The sneaky Qantas Points hack I stumbled across while shoe shopping

A shoe order gone wrong accidentally got me thousands of Qantas Points.

I am the proud owner of two pairs of Dr. Martens boots.

One, a pair gifted to me on my 18th birthday (11 years on and they’re still going strong), and the other a pair I gifted myself for Christmas last year.

I am, as the kids say, a stan – and if money were no object, I would dedicate an entire wardrobe to Dr. Martens alone.

Last month TikTok’s algorithm presented me with a pair of Eviee Sendals: thick-heeled Mary Janes with a double strap buckle and the brand’s signature yellow stitching. There was no question about it, I needed to have those too. 

The Eviee Sendals are thick-heeled Mary Janes with the brand’s signature yellow stitching

A Google search showed me that the shoes were on sale on the Dr. Martens website; from $319.99 down to $256, with a saving of $64. I was pleased to see that I could link my Qantas Frequent Flyer number to the order. The Aussie airline partners with different retailers as part of their points program. Currently, for every $1 spent either in-store or online at Dr. Martens, customers can earn two Qantas Points. 

Online shopping is great way to rack up travel points

Some quick math

$1 = 2 Qantas Points 

$256 = 512 Qantas Points 

When an economy seat on a one-way flight from Sydney to Melbourne starts at around 8000 points, I wasn’t too mad about getting a 16th of the way there. I linked my Frequent Flyer number to the order, added a pair of what has historically always been my shoe size with Dr. Martens to my cart, and waited. 

The Eviee Sendals at full price

Two days later…

The Eviee Sendals arrived with express shipping and much to my dismay, they were abnormally large on my feet. I’m not a huge fan of returning items – the process gives me anxiety – but given I could fit three fingers between my foot and the shoe, it seemed like I had no choice. 

I wrapped the pair up and sent them back on their way, seemingly forgetting that I had linked my Qantas FF number to the order. 

I book through Qantas a lot, so it made sense to link my FF number to the shoe order

I ordered a second pair in a smaller size, and when they arrived, was shocked to find that they also didn’t fit. I sent this pair back too, and ordered a third time. (Please don’t judge me.)

Spoiler alert that no one saw coming: the third pair of Eviee Sendals were too big for my feet too. 

There was no turning back, I’d gotten myself in too deep and was determined to own a pair of the Eviee Sendals. With every return costing $10, I’d now set myself back $30. Technically discounted by just $34 now, I ordered a fourth pair and let the universe decide for me.

"If the shoe fits, wear it." - Cinderella, probably at some point. Picture: Alessandra Allegretti

A breakthrough

The fourth and final pair of Dr. Martens arrived in the mail and fit me. I waited for my refunds to come through (an eye-watering total of $768) and went about my business. 

This was until I logged into my Qantas app and noticed that I had four new transactions in my points activity statement. It never occurred to me that with each new Eviee purchase, I’d been accumulating another 512 points.

$1 = 2 Qantas Points 

$256 = 512 Qantas Points 

512 x 4 = 2048 Qantas Points 

I'd unknowingly gotten over 2000 points for a pair of shoes. Picture: Alessandra Allegretti

What does the internet say?

There is plenty of chat on the topic on forums around the web.

Reddit user gluethegloom asked: “What happens to partially returned items when you shop using the points booster?” To which a user responded: “Once you have the points, the points are yours to keep. They [Qantas] don’t take them back.” 

People have taken to Reddit with similar concerns

In another Reddit thread, user spazzo246 asked: “How do refunds and points gained from spending/refunding work? If I book and pay for $3000 worth of hotels that have free cancellation on my credit card and I get the points in my Qantas account, but then decide I want to swap hotels… does the refund go back into my credit limit and do the points magically get taken back also?”

People commented saying that if the points are sitting in your QFF account, they stay yours. No one’s actually confirmed this though.

On a frequent flyer forum someone asks whether they can “buy something worth $3k, claim bonus points, return the item and then close [their] credit card”. Others were quick to reply that this would just be “plain old theft”. 

Alessandra Allegretti found a sneaky Qantas points hack.

Similarly Reddit user winternight2145 asked: “Would a refund on purchases [made with a Qantas credit card] make them take the points back?” Dropandflop responded: “QF owned issued cards absolutely take points back including normal monthly billing if it goes negative.”

The official line on the topic on the Qantas website is: “if you return a product that you've purchased using your Qantas Points, your points will be credited back once the return is finalised. Any points, including Bonus Points, that are earned in association with your purchase will be forfeited once the return is finalised”.

I’m almost a month out from the Dr. Martens debacle and I’ve yet to see any of my points withdrawn. Maybe it’s because I didn’t use a Qantas credit card and only linked my FF number. Maybe airlines don’t have a way of tracking whether an order is refunded on another bank card (albeit three times). Maybe this is the confirmation we all needed. And in a world where it’s only getting harder to accumulate points and reap those rewards, I see no real problem with making honest mistakes and finding loopholes. 

Fingers crossed the points don’t magically disappear from my account now…

Originally published as The sneaky Qantas Points hack I stumbled across while shoe shopping