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Travel lovers, right now you can get a huge 100,000 bonus Qantas Points with Amex’s most popular and rewarding Qantas card, the Qantas American Express Ultimate Card.
That’s enough points to fly to many destinations overseas or multiple times within Australia. You could also use the points for business class upgrades (more on that below).
To apply for this deal, visit Amex via our partner link here.
Qantas Points don’t expire so long as you keep your Qantas Frequent Flyer account active by earning or redeeming at least one point every 18 months. Plus, reward bookings are refundable if your plans change.
The Qantas Ultimate Card is packed with valuable perks including a very high points earn rate on spend, an annual $450 Qantas Travel Credit, airport lounge entries, travel insurance, and much more.
Here’s an overview of the card benefits you can enjoy.
1. Earn piles of points on everyday spend
You’ll turbocharge your points balance by earning 1.25 Qantas Points per $1 spent on everyday purchases – one of the highest Qantas Points earn rates in Australia.
You’ll receive 2.25 Qantas Points per $1 spent on selected Qantas products and services in Australia, and 0.5 Qantas Points per $1 spent with government bodies.
Hundreds of thousands of merchants accept Amex in Australia, and that number is growing, so there’s no shortage of places where you can earn points with this card.
There’s also no cap on how many points you can earn.
2. Take off with a $450 Qantas Travel Credit every year
You’ll get a $450 Qantas Travel Credit at the start of each card membership year, including when you first receive the card, which effectively offsets the card’s $450 annual fee.
The Qantas Travel Credit is redeemable for Qantas flights online at American Express Travel. It’s valid for 12 months and you can book any available flight in the future.
The Qantas Travel Credit is very flexible. While you need to use it in a single booking, that can be for one or more people, travelling one way or return, and on domestic or overseas flights. Plus, the booking can be in anyone’s name and doesn’t have to include you.
Eligible flights are standard Qantas flights with a QF flight number, so you’ll have plenty of routes to choose from.
Take off with a Qantas Travel Credit every year
3. Enjoy four airport lounge entries each year
Relax before your next flight in style, even if you’re flying economy.
Each year, you’ll receive two Qantas lounge invitations valid for both domestic Qantas Clubs and Qantas International Lounges in Australia and overseas. These invitations will be activated in your Qantas Frequent Flyer account after your first card spend on selected Qantas products and services, such as flights.
You can use one of the Qantas lounge invites to bring in a guest, or transfer one or both invites to another Qantas Frequent Flyer member.
Relax in the lounge before you fly
You’ll also receive two entries each year to the exclusive American Express Lounge at Sydney Airport international or Melbourne Airport international, which are the two airports in Australia that have Amex lounges so far (temporarily closed). Simply present your card at the door to get in, and you may use one of the entries to bring in a guest (children under the age of 17 get in for free).
4. Travel securely with domestic and overseas travel insurance
You’ll receive comprehensive travel insurance cover when you pay for a domestic or international return flight with your card or use Qantas Points or the $450 Qantas Travel Credit to book.
This cover extends to your domestic partner and dependent children up to the age of 25 when they are travelling with you.
You’ll receive cover for:
- inconvenience – flight delays, cancellations or missed connections, and delayed luggage
- medical emergency expenses
- damaged, destroyed, lost or stolen baggage, money or documents
- trip cancellation and amendment costs
- personal liability
- COVID-19 related trip change and cancellation costs.
If you’re currently paying for travel insurance and this cover meets your needs, you can save money by relying on it.
5. Enjoy a range of other benefits
There are many more perks to enjoy with this card, including:
- up to 4 free additional cards for family members or friends – an easy way to earn points faster
- complimentary premium membership to Qantas Wine (worth $99) – get free delivery Australia-wide and earn 3 points per $1 spent
- up to 44 days interest free on purchases (the interest rate thereafter is 20.74%)
- ‘buy now, pay later’ with American Express Plan It™ Instalments: pay off your card balance in equal monthly instalments with 0% interest and a fixed monthly fee
- use your card with Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay
- Amex Offers: save money and earn bonus points via regular offers with top brands
- American Express Experiences: access sought-after events like music, theatre and film, including via pre-sale tickets, and enjoy exclusive lounges at selected events.
