They’ve been touted as the biggest changes to Qantas Frequent Flyer status in the 40-year history of the airline’s rewards program.

In one way or another, they’ll impact almost every one of the scheme’s 18 million members.

The sweeping revamp won’t hit Qantas Points, this time around – this is all about Status Credits, with the effects rippling through the Qantas Frequent Flyer program in a staged rollout over the coming 18 months.

Executive Traveller sat down with Qantas Loyalty CEO Andrew Glance to talk through the changes and the thinking behind them.

Status Credits rollover

One of the biggest improvements is the ability to carry over ‘unused’ Status Credits from one membership year to the next.

Let’s take the example of a Qantas Gold member who closes out their year with 1,000 Status Credits.

600 Status Credits is all that’s needed to retain Gold – but with Platinum’s 1,400 Status Credits target out of reach, the remaining 400 Status Credits will in effect be wasted when the new membership year kicks in.

“Around half of the Status Credits our members earn each year and over and above their tier thresholds,” Glance shares.

So the new Qantas Status Credits rollover mechanism allows 25-50% of those ‘excess’ Status Credits – 200 Status Credits, in this example – to be carried across into the next membership year, giving members a head-start on their status.

And that’s nothing to be sneezed at. In this example, those 200 Status Credits mean beginning the year already one-third of the way to Gold – it’s almost equal to a return Sydney-Singapore business class trip.

Rollovers will be capped at the following annual levels:

  • Silver – 100 SCs 
  • Gold – 350 SCs
  • Platinum & Platinum One – 500 SCs

The Status Credits Rollover system will be in place by the end of this year, Glance says.

Points Club axed

Qantas is killing off the Points Club program, launched in 2020 and aimed at “frequent buyers” rather than frequent flyers – people who heavily earn Qantas Points on the ground through shopping, especially with a Qantas credit card in hand.

“This is about removing program complexity,” Glance explains, saying that this “clubs-within- clubs” approach was something “that members just couldn’t understand.”

The Qantas Points Club will be shuttered at the end of 2026, although Glance says current members will see their benefits “grandfathered” into 2027.

More importantly, the key benefits of Points Club and Points Club Plus will become part of the ‘core’ Qantas Frequent Flyer program.

This includes the ability to earn Status Credits on Classic Rewards flights, and roll over Status Credits from one year to the next.

“One of the things that we have found over the last few years is the program has become a bit more complex,” Glance reflects, with elements like Points Club adding “noise” to “the ways in which our members navigate the program.”

“So this is around simplification and creating clearer pathways as they move through those tiers – from Silver to Gold to Platinum – using status.”

Earning Status Credits on Reward flights

The ability to earn Status Credits on Classic Reward flights is one prized perk of Points Club membership, and Qantas says this isn’t going away.

It’s just a matter of determining exactly where it fits into the broader Qantas Frequent Flyer status landscape.

“We are looking for a new home for that benefit,” Glance confirms.

“We’re aware that it’s a much-loved benefit and will look at a way to implement it again in the future.”

No tears for the Green Tier

Qantas rolled out its unique Green Tier in early 2022 “to educate, encourage and reward” frequent flyers for taking environmentally-friendly activities such as “offsetting their flights, staying in eco-hotels, walking to work and installing solar panels at home.”

The Green Tier confusingly sat alongside existing status tiers, and reportedly saw very little update – and the ‘reward’ was just 50 Status Credits.

As part of the program-wide reset, the Green Tier will be shut down at the end of this year. 

Earning Status Credits on the ground

Qantas has previously experimented with short-term promotions where frequent flyers can earn Status Credits on the ground rather than in the air, by spending money at selected Qantas Points partners

The most recent of these, in late 2025, served as a ‘proof of concept’ for the new system which will remain in place all year round.

“We saw record-breaking registrations for that campaign,” Glance reflects, “So there is absolutely no doubt that our members love status and love status on the ground.”

The new system will launch towards the end of this year – “probably around October/November, but give me a month either side”, Glance says.

Members will need to earn at least 1,000 Qantas Points with Qantas and its partners across ten categories such as Food & Wine, Shopping, Hotels & Travel, Utilities & Services, Cards & Banking, Insurance, Fuel & Cars, Health & Leisure – you get the idea.

Glance says there will be “multiple partners in every category,” giving members more choice on how they spend their money to earn those Status Credits.

For every category in which you earn 1,000 Qantas Points, you’ll unlock between 10 and 20 Status Credits, up to a limit of 140 Status Credits per membership year – sufficient to help frequent flyers close the gap in reaching or renewing status.

