Qantas has lifted the cap on its credit-card surcharges. In some cases, such as domestic travel, the cap has been doubled. As a result, you could be up for a higher credit card surcharge next time you book a flight.
Qantas introduced the current credit card surcharge structure back in 2016. At the time, they moved from a flat fee to one calculated as a percentage of the fare. They also added a cap. For a domestic flight, you would not pay more than $11.
Over the past three years, the percentages have drifted around, generally in a downward direction. However, the fee cap has remained the same.
This time around Qantas has opted to increase the fee cap. For a domestic or Trans-Tasman journey, the fee cap has been lifted from $11 to $22. In the case of international flights (other than Trans Tasman), the fee cap has gone from $70 up to $120.
As an example of what this means, consider a domestic airfare. If you pay by credit card, you are charged 1.03%. In the past, you would reach the cap if your ticket price was more than $1,067. If your ticket was over $1,067, you still paid just $11.
This cap has now been raised to $22. As such, your surcharge keeps rising until your ticket exceeds $2,135.
This increase will likely have the greatest effect on travelers booking into Business. Some of these fares now exceed $2,000. It’s a bit harder to see that people booking Economy tickets will be hit as hard.
What are the payment surcharges?
Qantas apply the following payment surcharges,
| Booking made in Australia | Debit/prepaid cards | Credit/charge cards | Paypal | Fee cap (per ticket per card in AUD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Australian Domestic
|
0.36%
|
1.03%
|
0.69% |
AUD$22.00
|
|
Australian Trans-Tasman
|
0.36%
|
1.03%
|
0.69% |
AUD$22.00
|
|
Australian International
|
0.36%
|
1.03%
|
0.69% |
AUD$120.00
|
Fee Free Options
If you’d rather not pay a surcharge, there are various fee-free options available. The fee-free options include:
- POLi online payment option
- BPay for payment made 7 days or more before the flight’s scheduled departure
- UATP cards issued by Qantas
- Credit voucher.
The Qantas Gift Voucher is a popular way of avoiding the credit card surcharge.
As Qantas makes changes to their surcharges from time to time, you can find the latest information on their website