American Express Qantas Ultimate Credit Card

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New offerApply by 4 April 2023

American Express Qantas Ultimate Credit Card

Highlights

  • Receive up to 100,000 bonus Qantas Points.  That’s 75,000 bonus Qantas Points when you apply, get approved by 4 April 2023, and spend $3,000 on eligible purchases on your new Card within the first 3 months. Plus, an additional 25,000 bonus Qantas Points in your second year upon fee renewal. T&Cs apply. New Card Members only.
  • Earn 1.25 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.
  • Get 2 complimentary Qantas Club lounge invitations each year.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Earn up to 100,000 bonus Qantas Points when you meet the criteria.
  • Excellent earn rates on everyday spending. Earns points on payments to the ATO.
  • Access to The Centurion® Lounge. after your first card spend on the card for Qantas products and services each anniversary year.
  • 2 complimentary Qantas Club lounge invitations each year.
  • $450 Qantas Travel Credit each year (conditions apply).
  • Add cards for up to four family and friends at no cost.

Cons

  • The annual fee of $450.
  • There is no concierge service, even though it's a high end card.
  • Balance transfers are not possible.
  • Transactions in a foreign currency attract a fee.

The basics

  • Additional cardholders. Give up to 4 of your friends and family an additional card at no extra cost, helping to maximise the rewards-earning potential. The main account holder will need to manage the credit limit and make sure repayments are on time.
  • Digital wallets. Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay are all compatible with this card.
  • Gambling transactions. Transactions classified as gambling will be blocked.

Rewards and benefits

  • Complimentary travel insurance. Cardholders have access to complimentary international travel insurance for you, your partner, and dependents up to 25 years old. Valid for domestic and international travel when you pay for the trip using your card. Also includes medical emergency expenses cover up to $2,500,0001, transport accidents cover up to $400,000, travel cancellations cover up to $12,500, up to $10,000 cover for loss or damage to baggage, money, or documents, and travel inconvenience cover up to $200 if your flight is delayed.
  • Concierge services. The American Express Qantas Ultimate Credit Card does not include a concierge service.
  • Insurances. Comes with purchase and refund protection, plus a fraud protection guarantee from unauthorized transactions.
  • Lounge access. Get two passes for The Centurion® Lounge airports each year. Cardholders also get two complimentary Qantas Club lounge invitations after your first Card spend each anniversary year when you use your card to pay for selected Qantas products and services in Australia.
  • Rewards points. Cardholders can earn 2.25 Qantas points per $1 spent on eligible Qantas products and services, then 1.25 Qantas points per $1 spent on all other eligible purchases. Payments to government bodies in Australia earn 0.5 Qantas points per $1 spent. Annual fees, cash advances, interest, fees, and charges for traveler's cheques and foreign currencies will not earn points.
  • Sign-up bonus. Receive up to 100,000 bonus Qantas Points.  That’s 75,000 bonus Qantas Points when you apply, get approved by 4 April 2023, and spend $3,000 on eligible purchases on your new Card within the first 3 months. Plus, an additional 25,000 bonus Qantas Points in your second year upon fee renewal. Offer available to new Amex card members only.
  • Travel credit. Get $450 of Qantas Travel Credit to book eligible domestic and international Qantas flights. Bookings must be made via American Express Travel.

Rates and fees

  • Annual fee. This card has an annual fee of $450.
  • Balance transfers. There is no balance transfer offer on this card at this time.
  • Cash advances. Cash advances will be charged interest at the cash advance interest rate of 21.99% p.a. An additional fee will also be incurred. Cash advances will begin accruing interest from the date of the transaction.
  • Foreign exchange fee. Purchases made in a foreign currency while shopping online or when travelling overseas will incur a 3% foreign transaction fee.
  • Interest-free period. This card offers an interest-free period of up to 44 days on purchases — except cash advances — if you have paid off your previous balance in full.
  • Purchases. The interest rate for purchases is 21.99% p.a., which can be avoided by paying the balance off in full. There is no introductory offer.

