As you guys would know, we travel quite a bit, especially as a family. But being the money continuous & savvy mama that I am, I always keep my eyes peeled for sales, deals and ways we can travel on our family budget!

One of the ways is of course through a frequent flyer program, and even if you don’t actually fly a lot, there are dozens of ways you can earn points and get much more bang for your buck (literally) just from your normal everyday spend!

We have always been Qantas Frequent Flyer members, and collect points in several different ways. And each year it has allowed us to book free flights, get class upgrades and even free lounge access.

A great example of this is the points we had earned from our American trip last year, paid for us to upgrade to Business class on our Alice Springs trip.

There are a few ways to use your points, and it’s not just on flights!! You can use points for everyday items via the Qantas Store.

When using them on flights, you can either use Points Plus Pay or booking a Classic Rewards Flights when available. As well as using your points for upgrades on eligible bookings.

I will pop more on using your points below. But let’s just focus on getting them first 😉

Using the Qantas Frequent Flyer program really is a brilliant way to help fund the cost of travel especially as a family when travel costs can get expensive. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to go through and share some of the many ways we earn points, most of which you can do without even thinking and just from the money you already spend day to day!!

I’ve also popped the link for signup to the Qantas Frequent Flyer Program.

Flights

One of the biggest ways to earn points is, of course, flying with Qantas or a partnered airline on an eligible flight.

Make sure your kids have their own frequent flyer numbers so that everyone in the family is earning points, as you can transfer points between your family members, and every point counts! You will be amazed how quickly this adds up 🙂

Sign your kids up for free to the Joey Club here.

We also have our business and ABN attached, so we also double up on points through Qantas Business Rewards! Booking your flights with your frequent flyer credit card also means you get double points 😉

Shopping

There are quite a few ways you can earn points from shopping…

Grocery Shopping: The obvious one is the Everyday Rewards points you get when shopping with Woolworths. Just scan your card every time you shop! For us, this is so easy because I online shop and it’s already connected to my account so I never miss it. This also includes BWS 😉

Just make sure your points are defaulted to be converted into Qantas Frequent Flyer points in your settings.

Qantas Mall: By shopping at a Qantas partnered retailer you can earn up to 7 points per dollar spent. Some major retailers include David Jones, eBay and even Woolworths (yes, this is on top of your Everyday Rewards).

A new discovery I just made is the Qantas ‘Points Prompter’ which is a Chrome Extension that will automatically alert you when you go to a website that offers points! The extension is already connected to your Qantas Frequent Flyer number so all you do it click the button to activate and it’s automatically tracked – GAME CHANGER!!

Credit Card: Another way to earn even more points is to of course make all these purchases via your banking co-branded Qantas Frequent Flyer credit card. But that is a whole topic on itself so keep reading…

Credit Cards

We have a co-branded ANZ Frequent Flyer credit card which we use for all our purchases. We even put things like the girl’s school fees on it and just pay off the card each month. It means that every dollar we spend has more value as we are gaining points on every dollar spent.

Which card is best for you really depends on your own circumstances and I suggest doing some research on your options before jumping in.

Look at things like bonus sign up points and annual fees and work out what you need to spend and earn to offset any additional costs.

Another hot tip, we have business credit cards that we also collect points via, which can be transferred for our own use.

Accommodation

We have always used Qantas Hotels to book hotels, and we also book a lot of Airbnb which you can earn Qantas points when you click through. We booked all our America houses via Qantas and earned 1000’s of points by doing so!

Again, there are multiple ways to earn points on all types of accommodation.

Qantas Hotels: Booking via the Qantas Hotels website can earn you up to 9 points per dollar spent!! There are hundreds of hotels available and it is so easy to use. We used this heaps when we travelled to the USA.

Airbnb: We stay in a lot of AirBNB’s as we find this is the perfect type of accommodation when travelling as a family. It’s so easy to do, it’s just an option when you search via the Qantas Hotels site (see below) and will take you to the Airbnb site and track the points to your account for you.

Direct Booking: Booking directly with a Qantas partnered hotel will also earn you points. This includes IHG and Accor group, which our family are both members of 😀

Qantas Wellness

Another recent discovery for me is the Qantas Wellness app. Where you can actually earn points just for walking?! (So basically points for just being alive? LOL)

You can sync this to your phone or if you have a Fitbit or smartwatch like me, it will sync your daily activity so you can earn points every time you move!

There are also extra ways in the app, including getting your kids involved, which I think is such a good initiative (plus make your kids earn their keep haha).

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There seriously are so many ways to earn points you may not have even realised, I know this because after my call out last week, I’ve just discovered several more ways. This includes if you’re a Snap Fitness members, Qantas Wine, using Uber, ordering with Deliveroo – the list is seriously ENDLESS!!

A quick Google search and you should have no trouble finding extra ways to pinch those points! But as mentioned above, the ‘points prompter’ will be your best friend so you never miss a point 😉

Okay so now I’ve got my points, what do I do?

Using Points

Like I mentioned earlier, there are a few ways you can use your points. This includes the Qantas Store. Anything from tech, linen or even a new pram!!

But, let’s assume you want to use your points to reduce the cost of your travel like me!!

Qantas Frequent Flyer members have the option to use their Qantas Points to book flights using either Classic Flight Rewards or Points Plus Pay

Points Plus Pay: Is an option to pay for your flights with a mixture of Qantas Points and money at qantas.com. The more Qantas Points used, the less money paid. You can even choose to pay entirely with your Qantas Points, including the taxes, fees and charges. The minimum number of Qantas Points required starts from 5,000 points per booking and is subject to change.

Classic Rewards: This is where you can use your Qantas Points to book seats on eligible flights (You’ll be required to pay money for the taxes, fees and charges).

Classic Rewards Upgrades: You can upgrade you flight on saver and flex fares to Premium Economy or Business 🙂 Points go furthest when used on flights for sure!