Qantas has introduced another way to earn frequent flyer points — by shopping online at selected retailers, including Apple and eBay. While earning extra points is always welcome, you’ll need to do a lot of shopping to score any quantity of points worth using.
Qantas’ new “online mall” includes 17 retailers who will give you points if you spend in their online stores (and log in via the new Qantaspoints.com site). This is what you’ll earn:
| Store | Points earned per $ |
|---|---|
| David Jones | 5 |
| Neiman Marcus | 5 |
| Net-A-Porter | 4 |
| Macy’s | 4 |
| Williams-Sonoma | 4 |
| Booktopia | 4 |
| West-Elm | 4 |
| The Iconic | 4 |
| Bobbi Brown | 4 |
| Mr Porter | 4 |
| Pottery Barn | 4 |
| Pottery Barn Kids | 4 |
| Selfridges | 3 |
| Fortnum and Mason | 3 |
| iTunes | 3 |
| Apple | 2 |
| eBay | 2 |
Compared to flying or using your credit card, that’s a very slow way of earning points. Even with Qantas’ trimmed points scheme that came into effect in July, the minimum number of points you’ll earn on a domestic flight is 800. Flights on domestic sectors can sell for as little as $79.
The usual argument people make in favour of these schemes is “I’m going to spend that money anyway, I might as well earn some extra points”. While this can be true, it will take a very long time to earn a meaningful quantity of points.
Take iTunes as an example. The minimum number of points you need for a free one-way flight (not including taxes) is 8000. To earn that many points on iTunes, you’d have to spend $4000 — the equivalent of 1827 full-priced ($2.19) songs.
You also need to check the conditions carefully. When buying from Apple, gift cards don’t count, and you can’t purchase more than 5 of any one item — presumably a trick to stop businesses pushing large equipment purchases through the service. eBay doesn’t count cars, real estate or charity purchases.
Lifehacker’s weekly Loaded column looks at better ways to manage (and stop worrying about) your money.
Comments
6 responses to “You’d Have To Buy 1827 Tracks On iTunes To Score A Free Flight On Qantas”
…and don’t forget, you only have a certain amount of time to use the points. You can’t pool them and use them at your convenience.
I still can’t believe people buy into this scam…
You can use them at your convenience – points don’t expire as long as you continue to use/earn points.
What makes you think it’s a scam?
Yes, flying is a very good way (one of the best ways) to earn points, but using your credit card alone – not so.
David Jones is offering 5 points per dollar spent. Event the best rewards cards don’t give more than 2 points per dollar spent.
I get 2 QFF points per dollar spend on my credit card, and use the card for absolutely everything (pay it off in full each month). My wife’s card is linked to the same QFF account. We earn about 10,000 FF points per month, just for using the credit card for our living expenses (no annual fee either)
My point exactly. You earn 2 points per dollar on your credit card. David Jones offers 5 points per dollar. Buying your DJ’s stuff through this site is a better deal that buying it directly from DJ using just your credit card.
Which leads us to the next logical step. What the article is missing is the recommendation that you do both – use your credit card and the Qantas Points site. @Col has the right idea – putting as many living expenses on your card as possible is a fast track to free flights. Adding business expenses such as training courses, flights, etc is even better.
@Col – out of interest, what brand of credit card gives you 2 points per dollar?
@j: ANZ Frequent Flyer:
http://www.anz.com.au/personal/credit-cards/rewards-frequent-flyer/frequent-flyer/
You get at Amex & Visa cards for the same CC account. Amex=2 points/$, Visa=0.5 point/$. So you have to use Amex as much as possible, else use Visa where Amex not accepted (or where there’s a surcharge). No annual fee if you have your home loan with ANZ. Childcare is my biggest monthly expense, luckily they take Amex!
I was intrigued by this, as I buy stuff all the time, and its not going to kill me to earn points without interaction… but thats the kicker – you have to initiate your purchase from the Qantas portal. It’s not like you can connect your itunes account or your ebay account to Qantas points, no, you have to browse the store starting from Qantas. That kind of loses me