Qantas’ “New Era” For Status

Qantas has just made it more expensive to stay loyal. Funny how that works. The airline is calling it a ‘new era’ for its Frequent Flyer program. I’d call it a quiet price hike dressed up in marketing language. This is a change I’ve been waiting on for months. After Virgin Australia overhauled its own program, this felt inevitable. Here’s what’s actually changing, and what it means for your membership.

Qantas made a few smaller changes starting in 2025. These included:

• Some destinations now require many more points to reach
• Up to 25% more Qantas Points are being earned on many Qantas domestic flights
• Up to one million additional Frequent Flyer reward seats are being offered across multiple partners

This new announcement takes things even further. Qantas says the Frequent Flyer program is “entering an exciting new era, shaped by what matters most to our members.” It promises more flexibility and faster recognition while “better reflecting the way you live and travel today.”

Here’s my breakdown of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

A. Good / Mostly Positive for flyers

1. Rollover Status Credits. 1. Rollover Status Credits. Finally! We’ve been asking for this for years. Status Credits are different from the Qantas Points you earn from flying or with some partners. The number of Status Credits you have determines your tier with the airline. The more you fly, the more you earn, and the more bonuses you get, depending on whether you’re Silver, Gold, or Platinum/Platinum One. I’m usually careful about tracking how many Status Credits I need and how I’ll get them, but this year I’m set to earn almost 220 extra because of two unexpected business trips. Those credits will go to waste.
Later in 2026, Gold and up members will be able to roll over 50% of excess Status Credits, up to a maximum of 300 for Gold and 500 for Platinum/ Platinum One, per Membership Year. Qantas has given an exact start date so my request to Qantas is to please start it in June so I can roll over half of my extra 200.

2. Banked Platinum Years for Lifetime Gold members. This one snuck up on me and it’s genuinely clever because it lets me ‘store’ future Platinum years for when they’ll matter most.
For anyone who holds Lifetime Gold (yes, some of us have flown that much!), Qantas will now give a complimentary Platinum year for every 10,000 Status Credits above the 14,000 Lifetime Gold threshold, up to a maximum of five years. I can bank those Platinum years and then activate any of them whenever I want. This is incredibly valuable as it saves a lot of flying. It also locks me even more tightly to Qantas!

3. The new Classic Reward search tool on qantas.com will launch soon after this February 2026 status overhaul announcement. It will show reward seats on Qantas and about 30 partner airlines in seconds.

4.There’s a new “Dream Planner” tool, similar to a waitlist, for high-tier members to register interest in specific Classic Rewards. It’s being introduced along with the new search tool.

5. Replacement of the Points Club sub-program. I’m not upset about this. I always found Points Club a bit confusing. It was meant to reward people who earn lots of Qantas Points from credit cards and other partners, even if they don’t fly much, by giving them perks like lounge access, Status Credits on reward flights, and occasional discounts. For me, it wasn’t very useful.

6. Status Credits on Classic Reward Flights will be kept. A Points Club perk is the ability to earn Status Credits on Classic Reward flights. details are vague but this benefit will have a new home in the broader program. Given how many points a Classic Reward can cost, being able to earn Status Credits on top is a nice bonus.

7. On-the-ground Status Credits are now a permanent feature. You can earn up to about 110–140 Status Credits per year from partners like credit cards and shopping, and these count toward Lifetime status too. While every bit helps, I don’t feel strongly about this. I think the program should mainly reward people who fly but Qantas has good reason to go in this direction! See below. Qantas lists ten everyday categories that earn Status Credits on the ground:

1. Credit cards
2. Banking and home loans;
3. insurance;
4. car;
5. home utilities;
6. hotels and accommodation;
7. holidays and experiences;
8. everyday shopping;
9. retail and lifestyle;
10. sustainability.

Bad and Ugly: Mostly Negative for Frequent Flyers

1. The main change: Higher Status Credit thresholds starting in 2027. You’ll need more Status Credits to keep your status from 2027. Here’s what’s changing:
Silver: 250 Status Credits to retain now becomes 300 per year to earn and keep from 2027.
Gold: 600 Status Credits to retain now becomes 700 per year to earn and keep.
Platinum: 1,200 becomes 1,400 per year to earn and keep.
Platinum One: remains 3,600 Status Credits (of which 2,700 must be on Qantas flights) to earn and retain.

2. Retirement of the current “Loyalty Bonus” you get for every 500 Status Credits on eligible Qantas or Jetstar flights (up to four times a year). This is being removed and replaced with a new recognition system. It was already less helpful after Qantas took away the choice between Qantas Points and Status Credits. For me, losing the Loyalty Bonus means I’ll need to spend about $2,000 more on flights each year to earn those 100 extra Status Credits (two bonuses).

Mixed/Depends on who you are

1. Bye Bye Green Tier I’m not surprised. This was always an attempt to greenwash flying. As if buying an eco‑friendly bottle of wine could somehow offset my emissions from jetting around! Only around 650,000 members engaged with it out of roughly 18 million (about 3–4% of the base), so it was never a core feature. It was more of a nice game for some of us points‑savvy travellers to get a 50 SC or 10,000 points.