Our review

Convenience

Customer service

Rates and fees

Rewards

Trust

What is your definition of ‘Ultimate’? American Express have their own definition, it seems, which they have applied to the American Express Qantas Ultimate Credit Card. But does it coincide with your idea of the perfect card?

The fact that it comes with a huge number of first-purchase bonus points is an excellent start. Qantas Frequent Flyer points are much more valuable, if used for flights and upgrades, than the same number of points in a card issuer’s proprietary rewards program.

Other benefits include a high ongoing QFF points earning rate, an annual travel credit (which neatly offsets the annual fee), a suite of insurance covers (with some omissions compared with other cards) and access to airport lounges.

But you’ll still have to live with having some merchants adding a higher surcharge to Amex transactions, or even declining the card altogether. Amex says it is working on improving the acceptance of its cards, but they’re not quite there yet. So it’s important to be fully aware of the details so that you can weigh the sweeteners against a few drawbacks.

Outstanding bonus points boost

Although Amex has other cards offering sign-up bonus points in its own Membership Rewards Scheme, the points that come with this card are the much more valuable Qantas Frequent Flyer points. The American Express Qantas Ultimate Credit card offers more QFF bonus points than any other personal card in the Amex stable. Kickstart your QFF points account, or give it a significant one-off boost, just by using your card for all your purchases in order to meet the spending target.

Simply use the card to reach an easily achievable target during the first three months, and you’ll receive your bonus QFF points – more than enough points for a return economy flight to Europe or New York.

Outstanding ongoing points earning potential

The card’s regular earning rate of 1.25 QFF points per dollar, (uncapped) is close to the top of the league for cards earning QFF points.

This rate applies to all eligible purchases except transactions with government bodies (ATO, Australia Post, federal, state and local government), where the earning rate drops to 0.5 points per dollar.

On the upside, Qantas products and services earn an additional 1.0 points per dollar, lifting the rate for Qantas purchases to 2.25 points per dollar.

There’s a further points boost accompanying the complimentary Qantas Wine Premium Membership (for which there’s usually a charge). Buy wine or gourmet food through Qantas epiQure and earn a total of 4.25 points per dollar spent on these purchases (3.0 points from epiQure + 1.25 points for card spending), plus qualify for free delivery.

Qantas Travel Credit every year

This one effectively wipes out the otherwise steep annual fee. Each year, once you have paid the annual fee and at least the minimum account payment by the due date, you’ll receive a travel credit with American Express Travel, for an amount which happens to be equivalent to the card’s annual fee.

It’s actually a Qantas Travel Credit, meaning that you can only use it to book a Qantas flight or flights. Use it within 365 days of your anniversary date, otherwise it expires, and note that if your booking amounts to less than the travel credit amount, you’ll forfeit the remaining balance. Preferably use it for a booking in excess of the credit amount, because you’ll earn 2.25 QFF points for every dollar spent beyond it.

Airport lounge access

In each year that you purchase a Qantas flight or pay a Qantas Club membership fee using your card (by booking directly with Qantas or through its travel agency partners) you’ll receive two single-visit Qantas Club lounge passes.

Cardholders will also receive two complimentary single visit passes each calendar year, to use at American Express airport lounges in Australia.

Complimentary insurance cover

A suite of free insurance policies is fairly normal for a card of this type and annual fee level. Here’s what you’ll get:

  • Free travel insurance. Both domestic and overseas travel insurance are provided for you and your immediate family travelling with you. It covers things like medical expenses, lost luggage, cancellation and delays, but there is no mention of rental vehicle excess. Also missing is any cover under this policy for supplementary cardholders (unless they are also a spouse accompanying the primary cardholder), which is a rather unusual exclusion.
  • Transport accident cover. Provides cash compensation for loss of life, limb or eyesight while travelling as a passenger on a plane, ferry, train or bus, both in Australia and overseas. Most cards provide this type of cover only for journeys taken overseas.
  • Purchase protection cover. 90 days cover against loss, theft or damage for items purchased with the card.
  • Refund protection cover. Refunds the purchase price of an unused item (90 day limit) if the retailer won’t take it back.

