Best Qantas Frequent Flyer Credit Cards January 2020
Content last updated January 2021
If you want to earn more Qantas Points without flying, a Qantas Frequent Flyer credit card is generally your best bet. With bonus offers up to 130,000 Qantas Points, it’s a great way to earn points while maximising your everyday spending. The question is, what is the best credit card for Qantas points?
We polled over 170 Qantas Points Collectors to find out the top things they look for in a Qantas Frequent Flyer credit card. The results? Surprising. While the obvious bonus points offer was by far the most important criteria when choosing a new card, with the earnings potential also an important consideration, the interest rate of the card was not on the radar. This is quite interesting as some of the other comparison sites place a heavy emphasis on this point. That being said, of course you do need to be aware of the purchase rate when getting a new card, but if you’re aiming to pay off the closing balance every month, this may not need to be a key factor in the decision.
“A credit card is like a power tool – in the right hands, it’s a powerful ally that helps you achieve your goals.”
Other criteria that came out of the study were included extras like Qantas Status Credits, travel insurance, purchase protection insurance, complimentary flights and of course, the coveted Qantas lounge access. As the goal for the majority of the savviest points hackers is to earn more points and get the most out of their credit card, our methodology considers what’s important and breaks them down into 4 simple pillars. This is in contrast to some of the common methodologies you may find on the kind of websites that compare everything under the sun.
What’s changed since last month?
As there have been no major offer changes since our mid-month October update, our awards remain the same for this month.
A recap of the Compare the Card High Flyer Score
We assessed 25 of the top Qantas Points earning credit cards in Australia based on their forecasted performance over 24 months across three different monthly spend levels, within three card tier categories (based on the annual fee and the level of features). Whether you’re after a card with platinum features, no frills or somewhere in between, we’ve got you covered. Performance is assessed on four pillars for a total score out of 15:
Points per dollar of cost – 6 points
Takes into account how many points you can earn compared to its annual fee less any cashback amounts and estimated value of the flight vouchers, with the aim of highlighting the value of the bonus offer and earn rate versus the cost of the card.
Points per dollar of spend – 5 points
Takes into account how many points can be earned based on the monthly spend, which is important because you want to get the greatest value from every eligible dollar you spend on the card.
Ease of earning points – 2 points
This reflects the breadth of spend that would be eligible for earning Qantas Points, taking into consideration the card’s ability to earn points on BPAY and government charges, with extra points awarded to Visa and Mastercard over Amex due to their wider general merchant acceptability. This is important because the less restricted the eligible transaction categories are, the easier it is to meet sign-on bonus thresholds and earn points on your everyday purchases.
Card extras – 2 points
This score outlines how feature-rich a card offer is, and takes into consideration whether the card includes travel insurance, purchase insurance, complimentary flights, Qantas lounge access or passes and Qantas Status Credits. Note that particular limits, exclusions and types of insurance vary with each individual card and are outside the scope of our report.*
More information on the methodology can be found here.
A big thank you to the Qantas Points Collectors group members for sharing their thoughts on the most important factors in card selection. It’s important to note that due to the way credit card offers are designed, although possible, it’s unlikely that a single credit card will receive 15 out of 15 on our scale.
What is the best credit card for Qantas Points?
Best Qantas Frequent Flyer Cards – $1,000 monthly spend
 ANZ Frequent Flyer Black 144,000 Qantas Points |  Qantas American Express Ultimate Card 80,000 Qantas Points | |
 St.George Amplify Platinum Qantas Offer 82,000 Qantas Points |  Westpac Altitude Platinum Qantas Offer 72,000 Qantas Points | |
 Qantas American Express Discovery Card 18,000 Qantas Points |  Qantas Premier Everyday Credit Card 43,000 Qantas Points | |
ANZ Frequent Flyer Black 154,000 Qantas Points | St.George Amplify Platinum Qantas Offer 82,000 Qantas Points |
With a score of 10.1, the overall winner for the $1,000 per month spend category is the ANZ Frequent Flyer Black. This is predominantly due to its current bonus Qantas Points offer that requires only $3,000 of eligible spend within the first three months to earn 120,000 bonus Qantas Points^ and its ease of earning points (due to the inclusion of BPAY transactions in its eligible spend and the wider merchant acceptability of VISA compared to its Amex competitors).
