Guides · Strategy
Qantas status changes 2026–27: what changes and what to do
Qantas status changes from December 2026 include Status Credit rollover, ground earning and higher retention targets. See the new rules and what they mean for you.
By Rewards That Fly · Updated 21 October 2026 · 11 min read
Qantas is making substantial changes to how Frequent Flyer members earn and retain status from December 2026.
The main changes are Status Credit rollover, permanent Status Credit earning without flying, and higher retention requirements from later in 2027. The existing Loyalty Bonus, Points Club and Green Tier programs are also being retired.
For members who regularly retain Gold or Platinum, the higher thresholds are particularly important. Rollover and ground-earned Status Credits will help offset the increase, but the result depends on how you currently earn Status Credits.
Qantas confirmed the rollover rules in August 2026 and has now published the permanent ground-earning thresholds, which we read on 21 October 2026.
This guide explains the changes and what they mean for your membership year.
At a glance
- 8 December 2026: Status Credit rollover and permanent ground earning begin.
- Rollover: Gold, Platinum and Platinum One members can carry forward 50% of eligible excess Status Credits, subject to caps. Silver members can carry forward 25%.
- Ground earning: Up to 140 Status Credits per membership year across ten categories, including credit cards, banking, insurance, utilities and shopping.
- Loyalty Bonus: The existing 50-Status-Credit reward for every 500 eligible flight Status Credits is being retired.
- Points Club and Green Tier: Both programs close on 8 December 2026, with transitional benefits for existing Points Club members.
- Later in 2027: The lower retention thresholds disappear. Gold will require 700 Status Credits annually and Platinum 1,400.
- Lifetime Status: Ground-earned Status Credits will count towards Lifetime Status. Rolled-over Status Credits will not.
The main trade-off: status becomes harder to retain through flying alone, while members gain new ways to earn Status Credits and carry excess credits into another year.
When do the changes take effect?
Qantas is introducing the changes in stages.
| Date | Change | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 8 December 2026 | Status Credit rollover | Eligible excess Status Credits can carry into the next membership year |
| 8 December 2026 | Ground-earned Status Credits | Up to 140 Status Credits per membership year across ten categories |
| 8 December 2026 | Loyalty Bonus retirement | The existing 50-Status-Credit Loyalty Bonus is replaced by rollover |
| 8 December 2026 | Points Club and Green Tier retirement | New qualification ends, with transitional benefits for existing Points Club members |
| During 2027 | New Lifetime Status milestones | Eligible members can earn banked years of Platinum |
| Later in 2027 | Single attainment and retention targets | Lower retention requirements disappear |
| From 2027 | Additional tier benefits | New benefits are introduced progressively |
The December 2026 changes have confirmed commencement dates. Qantas has not yet provided the same level of detail for every change scheduled during 2027.
1. Status Credit rollover
From 8 December 2026, eligible members will be able to carry a proportion of excess Status Credits into their next membership year.
The amount depends on your status tier.
| Tier | Threshold above which rollover is calculated | Percentage rolled over | Maximum rollover |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silver | 300 | 25% | 100 |
| Gold | 700 | 50% | 350 |
| Platinum | 1,400 | 50% | 500 |
| Platinum One | 3,600 | 50% | 500 |
Rollover is calculated above the attainment threshold, not the lower retention threshold.
That distinction is important for existing Gold and Platinum members.
Example: a Gold member
A Gold member finishes the membership year with 1,000 Status Credits.
The Gold attainment threshold is 700.
The calculation is:
(1,000 − 700) × 50% = 150 Status Credits rolled over
If the same member finishes with 1,400 Status Credits:
(1,400 − 700) × 50% = 350 Status Credits rolled over
That reaches the Gold rollover cap.
A Gold member finishing with 650 Status Credits can currently retain Gold, but would not earn a rollover because they have not exceeded the 700-Status-Credit attainment threshold.
When does rollover begin for you?
The first eligible membership year depends on your Qantas Frequent Flyer anniversary date.
Qantas has confirmed:
| Membership year ending | First period eligible for rollover |
|---|---|
| 31 August–30 November 2026 | The following membership year |
| 31 December 2026 or later | The membership year current on 8 December 2026 |
For members whose current membership year qualifies, eligible Status Credits already earned during that year can count towards the rollover calculation.