The Green Tier moves into the new on-the-ground activities (mentioned above). That simple, guaranteed 50 Status Credits a year by doing five activities is now a maybe. It will depend on how much of my daily spending flows through Qantas on-the-ground partners.

2. There is now one higher Status Credit target per tier. The requirement to keep a tier will now match the requirement to reach it. For example, Gold will be set at 700 Status Credits per year, instead of 700 to get and 600 to keep. This is presented as a benefit, but really, it just means everyone needs more Status Credits each year.

3. Silver members free Qantas Club passes: now two per year instead of one. Worth $100 to $200 per year.

What this means for Qantas?

Qantas describes these changes as “modernising” the program by updating digital tools and adding some flexible on-the-ground earn options. There are four motives from what I can see:

Qantas is explicitly removing pieces like Points Club and Green Tier, saying the current program is a “legacy model” that became too complex. They are right. I never really dealt with Points Club, and the Green Tier was at most, a welcome bonus. Fewer overlapping perks and bonuses reduce cost and make it easier to explain and administer.

2. Pulling people off Virgin (and others). The rollover credits, higher-tier earn rates, on-the-ground earning, and new lifetime milestone benefits are all designed to keep long-term, high-value customers loyal and stop them from drifting to competitors. Qantas wants us to concentrate our flying and spend with them rather than splitting it across two programs, because chasing dual status is now harder and more expensive than ever. The pitch is a single, clearer recognition pathway that rewards going all-in with Qantas while subtly punishing those who don’t.

3. More revenue from flying. The numbers speak for themselves. See below where I discuss what the changes mean for me.

4. Qantas wants to sit inside your wallet 24 hours a day, seven days a week:  By offering up to 140 Status Credits a year, they encourage you to use their credit cards and buy fuel, groceries, and insurance through their partners. Every time you pick a Qantas partner over another company, those partners buy more points from Qantas. This boosts Qantas’s loyalty program earnings, which is why they expect 10-12% growth in program earnings.

What these changes mean for me

Also, people who chase status through ground earnings are more likely to keep flying Qantas to use their points and keep their status. This allows Qantas to charge slightly higher fares to its most engaged frequent flyers.

What this means for different types of fliers

A. Mr Four trips a year
If you fly four times a year, usually on the cheapest Economy tickets, these changes don’t suddenly make earning status realistic. You’ll notice your Qantas Points don’t go as far as before when you try to redeem them, thanks to the earlier devaluation. You might pick up a few on-the-ground Status Credits, but probably won’t get close to Silver. The new rollover and higher status thresholds won’t really affect you.

B Mrs CEO
For the CEO who flies every month on domestic work trips and takes one or two long-haul Business Class flights a year to Asia or Europe, and who also uses a Qantas-earning credit card for most daily spending and already earns more Status Credits than needed for Gold or Platinum, these changes mostly work in your favour. You already earn plenty of Status Credits, so roll-over means your busy months and premium trips finally help the next year instead of being wasted. On-the-ground Status Credits from cards and corporate spending also make it easier to stay Gold or Platinum. The higher retention targets in 2027 do raise the bar a bit, but with your flying pattern, you still have several ways to stay in the higher tiers.

C. Ms (Just) Gold Status with Both
You’ll need to make a choice. It’s going to be much harder to keep even one Gold Level, let alone two! Choose Qantas if you care about international partners and lifetime status. Choose Virgin if you mostly fly domestically and prefer spend-based earning.

D. Mr Status Chaser
For status-chasers who plan flights to hit status thresholds as cost effectively as possible, these changes are a mixed bag. Roll-over and on-the-ground Status Credits help because you can save extra credits and fill in gaps without another full status run. But from 2027, you’ll need more Status Credits each year just to keep your level. Losing the Loyalty Bonus also takes away one of the easier ways to top up Status Credits on Qantas and Jetstar. You’ll need to plan your membership year even more carefully and consider if your “status run” money might be better spent elsewhere.

In Conclusion
Airlines everywhere are making their programs tougher. British Airways Executive Club became British Airways Club last year and made it harder to earn and use miles. Delta and American have also tightened their programs. Virgin Australia has changed its scheme too. Qantas was always going to follow. They call these changes “modernisation,” but in reality, most of us will need to fly or spend more to keep our current status and benefits. There are a few more reward seats, but they cost more points than before. The new tools and roll-overs are nice if you already fly a lot, but they don’t make up for the downsides.

Virgin Australia has already made it harder for many top‑tier Velocity members to keep their status, and Qantas is now cementing the same direction on its side of the fence. One outcome I suspect is that those of us who currently try to keep a footing in both Australian schemes will increasingly be forced to pick a side. For Qantas and Virgin, their hope is that the higher‑value, higher‑spend flyers will double down on their logo. By pushing the toughest changes out to 2027, Qantas buys itself a couple of profitable years where many of us will spend more just to keep the status we already have, before the higher requirements fully bite. The risk to the airlines is that we walk away from status with both airlines, preferring to spend money on ground‑based stuff like hotels or meals, or (radically) to save it instead.

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