How to stop your Qantas Frequent Flyer points from vanishing

Aussie actor Rona Milne was planning on using her 1.8 million Qantas Frequent Flyer points on a big family trip. Then they vanished. See how you can avoid the same fate.

Much-loved Aussie actor Rona Milne was wondering where next in the world her family would go as she checked on their Qantas Frequent Flyer points. The good news was that they had 1.8 million. The bad news was that they had disappeared.

Consumer group Choice found in its recent travel and tourism report that people were suffering “stress and despair” trying to sort out travel problems and that consumer confidence in the industry was “shattered”.

“I can relate to that,” Ms Milne, best known under her maiden name of Coleman for her roles in Sons and Daughters, A Country Practice and Water Rats, said on Thursday.

Dozens of phone calls and a flurry of emails to Qantas failed to get answers. Or even any response or calls back.

Her husband Harvey, 78, who had been a successful businessman running Aroona Valley Springs mineral water company and an accomplished yachtsman, had been seriously ill with renal failure and then vascular dementia.

Much-loved actress Rona Milne was stunned after finding her Qantas Frequent Flyer Points had vanished. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Ms Milne was given his power of attorney and by the time she got his Qantas password, the points they had saved for their retirement adventures had run out six months earlier.

“There is no way Harvey would have ignored or let these points be disqualified if he was in correct health or mind,” Ms Milne, 76, said.

Industry experts said the family was not alone. With airlines creating this new billion-dollar currency of Frequent Flyer points, the editor of website Frequent Flyer Australia Matt Graham said these situations were not uncommon.

“Points have almost become a de facto currency in Australia,” Mr Graham said.

Rona is a former actress, best known for appearing in soap opera Sons and Daughters for a 210-episode run from 1984 to 1985.

“Unfortunately, Qantas controls the supply and use of these points at their complete discretion. They set the rules for how the points can be used and when they will expire, and they can pretty much do whatever they like, within the confines of the loyalty program terms & conditions and Australian laws, of course.”

Qantas points expire after 18 months of not being added to or used.

Loyal Qantas customers for more than two decades, the Milnes did all their business dealings on their Frequent Flyer-linked NAB MasterCard which accrued the points.

Qantas on Thursday apologised to the couple and reinstated their points. The airline said it had told its call centre operators to be kinder.

“We fully recognise that there were extenuating circumstances and that we should have reinstated Mr Milne’s points on compassionate grounds,” a Qantas spokesman said.

Originally published as How to stop your Qantas Frequent Flyer points from vanishing