Qantas unveils tasty Frequent Flyer change

Restaurant Chilling Out Classy Lifestyle Reserved Concept

Travellers can now earn Qantas Points by dining out around the world, the airline has announced.

Thanks to a new partnership with Quandoo – a global restaurant reservation platform for more than 18,000 restaurants – Qantas Frequent Flyer is giving travellers the ability to earn Qantas Points from restaurant reservations.

The collaboration, which applies particularly to frequent flyers in Australia, but also around the world, enables Qantas Points to be earned by making reservations through the Qantas Restaurants portal on Qantas.com and the Qantas app.

Qantas Frequent Flyers can earn 100 points per person, per booking across 18,000 restaurant partners in more than 12 countries.

The partnership marks a return to points-earning in restaurants by Qantas after the airline ended its agreement with Dimmi and Rockpool Dining Group restaurants last year. It also marks the the first occasion the airline has given customers the ability to earn Qantas Points on international restaurant bookings.

Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth said the opportunity to earn points on restaurant bookings would be welcomed by frequent flyers.

“We know how much our frequent flyers like to dine out, so rewarding them with Qantas Points for eating at their favourite local restaurant or somewhere special while they’re on holiday is going to be a real drawcard,” she said.

“Food and wine constantly rank as some of the top interests for our members, so we have been looking carefully at how we can offer a rewarding experience that is easy to use. The ability to now earn points for booking restaurants overseas is a great addition to people’s travel experience and helps get them closer to their dream trip.

“Members can also maximise their points earn when dining out by paying the bill on their Qantas Points earning credit card.”

Quandoo has seated 180 million diners in over 18,000 restaurants around the world since its founding in 2012. Headquartered in Berlin, the online restaurant booking tool lists dining options ranging from independent to chains and Michelin starred restaurants.

Paul Hadida, vice president for the Asia Pacific at Quandoo, said the company was excited by the partnership with Qantas Frequent Flyer.

“Offering our customers a seamless end to end dining experience is paramount,” he said.

“Being able to partner with Qantas will allow us to provide additional benefits to our customers, as well as generating further traffic to our restaurant partners, both locally and globally.

“This is something we are truly excited about.”

The announcement of yet another change to Qantas Frequent Flyer Program comes after the airline recently made more rewards seats available, while increasing the number of points required to grab premium seats, as reported by The Nibbler’s sister publication, Travel Weekly.

At the time, it said this represented the biggest transformation the Frequent Flyer Program has seen since its launch 32 years ago.

According to Travel Weekly, Virgin Australia responded by commissioning a very cheeky billboard outside Sydney Domestic Airport taking aim at Qantas’ frequent flyer overhaul, which included one million new reward seats.

Qantas, however, stands by the hype it created over the loyalty shake-up. You can read what Qantas had to say about Virgin Australia’s cheeky clap-back here.

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

qantas qantas frequent flyer qantas loyalty qantas restaurants Quandoo