Qantas shakes up its frequent flyer program

‘Tis the season for changes to frequent flyer programs, by the look of it. Hot on the heels of Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer changes, announced last year, and British Airways’ Executive Club changes (or should I say, complete decimation of theirs), Qantas Frequent Flyer is now joining the party.

However, in contrast to Virgin Australia and British Airways above, these changes are more of a mixed bag.

The positive changes with Qantas Frequent Flyer

Hawaiian Airlines to be added + more Premium Economy seats

One million additional seats will be made available to Qantas members in 2025, in addition to the 5 million Classic Reward seats made available every year.

However, these seats won’t come from Qantas – they’ll be from partner airlines. Around 200,000 Premium Economy reward seats will go online with Qantas’ European airline partners, including Finnair, Iberia, Air France and KLM.

The remaining Classic Reward seats will come from Qantas’ newest airline partner, Hawaiian Airlines, before the carrier joins the oneworld alliance in 2026. This is similar to their arrangement with Oman Air, with reward seats already available to Qantas members before Oman Air’s entry into oneworld in June 2025.

No word yet on whether this will affect Hawaiian Airlines’ existing partnership with Virgin Australia.

Boost to Qantas Points earning on domestic flights

Qantas Frequent Flyer members will see a boost to the points they earn on Qantas domestic flights by up to 25%. In addition, the earn cap for status members travelling in premium cabins will be removed.

To be clear, we are talking about the ‘status bonus’ here, which is earned in addition to any earned base points. It’s not a considerable increase, but this is estimated to provide an additional 4 billion points for members each year.

Here are some boosted points examples:

Jetstar’s lead-in Economy reward seat to become cheaper

Jetstar Economy reward seats on the shortest flights will drop in price, tactically handing Qantas Frequent Flyer the claim of having ‘the lowest one-way Economy reward seat in Australia.’

These reward seats will only apply to Zone 1 Jetstar short-haul domestic flights in Australia and New Zealand, which can be snapped up for just 5,700 Qantas Points. And unlike Velocity domestic redemptions, there is no price tiering based on supply and demand for the relevant route.

Some example routes where this pricing applies include:

• Sydney to Gold Coast
• Sydney to Melbourne
• Melbourne to Adelaide

However, all other Jetstar routes above 600 miles will increase in price, in line with the broader points devaluation.

The negative changes with Qantas Frequent Flyer

Increase in Qantas Points required for Classic Upgrade and Classic Reward seats

Classic Upgrades and Classic Reward seat pricing will be increasing from August 2025. The points component will rise for Qantas and Jetstar Economy (including Zone 2 and above with Jetstar), Premium Economy Classic Reward seats, and Classic Upgrades.

The points and carrier charges for Qantas-operated flights will increase for Business and First Classic Reward seats. Specifically, the cash component will increase to match the cash component of a Classic Plus Reward seat.

Here are some examples of Classic Reward seat redemption pricing from July 2025:

Some examples of Classic Upgrades pricing from July 2025 are:

What is not changing… as yet?

How you earn Status Credits or the number of Status Credits required to qualify or retain a particular status are not changing. Also, no changes to the benefits received in these tier levels exist.

Andrew Glance, CEO of Qantas Loyalty, outlines that there will be further “exciting” changes to the Qantas Frequent Flyer Program in 2025 and that they constantly monitor developments in the airline loyalty space both here and abroad.

“Travel remains the number one priority for our members in how they earn and redeem their points, with 13,000 Classic Reward seats booked every day, including 1,000 Classic seats in premium cabins to international destinations. In addition, thousands of Classic Upgrades are confirmed every week on Qantas flights. These changes are designed to further enhance the ways our members can book Classic Reward seats and the destinations and cabins they can access when they fly.”

“We now have partnerships with over 45 airlines, giving members greater flexibility and choice in how they want to be rewarded. The addition of Hawaiian Airlines and more premium cabin seats with Finnair, Air France, KLM and Iberi will later this year begin unlocking up to 1 million additional Classic seats and more opportunities for our members to use their points to book that dream overseas trip.”

Our take on the changes

Qantas Frequent Flyer members will soon need more points to book most reward seats. Any devaluation isn’t good news, but increases in reward seat prices are always inevitable, and Qantas’ last increase was six years ago.

We don’t have the full table of changes yet, but we will publish them when they are released. You’ll still have at least six months from the time of writing to lock in your trips at the current rates.

Unfortunately, frequent flyer programs are not immune to the effects of inflation. Putting my accounting hat on, if we annualise these changes, then reward seats and upgrades are increasing at 0.83 to 3.33% p.a. – inflation numbers that the RBA can only dream of at present.

On the positive side, there will be more Premium Economy reward seats with European carriers. Adding Hawaiian Airlines to the mix is a win for those looking to fly to Honolulu and beyond.

There are no changes to status tiers or Status Credits at the moment. But Qantas has flagged more changes in 2025, so we’ll have to see what they have in store…