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Bonus points: 50,000
Purchase rate: 23.99% p.a.
Reward points per $ spent: 1.25
Annual fee: $450 p.a.

Our verdict

This is an impressive frequent flyer credit card that offers 50,000 bonus Qantas Points, a yearly $450 Qantas travel credit and 4 complimentary lounge invitations.

The Qantas American Express Ultimate Card is packed with frequent flyer perks and currently offers 50,000 bonus Qantas Points when you apply online by 14 January 2025 and spend at least $3,000 on eligible purchases within the first 3 months. To give you an idea of your points potential, this would be enough to redeem a one-way economy flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles (41,900 Qantas Points plus fees and taxes) or a one-way business class flight from Sydney to Perth (41,500 points plus fees and taxes).

This card also has one of the highest earn rates on the market, giving you 1.25 Qantas Points per $1 on everyday, eligible spending. And 1 additional point per $1 spent on Qantas products and services, which gives you up to 2.25 points per $1. After the first 100,000 points per year, the everyday earn rate drops to 1 point per $1, which is still competitive with other Qantas credit cards on the market. Other perks includes lounge passes, complimentary travel insurance and an annual $450 Qantas Travel Credit. It charges a relatively high annual fee and interest rate on purchases, so you would need to use and get value from these extras to make sure you got the most value from it.

Pros

50,000 bonus Qantas Points
Up to 2.25 Qantas Points per $1 spent on eligible purchases in Australia, uncapped
$450 Qantas Travel Credit each year
2 complimentary Qantas Club lounge invitations each year
Complimentary travel insurance

Cons

High $450 annual fee
High 23.99% p.a. interest rate for purchases
3% foreign currency conversion fee
Only offers up to 44 days interest-free on purchases, compared to other cards that offer 55 days

The Qantas American Express Ultimate currently offers the highest earn rate amongst Qantas-earning credit cards – with a rate of 1.25 Qantas Points per $1 on eligible spending. This means a purchase of $100 earns 125 points. Added value is available for new card members with a bonus points offer. To get the most out of a card like this, you need to make use of the other travel perks it offers; the annual fee is on the higher side when compared to other frequent flyer credit cards, but you could justify paying the relatively high $450 annual fee when you know you'll receive a $450 Qantas Travel Credit.

Note that the travel credit must be redeemed on the Amex Travel website, and terms and conditions apply around how it can be redeemed; for example, it can only be used once on 1 booking, and the value of the travel you purchase must be at least $450. Its other perks include 2 complimentary Qantas Club lounge invitations and 2 Centurion lounge invitations every year, complimentary travel insurance and complimentary Qantas Wine Premium membership.

Details

Product details

Product Name	Qantas American Express Ultimate Card
Purchase rate p.a.	Purchase rate p.a. 23.99%
Interest-free period	Up to 44 days on purchases
Min credit limit	$3,000
Card type	American Express

Eligibility

Available to temporary residents	Yes - Conditions apply
Joint application	No

Rewards

Rewards program	Qantas Frequent Flyer
Bonus points	50,000
Rewards points per $ spent	1.25
Rewards points cap	Uncapped

Fees

Annual fee	Annual fee $450
Minimum monthly repayment	2.5% of the closing balance or $30, whichever is greater
Late payment fee	$30
Foreign currency conversion fee	Foreign currency conversion fee 3%
Additional cardholder fee	$0
Number of additional cardholders	4

How to apply

If you've compared your options and decided on the Qantas American Express Ultimate Card, you can apply online in around 10 minutes and may get a response within 60 seconds. Before you get started, make sure you meet the eligibility criteria and have all the essential documents and details to complete the application.

Eligibility criteria

New cardholder. The introductory bonus points offer on this card is only available if you have not held another card issued by American Express in the past 18 months.
Residency. You must be an Australian citizen, permanent resident or hold a current long term visa (12 months or more). Student visas are not eligible.

Age. You must be at least 18 years old.
Credit history. You must not have a history of bad debt or payment defaults. If you don't know your credit score or what's on your file, you can get a free copy of your credit report through Finder.

Required documents

Personal documents. This covers your full name, email address, date of birth, driver's licence number, marital status, number of dependants and contact number.
Frequent flyer number. You'll need to provide your Qantas Frequent Flyer number to collect points with this card. If you're not a Qantas Frequent Flyer member yet, check out our guide on how to join for free.
Employment details. This includes your current employment status, job title and your employer's contact details. You may also be asked for recent payslips, your most recent tax return or your accountant's contact details (particularly if you're self-employed).
Financial details. As well as your provide details of your savings, shares or other assets. You also need to include details of any existing debts and credit accounts, as well as estimates of your regular household expenses.

Go to American Express' site More info

Card benefits

50,000 bonus Qantas Points. You'll get 50,000 bonus Qantas Points when you apply online as a new Amex card member by 14 January 2025 and spend at least $3,000 on eligible purchases within the first 3 months. Terms and conditions apply. Eligible purchases include most everyday spending but do not include cash advances, interest, fees and charges or traveller's cheques and foreign currencies.
$450 Qantas Travel Credit. You can use this travel credit for eligible Qantas flights (with a QF number) booked through American Express Travel, including international and domestic flights for you or someone else. You can redeem the travel credit once you have paid the annual fee for that year and paid at least the minimum amount listed by the statement due date. When making a booking, you need to log in to your Amex account, select the "Travel Credit" option on the booking page and pay using your Amex card. The travel credit's then added to your account within 3 business days (but may take up to 30 days). As the booking must be made through American Express Travel, note that ticket prices may differ from those listed on the Qantas website or other booking services.

