If you needed another excuse to dine at fancy restaurants, you’ve got one in Qantas’ new partnership. From today, August 18, Qantas Frequent Flyers will be able to earn and use points at more than 40 restaurants across Australia, as part of a partnership with Seagrass Boutique Hospitality Group.
Frequent flyers can use their points to pay the bill either in full, or a portion of it. Or, for members who’d rather grow their points balance, they can earn three points per dollar spent at premium venues, like 6Head, Hunter & Barrel and The Meat & Wine Co. and two points per dollar spent at more casual venues, like Ribs & Burgers and Italian Street Kitchen. Note that not all Seagrass venues have the deal — Five Guys and Alma’s are among those not part of it.
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Members can pay with points by scanning their physical or digital Frequent Flyer Card and then entering their unique Reward Code. Members who want to earn points can also do so by scanning their Frequent Flyer Card.
“Food and wine consistently rank amongst the top interests for our members, along with travel, and we’ve been looking at how we can expand their opportunities to be rewarded while dining out,” says Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth.
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“The ability to earn points towards their next dream trip while enjoying a meal in a restaurant will be a welcome addition for frequent flyers. As will treating themselves to a dining experience using their Qantas Points.”
Wirth also added that frequent flyers can “double dip” on earning Qantas Points by paying their restaurant bill with a points-earning credit card and by earning points through this new partnership.
“We’re excited to be partnering with Qantas Frequent Flyer, especially now that dining out and restaurant experiences are coming back to life,” says Bradley Michael, CEO and Founder of Seagrass Hospitality Group. “Our portfolio of brands and locations will give frequent flyers the opportunity to enjoy a wide range of premium and casual dining experiences.
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This partnership is among 600 existing ways Qantas Frequent Flyer members can earn and use points across travel, retail, business and financial services, insurance and health and wellbeing.
Some other ways Qantas Frequent Flyer and Virgin Velocity members can earn include:
Sign Up to a New Credit Card
You probably already know this one, but it’s still worth a mention. One of the ways to earn the most points is to sign up to a points-earning credit card (or, if you have one already, remember to use it). Be sure to do your research for the best sign-up offer and, of course, always remember to read the fine print.
Many cards only start charging annual fees after the first year so, if you don’t want to pay it, be sure to cancel before then. Also, many give bonus points if you make a certain amount of purchases within the first three months so be sure to time buying international flights or any other expensive items to within these first three months.
Shop Online
While, of course, you can earn points from online shopping by paying with your points-earning credit card, you can also earn by going through Qantas Shopping or Virgin Velocity’s e-store.
Qantas actually has a points-prompter browser plug-in that you can download for free. Whenever you’re on a site that’s associated with its e-store, it’ll alert you to the fact that you can earn points by shopping with them.
Shop at Coles or Woolworths
Again, there’s the potential to double-dip here — you can earn points both by spending on your points credit card at Coles and Woolworths and by scanning your Woolworths Everyday Rewards card (which converts to Qantas points) or your Coles Flybuys card (which converts to Virgin Velocity points).
Use Qantas’ Wellbeing app
Another way to earn points is to download and use Qantas’ Wellbeing app, which tracks your steps and, depending on the daily or weekly goal you’ve set, awards you points. “Everyone’s walking around anyway so they might as well earn points for it,” says Hui. “You can also earn on it for setting a sleep time and then sticking by it.”
Though the number of points you can earn on the app is minimal, one way to hack them and earn more is to set up a walking challenge with friends. Whoever wins will get even more points.
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