The beginner’s guide to Qantas Frequent Flyer status and benefits

Holding Qantas Frequent Flyer status means that you could be skipping lines and enjoying access to lounges. It might also be easier to book reward seats or to upgrade your next Qantas flight.

In this guide, we explain in more detail how to move up the five status tiers, the benefits available at each level, and how to extend your status with Qantas. You may also be interested in our beginner’s guide to Velocity Frequent Flyer status and benefits.

How do I earn Qantas Frequent Flyer status?

Qantas status is earned by collecting enough Status Credits (SCs) within a membership year to get you to the next status tier. After your ‘membership year’ has ended, your balance resets to zero and you try again to maintain or upgrade your current status level.

Put simply, SCs are earned by flying with Qantas and its preferred airline partners. The actual number of SCs you earn depends on a vast range of rules, such as distance, cabin class and airline carrier.

In general, most cash tickets booked with a QF flight number — whether operated by Qantas or a codeshare partner, such as Emirates — should earn Qantas Points and Status Credits.

Reward seats booked with points usually don’t award Status Credits, unless you are also a Points Club or Points Club Plus member.

Also, most oneworld partner airlines, such as Cathay Pacific, American Airlines and Qatar Airways, will also award Qantas Status Credits on those flights. But the amount will vary and will sometimes be less than taking a comparable Qantas flight.

Visit the Qantas website for more information about status tiers →

Want to learn more about Status Credits? Watch this video:

What are the Qantas Frequent Flyer status membership tiers?

There are five public membership tiers in Qantas Frequent Flyer, from lowest to highest: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Platinum One.

Qantas Frequent Flyer Bronze

To achieve: 0 SCs
To maintain: 0 SCs

There are no substantial benefits to this entry level tier. It just means you are a member of Qantas Frequent Flyer and is a base to start earning Status Credits to move up.

Qantas Frequent Flyer Silver

To achieve: 300 SCs + 4 eligible sectors
To maintain: 250 SCs + 4 eligible sectors
For lifetime status: 7,000 SCs
Oneworld equivalent: Ruby 

As the first step with Qantas Frequent Flyer status, you’ll gain:

• One complimentary entry to a Qantas Club or Qantas International Business Lounge per year.
• Use of Business Class check-in counters, regardless of booking class.
• Either 12kg of extra checked baggage or 3x32kg checked bags on international flights (varies by destination).
• On Australian domestic flights, pack a heavier checked bag when flying Qantas Economy (32kg, instead of the standard 23kg).
• Complimentary seat selection, where pre-selection is available.
• Priority telephone service.
• Priority waitlist.
• 50% bonus points on Qantas, Jetstar and American Airlines flights.

Qantas Frequent Flyer Gold

To achieve: 700 SCs + 4 eligible sectors
To maintain: 600 SCs + 4 eligible sectors
For lifetime status: 14,000 SCs
Oneworld equivalent: Sapphire 

In addition to Silver privileges, you’ll get:

• Access to Qantas Club, oneworld partner and most Emirates lounges, plus selected Air France, Air New Zealand, China Eastern, El Al, KLM and LATAM lounges, regardless of travel class.
• One or two extra checked bags on most Qantas flights, or 16kg of additional checked baggage weight (both vary by destination).
• Access to Premium Security Lanes, where available, before domestic flights. This includes Premium Lounge Entry in Brisbane, too.
• Priority boarding.
• Priority baggage handling.
• 75% bonus points on Qantas, Jetstar and American Airlines flights.

Qantas Frequent Flyer Platinum

To achieve: 1,400 SCs + 4 eligible sectors
To maintain: 1,200 SCs + 4 eligible sectors
For lifetime status: 75,000 SCs
Oneworld equivalent: Emerald 

In addition to Gold privileges, you’ll get:

• Access to Qantas, oneworld partner and Emirates First Class lounges where available (Business Lounges domestically), regardless of travel class.
• Use of First Class check-in counters, regardless of travel class.
• Priority immigration.
• Priority Economy seat purchase when holding or purchasing a Full Economy ticket for up to two people, including the Platinum member.
• 100% bonus points on Qantas, Jetstar and American Airlines flights.
• Other improvements to your checked baggage allowance, as vary by route and cabin class.

If you reach each 2,400 Status Credits in one membership year (about halfway between Platinum and Platinum One status), you’ll receive one of three Platinum Bonus Rewards:

• Complimentary Gold membership for a family member or friend; or
• Three complimentary Qantas Valet Parking or Chauffeured Transfer invitations; or
• 50,000 Qantas Points.

