Earning Qantas points, status credits on Air New Zealand flights

Qantas travellers members will be able to earn Qantas frequent flyer points and status credits on selected Air New Zealand flights starting 28 October 2018 through a new partnership between the Aussie and Kiwi carriers.

That tie-ups replaces the alliance between Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand, which will end on the same date.

A spokesperson for Qantas told Australian Business Traveller that Qantas Frequent Flyer members will earn 800 Qantas points and 10 status credits on discount economy and standard economy fares on codeshared domestic Air New Zealand flights, and 1200 points and 20 status credits on flexible economy fares.

Those rates are regardless of the actual distance of the NZ flight, the spokesperson confirmed, as all flights fall into the 0-750 mile bracket. “There are no domestic New Zealand flights we codeshare on that are longer than that distance,” the spokesperson said.

The Qantas / Air New Zealand alliance covers selected flights on the domestic network of each airline, although trans-Tasman and other international flights are excluded from the arrangement.

To earn those points and status credits, passengers must be booked on the Qantas flight number for the codeshared AirNZ flight (these fall into the QF8xxx range).

However, not all of Air New Zealand’s domestic flights will be covered by the codeshare arrangement. 

A spokesman for Qantas has advised Australian Business Traveller that in circumstances where there are competing domestic Jetstar NZ and Air New Zealand flights to the same destination, if the Jetstar flight departs within the ‘minimum connection time’ for an inbound Qantas trans-Tasman flight, only the Jetstar service will carry a QF codeshare – not the later-departing Air New Zealand flight.

Qantas frequent flyers appear to be getting the better part of the codeshare hook-up, as Air New Zealand’s own frequent flyers will earn Airpoints miles but not status credits on domestic Qantas flights.

That haul will range from 3-10 Airpoints depending on the class of travel on a short leg such as Sydney-Melbourne, to between 10 and 52 Airpoints flying between Sydney and Perth.

Read more: Earning Air New Zealand Airpoints, status credits on Qantas flights 

David Flynn

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.