QANTAS: Top Up Points 50% Bonus until 24 March

UPDATED

Qantas, according to an email campaign I received this morning (20 March 2023) for a limited time is giving you 50% more Qantas Points when you purchase 5,000 or more ‘Top-Up-Points‘.

Top-Up points are designed for purchase when you are a few – and that can actually be a lot short on your Qantas Points to purchase an airfare or to spend elsewhere where the points are accepted. As in all cases, points are best redeemed for airfares or upgrades over anything else.

How Many Points?

You can purchase anything from 1,000 to 150,000 points in 1,000 points increments. You can only do this a maximum of 4 times in any 12 month period. The cost of points varies. You can purchase points with Amex, Mastercard or Visa online, but if youwan tot use JCB or Diners then you need to contact the Qantas Frequent Flyer Service Centre, and it will cost you AU $35.

Oh, and when you have purchased Top-Up points, you will need to log out of your FF account and log back in to see the change.

Ho Much?

As stated above, Qantas changes the price of these, so there is no ‘fixed’ price. Currently, Top-Up points can be bought for AU $59/1,000 points. That 5.9¢ per point. However if you start with 5,000 you get 50% bonus points, taking it to 7,500 points costing AU $208 – that’s 2.7¢ per point.

If we head to the other end of the equation – the maximum 150,000 points, that will cost you 1.7¢ per point, for a total of 225,000 points – with the 50% bonus. So, the more points you buy, the cheaper the cost of the points.

I don’t track what Qantas charges for Top-Up points, so I don’t know if these are standard prices or inflated ones. Qantas are no dummies at maths – CEO Alan Joyce was a bit of a maths prodigy, and has a maths related degree – so I expect that the current charges given the 50% bonus are higher rather than lower.

Where could you go?

Obviously I don’t know how many points you already have, so its hard for me to provide you with advice other than:

• Spend this on flights not things
• Only use Classic Flight Awards if possible because they are the best value
• Buying points is always a gamble, because you don’t know what classic Flight Awards are available, and whether Qantas will devalue your points in the future

Having said that, Qantas has a handy calculator and map:

It’s not perfect – for instance it chokes when you try to see first class across the world, but at least it gives you an idea, and you can refine according to dates, class of travel and points available. It even gives you the costs of fees and charges, and when a Classic Reward fare in that class is not available

2PAXfly Takeout

This is a tempting offer and worth considering if you know what you want to use if for, and especially if you want to experience Business or First Class. Make sure that Classic Reward flights are available to the destination, in the class and time you want, and you are paying far less for Top-Up points than the actual fare would cost.

Remember that Classic Flight Rewards are available on Qantas, Jetstar and their partner airlines if redeemed through Qantas.

If all that is true – do it! Before 24 March.

UPDATE

The warning at the bottom of the below image appeared this morning if you try and purchase Top Up points. Looks like Qantas is having IT issues according to various online forums, and this warning. Let’s hope that AU $35 service fee gets waived if you have to call up the Centre.