Qantas Frequent Flyer was added as an Amex Membership Rewards transfer partner over the summer, and now Amex is offering their second-ever transfer bonus to Qantas.
Transfer Amex Points To Qantas With 20% Bonus
Through November 30, 2019, the US American Express Membership Rewards program is offering a 20% bonus when you transfer your points to Qantas frequent flyer.
Points ordinarily convert at a 1:1 ratio, so currently 1,000 Amex points would convert into 1,200 Qantas points.
- 4x points at restaurants, on up to $50,000 in purchases annually
- 4x points at U.S. supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases annually
- 3x points on flights booked directly with airlines or through amextravel.com
- $325
- Access to Amex Offers
- Redeem Amex Points Towards Airfare
- $375
- Earn 5x points on flights purchased directly from airlines or through Amex Travel (up to $500k/year)
- $200 Annual Uber Credit
- Amex Centurion Lounge Access
- $695
- Earn 1.5x on purchases of $5,000 or more in a single transaction on up to $2MM per calendar year
- Redeem Points For Over 1.5 Cents Each Towards Airfare
- Amex Centurion Lounge Access
- $695
- 2x points on purchases up to $50k then 1x
- Access to Amex Offers
- No annual fee
Redeem Qantas points for travel in Qantas 787 business class
For what it’s worth, Qantas Frequent Flyer is also transfer partners with Capital One and Citi, and we’ve seen transfer bonuses for both programs in the past several months.
The Best Uses Of Qantas Points
Qantas is part of the oneworld alliance, though also has some other intriguing airline partnerships. In general Qantas Frequent Flyer has pretty high redemption rates, and they also impose carrier surcharges for travel on most of their partners.
For a sense of their pricing, here’s their award chart for travel on Qantas, Airnorth, Fiji Airways, Air Vanuatu, American Airlines, Emirates, Jetstar, and QantasLink:
Then here’s their partner award chart for travel on Aer Lingus, Air Niugini, Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, China Eastern, Dragonair, EL AL, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Jet Airways, LATAM, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, S7 Airlines, and SriLankan Airlines:
The above rates reflect their new higher pricing, as Qantas raised many award costs for bookings as of September 18, 2019.
Their rates are definitely on the steep side, but I also think there are circumstances where this could represent a good deal. For example:
- Qantas Frequent Flyer is one of the best ways to redeem miles for travel on airlines like Air Niugini, Air Vanuatu, etc.
- In some cases Qantas Frequent Flyer is the best program for Emirates first class redemptions, especially on shorter flights, and that gets even better when you factor in a transfer bonus
- Qantas Frequent Flyer has good redemption rates on EL AL, so this bonus makes those redemptions even more attractive
Book EL AL’s 787 business class through Qantas Frequent Flyer
Bottom Line
I wouldn’t recommend speculatively transferring Amex points to Qantas Frequent Flyer, though with a specific use in mind it could make sense. So for redemptions on airlines like EL AL, Air Niugini, Air Vanuatu, etc., this is a good opportunity.
Anyone plan to transfer Amex points to Qantas with a 20% bonus?
Does qantas impose surcharges for redemption on emirates? Using skywards miles for Emirates first class can occasionally end up costing you nearly 1000$ Which is insane!
Also, how does one go about searching for award availability?