Last month, Qantas started allowing members to purchase Top-Up points online. They have now made further changes to the option, and I have updated this post to reflect these changes.
The basic rules are now
- Points may be purchased in blocks of 1,000 (up from blocks of 500)
- The Minimum purchase is now 1,000 points, up to a maximum 150,000 points per purchase. This is a increase from the previous range of 500 to 60,000 points
- You can now purchase top-up points four times in a 12-month period (was twice per year)
- You must be a Qantas Frequent Flyer member for at least 30 days before purchasing Top-up points online
Qantas Top-Up Points
Under the Top-Up points options, members of Qantas Frequent Flyer are able to purchase a small number of points. This is provided for situations where you may find yourself slightly short of points for an award.
While Qantas have offered the option for some time, you have had to call the Frequent Flyer Service Centre to make the purchase. In order to simplify the purchase experience, Qantas have made some changes to the process, and now allow you to purchase points online, when using a Mastercard or Visa
If you wish to use another form of payment, such as American Express, you will still need to call the Frequent Flyer Service Centre. Note that when calling the service centre, Qantas will be introducing a fee of $35 as of October 24.
The other rules around purchasing points generally stay the same. You are still required to have a specific award in mind when purchasing the points. In addition, you are still limited to a maximum of 150,000 Qantas Points twice a year.
Purchase Process
In order to purchase points, you will need to log into your Top-Up Points page on the Qantas Frequent Flyer website. There you will need to select how many points you wish to purchase. This starts from 1,000 points and goes up in increments of 1,000 points. You will then be shown the price of the points.
Qantas Top-Up Points
Once you have selected the number of points you wish to purchase, you can proceed to the checkout page. This will prompt you to enter your credit card details.
Cost of Points
While Qantas used to publish a chart showing the points costs, this seems to have been removed. You now have to select an option from the dropdown to find out how much they will cost.
If you purchase 1,000 points, this will set you back $49, which works out to 4.9 cents per points. Fortunately, the cost does decrease as you purchase more points. The maximum 150,000 points costs $3,459 or 2.306 cents each.
For sure, these are expensive points. However, if you need just a few thousand or so to get an award, then it may be a useful way of getting those extra points.
Final Words
The ability to buy additional points is offered by both Velocity and Qantas Frequent Flyer. While they can be an expensive way to purchase points, there can be times when it is a good option to use.
While Velocity have allowed online purchases (via Points.com), Qantas have made you call. Allowing the purchase online (even if limited to Mastercard and Visa) is a positive step.