Based on our modelling, the ANZ Frequent Flyer Black could earn an estimated 144,000 Qantas Points over 24 months. With nearly double the Qantas Points than the runner up, it’s in a class of its own in the $1,000 per month spend category. If you’re looking for a lower annual fee, consider the overall runner-up and Mid Tier winner the Amplify Platinum Qantas Offer, which comes with an improved 70,000 Bonus Point offer vs their September offer. Available in multiple brands (St.George, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA), this card scored 9.6 on our scale and would allow you to earn 82,000 Qantas Points over the same period.
Best Qantas Frequent Flyer Cards – $3,000 monthly spend
Qantas American Express Ultimate Card 145,000 Qantas Points | ANZ Frequent Flyer Black 192,000 Qantas Points | |
St.George Amplify Platinum Qantas Offer 96,000 Qantas Points |  Qantas Premier Platinum Credit Card 152,000 Qantas Points | |
Qantas Premier Everyday Credit Card 79,000 Qantas Points | Qantas American Express Discovery Card 54,000 Qantas Points | |
Qantas American Express Ultimate Card 145,000 Qantas Points | St.George Amplify Platinum Qantas Offer 96,000 Qantas Points |
With a score of 9.1, the winner for the $3,000 spend category is the Qantas American Express Ultimate Card. The battle in the highly competitive $3,000 per month spend category remains fierce, with the ANZ Frequent Flyer Black falling to a close runner-up after ditching its 75 bonus Status Credits for an improved cashback offer, and enhancing their bonus offer allowing 120,000 bonus points to be earned within 3 months, instead of 130,000 after a year. Although theANZ Frequent Flyer Black card edged the Ultimate in raw points, (192,000 versus 145,000 over the 24-month period), it missed out on first place honours due to the included $450 travel voucher that the Ultimate Offers. If you’re looking for points, consider the Black, if you believe you will get value out of the yearly $450 travel voucher, consider the Ultimate.
In the Mid Tier category, the Amplify Platinum Qantas Offer beat out the Qantas Premier Platinum card (despite the much higher points offering with the latter card), thanks to its much lower $99 p.a. annual fee, in contrast to the runner up’s $199 p.a. annual fee. The Amplify Platinum Qantas Offer is available from St.George, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA.
An honourable mention goes to the ANZ Frequent Flyer Platinum that improve
Best Qantas Frequent Flyer Cards – $10,000 monthly spend
Qantas American Express Ultimate Card 355,000 Qantas Points | ANZ Frequent Flyer Black 340,000 Qantas Points | |
Qantas Premier Platinum Credit Card 320,000 Qantas Points |  Qantas American Express Premium Card 270,000 Qantas Points | |
Qantas American Express Ultimate Card 355,000 Qantas Points | Qantas Premier Platinum Credit Card 320,000 Qantas Points |
At our top spend bracket we considered only the mid and top tier credit cards. The Qantas American Express Ultimate card shines in this bracket with its high uncapped earning potential of 1.25 Qantas Points per dollar. It was a tight race, with the ANZ Frequent Flyer Black and Qantas American Express Ultimate earning an estimated 340,000 and 355,000 Qantas Points respectively. If you’re spending big, and can do so on an Amex card, the Qantas American Express Ultimate card may be a fantastic option to consider. Both the ANZ Frequent Flyer Black and Qantas Premier Platinum performed well, but the gap to the Qantas American Express Ultimate card widens the more you spend. Our modelling showed that the ANZ Frequent Flyer Black performed best for raw points value up to $9,500 a month, however was overtaken by the Qantas American Express Ultimate for monthly spend greater than $9,500. Note that in our previous months report, we missed the Qantas Premier Platinum’s 75 bonus status credits, which has been corrected in this month’s rankings. It now ties with the ANZ Black.
