Qantas Cash card to get faster reloads

By David Flynn, May 5 2014
Qantas Cash card to get faster reloads

Qantas will speed up the process of loading money onto its prepaid Qantas Cash card as the airline gears up for what it says is the busiest time of the year for travel money cards.

The new ‘fast load’ system will cut the current three-day period between Australian dollars being transferred to the card’s account and then being available to convert into one of 10 foreign currencies.

“We plan to introduce a much faster load time in the next few weeks” says Stephanie Tulley, Chief Marketing Officer for Qantas Loyalty, who described the existing waiting time as “a pain point for members.”

“We’ve come up with a solution which we’ll launch imminently, which should make [load times] considerably faster than three days” Tulley tells Australian Business Traveller.

Qantas introduced its prepaid travel money card, which recently was awarded Best Co-branded Card at the 2012 Smartcard Asia industry awards, in September 2013, following Virgin Australia’s launch of its competing Global Wallet.

Both pieces of plastic double as a membership card to each airline’s frequent flyer program.

A quarter of a million Qantas frequent flyers have activated their Qantas Cash card since its launch some eight months ago, up from 200,000 in January – although with almost 10 million members in the airline’s loyalty program there’s still a long way to go.

That said, not all Qantas frequent flyers receive the Qantas Cash card.

Tulley says that members living overseas and members who are “not actively earning or using their points” receive only a standard Qantas frequent flyer membership card without the prepaid MasterCard facility which powers Qantas Cash.

It’s also not send to members under the age of 18, unless they are over 16 years and specifically requested the Qantas Cash card.

“There’s a lot of children in the program and lots of overseas residents too” Tulley says, although she reveals that Qantas has its eye on offering the Qantas Cash card to international members in due course.

“It’s still very early days but we would like to expand out of Australia, with New Zealand probably being next, that’s definitely part of our pipeline.”

Additional currencies for the card’s ‘virtual wallets’ are also on the way, with the UAE’s Dirham added only last month.

“That made complete sense, given the Qantas-Emirates alliance and the number of Australians visiting Dubai” Tulley says, “and of course we have plans to add more currencies.”

“The great thing is that we can see where people are using their Qantas Cash card in countries where we don’t support the local currency, so that gives us some guidance as to demand and helps us to prioritise those new currencies.”

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David

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.

25 Sep 2013

Total posts 1245

There are ten foreign currencies available on Qantas Cash; with AUD that makes for a total of 11, not 11 foreign currencies. 

24 Oct 2010

Total posts 2559

Quite right, mea culpa!

05 Dec 2013

Total posts 36

After recently using this card to try to load and then transfer back unspent NZD to my account, I won't ever be using it again.  It took well over a week for the funds to come back into my bank account, and only after multiple phone calls, misinformation and assurances that the funds would be available.  Not to mention that the card didn't work in the majority of ATMS I used in New Zealand.  Never again.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

07 Mar 2014

Total posts 73

I also found that all of these types of cards have a lot of promise and little delivery. "No fees" and "free withdrawls" never seem to be true and when you question it with the supplier the terms and conditions book is dragged out however it was nowhere to be seen when they sold you the service to begin with. I just travel with a decent amount of cash and my personal credit cards which I earn points on. By the time you pay the transaction fees it all works out the same.

01 Feb 2012

Total posts 370

I've had a relatively good experience with it though 3 days is far too long. Once I only remembered to load the funds 2 days before my trip, and as the 4 day trip started on the weekend, I didn't get the funds til the 3rd day!

05 May 2014

Total posts 2

Never again. Card topped up with NZD. Same here. Unable to access funds whilst in NZ. Several calls back to Oz and problem still not solved. Keep your Qantas Cash Card. (After I receive my cash back) very disappointed!

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

05 May 2014

Total posts 2

Have used the card time and time again without any problems whatsoever.

As for the comments about broken promises re transaction fees, perhaps you should look a little closer as to which party is charging the fee instead of blaming Qantas.

 

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

07 Mar 2014

Total posts 73

I am not blaming Qantas as I said "all of these types of cards" which was in regards to Amex, travelex, mastercard etc but chose not to name names.

Mal
Mal

14 Jun 2013

Total posts 353

I don't see why this is such a big issue. Yes, faster than 3 day recharge is great, but surely you have enough advance notice of your flights to transfer money onto the card at least 4 days befoe you fly? 

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

05 May 2014

Total posts 2

I couldn't agree more.

05 May 2014

Total posts 7

I can see this being an issue when you already are in country and want to load more cash on your card. I'm sure I'm not the only person that has loaded extra cash onto a travel card while in another country for various reasons.

25 Sep 2013

Total posts 1245

Yep. Everyone's circumstances are different.


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