American Express is reducing the points earning rate for those members collecting Qantas Points on their David Jones cards. After the change, cardholders will earn 33% less Qantas Points when using their David Jones cards.
Existing cardholders have three months on the existing rate, with the new rate taking effect from April 15. For new applications, the change comes into effect immediately.
American Express have begun advising holders of the David Jones American Express card and the David Jones American Express Platinum card of the change.
There are no changes to earn rates on the cards – they remain as is. The changes only affect the redemption side of the equation.
For members that hold their points in Membership Rewards, there is no change to the transfer rates to other travel partners, such as Velocity. There are, however, some changes to the points required for gift vouchers.
Earning Qantas Points on David Jones Amex Cards
In order to earn Qantas Points with the David Jones card, you need to opt into Qantas Points. Once you do that, your Membership Rewards points are automatically converted to Qantas Points each month.
The change sees the conversion rate to Qantas reducing from the 4:3 rate, to a 2:1 rate. In doing so, it brings the earn rate into line with other partners, such as Velocity, Enrich, or Asia Miles.
As a result of the change, the effective earn rates on the cards is shown in the tables below.
| Spend Category | Effective Earn Rate (Qantas Points per dollar) | |
|---|---|---|
| Old Rate (4:3) | New Rate (2:1) | |
| David Jones | 3 | 2 |
| Major Supermarkets and petrol stations | 2.25 | 1.5 |
| Everywhere else | 0.75 | 0.5 |
| Spend Category | Effective Earn Rate (Qantas Points per dollar) | |
|---|---|---|
| Old Rate (4:3) | New Rate (2:1) | |
| Major Supermarkets and petrol stations | 2.25 | 1.5 |
| David Jones | 1.5 | 1.0 |
| Everywhere else | 0.75 | 0.5 |
Don’t convert to Qantas Points?
If you don’t convert your David Jones points to Qantas Points, then the above doesn’t affect you. Even better, there are no changes to the transfer rates to partners such as Velocity, Asia Miles, KrisFlyer and Enrich.
On the other hand, there are changes being made to the number of points required to redeem gift vouchers. The following table shows these changes.
| David Jones redemption options | Current dollar-value conversion | New dollar-value conversion from 15 April 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer to David Jones Gift Card | 13,300 Membership Rewards Points = $100 | 13,300 Membership Rewards Points = $88.60 |
| Transfer to David Jones Shop with Points | 13,300 Membership Rewards Points = $100 | 13,300 Membership Rewards Points = $88.60 |
| Other redemption options | Current dollar-value conversion | New dollar-value conversion from 15 April 2019 |
| Helloworld Travel | 15,000 Membership Rewards Points = $100 | 15,000 Membership Rewards Points = $75 |
| Ticketmaster | 12,000 Membership Rewards Points = $100 | 12,000 Membership Rewards Points = $60 |
| Donations | 12,000 Membership Rewards Points = $100 | 12,000 Membership Rewards Points = $60 |
Final Thoughts
The change, while unfortunate, is not unexpected. It basically brings the conversion rate into line with that of the other American Express cards.
It does, however, remain a relatively good earner of Qantas Frequent Flyer points for spend at supermarkets, petrol stations and David Jones stores. Outside that, the points earning proposition is not so good.