The rollover itself is processed at the end of the eligible membership year.
What do rolled-over Status Credits count towards?
Rolled-over Status Credits can help you attain or retain Silver, Gold, Platinum or Platinum One.
They do not count towards:
- Lifetime Status;
- Loyalty Bonus or other bonus-reward thresholds;
- Status Accelerators; or
- Platinum One's separate Qantas-marketed flight requirement.
For Platinum One, rollover can contribute towards the overall 3,600-Status-Credit requirement, but not the minimum 2,700 Status Credits required from Qantas-marketed flights.
This distinguishes rollover from ground-earned Status Credits, which do count towards Lifetime Status.
2. Earning Status Credits without flying
From 8 December 2026, members will be able to earn up to 140 Status Credits per membership year by accumulating Qantas Points across ten non-flying categories.
Qantas has published the permanent thresholds; we read them on 21 October 2026.
Each category has a points-earning threshold. Once you reach it, a fixed number of Status Credits is awarded.
The ten ground-earning categories
| Category | Qantas Points required | Status Credits available | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Credit cards | 20,000 | 20 | Eligible Qantas Points earning credit cards |
| Banking and home loans | 1,000 | 20 | Qantas Pay, Qantas Money Home Loans and participating banking partners |
| Insurance | 1,000 | 20 | Qantas Insurance and participating insurers |
| Home utilities | 1,000 | 20 | Red Energy |
| Everyday shopping | 1,000 | 10 | Everyday Rewards, HelloFresh, Youfoodz |
| Retail and lifestyle | 1,000 | 10 | Qantas Shopping, Qantas Marketplace, Qantas Wine and participating retailers |
| Car | 1,000 | 10 | Avis, Budget, Uber, bp Rewards and participating transport partners |
| Hotels and accommodation | 1,000 | 10 | Qantas Hotels, Airbnb |
| Holidays and experiences | 1,000 | 10 | Qantas Holidays, TripADeal, Qantas Cruises |
| Sustainability | 1,000 | 10 | Voluntary Carbon Program |
| Maximum | 140 |
Thresholds and category allocations as published by Qantas, read 21 October 2026. Eligible transactions and participating partners are subject to Qantas' published rules.
Four categories provide 20 Status Credits each, accounting for 80 of the 140 available.
The remaining six categories provide 10 Status Credits each.
How difficult are the thresholds?
Most categories require 1,000 eligible Qantas Points during a membership year.
Depending on the partner, that may be achievable through spending or activity you already undertake.
The credit card category is different.
It requires 20,000 eligible Qantas Points earned through credit card spending.
Sign-up bonus points and points transferred from other bank rewards programs do not count.
For illustration:
| Card earn rate | Eligible spending to earn 20,000 Qantas Points |
|---|---|
| 0.5 points per dollar | $40,000 |
| 0.75 points per dollar | ~$26,667 |
| 1.0 point per dollar | $20,000 |
| 1.25 points per dollar | $16,000 |
These are illustrative amounts. Actual earning depends on eligible spending, caps and the card's terms.
Does existing activity count?
Yes, subject to the applicable membership-year rules.
Qantas has confirmed that eligible activity during the membership year current on 8 December 2026 can count towards the new thresholds.
For example, a member whose membership year runs from January to December 2026 may already have accumulated qualifying points towards several categories before the program launches.
However, ground-earned Status Credits will not be awarded before 8 December 2026.
Members will be able to view their category progress through their Qantas Frequent Flyer account and app from launch.
What do ground-earned Status Credits count towards?
Ground-earned Status Credits can contribute towards:
- attaining or retaining a status tier; and
- Lifetime Status.
They do not count towards the Loyalty Bonus, Platinum Bonus Reward, Platinum One Bonus Reward or Status Accelerators.
The separate four-flight requirement also remains.
Is earning all 140 worthwhile?
The maximum is useful, but it should not become a spending target in its own right.
Reaching all ten categories could require using financial products, insurance, utilities and other services that you would not otherwise choose.
For a Gold member, 140 Status Credits represent 20% of the new 700-Status-Credit annual target.
