QANTAS: Wants to seduce New Zealanders into their frequent flyer program

Qantas has signed up the equivalent of nearly every Australian voter (15 million). Now, it has set its sights on the 5.3 million residents of the land across the Tasman Sea. To entice Kiwis to the Qantas Frequent Flyer scheme, it has designed a package of earning shopping points, status matching, and waived joining fees.

Earn More Points with Everyday Shopping

Starting from 2 December, Kiwis can accelerate their points collection by converting Everyday Rewards points into Qantas Points. In New Zealand, punters can earn these rewards on everyday spend at the likes of retailers Woolworths, BP and Petstock.

New Zealanders will earn 50% more Qantas Points when converting from Everyday Rewards than their Australian counterparts. Qantas has run a 16-year partnership with Everyday Rewards in Australia. In the last year, billions of points have been redeemed for more than two million airline seats.

Fast Track to Qantas Gold Status for Elite Flyers

To attract top-tier flyers from rival airlines, Qantas is offering New Zealanders a fast track to Gold status.

If you hold Gold or higher status with airlines like Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, Delta, Korean, Singapore Airlines, United or Virgin Australia and have a New Zealand postal address, you can apply via expression of interest.

If accepted into the fast-track program, you can achieve Qantas Gold by earning just 100 Status Credits within 90 days on flights with Qantas, Jetstar, and partner airlines.

This is a reduction from the usual 700 Status Credits required annually. During this period, participants will also receive complimentary access to Qantas Club lounges and additional checked baggage.

Registrations for this fast track offer close on 14 January 2025, with the travel period commencing from 15 January 2025.

No Joining Fee for New Zealanders

As part of the promotion, Qantas is eliminating the NZ $60 joining fee for New Zealand residents. Qantas wants more Kiwis to register and take advantage of the thousands of trans-Tasman reward seats available each year.

Kiwi Qantas frequent flyer Members can earn points on Qantas and Jetstar New Zealand flights and redeem them on more than 45 partner airlines, such as Emirates, Cathay Pacific, and American Airlines.

To take the Fast Track offer you must be a member of the Qantas Frequent Flyer scheme, so if you are not already, join here.

2PAXfly Takeout

Looks like Qantas has decided that it has wrung all the frequent flyer members it can out of Australia. Qantas, as a domestic brand, is not present in New Zealand. Only Jetstar New Zealand represents Qantas there. This could be a hard loyalty nut to crack. New Zealanders are famously loyal to their own, including their Air New Zealand airline.

Air New Zealand, a member of Star Alliance, runs its own loyalty programme, Airpoints. However, the scheme is far smaller than Qantas, allowing points to be earned only on flights, hotels, and rental cars and not on credit cards and other spending.

Using Airpoints is also relatively limited – to Air New Zealand, Star Alliance members and rental cars.

For New Zealanders regularly using Qantas or Jetstar, joining the Qantas Frequent Flyer program could represent a step up from the Air New Zealand loyalty program