Overall Summary
There’s a lot more to picking the best Qantas Frequent Flyer credit card than the annual fee and bonus points offer. If you’re looking for a top tier credit card and your monthly spend is less than $9,500 per month, the ANZ Frequent Flyer Black comes out on top. At a lower annual fee, the Amplify Platinum offerings from St.George, BankSA and Bank of Melbourne are worth a look. If you’re a big spender and can take advantage of the travel voucher, the Qantas American Express Ultimate is a great choice. As always, it’s important to consider your own circumstances before choosing a card and seek financial advice if needed.
Still hungry for more? Deep-dive into credit card comparisons using our graphing tools linked below by card tier.
- Intro tier credit card comparison
- Mid tier credit card comparison
- Top tier credit card comparison
- Qantas Frequent Flyer credit card comparison (all cards)
Pro tip: click the right arrow button on the carousel to view the line graph. This enables you to see performance over time and also pinpoint when it might be best to start looking for a new card with a bonus offer.
Compare the Card High Flyer Scoring Method
Points per dollar of cost – 6 points
Takes into account how many points you can earn compared to its annual fee less any cashback amounts and estimated value of the flight vouchers, with the aim of highlighting the value of the bonus offer and earn rate versus the cost of the card.
Formula: Total Points Earned / (Annual Fee – Cashback – 60% of Flight voucher value)
Example: 100,000 Points earned over 24 months with a $200 p.a. annual fee, no cashback or flight voucher would be: 100000 / 400 = 250.
The rate is then divided by 100 to get a final score in line with the weighting of the category, capped at a maximum of 6 points. As flight vouchers often have limitations regarding redeemability, especially in the current climate, they are not the same as cash, and as such we apply 60% of the value. If there is no annual fee for the credit card, we award the card a perfect score of 6.
Points per dollar of spend – 5 points
Takes into account how many points can be earned based on the monthly spend, which is important because you want to get the greatest value from every eligible dollar you spend on the card.
Formula: (Total Points Earned + Sign-on Bonus) / (Monthly spend * Months)
For example, if 100,000 points are earned with $1,000 of spend per month over 24 months. This would be 100,000 / 24,000 = 4.2.
This score highlights a card’s points earning potential based on monthly spend and is capped at 5 points.
Ease of earning points – 2 points
This reflects the breadth of spend that would be eligible for earning Qantas Points, taking into consideration the card’s ability to earn points on BPAY and government charges (0.5 points each), with extra points awarded to Visa and Mastercard over Amex due to their wider general merchant acceptability (1 point). This is important because the less restricted the eligible transaction categories are, the easier it is to meet sign-on bonus thresholds and earn points on your everyday purchases.
Card extras – 2 points
This score outlines how feature-rich a card offer is, and takes into consideration whether the card includes travel insurance, purchase insurance, complimentary flights, Qantas lounge access or passes and Qantas Status Credits. Each feature grants the 0.5 points to a total of 2 points.
Note that particular limits, exclusions and types of insurance vary with each individual card and are outside the scope of our report.*
Cards in evaluation set for November 2020
To be eligible, cards must directly earn Qantas Frequent Flyer points, and their offer must be valid as at 3rd January 2021.
Disclaimers
*We always recommend that you read the terms and conditions and/or speak to a financial advisor before deciding if a credit card is right for you.
^New card. Limited time. Spend and eligibility criteria, T&Cs, fees and charges apply (including annual fee, currently $425).
Suggested Articles
Virgin and Qantas have begun advertising flights from Australia to New Zealand beginning December this year. This is our strongest indicator yet of a trans-Tasman travel bubble and great news for the travel and tourism sector in both countries.