Qantas Points per $1 spent. You'll earn 1.25 Qantas Points per $1 spent on everyday purchases made with this card and 0.5 points per $1 for spending with government bodies in Australia. You'll also earn 1 additional Qantas Point per $1 when you use this card to pay for Qantas flights with a QF flight number through qantas.com.au, or for Qantas Frequent Flyer and Qantas Club membership joining/annual fees. But after the first 100,000 points earned in a calendar year, the earn rate for everyday spending changes to 1 point per $1 spent. This doesn't count points earned through an introductory offer. And all other earn rates stay the same.
Complimentary travel insurance. You'll get complimentary domestic and international travel insurance through this card when you use it to pay for your return trip – including cover for emergency medical expenses, trip cancellations and amendments and some cover for COVID-19. Your partner and dependent children are also eligible for this travel insurance when they're travelling with you and meet the requirements. See Finder's guide to American Express complimentary insurance for more details.
Airport lounge passes. This card gives you two complimentary Qantas Club lounge invitations after your first card spend each anniversary year when paying for selected Qantas products and services in Australia. You will also receive two entries to the Centurion Lounge at Sydney International (Kingsford Smith) Airport T1 or Melbourne International Airport T2 each year.
Complimentary Qantas Wine Premium membership. Qantas Wine offers a waived $99 annual fee on premium membership for Qantas American Express Ultimate cardholders, giving you access to benefits including free delivery on all orders within Australia and 3 points per $1 spent on wine (in addition to the points earned through your card).
Mobile payments. This card lets you make payments straight from your iPhone, Samsung or Android device when you add it to Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or Google Pay.

Rates & fees

Annual fee. This card charges a $450 annual fee.
Interest rate. The Qantas American Express Ultimate Card has an interest rate of 23.99% p.a. for purchases.

Interest-free period. If you pay your balance in full by the due date on each statement, you'll get up to 44 interest-free days on purchases.
Additional cards. You can get up to 4 additional cards for anyone over 18 years of age. Additional cards don't attract an extra fee and additional card members can earn Qantas Points too. However, you will be responsible for managing the account and card balance.
Foreign transaction fee. A 3% fee applies for transactions made in a foreign currency overseas or online.

"I took out the Qantas Amex Ultimate Card specifically for my upcoming trip to the US. By booking my flights using this card, not only did I make progress towards the bonus points deal but also qualified for free travel insurance on my trip."

Thomas Stelzer

Publisher

Go to American Express' site More info

Sources

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Amy Finder

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August 31, 2024

Where can I found what constitutes an eligible purchase?

Cheers

Angus Kidman Finder

September 15, 2024

Hi, Amex’s terms note that “Eligible purchases do not include Card fees and charges, for example annual fees, interest, late payment, cash advances, balance transfers, traveller’s cheques and foreign currency conversion.” Other expenditure on the card should be eligible. Hope this helps!

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Gina

August 03, 2024

Hi There, we jsut got our Amex qantas where you can earn 90,000 points.. I am a bit conufsed with eligible purchase.. does that mean it’s only the purchase of Qantas products? Or all other purchases – goods or services?

Angus Kidman Finder

September 22, 2024

Hi Gina, Eligible purchases are purchases which can earn points – so not just Qantas products. On most purchases with the card, you’ll earn 1.25 Qantas Points per dollar spent. If you use your card to purchase Qantas tickets, you’ll earn 2.25 Qantas Points per dollar spent. Spending on government purchases (e.g. rates bills) only earn 0.5 Qantas Points per $1 spent. The main purchases which aren’t eligible to earn points at all are cash advances and gambling. Hope this helps.

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Defria

July 26, 2024

Can you please tell me when the 90,000 bonus points offer was first made available? What date?

I applied for the card because this offer appealed to me and they provided me with a card that only gave me 60,000 bonus points and have told me that they won’t honour the 90,000 point offer.

Thanks.

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Sarah Megginson Finder

July 29, 2024

Hi Defria,

Our records show that this offer was first made available on May 29, 2024. Hope this helps!

Karen Taudevin

July 10, 2024

I have been with Americian express for 1year, how do I get the free lounge passes. Do I receive an email?

Sarah Megginson Finder

July 17, 2024

Hi Karen,

There is a bit of a process involved in securing your 2 free lounge passes, according to the PDS.

Your passes will be activated after your first spend on Qantas products. Within 2 weeks of processing your first spend on selected Qantas products and services each anniversary year on your Card, you will receive an email from Qantas confirming the Qantas Club Lounge Invitations are available for use.

You then login to the Complimentary Invitations Portal using your Frequent Flyer details to access your invitation and link it with an eligible Qantas flight booking with a QF or JQ flight number. For more

information, visit qantas.com/freeloungeinvite.

Hope this helps!

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May 31, 2024

If I apply now and spent the minimum amount for points how long the QFF Points be awarded?

Sarah Megginson Finder

June 11, 2024

Hi JM, The terms and conditions state that you can expect to receive the points within 12 weeks. In practice, they’re usually awarded once the statement has been issued for the month in which the eligible spend was met.

For instance, let’s say you get a card in January, spend on it for January and February and meet the eligible spend requirement by February 15. Your card’s statement period runs until February 25, and this period must be served before the points are awarded, just in case you receive refunds on your spending and you no longer meet the min. spend requirement.

Once the statement is issued, confirmation of your eligible spend is provided to Qantas and they then issue the points. As you can see, there are a few milestones involved, which is why Amex suggests you allow up to 12 weeks for points to be credited.

Hope this helps!

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Qantas American Express Ultimate Card

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