How I unlocked every Qantas tier in one trip (using points)

In early March 2025, I gave myself an absurd challenge: earn Qantas Gold status in a single trip – using points, not cash.

I’d never held Qantas status. I don’t fly on paid fares often enough to earn it, and I’d certainly never done a status run. But I was tired of seeing my colleagues here at Point Hacks getting Gold-class treatment while I get bupkis. Lounge access around the world, priority boarding, early access to reward seats. I wanted to join that club.

Then Qantas dropped its latest double Status Credits offer. I started wondering: Could I unlock Gold without spending thousands on flights? Could I do it all in one trip – with points?

That thought sent me down the deepest of rabbit holes. What I found was complicated, borderline ridiculous and surprisingly possible.

The Plan

The initial plan was straightforward. To reach Qantas Gold I’d need to earn 700 Status Credits (SCs). I had already earned 20 SCs from a return trip between Sydney and Melbourne. Only 680 to go.

I reached out to our Point Hacks Concierge travel experts to see if my quest had any bearing in reality. Less than an hour later I was looking at an itinerary fit for a campaigning politician (minus the Chairman’s Lounge access).

The catch? I would also need to earn Qantas Points Club and Qantas Green Tier in order to achieve Gold with points and keep costs as low as possible. Down the rabbit hole we go.

Phase 1: Earn Qantas Points Club

Qantas Points Club rewards customers who primarily collect points on the ground. Members who earn 150,000 or more Qantas Points within their membership year gain access to a number of perks including earning extra points at some Qantas stores, $50 hotel and wine vouchers and two Qantas Club invitations.

Points Club also unlocks one very specific perk that’s key to this itinerary – the ability to earn SCs on Qantas Classic Reward Flights. Typically when flying with Qantas and its partners you only earn SCs on paid cash fares. With this power up I could book my Gold-earning itinerary on points, saving thousands of dollars on cash fares (albeit at a reduced rate). I was worried the double SC offer wouldn’t apply to these flights but I checked – they totally do!

I had already earned 100,000 Qantas Points through a credit card sign up bonus earlier in the year so I would need another 50,000 to unlock Points Club. A second Qantas Point earning credit card might be the easiest option but I couldn’t wait three months to hit the minimum spend. I needed the points today. It just so happened Qantas Marketplace was offering 10x Qantas Points on Apple Gift cards. That’s 10 points per dollar spent! Now we’re Tim Cook-ing.

Dropping $5000 on Apple gift cards to earn Qantas Points isn’t for everyone, but I was in a fortunate circumstance where my business needed an expensive new Mac for a project. I took the financial hit and a few days later 50,000 points and Points Club status were reflected in my personal Qantas account.

At this stage I was feeling like this plan might just work. Especially since these points would come in handy for the next two steps.

There are some limits to how many points contribute to Points Club. Make sure to keep track of where they are coming from.

Green Tier seems daunting to achieve at first but you only need to tick off five activities in total.

Phase 2: Earn Green Tier

• 50 bonus Qantas Status Credits,
• 10,000 bonus Qantas Points, or
• Qantas will purchase 3 tonnes of carbon offsets on your behalf.

Worth five Economy flights between Melbourne and Sydney (10 SCs each way), the bonus 50 SCs would bring my balance up to 70.

Up until now I always ignored Green Tier. There are some activities that look like big purchases I’d never make such as sustainable accommodation or wines. The juice didn’t seem worth the squeeze. Once I got stuck into it though, I found five activities that took almost no effort at all. I managed to tick off four of the activities at my computer in less than 10 minutes and most were reflected in my account within 48 hours. The fifth activity was purchasing a carbon offset for a flight, which I’d already done for my flights between Melbourne and Sydney earlier in the year.

In total I paid $163.80 and 3200 Qantas Points to unlock Green Tier. Or about $3.28 per SC.
The cash purchases also earn 10 Qantas points per dollar spent so I received a total of 1630 Qantas Points back.

Phase 3: Book a Gold-earning itinerary

With Points Club and Gold Tier secured, it was time to book an itinerary that could earn at least 630 SCs. With double SCs I needed 315 from actual flying. Now I had to dig deep into the Qantas frequent flyer tables and do some serious maths.

Status Credits are typically only earned through flying. When earning through Points Club, SC earn scales depending on cabin class and distance travelled. They’ll also be a bit higher for international flights. Most importantly, they’re awarded at the end of each flight so more flights = more SCs.

Classic Flight Rewards are priced by distance travelled in miles, not per flight. The points cost is set by pre-determined zones. Business Class flights are roughly 2.5x more expensive than Economy but so is the SC earn. In this instance, choosing to fly Business Class will simply save me time while providing a more comfortable experience.

