How to transfer your Qantas Frequent Flyer Points to family members

You can transfer your Qantas Frequent Flyer points to a family member in two different ways:

1. Online. Log in to your Qantas Frequent Flyer account online and select the “Family Transfer” option to be taken to the transfer form. You’ll need to enter the recipient’s Frequent Flyer number, their last name and relationship to you (mother or father, for example) and how many points you’d like to transfer. Transfers are immediate, so your recipient should receive the points in their account promptly.
2. Phone. Contact the Frequent Flyer Service Centre on 13 11 31 to complete the transfer. You will need to have the details of your family member’s Qantas Frequent Flyer account on hand before you make the call. Note that there is a $35 Award Assistance fee for transfers made through the Frequent Flyer Service Centre. To avoid this fee, transfer points online. The points should appear in your family member's account within the same day.

The Qantas Frequent Flyer program allows you to transfer your points to eligible family members. According to Qantas' terms and conditions, an eligible family member includes:

While Qantas doesn't always request proof of your relationships, you should keep relevant information and documentation handy when you use your account to transfer points to a family member just in case you're asked for it.

NOTE: Only children aged three and up are eligible to earn Qantas Points. It also costs $99.50 (per person) to join the Qantas Frequent Flyer program. To avoid this charge, check out this guide on how to get free Qantas Frequent Flyer Membership.

You must send a minimum of 5,000 Qantas Points per transfer and can complete as many transfers as you'd like up to 600,000 points in a 12-month period.

Qantas Family Transfers are not considered as eligible activity to stop your Qantas Points from expiring. If you don’t earn or redeem Qantas Frequent Flyer Points in an 18-month period, your account balance will be reset. If you have received points from a family member during that time, they will also expire.

For example, let’s say that the last time you earned or redeemed points was for a Qantas flight in January 2015. If you then received a generous points transfer from a family member in July 2016 but didn’t use these points (or earn more), they would expire in August 2016.

But family transfers can help you avoid point expiry if the transferred points are then used to redeem a flight or other reward. For example, if your child has not used their account for 17 months, you could transfer point and book a reward flight through theirs in order to reset the point expiry date.

As well as being able to transfer points to family members, you can use your points to book reward flights and upgrade flights for family members directly through your Qantas Frequent Flyer account. To book tickets for your family using your points, simply login to your account and select either "Classic Flight Rewards" or "Points Plus Pay". Select the flight, fill out your family member's details when asked to provide guest information, and follow the instructions to complete a booking.

For flight upgrades, as long as you have made the entire booking under your name (and using your Qantas Frequent Flyer membership), any successful upgrade request you make will also apply to eligible family members travelling with you.

Transferring and combining points can be a great way to save on family holiday costs. Let's take a look at two examples:

Evening out your points balance. Say you have 15,000 points and your partner has 5,000 points. In this scenario, only you have enough points to make the cheapest flight redemption of 8,000 points. If you transfer the minimum of 5,000 points to your partner, you'll both have enough to redeem flights and save on your overall travel costs.

Get the whole family on board. Look at a scenario where a family of two adults and two children are flying return from Sydney to Los Angeles where only the parents are Qantas Frequent Flyer members. Flying economy with Qantas, both adults would earn 13,500 points, for a combined 27,000 points for the total trip.

If both kids were Qantas Frequent Flyer members they would also earn 13,500 each, bringing the total for the family trip to 54,000 Qantas Points. That's enough 4 one-way economy flights from Sydney to Melbourne or Brisbane (32,000). You could put that towards your next family holiday.