The ongoing Qantas points sign-up bonus that the American Express Qantas Ultimate card is offering is aimed at travellers who want to maximise their Qantas Frequent Flyer point balance on their next overseas trip, so we thought we’d compile our dream list of what we’d do with those points.
Qantas American Express Ultimate
- Sign-up Bonus:
- Up to 100,000 bonus Qantas Points¹
- Rewards Earn Rate:
- 1.25 Qantas Points earned per $1 on eligible everyday purchases. 2.25 Qantas Points per $1 spent on selected Qantas products and services in Australia. 0.5 Qantas Point per $1 at government bodies in Australia. After a total of 100,000 Qantas Points is earned in a calendar year, the everyday earn rate will change from 1.25 to 1 Qantas Point per $1 spent.
- Annual Fee:
- $450 p.a.
- Offer expires
- 5 May 2026
- Earn 70,000 bonus Qantas Points when you spend $5,000 in the first 3 months, plus an additional 30,000 Qantas Points when you spend a minimum of $1 on your Card within 90 days of paying your second year annual Card Fee¹. (Offer ends 5 May 2026. New Amex Card Members only. T&Cs apply.) This card includes an annual $450 Qantas Travel Credit, two Qantas Club Complimentary Lounge Invitations after eligible Qantas spend each year, complimentary international travel insurance, and Qantas Wine Premium Membership (valued at $99). Earn 1.25 Qantas Points per $1 on everyday spend, 2.25 on Qantas purchases, and 0.5 on government payments. The annual fee is $450.
Apart from being one of the highest Qantas point earning card on the market with a high sign up bonus plus a free return domestic Qantas flight every year, the points you earn from this card can be used for the following high-value redemptions on Qantas, Emirates and its oneworld partners.
This article is produced in partnership with American Express.
1. Enjoy the world’s best Business Class product and lounge with Qatar Airways
One of the newer oneworld partners, Qatar was voted the world’s second-best airline in the Skytrax World Airline Awards in 2016, and won both the best Business Class onboard product and Business Class Lounge in the world.
You’ll find pretty similar products on its daily A380 flights from Sydney and A350 service from Adelaide to its hub in Doha, with lie-flat, direct aisle access Business Class seats:
a full-service bar on the A380:
and a self-service bar on the A350:
Let’s hope that the Melbourne and Perth services get an upgrade from the 777 sooner rather than later:
Plus, if you’re connecting through or departing from Doha, you’ll get to enjoy the impressive Al Mourjan Business Lounge:
A one-way Business Class ticket from Australia to Europe on Qatar Airways usually costs 139,000 Qantas points (jumps to 159,000 from 18 September 2019).
2. Lie 180° flat on all Cathay Pacific Business Class flights to and from Australia
Known for its consistent onboard product, Cathay Pacific flies between its Hong Kong hub and five Australian airports: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.
Regardless of aircraft, all Business Class seats to and from Australia are lie-flat and offer direct aisle access in a 1-2-1 configuration.
Most of its flights are onboard its Airbus A350 or Boeing 777 aircraft.
A one-way Business Class redemption from all Australian airports to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific will set you back 65,000 Qantas points (jumps to 75,000 from 18 September 2019).
If you can, try to get on one of Cathay’s new Airbus A350s, which are the newest aircraft in the skies. The carrier will replace one of its three Melbourne flights with the A350 from 1 February 2017, with other routes in our region including Auckland, Manila, Taipei, Singapore and Bangkok, as well as London Gatwick, Paris, Rome, Dusseldorf and Vancouver further afield.
Cathay Pacific Airbus A350
Note that Cathay does not currently offer a First Class product to Australia, so look to connecting flights to US cities like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, and European cities such as London Heathrow, Paris and Frankfurt for that experience.
3. Enjoy top-notch customer service on Japan Airlines First Class
Both JAL and its main Japanese competitor ANA have amongst the best reputations for attentive and efficient customer service in the airline industry.
Japan Airlines flies a four-class Boeing 777-300ER between Sydney and Tokyo Narita. The flight there is during the day and the one back from Tokyo overnight, so we would recommend that if you have to choose between which one to use your Qantas points on, that you go with the daytime flight to make the most of the experience during waking hours.
Japan Airlines First Class dining
Keith took both flights there and back and described them as “ridiculously amazing, extravagant and sublime”, with the high level of customer service as the standout feature.
A one-way First Class flight from Sydney to Tokyo on Japan Airlines costs 114,000 Qantas points.
4. Have a hot shower in the air flying Emirates First Class
The largest Gulf carrier was voted the number one airline in the Skytrax World Airline Awards in 2016, along with having the best in-flight entertainment system (which is quite important on our long flights from Australia).
It also operates the world’s largest fleet of Airbus A380s, which have the blingiest First Class Suites in the business, with an onboard bar and shower.