The Hack:

By booking a multi-city trip with points, I could cram in as many flights as possible into a single Classic Flight Reward redemption so long as;

• Each segment departed within 24 of the previous flight’s arrival
• I didn’t return to the original city I started the trip from
• It included an international segment

The actual route didn’t really matter so long as I followed these rules. For example, our Point Hacks Concierge team also found this pretty ludicrous route that would earn 348 SCs (with the double offer) for just 68,400 points. Yes that’s eight flights in just over 36 hours.

Our Point Hacks Concierge team really know how to maximise your point balance.

Use the multi-city tool to add multiple flights to your booking. You can only include a maximum of six flights using this tool so I also made use of existing stopovers for some of these segments.

The trip would take me to every major airport in Australia. Plus Christchurch.

Ultimately we settled on something a little more expensive with much more forgiving transfer times between flights. For 94,900 Qantas Points (Zone 7), I’d earn 630 SCs by travelling 10,477 kilometres (6510 miles) over three days. That’s just below the distance of a single flight from Sydney to Johannesburg – a route that earns just 128 SCs with the double SC promotion!

We could have added even more segments to this itinerary to do the whole thing with points but with each additional flight the chance of finding a connecting Business Class reward that fit within the rules got slimmer. Instead, for the final two flights, I opted to add a sale-fare Business Class flight from Christchurch to Melbourne via Brisbane, adding a handy 290 SCs to my pool. A return trip on points was technically possible but nine flights over four days felt like enough.

Finding the exact itinerary took a bit of time as I would have to confirm Business Class availability for each segment of the trip. I did this manually by searching the Qantas website one flight at a time and noting availability down. Once the flights were confirmed I used the multi-city tool on the Qantas website to add all seven to the booking in one go.

Here are the final calculations:

I was amazed I had gotten this far and the maths all worked out. I’d soon be rubbing shoulders with the other elite flyers at Point Hacks. Now all I had to do was sit back, relax, and enjoy the luxury of nine Business Class flights.

Phase 4: The Trip

I did not enjoy the luxury of nine Business Class flights.

Flying Business class is lovely. So is seeing so much of our beautiful country unfold beneath the clouds. Doing it back to back nine times, often without leaving the airport? It takes its toll!

Still, I thoroughly enjoyed the food and service on each flight. The meals were consistently great, with a nice combination of hearty and healthy options to pick from. In fact, over nine flights I didn’t see the same main course twice!
The rest of the cabin experience was perfectly fine, providing enhanced comfort over economy but little else. Of the two flights that actually had seat-back entertainment, the screens were painfully unresponsive and dim. The domestic aircraft were said to have Wi-Fi on board but it only ever worked for me once.

Since Qantas awards SCs almost immediately after touch down I had already earned my first ever Silver Status by the time I got to New Zealand. On my flight back from Christchurch a member of the cabin crew even congratulated me on earning Silver. “That’s a lot of flying!” she said. “I’ll actually be Gold tomorrow!” I excitedly replied. I tried explaining how that was possible but if you’ve read this far you can probably tell how quickly her eyes glazed over.

I was delighted to fly on the “Minyma Kutjara Tjukurpa” A220 for my first leg to Canberra. It’s gorgeous.

With less than two years of flying under its belt, the A220 definitely felt like the most modern aircraft I experienced on this trip.

My second leg to Adelaide was on a QantasLink Embraer 190. It’s so small the entire left side of Business Class only has one seat per row!

My remaining flights would all be on standard Boeing 737s.

Most of the dining looked like this but the overall quality was slightly better on the international flights.

I got used to this view from the front of the plane but it never got old. Getting to witness so much of Australia’s diverse landscape, sunsets and sunrises was a real gift.

As we landed in Melbourne I wondered how soon I would receive my gold card and bag tag…

It took one month. Almost to the day.

The Verdict

In June 2025 I’m a Gold Status frequent flyer. I have 700 Status Credits to my name and I went on a status run to get it. I’m a changed man. But was it worth it?

While I am enjoying the perks of Gold already, in the end I spent over $1600 and almost an entire credit card sign up bonus on this itinerary. I could have flown Business Class to Tokyo or Hawaii for the same number of points and had a memorable holiday without the need for status at all. Instead I returned home with memories of sitting in airports. Besides, if I don’t fly enough to earn Qantas status naturally, do the perks of Gold equate to $1600 plus almost 100,000 points worth of value? For me, that remains to be seen.

Even though the overall trip may not be worth it for me, I found the individual tiers were all well worth pursuing. Points Club provides a nice little boost to your point-earning potential and if you don’t need the SCs, the 10,000 Qantas Points from Green Tier is an easy way to build towards it. If you frequently fly but not quite enough to earn Gold, making use of SC promotions can help make up the difference. All without spending thousands on a status run. Sign up to the Point Hacks newsletter to be among the first to know, as they happen.

Now, time to start planning how I reach Platinum…

Also read:

Is it worth chasing Qantas Gold Status?
Seven Strategies for unlocking Qantas Points Club
Best ways to quickly unlock Qantas Green Tier

Photography and video by Tobias Venus who travelled at Point Hacks’ expense.