Qantas frequent flyers rush to use points to pay school fees

An invitation-only reward scheme for Qantas points millionaires has seen frequent flyers part with masses of points for everything from house paint to school fees.

An invitation only reward scheme for Qantas points millionaires, has seen all manner of items “purchased” using points including school fees.

Savvy Qantas frequent flyers have used stockpiled points to pay school fees and buy home renovation supplies under an exclusive reward scheme offered by the airline.

As Qantas prepares to launch a new frequent flyer initiative on Friday, the progress of an invitation-only scheme for points millionaires was shared with The Australian.

Launched last month, the scheme gave members the chance to buy luxury or bespoke goods with the help of Qantas, using points rather than dollars.

Essentially those eligible could buy anything normally able to be purchased using a credit card, with a cash value of $5500 to $37,500.

Once a “reward” was chosen, Qantas calculated how many points would be required in return for the purchase.

One of the most enquired about “purchases” was school fees, with one frequent flyer parting with 2.6 million points towards the cost of schooling, and another dispensing with 987,000 points.

Another loyalty scheme member redeemed 707,000 points for 840kg of paint, in what was considered the “most unique redemption”.

Most other purchases targeted high-end luxury items, with someone cashing in 934,000 points for an Hermes cashmere blanket that would normally cost $2270.

A $10,000 Louis Vuitton Tambour Street Diver watch was “bought” for 1.314 million points, and a Bvlgari black diamond bag and white gold earrings worth more than $6000 were handed over in exchange for 924,000 points.

Roger Johnson took advantage of the reward service to shout himself an early Christmas gift in the form of a Kawasaki Vulcan 2022 motorcycle.

He said he had his eye on the machine for some time, and decided it was worth 1.6 million points.

“When Qantas said to me, you can buy something you’ve been dreaming of, I did just that,” Mr Johnson said.

“I have had my motorbike licence since I was about 20-years old but in recent years, I had stepped back from riding to spend time with my family. It was awesome to be able to spend my points in such a unique way, and I can’t wait to be back out riding soon.”

Guitar enthusiast Craig Claxton realised his dream of getting a 1970 Fender Stratocaster using masses of points built up throughout the pandemic.

Brisbane musician and guitar lover Craig Claxton took the opportunity to use his Qantas points on a 1970 Fender Stratocaster guitar which normally sell for well over $20,000.

“Vintage guitars don’t come around very often, and when they do they don’t tend to be cheap, so to have the opportunity to add this unique guitar to my collection using my Qantas Points was just brilliant,” said Mr Claxton.

“I look forward to playing it on my upcoming album and the sound will be ever sweeter knowing how I got it.”

How Qantas calculated the “cost” of items based on points was a closely guarded secret, with the value of points varying according to how they were used.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce will join Qantas Loyalty boss Olivia Wirth in Sydney on Friday to launch a new frequent flyer initiative.

The move followed a two-day “reward seat” blitz by Virgin Australia this week, which made every economy seat on every domestic flight available for booking using Velocity points.