Have your Qantas Points expired? Here’s how to get them back
The Qantas Points Challenge makes it easy to recover all of your missing points.
By David Flynn, January 16 2025
“Help, I’ve lost all my Qantas points!” is a plaintive cry too often heard from friends, family and colleagues of the point-savvy Executive Traveller readership, along with the more emotive but totally inaccurate claim of “Qantas has stolen my points!”
Why do Qantas points expire, when do they expire, and more importantly, how can you get back those expired Qantas points? And how can you stop those Qantas points from expiring in the first place? Read on.
In this article:
Why and when do Qantas points expire?
Qantas sets an 18-month expiry period on all the frequent flyer points in your Qantas account.
This is measured against the most recent ‘activity’ on your account – an activity being either spending or earning Qantas points.
As long as you’ve spent or earned any Qantas points in the past 18 months, all of your Qantas points will remain safe in your account.
And every time there’s any activity on your account, that ‘countdown clock’ is reset and the 18- month timeframe starts all over again.
But if your account has been inactive for 18 months, without any Qantas points being spent or earned, then your account will be tragically and automatically emptied.
(Qantas sends a dedicated email to Qantas Frequent Flyer members once their account has been dormant for 12 months, with a follow-up 45 days before the points expire.)
How to recover expired Qantas points
Assuming your account has been inactive for 18 months, and you log in one day to find that all your Qantas points have vanished, is there a way to get them back?
Fortunately, Qantas offers a mechanism for returning all of your missing points: it’s called the Qantas Points Challenge.
As long as you contact Qantas within six months of your points expiring, the Qantas Points Challenge will reinstate all of your expired Qantas points provided you earn 2,500 Qantas points within three months.
That’s not a hard ask: you can easily rack up 2,500 Qantas points by shopping and paying bills with your Qantas credit card, online shopping with Qantas partners or even buying a half-dozen bottles from Qantas Wine.
We’ve heard of instances where those points must be earned from at least two different sources, in which case you’ll want to spread the love and think a little strategically.
But with a whole three months to earn just 2,500 Qantas points, that’s really no ‘challenge’ at all (even if it means earning most of your points with say Qantas Wine, and then topping up your tank with Qantas’ petrol partner BP).
How to keep your Qantas points from expiring
Of course, the ideal scenario is to keep your account active and keep those Qantas points ticking over so they don't expire in the first place.
Even earning just a handful of points every 18 months is all it takes – although he more points you earn, the closer you get to that next flight or business class upgrade.
Click here to learn five easy ways to stop Qantas Frequent Flyer points from expiring without even flying.
02 Sep 2014
Total posts 6
Certainly a more clear indication (or series of increasingly strident indications) that points are going to expire would be welcome. But the idea that trickling points in just by loading the QF Health app onto your phone is attractive. No purchase and no ongoing action required, just bung the phone into your pocket.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
12 Feb 2021
Total posts 20
As LT Silver you do not need to worry about the 4 flights, and with many points I daily go to BP and buy a newspaper to reset the clock. When travel schedules come around on OW, then no need to worry either. I had a colleague who lst mammoth no of prev BA points with no notice so the alert by QF very fair.
15 May 2023
Total posts 1
This policy should be changed to loosing only some points not all of your points to penalise you for not being active. Otherwise it serves no purpose as the account remain active they just want to take all your points. I lost 260K points as I didn’t know about the 18month policy and found out more than 6months after. I don’t think it is fair. If it’s to get rid of inactive accounts fair enough, but to just take all your points away just because you are unable to earn points for personal reasons and didn’t know about the policy…. Fair shake of the sauce bottle.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
04 Mar 2013
Total posts 47
This might seem rude, but in 2024 with the plethora of ways to earn and use points, if you let your points expire you deserve to lose them.
Jetstar Airways - Qantas Frequent Flyer
14 Jan 2017
Total posts 69
You also need to consider whether the effort is worth it. Anyone tried redeeming points for that flight or upgrade lately? Might be better to let go of the illusion.
Air Canada - Aeroplan
28 Feb 2015
Total posts 129
Back in 2018 my mother, then aged 92, lost about 178,000 points while she was in hospital having a near-death experience (keeping her QF account active wasn't top of her, or anyone else in the family's, mind at the time). She also swore she was never warned before they were removed. I complained to QF, who told me that if she got 2,500 points from flying and buying something, they would reinstate HALF the points. At 93, she didn't have nor want a QF-affiliated CC, didn't want a case of QF wine, nor at her age was particularly interested in buying anything at all. She simply (when well) flew long-haul J or F, which evidently wasn't good enough. Nor was a history of flying Qantas (or its previous incarntions) for over 70 years. So she never got the points back. Since then she says she would rather walk than fly Qantas again.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
05 Oct 2016
Total posts 126
I agree that if you haven't added to them after 18 months then you're obviously not that interested in them. It's easy to add to them using every day actions and costs nothing. The story of the 92 year old. If she wasn't interested in adding to them at her age then she surely wasn't ever going to use them?? And if it was to transfer to a family member, then there would have been a family member that quite easily have arranged the spend to recovery... My kids have a few that they don't add to or use yet, but we just switch an everyday Woolworths rewards card for each of them around, and use that on a shop before expiry, to add to them. Easy.
Am in full agreement with the scepticism about ability to use them recently tho!! Seems it's getting tighter and more useless now.
On a completely different take altogether... Why ever does QF think they have the right to expire them at all??? That's a complete scam. On what basis can they morally justify that. Maybe after 10-15 years of no inactivity if the user is an adult. But otherwise it's basically your money. In a certain way, you almost certainly paid for them one way or another. They should have no right to just expire them after only 18 months. Banks would never get away with just "expiring" your money in an account not being added to, after 18 months!
Jetstar Airways - Qantas Frequent Flyer
24 Aug 2018
Total posts 114
Two hip replacements, plus a domestic relocation meant that I let my points slip as no flying was done that year. Advice provided by frequent_flyer etc was heeded and points returned as well as the Qantas Well-being App placed on my phone now secures my points. An anticipated inability to travel for an extended future period is no problem as long as I walk with the phone in my pocket
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