We’re lucky in Australia to have the A380 servicing the following routes:
- Sydney to Dubai and Christchurch
- Melbourne to Dubai and Singapore
- Brisbane to Dubai
- Perth and Dubai
A one-way First Class redemption between Australia and Dubai on Emirates will set you back 108,000-144,000 Qantas points (jumps to 123,100-162,800 from 18 September 2019) depending on your departure city.
US vlogger Casey Neistat does a great and entertaining job of showcasing the best parts of the Emirates experience:
5. Fly around the world from 132,400 points using a oneworld Classic Reward redemption
Qantas Frequent Flyer’s round-the-world ticket allows you to explore the world and stopover in up to five cities over a 12-month period.
It allows for up to 15 flights with Qantas and its oneworld partner airlines, which can be used for up to 35,000 miles of travel.
This award is available for all classes, starting at 132,500 points for Economy travel right up to 455,000 in First Class.
You can read our guide to using Qantas oneworld Classic Rewards for good-value round-the-world flights here.
6. Keep it local with Qantas First Class
Australia’s legacy carrier offers First Class only on its Airbus A380 flights, which currently serve Los Angeles, Dallas/Fort Worth, Singapore and London from Sydney and Melbourne.
Whilst not necessarily regarded as being at the top of the pack in terms of its First Class cabin and service, those loyal to Qantas will take comfort in a familiar environment (and that sigh of relief when you hear an Australian accent when boarding a flight overseas).
You will, however, get access to Qantas’ amazing First Class lounges in Sydney and Melbourne (see below).
A one-way First Class flight from Sydney or Melbourne with Qantas prices at 144,000/162,800 Qantas points to Los Angeles, 168,000/189,800 to Dallas/Fort Worth and 192,000/216,900 to London (before/after 18 September 2019 changes).
You can read our Qantas A380 First Class review here.
7. Fly First Class out of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or Los Angeles to access some of Qantas’ best lounges
Qantas First Class Lounge at Melbourne Airport
Your travel experience doesn’t start when you board the plane – it starts from the moment you leave your front door.
So if you’re flying out of Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane Airport in First Class on Qantas, Emirates or any oneworld airline, you’ll be able to spend time before you board in some of Qantas’ best lounges.
We’ve personally given both the Sydney First Class Lounge and Melbourne First Class Lounge five-star ratings and we’re looking forward to trying out the new (combined First and Business Class) Brisbane International Premium Lounge on our next trip from the Sunshine State.
You can get a complimentary spa treatment at the Qantas First Class Lounge at Sydney Airport
The Qantas-run Los Angeles oneworld Business Class Lounge is a solid one, so I can only imagine the First Class Lounge.
The open fireplace at the oneworld International Business Lounge at Los Angeles Airport
You can read our definitive guide to Qantas lounges here.
Summing up
With a balance of 55,000 Qantas points provided by signing up for the Qantas Ultimate American Express card, you’ll be on your way to showering onboard Emirates’ A380, lying flat in Cathay Pacific Business Class and enjoying top-notch Japanese hospitality on Japan Airlines.
Our own images supplemented by official photos from respective airlines.
JAL no longer seem to have first class on the Syd – Tok route 🙁
A bit of a pain to get there in the first place, but i have found redeeming for award seats out of Hong Kong some great value as not sure if they don’t allow fuel surcharges to be added? Whatever it is, a quick comparison of SIN-DXB-LHR in Y comes out at 45,000 QF points and S$337 which is pretty close to the A$, while HKG-DXB-LHR is 45,000 QF poitns and HK$404=A$70…
Yep, you’re right! We’ve written about which countries and cities offer the taxes here.
Hi, i am new to this, is there anyway to find out the would be tax for Qantas and SIA redempation? I’d want to weigh in which would be better to spend the points with. Also are the taxes different for different class redemption?
Cheers
In the case of Qantas, they don’t show you the taxes for a redemption online unless you have enough points in your account to redeem. In which case, you need to find availability for the route / cabin class you are interested in and then give them a call and ask, and they should be able to tell you without having the points in your account.
With KrisFlyer I think you can do a dry run online without the points in your account to get a price.
And yes, in either case, taxes will differ based on the cabin you travel in as well as the route you are comparing.
Hi
Im very new to this.
I read the part about japan airlines which i got interested in.
How would i upgrade an economy seat with JAL to business or first with qantas points? And how many points would the return cost?
Generally speaking you can’t use points to upgrade flights on other carriers aircraft, even if you can book award seats on them.
For example you can’t upgrade an Emirates seat from paid economy (including a QF codeshare) to Business using QF points, even though you can very often book that J seat using points outright to begin with.
There is the odd exception to this but I don’t think it’s the case on Japan airlines with QF points.
In this case you would need to book an award flight in F or J outright using points.
All those are examples of exactly when NOT to use Qantas points, because of a) Qantas’ overpriced points-costs for long-distance premium-class awards and b) Qantas’ stinking colossal surcharges on international awards.
If you want to fly first class on JAL, for example, it’s much cheaper and much less points to use AA miles. And you don’t have to argue with the agents, not as much.
