spent on eligible purchases, on up to $100,000 spend per year.

Bank disclaimer: Eligible purchases do not include interest, fees and charges, cash or ATM cash advances, cash equivalent transactions, gambling transactions, a purchase from or payment to a local, state or federal government or government related agency, BPAY or similar transactions (such as Post Billpay), refunds and balance transfers debited to the card account.

Annual Fee: $99 card fee, with no additional cardholder fee, or separate fee for earning Qantas Points.

A similar offer of 60,000 bonus Qantas Points is also available on the near-identical Bank of Melbourne Amplify Platinum with Qantas Points and the BankSA Amplify Platinum with Qantas Points credit cards.

How we ranked and rated these cards

Ranking criteria

This page provides a list of the most rewarding Qantas Frequent Flyer credit card sign-up offers in Australia, as available at the time of publishing.

This list includes personal credit cards and general, public sign-up offers, but does not include business or corporate credit cards, or deals that are private, restricted or targeted, including special offers made available only via specific marketing channels, which don't mirror a card issuer's standard website offer.

Any offers targeted to Executive Traveller readers are the exception to this, as these offers may provide more points or reduced fees compared to a bank's standard public offering.

Credit cards listed above as part of this 'top 15' appear in descending order based on the total number of Qantas Points offered via the card's sign-up bonus.

Where more than one card is offering the same number of bonus points, other factors such as annual fees, minimum spend requirements, points earning rates for ongoing purchases, ongoing benefits and sign-up incentives such as statement credits are considered in determining rank.

Ranking updates

These rankings were most recently reassessed on January 2023, based on the best available offers from each card issuer as available directly through each card issuer's website.

This month, we've seen a considerable decrease in the AMEX Platinum Charge Card's offer, down from 150,000 to 75,000 bonus Qantas Points, dropping from first place to ninth on the list.

Separately, Qantas Money tops this month's list with a 150,000 point offer on the Qantas Premier Titanium Mastercard.

NAB also has a fresh deal on its Qantas Rewards Signature card, delivering 120,000 bonus Qantas Points, with the ANZ Frequent Flyer Black also having a new 110,000-point deal.

Given the extent of these fresh offers, some existing deals have been delisted as they no longer place in the 'top 15', including the AMEX Qantas Ultimate card.

What are frequent flyer credit cards and how do they work?

As the name suggests, frequent flyer credit cards allow people to earn frequent flyer points from their credit card purchases – with Qantas Frequent Flyer credit cards naturally awarding Qantas Points on those spends.

Unlike some other programs, Qantas Frequent Flyer usually requires credit card holders to have a Qantas-branded or Qantas-affiliated credit card in order to earn Qantas Points, rather than being able to convert bank rewards points into Qantas Frequent Flyer points, with a few exceptions.

Usually, these credit cards offer a certain number of frequent flyer points for every $1 spent on the card, and that earning rate may change depending on how much the cardholder has spent every month or in that year. These points are usually credited directly to the cardholders' nominated frequent flyer account monthly.

Pros & cons of frequent flyer credit cards

While credit cards that earn frequent flyer points can be highly rewarding for those who make the most of them, they do tend to come with higher annual fees than credit cards with no points attached.

Those annual fees can sometimes be offset by features included with each credit card – such as airport lounge access, travel vouchers/credits, complimentary flights or insurance cover – or from the value of the points earned via the card and the rewards they can unlock, but this does vary from card to card, and may also vary depending on how much a cardholder spends every year, as the number of points earned usually aligns with cardholder expenditure.

Frequent flyer credit cards can also have higher interest rates on purchases and cash advances than non-frequent flyer cards, particularly 'low rate' cards.

While most credit cards levy no interest charges when paying the statement closing balance in full and on time every month (these being 'interest-free days'), people who need to carry a balance from month to month – either occasionally, or regularly – may find that those interest charges exceed the value of the rewards and features received, and may prefer a card with a lower interest rate.

Some higher-tier credit cards, particularly those offering the highest number of points, may also have higher minimum income requirements than entry-level credit cards, along with higher minimum credit limits, both of which can make them harder to qualify for.

As well, some types of cards – particularly American Express and Diners Club – are not as widely accepted as the likes of Visa or Mastercard, or may attract higher credit card surcharges when used, so although the number of points earned per dollar spent may be higher, they may be fewer opportunities to do so, or there may be an additional cost to doing so.

On the plus side, using a frequent flyer credit card effectively can help unlock extensive rewards ranging from free flights and upgrades to business class through to perks like airport lounge access, discounts when purchasing flights and more, with interest charges generally not applying to those who spend only within their means and pay the full closing balance every month.

Qantas Frequent Flyer credit card FAQs

Can you combine frequent flyer miles and points?

In the Qantas Frequent Flyer program, yes, eligible family members can transfer Qantas Points between their accounts at no charge. This can be useful in a household where both members of a couple are earning Qantas Points, as these can be combined in order to book a flight.

Can you link Qantas Frequent Flyer accounts?

Not directly, but you can transfer Qantas Points between family accounts as above.

Can I earn miles or points if I buy a ticket for someone else?

Yes. While the traveller may earn their own miles or points from the flight itself (depending on the airline and airfare), purchasing a flight is just like any other transaction, with the credit cards above offering a certain number of Qantas Points per dollar spent on purchases, including airfares.

Can I use Qantas Points to buy a ticket for someone else?

Yes, provided the traveller is an eligible family member or a domestic partner. Just note, frequent flyer points (and status credits) are generally not earned on flights booked using points: only on eligible paid airfares.

Table: 15 best Qantas Frequent Flyer credit card sign-up offers

* Qantas Points earned per $1 spent is based on everyday eligible purchases on transactions within Australia. Some spending categories may earn more, fewer or no points on each card, such as government transactions, overseas purchases, spend directly with Qantas, etc.