Qantas have announced changes to the Qantas Points earn rate that will apply to the Qantas Cash card. Depending on whether you use your card overseas or in Australia it could be good news, or it could be bad news.
The changes, and the effective dates of the changes are shown in the following table
| Proposition | Current earn rate | New earn rate | Effective from |
|---|---|---|---|
| International | 1 Qantas Point* per $1 spent in foreign currency | 1.5 Qantas Points* per $1 spent in foreign currency | 1 April 2017 |
| Domestic | 1 Qantas Point* per $2 spent in Australian Dollars | 1 Qantas Point*per $4 spent in Australian Dollars | 1 July 2017 |
International
First, the good news. Members spending foreign currency will see an increase of 50% in earn rate as of April 1. The earn rate will lift from its current 1 Qantas Points per dollar, to 1.5 Qantas Points per $1 spend in foreign currency.
Domestic
The real bad news happens when you are spending domestically in Australia. The earn rate is being halved, and as of June 1, 2017 you will earn at a rather dismal rate of 1 Qantas Point for every $4 spent in Australian Dollars.
Qantas Cash
Qantas Cash is a prepaid Mastercard attached to your Qantas Frequent Flyer account. As a prepaid card, it needs to be loaded with funds before you are able to use it. Overall, it competes against the various travel cards that are available on the market. It’s most direct competitor is the Global Wallet offer available for Velocity members.
Features of the Qantas Cash include:
- No load fees,
- No monthly account fees,
- Earn 1 Qantas Frequent Flyer point for every AUD$1 equivalent of eligible spend in foreign currency (1.5 Qantas Points per dollar from April 1(,
- Earn 1 point for every or for every AUD$2 spent in Australia (! point per $4 spent from June 1).
Qantas Cash allows you to preload 11 foreign currencies, in addition to Australia Dollars. Note that when loading a foreign currency onto the card, the exchange rate is somewhat less than stellar.