So if you’re in the unfortunate position of holding a lot of Qantas points, you can usefully use them for economy domestic-US flights. It’s about a $5 charge and reasonable low points-costs for short point-to-point sectors where the fares are unpalatable, such as New York to nearby small ports.
Or quickly use up your points for domestic Qantas upgrades here in Australia, where you can at least get the confirmed seat if you’re lucky and find availability, it’s not a lottery for local flights – but do it before Feb when Qantas’ latest devaluation cuts in and upgrades get priced out into the stratosphere.
My take is that there are two decisions to factor in – which points currencies are you going to collect; then how do you use them. Given how prevalent Qantas Frequent Flyer is in the market in Australia and how relatively straightforward to it is to collect Qantas Points, it’s understandable that a lot of people go straight to earning them without a second thought. I’m the first to agree that people should look beyond Qantas Frequent Flyer for more value, but that’s a decision that actively needs to be made before you can simply move to redeeming points for another airline.
Maybe it wasn’t too clear in the article, but the goal here was not necessarily to showcase best outright value, but the best experiences that can be bought using points.
Totally agree though that Qantas surcharges don’t compare well to some of their competitors, and that people with time and inclination should look at other options – both frequent flyer program and route/cabin to get the best value from their redemptions.
Problem with being in Australia is AA points are so expensive to purchase with the current exchange rate (even during their promotions) that it doesn’t always work out that way when you look at the whole cost of an award booking.
Perhaps I didn’t use my points as frugally as possible but on a recent trip I flew Mel-LHR in QF First using QF points, and part of the return journey was MXP-AUH in Etihad F using AA points.
Even accounting for the cost of acquiring the points and the taxes, the QF flight was much cheaper overall than the Etihad flight and it was 4 times the duration.
If you have another way of acquiring a large swag of AA points much cheaper – say a large amount of employer paid flying then this may be different, but I’m not personally I’m that position so buying points it is and QF doesnt work out too bad in my experience.
I’m flying the Qatar A350 in Business next week using QF points. I had to get from Europe back to Mel and with nothing available in J online I called up QF and was suggested routing via Adl with a domestic tag to get home.
Worked out well & now really looking forward to trying out Qatar for the first time on their latest business product and checking out the Al Mourjan lounge in transit.
If you’re looking to try out the A350 too I’d suggest calling up and see what’s available rather than just relying with what shows up online.
You have to be really forceful when booking JAL using qff points. they dont appear on the qf website so you have to call. i had to speak to 3 different agents last time i booked a JAL flight because the first two agents were adamant that there wasn’t availability.
Just a quick heads up. I booked a relative a flight from LAX to mel. 45000 points on QF plus 451 USD ON QANTAS. Same day but fly American Airlines via Sydney and the taxes are only 28 usd. When I asked why at platinum one I was told au a very high tax country for airlines and USA lowest for airlines. Hmmmmm
Yes, that’s a huge difference!
In this case, that difference is due to the fact that US airlines usually don’t charge fuel surcharges themselves or pass them onto their partners, like Qantas.
We have a guide to redeeming Qantas points for Qantas vs American Airlines flights.
In more general terms, you may be interested in our guides to how different countries/airports and frequent flyer programs affect award co-payments.
This is correct. I fly Qatar four times a year PER – CPH. I now structure it so I am booking return flights from CPH rather than the other way around – saves me between AUD400 and AUD600 per trip. Even with the small cost of having to change some flight dates every so often I am thousands ahead at the end of each year.
I’m confused your article states that you can fly to LA first class with Qantas from 144k points. Yet when I use the Qantas points calculator it comes in at 900k points minimum. Can you shed some light on what I’m doing wrong please?
There’s two methods of working this out:
Enter the origin, destination and cabin into the Qantas Points Calculator tool
Use a mileage calculator like this one and then check against the Qantas award chart
I have just booked a flight to Paris return business using points and used the Qantas phone booking service it costs a few dollars but they seem to be able to see or find things you just cant get to yourself doing it online Call early in the morning for a shorter wait in the cue. Worth the money.I agree with others the extra cash that Qantas asks for is way more than Virgin or other airlines perhaps time for a airline rethink?? ,I am leaving QF and heading for Velocity
I recently went to book JFK – PER in EK F with QFFP and taxes were going to be $1400USD per pax – ridiculous!
I totally agree Qantas taxes for many redemptions are high and could be much lower. $1,400 USD does seem way out of whack though – I paid $637 AUD for a Sydney -> London Gatwick redemption using Qantas Points earlier this year.
In my case, I just decided to focus on the relative value – I was happy to travel for 23 hours for a ticket that would have cost upwards of $10,000 for just $637 in taxes.
I’ve been lucky enough to experience first class on Qantas and Emirates. In terms of experience ,the Emirates first class is wonderful but I love the service on qantas. In respect to business class I’ve tried most of One World airlines I’m finding the seating on QF flights quite dated unless it’s an updated A330. They are simply bit that comfortable any more. I’m looking forward to trying Qatar and the new aircraft Finnair are flying into Singapore and Hong Kong.
Thanks for the input, Jennifer!