Plus 100,000 bonus Qantas Points
Receive 100,000 bonus Qantas Points when you apply online via our partner link , are approved and spend $3,000 on your new card within the first 3 months.
With your bonus points and the points earned on meeting the minimum spend, you could fly:
- from Australia’s coast to the USA in economy return with Qantas (costing up to 102,400 points plus taxes and fees. For longer flights, such as Sydney-London or Perth-USA, you’ll need 110,400 points)
- to many destinations in Asia in premium economy return with Qantas and partners, such as Brisbane-Tokyo or Sydney-Singapore with Qantas, or Perth-Bangkok with Cathay Pacific (costing up to 103,000 points plus taxes and fees)
- up to 6 times in economy or 2 times in business class return within Australia (return flights start at 16,000 points in economy or 36,800 points in business class, depending on distance, plus taxes and fees)
- in business class by upgrading from economy (domestic upgrades start at 5,400 points and international upgrades start at 11,900 points, depending on distance and fare class booked (no taxes or fees apply).
Use your points to experience business class comfort
100k Qantas Points will also help you become a member of Qantas’ Points Club (membership is automatic when you earn 150k points in a year). Benefits include two extra Qantas lounge passes, a $50 hotel voucher, the ability to earn Status Credits on reward bookings, and more.
This offer is only available to new American Express Card Members. That means you must not have held a card issued directly by American Express Australia in the last 18 months. However, you are still eligible for this offer if you’ve held an Amex card issued by a bank (i.e. Westpac, ANZ, CBA or NAB) or if you’re an additional Card Member on someone else’s account.
The minimum income to qualify is $65,000 per annum.
It’s very simple to apply, including on mobile devices.
Don’t miss out on this generous deal.
To read more and apply on Amex’s website, click here (mobile friendly).
Important: This article is not intended to suggest that you should apply for a card. You should seek independent, professional advice and consider your personal circumstances before deciding to apply for a card.
If you apply for a card via a link in this article, we may receive a commission from Amex. This income helps keep our site running, and we thank you for your support.
Read more in our Cards Disclosure.
Ok Thanks for that
I pay for my Qantas Club membership each year. Does this count to receive the $450 travel voucher?
Hi Ron, you don’t need to spend money with Qantas to get the voucher – it will be yours each year after paying the annual fee. You can only use the voucher towards Qantas flight.
Thank you for that, What about internationally, Heathrow etc do they have Amex lounges that this will give access to?
Rick
No, just Sydney and Melbourne.
Hi
It only mentions the business lounge at Sydney airport? Do you have access to the Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane airport lounges?
Rick
Hi Rick, as mentioned in the post, you get two entries each year to an Amex Lounge – there’s one in Sydney and one opening in Melbourne later this year. From 31 October you will also get two Qantas lounge passes each year for use anywhere domestically or overseas, but note that Amex is not yet promoting this on its site. Existing cardholders have been notified of this new benefit by letter (see screenshot posted in response to an earlier comment) and we have confirmed it with Amex.
Apologies re last comment. It seems that the 4 passes isnt referred to in the Amex website. Where can we as potential customers get this information and confirmation
Hi Dean, here is the screenshot of the letter existing cardholders received talking about the new QC passes (and also another new perk, free Epiqure membership).
https://thehighlife.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/amex-screenshot.jpg
Hi Kris…you said in your response to Fiona above (6th Aug) that holding or previously holding the David Jones AMEX is OK as they ‘aren’t included in the 18 month rule’. Do you have a source for this? The DJ AMEX is an Amex issued card…you’ll find it in the list of cards on the AMEX AU website. I can’t see anything in the T&Cs that says it would be excluded from the 18 month rule.
Hi Barry, yes my source is Amex! I checked 🙂
Do you get points for purchases when traveling overseas?
You sure do! I use mine whenever I travel 🙂