How Frequent Flyer Points Made Family Travel More Affordable

This article is based on our family's experience with the Australian Qantas Frequent Flyer program. Some of these ideas may also apply to other airlines and countries, but the programs and rules will obviously vary.

By December 2023, we'd had a pretty crappy year.

I'd been diagnosed with breast cancer earlier in the year, had multiple surgeries and we had also been dealing with some significant personal challenges at home. It had put a strain on all of us, and I really wanted to give the kids and myself something positive and exciting to focus on.

I asked Ruben where he'd love to travel if he could go anywhere.

His answer was "Asia and America."

As luck would have it, I'd recently seen a fantastic deal on a Carnival transpacific cruise departing Australia in April 2025. It travelled through Asia, stopped in Japan, continued on to Alaska and eventually finished in Seattle.

Well... that ticked quite a few boxes!

I booked it.

And then I started looking at flights. 😬

We live in Wagga Wagga in regional NSW, which adds another layer to the cost of travelling overseas.

We don't have a huge choice of flights and regional airfares can be expensive. Driving to Sydney or Melbourne can sometimes save money, but it's around five hours in either direction. By the time you add fuel, parking, possibly accommodation and five hours in the car with kids before or after an international flight, it isn't always the attractive option it first appears to be.

So I wasn't simply looking at the cost of getting three people home from the other side of the Pacific. I also needed to get us between Wagga and whichever major airport we were using.

Those flights were starting to make my bargain cruise look considerably less bargain-ish.

Somewhere amongst all my searching, I was reminded about Qantas Frequent Flyer points.

I knew they existed and had a rough idea of how they worked, but that was about the extent of my knowledge. I'd always assumed that accumulating enough points to actually go somewhere was mainly for people who flew regularly for work.

I started looking into it properly and realised I'd been missing out on a lot of opportunities to earn points without flying anywhere at all.

This was probably the biggest surprise for me.

There are so many ways to earn Qantas Points through things you're already buying and paying for.

Depending on the offers available, this can include supermarket rewards, online and in-store shopping, accommodation, insurance, utilities and even rewards for walking through the Qantas Wellbeing app.

Then there are credit cards that earn Qantas Points on eligible everyday spending, with some also offering substantial bonus points when you sign up and meet the required conditions.

I wasn't looking for ways to spend more money to earn points. That rather defeats the purpose.

What interested me was finding ways to earn points from money I was going to spend anyway.

Our groceries still needed to be bought. The electricity bill wasn't going anywhere. We needed insurance. If I was already buying something online, taking an extra minute to see whether I could earn Qantas Points on the purchase made sense.

Over time, all those smaller amounts started adding up.

The majority of our Qantas Points have now been earned on the ground, through things such as:

• converting Woolworths Everyday Rewards points to Qantas Points
• shopping through Qantas Shopping
• keeping an eye out for bonus point offers from participating retailers
• booking accommodation through Qantas Hotels and eligible accommodation partners
• taking advantage of Airbnb offers when available
• Qantas Insurance products, including home, health and travel insurance
• Qantas Wellbeing rewards
• eligible everyday spending on a Qantas Points-earning credit card
• bonus point offers associated with eligible financial products.

I won't go into all of those here because this article would become enormous (and I'd probably lose you somewhere around insurance 😂).

I'm putting together separate articles covering the different ways we've earned points, along with what I've learnt about actually using them to book flights.

Very much so.

Since I started paying proper attention to Frequent Flyer points, they've helped get myself and my two children from our home in Wagga Wagga to and from two transpacific cruises.

For our reward flights, we've generally only had to pay the applicable taxes, fees and carrier charges ourselves.

Considering the cost of buying three airfares from regional Australia, that has made a huge difference to what we've been able to do.

We're currently building the points balance back up again, this time for flights associated with our Tokyo to Hong Kong cruise in 2027.

And I still don't consider myself someone who "chases points". I've just become much better at noticing opportunities to earn them.

If I'm buying something online, I'll check whether I can earn points on it. If there's a bonus offer on something we genuinely need, I'll take advantage of it. When I'm comparing services we're already paying for, points are one of the things I'll consider alongside the price and what we're actually getting.

There are certainly people who take Frequent Flyer points to a whole other level. That's not really what this series is about.

It's simply about sharing what has worked for us.

Because back in December 2023, I was just a mum in Wagga who'd booked a cruise before properly investigating how much it was going to cost to get everyone home again.

Thankfully, that particular bit of impulsiveness worked out pretty well.

I'll be going into more detail about the things I've learnt along the way, including:

• A Beginner's Guide to Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Ways We Earn Qantas Points Without Flying
• What to Consider When Choosing a Qantas Frequent Flyer Credit Card
• Booking Reward Flights: Things I've Learnt Along the Way
• Frequent Flyer Points for Business Owners

I'll also share some of the things I wish I'd known earlier, including why being flexible with your travel dates can make a surprisingly big difference to the number of points you need.

I'm sharing our own experience with the Qantas Frequent Flyer program and what has worked for our family. This is general information only and isn't financial advice.

If you're considering applying for a credit card, changing insurance providers or making other financial decisions to earn points, have a look at the costs, conditions and whether the product is suitable for your own circumstances first. Earning a pile of Frequent Flyer points isn't much of a win if it costs you more than they're worth.