Qantas’ frequent flyers loyalty program gathers pace on the ground

With up to 30 million a year being earned by individual credit card holders, Qantas points are becoming Australia’s alternative currency.

Qantas frequent flyers are earnings more and more of their points on the ground.

Qantas frequent flyer points are fast becoming Australia’s “alternative” currency, with new statistics showing two-thirds of points are now earned on the ground, rather than by booking flights.

Figures released by Qantas also showed 35 per cent of Australians’ total credit card spend was on a Qantas card, or Qantas co-branded card last year.

Furthermore, while total growth in new credit cards issued in Australia decreased by 4 per cent last year, cards that earned Qantas points grew at 7 per cent.

Qantas Loyalty chief executive Olivia Wirth said they were seeing more and more members with points balances in the millions, through “strategic credit card use and leveraging program partners”.

“In the past 12 months, one member earned more than 30 million Qantas points on credit card spend,” Ms Wirth said.

“That’s the equivalent of more than 100 round the world trips in business class.”

Not all points were used up in the air however, with one member using 10 million points to buy Qantas wine, and another using 7.2 million to rent out a luxury waterfront villa in Mykonos for a week.

Qantas' new Titanium Frequent Flyer credit card. picture: Supplied.

In an effort to capitalise on the love of frequent flyer points, Qantas has launched a new credit card product offering the highest points earn rate yet.

The Titanium Mastercard, cut from metal, offered the equivalent of two Qantas points for every Australian dollar spent overseas, and 1.25 Qantas points for every dollars spent domestically up to $12,500 in each statement period.

Ms Wirth said the card which came with a $1200 annual fee, would have specific appeal to big spenders.

“We started our loyalty program for frequent flyers but as the number of partners has grown it’s actually frequent buyers who are now earning the most points,” she said.