Qantas Frequent Flyer Platinum One

To achieve: 3,600 SCs (at least 2,700 on Qantas-marketed flights)
To maintain: As above
Oneworld equivalent: Emerald

In addition to Platinum privileges, you’ll get:

• Complimentary Platinum membership for a partner.
• Highest upgrade and award seat availability priority.
• Access to a dedicated VIP Services team.
• Free transfer to an earlier flight if seats are available.
• Waived fees for phone-assisted bookings and phone-initiated family points transfers.
• Complimentary extra legroom seating on selected international flights.
• Complimentary Premium Qantas Wine membership.

If you reach each 5,000 SCs in one membership year, you’ll receive 75,000 bonus points. By reaching 7,000 SCs, you’ll get another 100,000 points.

What is Qantas Lifetime Status?

You might have noticed a ‘for lifetime status’ line above for the Silver, Gold and Platinum tiers. Qantas awards you those status levels for life when you reach certain status milestones. These are:

• Lifetime Silver: 7,000 SCs
• Lifetime Gold: 14,000 SCs
• And, Lifetime Platinum: 75,000 SCs

To check your lifetime status balance, log in to your Qantas Frequent Flyer account and scroll down the page. On the left pane, you will see a summary of Status Credits balance:

Click on See Activity and scroll down the page until you see a summary of your Lifetime membership.

Why should I earn Qantas status?

As you would have gleaned from above, having Qantas status makes your journey smoother and more luxurious. Most people aim for lounge access as the most important perk to use.

Complimentary seat upgrades and access to award seat inventory clears in reverse order, starting from Platinum One down to Silver. Learn more in our guide to how Qantas Frequent Flyer upgrades work.

You’ll also earn a useful ‘loyalty bonus’ of 8,000 Qantas Points or 50 SCs for every 500 SCs you earn on eligible Qantas and Jetstar flights each year (up to four times, i.e. 4 x 500 SCs to a maximum of 2,000 SCs).

You can find more detailed information on Status Credits and tier benefits on the Qantas website.

Greater access to reward seats

A benefit that’s not clearly advertised of having Gold and Platinum Qantas Frequent Flyer status — and in some cases, Silver — is that Qantas makes more of its own Classic Reward seats available to those members.

This is a great perk if you have a healthy Qantas balance and you are competing for hard-to-find award seats. Anecdotally, Platinum and Platinum One frequent flyers can even request reward seats on flights where none are available, with varying degrees of success.

If you are just a few flights short of Gold, and have a stash of points you are planning to redeem with Qantas, then the additional reward seats available to status-holders could be worth doing those extra flights for.

Status Hold for new parents

Qantas Silver, Gold, Platinum and Platinum One status holders are eligible to put an 18-month hold on their status when they take a break from travel as a new parent. This is a great way to unburden yourself from maintaining status while raising a kid.

Qantas Frequent Flyer COVID-19 updates

The latest status extension offer

Do you already have status with Qantas? Then there’s a good chance you’ll benefit from the airline’s latest loyalty offers, as below.

• Travellers with Silver status or higher, whose ‘membership year’ concludes between January and June 2023 (inclusive), will receive a 12-month status extension. This sees that tier secure until 2024!
• For the same members, Qantas will rollover up to 40% of the Status Credits required to retain that tier from the current membership year. For instance, a Gold member could have up to 250 Status Credits from their current year rolled into their 2023-24 year, to help them retain their status after the free extended year.

This includes members on Status Hold, as well as those who have received a complimentary Gold membership or complimentary Platinum membership from a Platinum One member.

This follows Qantas’ previous status extension offers, including for those with a membership year ending in 2022.

Read more: Qantas extends frequent flyer status, offers gifts as an apology

Summing up

Qantas Frequent Flyer status is a valuable benefit for those who are loyal to flying Qantas and its partner airlines.

That said, many of the perks of status are available to those travelling in Premium Economy, Business or First Class, whether you are using cash or points to book that flight.

If you only travel infrequently but have enough points to head toward the front of the plane, then chasing status is probably not going to be worthwhile. It’s better for those who fly lower cabin classes more often.

Regardless, we wouldn’t suggest spending hard-earned cash purely to earn status outright. The system is geared towards those who, either for work or pleasure, spend a lot of time in the air on paid flights.

Doing this just to earn status probably isn’t going to do your wallet or free time much good. However, Qantas status does yield some decent perks for those who do travel enough to earn it.

Remember, once you have status with one airline, you have your foot in the door and can status match to other airlines and alliances.

Frequently Asked Questions

Supplementary images courtesy Qantas Frequent Flyer. This article was originally written by Matt Moffitt, with updates by Chris Chamberlin.