Sneaky Trick To Buy Qantas Points For Cheap Business & First Class Flights

Choice Privileges is the reward program by Choice Hotels. Generally, this isn’t a program I pay much attention to, but this month they launched a rather lucrative promotion.

Choice Hotels launched a double airline miles promotion, rewarding Privilege Members with double Qantas Or Velocity Points. Here’s the deal:

Choice Privileges, the loyalty program from Choice Hotels Asia-Pac, is kicking off Autumn with the launch of its Double Airline Miles offer. For the month of March, Choice Privileges members can transfer their points to receive double Velocity Frequent Flyer or Qantas Points.

For members, this means for 2,000 Choice Privilege points; they will receive either 1,600 Qantas Points or 1,600 Velocity Frequent Flyer Points. The double points promotion is just another way Choice Hotels Asia-Pac is supporting the reinvigoration of the travel industry, encouraging Australians to explore the country and take advantage of this incredible airline partnership offer.

How To Buy Qantas Points At A Discount

Ok, you might not have any Choice Rewards, or you may have never heard about the program; no problem! Like many hotel loyalty programs, Choice Rewards sells its points via Points.com. All you need is a Choice Privileges account (free) to get started.

Buying Choice Rewards is easy, and luckily for us there is currently a 40% bonus sale bonus sale on, you can now simply purchase Choice Rewards and convert them to Qantas or Virgin Velocity (not sure why you would send points to Velocity, but it’s possible).

Since we now get double points until the end of March, the conversion rate from Choice Rewards is 1 Choice Reward for 0.8 Qantas or Velocity Points.

How To Buy Choice Rewards & Convert Them To Qantas Points

• Sign up for a Choice Rewards membership
• Log in and click “my account”
• Copy your membership number
• Click “buy points” or visit: https://www.choicehotels.com/en-au/choice-privileges/buy-points
• Enter your Choice Privileges number and purchase the points required.

To transfer Choice Rewards to Qantas or Velocity, follow these steps:

• Log in and visit: https://www.choicehotels.com/choice-privileges/rewards-exchange-partners
• Click on the airline partner you want to send points to.
• Link your Qantas or Velocity number with Choice Privileges and select the amount you wish to transfer.

Example: Buying 100,000 Choice Rewards

Let’s do a quick example so you can work out if buying points makes sense for you! Choice Rewards are sold in USD so make sure to use a card that doesn’t charge you a 3% markup (most do!). I use my Revolut Debit Visa since it has no fees, and I can fund it with my credit card. You can sign up to Revolut for free here.

Buying 100,000 Choice Rewards should net me 140,000 points with the 40% bonus which convert to 112,000 Qantas or Velocity Points once converted. That’s assuming we transfer 140,000 points during the double points promo.

The cost of 100,000 Choice Rewards is US$990, so the effective cost per QF/VA point is US$0.0088, which is around 5X cheaper compared to buying points directly from Qantas. The maximum amount of Choice Rewards you can buy in a calendar year is 180,000 (excluding bonuses), and purchased points will be credited to your account within 24h so keep this in mind if you plan to transfer them to Qantas or Velocity.

Click here to buy Choice Rewards.

Sample Itineraries – What Are These Points Worth?

• Sydney to Perth with Qantas on the A330 in business: AU$515 one way taxes included.
• Amsterdam to Dubai with Emirates on the A380/B777 in first class: Eur 763 one way, taxes included.
• Dubai to New York with Emirates on the B777 first class suite: US$1536 one way, taxes included.
• Haneda Japan to London with Japan Airlines in first class: US$1353 one way, taxes included.

Summing up – Worth it?

When it comes to buying points, you have to make sure you work out if it’s worth it for your own use case. If you have a specific redemption in mind, buying Qantas Points could mean you are booking business or first class tickets ate a reduced price. For example, Perth to London in Business will cost you 126,500 Qantas Points one way + taxes. A cash fare with Qantas in business comes to around $9,000 return. The same fare booked with points would cost you US$2227.5 + taxes, so you’re looking at a significant saving if you were to use them for a ticket like this.

Of course, buying points speculatively is never a great idea, and in this particular case, it’s not exactly dirt cheap but rather an arbitrage opportunity for those that need it.

Note: I wrote this post right before I noticed Choice Rewards had launched a bonus sale of 40%, I consider the current deal pretty lucrative and might buy some miles speculatively!