And yes, those 140 Status Credits will count towards your Lifetime status tally. 

Loyalty Bonus removed

Also for the axe: the long-standing Loyalty Bonus which awards 50 bonus Status Credits for every 500 Status Credits earned on Qantas and Jetstar flights, capped at 200 Loyalty Bonus Status Credits per year.

Losing the Loyalty Bonus takes a maximum of 200 Status Credits off the table.

As with the aligned tier thresholds, the Loyalty Bonus won’t vanish until late 2027 – so there’s still plenty of time to pocket those additional Status Credits.

The Loyalty Bonus will effectively be replaced by the Status Credit rollover mechanism.

New status thresholds 

Qantas has traditionally maintained two status thresholds: one for the first time you reach a new status tier, and a lower one in order to keep that status for the following year.

However, Qantas is doing away with those lower thresholds to retain status.

From late 2027, the number of status credits needed to retain your current Qantas Frequent Flyer tier will be increased to the same number needed to initially earn that status.

  • Qantas Silvers will need 300 SCs to earn and keep their status (the current retain threshold is 250 SCs)
  • Qantas Golds will need 700 SCs to earn and keep their status (the current retain threshold is 600 SCs)
  • Qantas Platinums will need 1,400 SCs to earn and keep their status (the current retain threshold is 1,200 SCs)

There’s no change for Platinums Ones, who will continue to have the same 3,600 SCs to earn and retain status (with at least 2,700 SCs earned on Qantas flights).

Glance believes this alignment of “attain and retain” levels won’t impact members due to both “the new ways in which you can earn status on the ground” and the ability to rollover Status Credits from one year to the next.

Adding shine to Qantas Silver

Silver is the first rung on the loyalty ladder, “and it’s our largest tiered cohort”, Glance revealed, describing it as “a tier that we have been looking at for some time now” in terms of uplift.

Qantas Silver members can look forward to receiving two Qantas Lounge passes per year, up from one today (and remember, these are best used on international Qantas lounges such as Auckland, Singapore, Hong Kong and London).

Status vouchers 

A new series of ‘on-the-ground’ vouchers and discounts will be available to all tier members, from Silver through to Platinum – potentially as ‘milestone benefits’ based on set SC targets.

Vouchers and discounts for Qantas Hotels, Qantas Holidays and Qantas Wines will obviously offset the loss of some Points Club benefits, but Qantas also will tap into its broader partner network.

The voucher system remains “in design” ahead of its debut in 2027, Glance tells Executive Traveller, but says there will be “accessibility to a broad range of vouchers.”

“I think those vouchers could go across our entire ecosystem, including partners... so you may very well have a BP voucher (for example).”

‘Banked’ Platinum years for Lifetime Gold members

Reaching Qantas Lifetime Gold is a milestone goal in itself, given the need to clock up 14,000 Status Credits – but it’s also the point at which many frequent flyers begin to reassess their loyalty to the airline .

After all, they’ve locked in a lifetime of practical travel perks like lounge access (including international business class lounges with Emirates and all Oneworld partner airlines), free seat selection, a boosted baggage allowance and business class check-in.

And with Lifetime Platinum way out in the distance, at an almost unreachable 75,000 Status Credits, why keep striving?

On top of this, Lifetime Gold members enjoy no special privileges or perks above ‘regular’ Gold members.

Qantas’ solution is to introduce complimentary Platinum membership for Lifetime Golds, based on how many additional Status Credits they have earned above the 14,000 mark.

One ‘banked’ year of gratis Qantas Platinum membership will become available for roughly every 10,000 Status Credits earned above 14,000 (although because the first Platinum year kicks in with 25,000 Status Credits, that one will be 11,000 Status Credits away).

This feature launches in early 2027 and “when we turn this on, 30% of our Lifetime Golds will get that banked year,” Glance forecasts.

Lifetime Golds can keep up to five Platinum years up their sleeve and activate them at any time.

So if you’re facing a year with not too much travel, you can keep that Platinum year on hold – and when some serious long-haul flying is on your horizon, such as a round-the-world trip with several Qantas partner airlines, you can claim your Platinum year to make the experience even more enjoyable.

Lifetime Golds can check their current Lifetime tally by opening the Qantas App, tapping the My QFF icon at the bottom-right of the screen, and scrolling down to see the progress bar for Lifetime Platinum.

If you’ve got more than 25,000 Status Credits showing, you’ll be entitled to at least one Platinum year.

Also read: Qantas’ new Classic Reward search tool