• expired

Qantas American Express Ultimate Card - 75000 QFF Points, 75 Status Credits, Free Domestic Return Flights - $450 Annual Fee

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Not as good as previous deal but is still a decent deal for those who like to fly Qantas. Does the bonus status credits make up for it? Please let us know.

Note: Must have a pre-tax income of $65000 or more to apply. Must not have held an American Express card issued by American Express in the last 18 months. Must be a QFF member in order to earn and redeem points.

I am sadly ineligible after signing up for one of their no annual fee ones after hearing the news on ANZ ditching Amex.

Weigh it up with the other deals and see which suits you the best.
ANZ QFF Black 75000 Bonus QFF Points 1st year no annual fee, $425 subsequent years post by zinger
NAB Qantas Rewards 75000 Bonus QFF Points $250 Annual Fee post by vaporjet
Qantas Amex Premium 60000 Bonus QFF 2 Qantas Lounge Invitations $249 Annual Fee

Here's the spiel:
Main Benefits
* Earn 75,000 bonus Qantas Points when you apply by 1 May 2017, are approved and spend $1,500 in the first 3 months from the Card approval date.
* Earn 75 bonus Status Credits when you book and fly return with Qantas by 30 September 2017.
* Earn 1.5 Qantas Points for every $1 spent on Card purchases, except spend at government bodies in Australia where you will earn 0.5 Qantas Points per $1 spent.
* Complimentary Qantas domestic return Economy flight between selected Australian capital cities every year after your first Card spend on selected Qantas products and services.
* Enjoy complimentary access up to two entries per year to the American Express Lounge at Sydney International (Kingsford Smith) Airport T15
* 0% p.a. on balance transfers for the first 12 months - A one-off credit plan establishment fee of 1% applies to any balances transferred.
* Complimentary domestic and international travel insurance.

Earn Rate
There's no cap on the amount of Qantas Points you can earn, plus we’ll transfer your points straight to your Qantas Frequent Flyer account each month.
* Earn 1.5 Qantas Points for every $1 spent on Card purchases, except spend at government bodies in Australia where you will earn 0.5 Qantas Points per $1 spent.
* Earn 1 additional Qantas Point per $1 spent on selected Qantas products and services in Australia.

Please check link for other benefits and the all important T&Cs.

Referral Links

Business Explorer Card: random (1)

Referrer: 40,000 Reward Points

Centurion Personal Charge Card: random (7)

Referee gets 200,000 MR points. Referrer gets 150,000 MR points.

Related Stores

American Express
American Express

closed Comments

  • +5

    :/ thats 35,000 points less than the last promotion

  • +2

    Interesting thing about the Status Credits.
    Not worth the less bonus points for my use. But it would come in very handy if you need a few extra to bump you up a class.
    This now also has the new earn rates, which come into effect for existing customers on 1st June.

    Doesn't look like new sign up's get any extra bonus points for referrals either.
    But the referee's get a nice bonus. So be sure to check the official Referral Link - https://www.ozbargain.com.au/wiki/american_express_referrals…

    • Don't use the wiki. Use the automated system.

      • Didn't know this - thanks for the info.

        • As per the message at the top of the wiki page:

          American Express Referrals have been migrated to Automated Referral System. DO NOT add your referral links below, as this wiki page will be removed & those links purged in mid-March 2017.

          I get emails for all the wiki changes and was wondering why people were adding stuff into the page.

  • -8

    you'd be a million miles ahead if you just spent that $450 towards an airplane ticket.

    • how so?

    • +4

      Dumbass of the day +1 vote

  • +1

    Ozbargainers, would you recommend I wait for a more generous offer, or take this one now?

    • +1

      what are you hoping to achieve?

      • +1

        Hoping to get a card that has as many qantas or velocity points as possible for sale on classifieds, and qantas club or amex lounge tickets include. AMEX lounge preferred.

        • The ANZ Travel Adventures card was/is(?) the highest points-spend requirement-annual fee card going, to the best of my (limited) knowledge - 60k velocity points after $300 spend & only $225 annual fee. Plus free return airfare + 2 lounge passes.

          Theoretically $600 for the points, the airfare has to be in your name so $0 and the lounge passes $45-50 each (though no one wants to buy mine so far).

          End result, you're $375 in front vs. $300 for this one (70k points = $700 less $450 annual fee), and a lot lower spend requirement to get the points.

        • @Sir Casm: I had a look at it however I can't find anything about the points, just the Q club passes and complimentary flight. I've already got the ANZ FF black card which gives you 75000 Qantas points & 2 Q club lounge passes with no annual fee for 1st year which is an amazing deal, looking to see if I can get anything else though

        • @realfancyman:

          Cool. Keep us posted should you come across anything really good!

