American Express cardholders can now transfer Membership Rewards points to Qantas Frequent Flyer. This becomes their 9th frequent flyer partner, bringing the total oneworld airlines under Membership Rewards to four.ย
Transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to Qantas
American Express Membership Rewards points can be transferred to Qantas at a ratio of 400:250. Transfer fees are waived for all Platinum cardholders, while AMEX Rewards cardholders will pay S$20 per transfer.ย
| โ ๏ธ The 400:250 transfer ratio applies to AMEX Platinum Charge cardholders. For all other AMEX cards, the ratio is 450:250 |
While other programs list estimated transfer times of 4-8 weeks, Qantas Frequent Flyer has a transfer time of just one business day.ย
What can you do with Qantas Frequent Flyer points?
Not a whole lot, sadly.
Qantas has two award charts: Qantas Classic Flight Rewards, and Partner Classic Flight Rewards.ย
The Qantas Classic Flight Rewards chart is cheaper, but only applies to travel entirely on:
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| Zone | One-Way Miles |
Economy | Premium Economy |
Business | First |
| 1 | 0-600 | 8,000 | 13,800 | 18,400 | 27,600 |
| 2 | 601 – 1,200 | 12,000 | 20,600 | 27,600 | 41,500 |
| 3 | 1,201 – 2,400 | 18,000 | 31,000 | 41,500 | 62,200 |
| 4 | 2,401 – 3,600 | 20,300 | 42,200 | 57,000 | 85,500 |
| 5 | 3,601 – 4,800 | 25,200 | 51,300 | 68,400 | 102,600 |
| 6 | 4,801 – 5,800 | 31,500 | 61,500 | 82,000 | 123,100 |
| 7 | 5,801 – 7,000 | 37,600 | 71,100 | 94,900 | 142,300 |
| 8 | 7,001 – 8,400 | 41,900 | 81,300 | 108,400 | 162,800 |
| 9 | 8,401 – 9,600 | 51,200 | 94,900 | 126,500 | 189,800 |
| 10 | 9,601 – 15,000 | 55,200 | 108,400 | 144,600 | 216,900 |
Here’s some sample one-way award costs from Singapore:
| ย | Economy | Business | First |
| SIN-PER | 20,300 | 57,000 | N/A |
| SIN-SYD/MEL/BNE | 25,200 | 68,400 | 102,600 |
| SIN-LHR | 37,600 | 94,900 | 142,300 |
Remember that even though Qantas has scrapped fuel surcharges on revenue tickets, they continue to impose them on award tickets because…they can. This makes KrisFlyer redemptions on Singapore Airlines a much better option overall (especially when Spontaneous Escapes return)
If you’re looking to redeem awards on the rest of Qantas’ partners, you’ll have to use the Partner Classic Flight Rewards table.
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Awards here are more expensive, costing 12% more on average.ย
| Zone | One-Way Miles |
Economy | Premium Economy |
Business | First |
| 1 | 0-600 | 10,000 | 15,800 | 20,000 | 29,000 |
| 2 | 601-1,200 | 14,000 | 23,700 | 30,000 | 43,500 |
| 3 | 1,201-2,400 | 20,000 | 34,500 | 43,800 | 64,500 |
| 4 | 2,401-3,600 | 24,500 | 48,500 | 61,200 | 89,800 |
| 5 | 3,601-4,800 | 30,200 | 59,000 | 75,000 | 107,700 |
| 6 | 4,801-5,800 | 37,800 | 70,800 | 90,000 | 129,300 |
| 7 | 5,801-7,000 | 45,000 | 81,800 | 104,500 | 149,800 |
| 8 | 7,001-8,400 | 50,300 | 93,500 | 119,200 | 170,800 |
| 9 | 8,401-9,600 | 61,500 | 109,000 | 139,200 | 199,300 |
| 10 | 9,601-15,000 | 66,200 | 124,800 | 159,000 | 227,500 |
There are some unique partners on this list, like Air Niugini and El Al, but none of the award rates are particularly competitive.ย
Where else can you transfer American Express points?
With this addition, American Express now has nine airline and two hotel transfer partners, making its points the second most flexible in Singapore, after Citibank.ย
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| Oneworld | |||||||||
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Conclusion
Even though I’m not aware of many use cases for Qantas points, it’s always good to have additional transfer partner variety. And who knows? With ANA, Cathay Pacific, and Emirates coming to see the light on fuel surcharges, maybe Qantas will remove them from award tickets in the near future.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Award availability especially in premium cabins on QF metal is very hard to find.For travel to AU, EK, BA and sometimes even CX (via HKG) are more common options.