Missing from this list, in addition to rental vehicle excess and supplementary cardholder travel insurance, are extended warranty insurance and price protection insurance, cover types which many premium cardholders have come to expect. There’s also no concierge service offered.

The activation requirements for the travel insurance and transport accident cover are payment of 100% of the trip fare with the card, or QFF points, or the Qantas Travel Credit.

Interest-free days are 44, not 55

This isn’t a big deal, but it needs to be considered as part of the bigger picture. With only 44 interest-free days a month instead of 55, you’ll end up paying earlier by 12 x 11 = 132 days per year, 132 days in which your cash is not working for you in an interest-bearing deposit account or a mortgage offset account.

Don’t forget that if you have any unpaid balance on your account you’ll forfeit the interest-free days on purchases altogether. The high standard interest rate on purchases will be charged from the day the item hits your account.

Standard interest rate

The high interest rate on any purchases which do not qualify for interest-free days is perfectly normal for a card of this type. There’s nothing ‘ultimate’ about it, but Amex are smart enough to know the customers they are pursuing can afford to pay the card balance in full every month and therefore attach little importance to interest rates.

However, if ever you do find yourself carrying a balance beyond the payment due date, you can opt to repay via Plan It Instalments, with 0% interest and a fixed monthly fee.

There’s no cash advance interest rate quoted, because cash advances are not available with Amex cards.

Turn your phone into a digital wallet

Leave your card at home and pay on the go with your smartphone. This card is eligible for use with Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Google Pay when you download the appropriate app.

Amex also has regularly changing retail discount offers for cardholders, easily accessed using your phone or other internet-connected device.

Which cards compete?

The Westpac Altitude Platinum Credit Card (Qantas), NAB Qantas Rewards Signature Card and Bendigo Bank Qantas Platinum Credit Card all have lower annual fees but also a lower points earning rate than this Amex card.

You can check out many credit cards which earn QFF points on our Qantas Frequent Flyer credit cards comparison.

Who will get the most benefit?

The American Express Qantas Ultimate Credit Card is for avid QFF points collectors who fly regularly. They’ll be able to earn QFF points at one of the higher rates available, scoring plenty of Qantas award flights plus the worthwhile travel credit every year, relax free of charge in the Qantas and Amex lounges (a total of four visits per year), and rest easy knowing that they and their family are protected by insurance (with some exceptions).

And don’t forget that the annual travel credit effectively wipes out the annual fee.


Yvonne Taylor

Reviewed by Yvonne Taylor

Lead Product Analyst

User reviews

Convenience

Customer service

Rates and fees

Rewards

Trust

Bonus points and excellent rewards

Reviewed by Alicia

The American Express site is easy to navigate, and the one question I had was answered immediately over the phone.

While the fees are on the higher side you do get one free domestic flight per year, which is excellent. 75K bonus points on sign-up was the main incentive.


Great value rewards and service, free flight

Reviewed by Mark

Direct American Express cards are excellent. This card comes with first class Australian customer service with quick response times. In addition the support given on disputed transactions is paperless and the agent works hard to resolve it quickly.

Rewards are excellent with a good earn rate, and if you regularly travel, the free Qantas return flight makes the high cost of the card worthwhile. In fact, on its own, for Perth residents the card pays for an east-west flight that is more often cheaper than what you would spend on a flight with Qantas.

The only downside is the high fee, but this comes with some major perks. The free flight is caveated as well. There is selected routes it will only work on (with the best value being cross-country flights). It also requires an advance Qantas spend before it activates the free flight (but you can get around this by paying for the fare difference by opting for a higher fare bracket).

Finally, the general lack of acceptance of AmEx in general (which is getting better) means you can’t solely rely on this card for all your spending.


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