        • @realfancyman:

          You might want to expand your FF airlines outside of Qantas and Velocity. Their redemption is starting to become expensive. Better programs exist such as: British Airways for short haul biz class flights, United Airlines for cheap South East Asia redemption, Etihad cheap domestic flights and taxes etc.

        • @nightelves: I haven't actually received the cards yet but when I do I will just sell the points here on Ozbargain. However next time my family goes away we will put more planning into it with different frequent flyer programs and special offers. The thing is that I'm planning these holidays for my family of 4, that means 4 airfares. So that complicates things a bit because we need a lot of points to even get out of the country.

        • @realfancyman:

          Depending on where you go but United Airlines does business return to SEA for 60k return and 35k in economy. Hence why researching other FF helps to see which one is cost effective for your trip and then accumulate points accordingly.

        • @nightelves: from Adelaide?

        • @realfancyman:

          Nope Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane. Similar as if you were looking for Classic Rewards flight on Qantas. Best thing to do is go onto the United Airlines website and search for the rewards yourself. United allows you to search for rewards flight without needing an account.

        • @nightelves: interesting, how do i get United FF points though?

  • +3

    Sorry no + from me. That's a pretty standard deal for $450 annual. Seems like you just wanted to share all your referrals

    • +2

      The new OZB referral system for Amex cards is quite good though. Makes it much easier for an applicant to give the referral bonus to a random person. Much fairer.

      • +1

        Ah I didn't know they had changed it. So OP enter them all in? My apologies

        • You give me too much credit I don't have that many credit cards nor the time to enter all that. Those referral links just came up automatically. Cheers.

  • If you're watching the financial press you'll know that the whole credit card rewards world, one of the great deceptions of modern times, is about to fall over, red rover (actually for all intents and purposes it actually died more than five years ago) .. :-) .. !!

    • I would be very interested to read any specific articles you could point to on this?

    • Get an Amex-issued card instead?

      • You should read the article all the way through. What ANZ is doing is the thin end of the wedge and the others will follow. Legislative changes on interchange fees have taken the margins out of credit cards for the banks, so they're progressively reducing the rate at which cards accumulate points to cut their costs. Amex had the highest interchange fee structure so it gets the chop alltogether. Depending on the card you have, your 'rewards' may not even pay for the card, let alone the surcharges at least 50% of traders put on Amex cards. 'The end is nigh' .. :-) .. !!

        • This is my take on it. We as Ozbargainers seek to maximise our dollar within the confines of the rules set. We seek to push the boundaries.

          If the rewards no longer justify fee paying cards then we adjust.

          Either going to no annual fee cards or in the case of your extreme predictions, no credit card at all.

          I view reward points as just a bonus on top of what I was going to spend anyway.

          I'd be more worried about merchants not passing on the interchange fee cut to us.

        • +1

          @Hogg: Can't argue with any of that. I have the luxury of twin cards from NAB at no fee ever because I'm a shareholder and I only use the Amex when there's no surcharge, mostly supermarkets and servos. For the moment points accumulate at a reasonable rate across the two cards however lately I've been buying air tickets instead of using points because OS air has been so cheap and points tickets are very poor value. These things are cyclic so I expect that will change .. :-) .. !!

        • @cornucopia:

          Nice one mate. Must be nice getting those divvies right now. :)

        • @Hogg: :-)

  • Hidden in the T&C's.
    "Bonus Status Credits will not contribute towards attaining or retaining Platinum One or Loyalty Bonus."

    I would expect that if you are earning so many SC points to acquire Platinum One status, this wouldn't be an issue, but I too am looking into what are my option considering ANZ is ditching the AMEX association.

    If I do decide to go with AMEX directly I'll definitely look for a referral link

  • I was about to sign up when I read the T&C for the selected cities. No free flights out of Darwin. But they have a Perth to Sydney leg which equates to about 3200 km. I'd only wanting to travel Darwin to Brisbane which is roughly 2800km. Currently on the ANZ Black Freq but the AMEX deal is finished and looking to change.

  • +1

    Referral bonus for this card now up to 40k :)

  • 'Must not have held an American Express card issued by American Express in the last 18 months.'

    Bummer, I wish I can get my grubby hands on the 75k Qantas points.

  • +1

    "Complimentary Qantas domestic return Economy flight between selected Australian capital cities every year after your first Card spend on selected Qantas products and services."

    Just in case you are wondering, I have the previous deal and rang them to ask what Qantas spend it had to be, as I'd seen someone mention you "might" be able to just purchase a minimum top up points for $20. They initially said it has to be a flight through Qantas, then asked their manager and said "anything that shows up as Qantas on your statement." In the end I did a frequent flyer flight for 8000 points, paid the taxes only on the Amex $34, and a few days later got the deal without any further questioning, Perth - Sydney return, plenty of options for flights available too.

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