That is meaningful.
However, changing an insurance provider or opening a financial product solely to earn another 20 Status Credits may not make sense once costs, conditions and other benefits are considered.
The useful starting point is to identify which categories you already participate in. Our guide to Status Credits on the ground takes each category in turn.
3. Higher retention thresholds from 2027
Later in 2027, Qantas will remove the lower Status Credit requirements currently used to retain status.
Members will instead have one annual target for both attainment and retention.
| Tier | Current attainment | Current retention | New annual target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silver | 300 | 250 | 300 |
| Gold | 700 | 600 | 700 |
| Platinum | 1,400 | 1,200 | 1,400 |
| Platinum One | 3,600 | 3,600 | 3,600 |
The new requirements mean:
- Silver retention increases by 50 Status Credits.
- Gold retention increases by 100 Status Credits.
- Platinum retention increases by 200 Status Credits.
- Platinum One's overall requirement remains unchanged.
However, comparing these figures alone understates the change for members who previously relied on the Loyalty Bonus.
What does this mean for retaining Gold?
Gold provides a useful example.
Under the current rules:
- Gold retention requires 600 Status Credits.
- Members can earn a 50-Status-Credit Loyalty Bonus after accumulating 500 eligible flight Status Credits.
- A member using one Loyalty Bonus may therefore need around 550 eligible flight Status Credits to retain Gold.
Under the new arrangements:
- Gold retention increases to 700 Status Credits.
- The Loyalty Bonus disappears.
- Members can instead receive rollover and ground-earned Status Credits.
Before considering those offsets, the difference is:
700 − 550 = 150 additional Status Credits
That is approximately a 27% increase compared with the previous effective flying requirement.
Can ground earning offset the increase?
Potentially.
Consider a Gold member who earns:
| Ground category | Status Credits |
|---|---|
| Credit card | 20 |
| Everyday shopping | 10 |
| Hotels and accommodation | 10 |
| Banking and home loans | 20 |
| Total | 60 |
Their effective remaining target would be:
700 − 60 = 640 Status Credits
That remains above the previous 550 eligible-flight example, but materially below the new 700 target.
A member qualifying across all ten categories could reduce the remaining requirement to 560 Status Credits, before any rollover.
The comparison will depend on which categories the member can realistically complete without changing their normal spending or travel.
Who is most affected?
The changes are likely to be less favourable for members who consistently retain Gold or Platinum close to the existing thresholds.
These members may have:
- little excess flying to roll over;
- previously relied on the Loyalty Bonus; and
- limited activity across the new ground-earning categories.
Members whose flying varies substantially between years may benefit more from rollover.
Those already earning Qantas Points across several partner categories may also receive a meaningful offset.
The outcome is therefore not the same for every member.
4. The Loyalty Bonus is being retired
The existing Loyalty Bonus provides members with a choice of rewards after earning 500 eligible Status Credits on Qantas or Jetstar flights.
One option is 50 bonus Status Credits, available up to four times per membership year.
Qantas is retiring the Loyalty Bonus as part of the December 2026 changes, replacing it with permanent Status Credit rollover.
This changes the way excess flying is recognised.
The Loyalty Bonus rewards eligible flight activity within the current membership year.
Rollover instead provides a benefit in the following membership year, but only where the relevant attainment threshold has been exceeded.
For members who routinely earn enough to claim one or more Loyalty Bonuses without exceeding their tier's attainment threshold, the replacement may be less valuable.
5. Points Club and Green Tier retirement
Points Club, Points Club Plus and Green Tier will retire on 8 December 2026.
Points Club benefits can continue
Members who attain or retain Points Club or Points Club Plus before retirement can continue receiving their benefits for the remainder of their current membership year and the following full membership year.
For example, a member whose membership year ends on 31 March 2027 and who qualifies before retirement can retain the relevant benefits until 31 March 2028.
That includes the ability to earn Status Credits on eligible Qantas-marketed Classic and Classic Plus Flight Rewards while the benefit remains active.
If you are already close to qualifying for Points Club, it may be worth considering whether reaching the threshold before retirement would provide benefits you would actually use.
However, accumulating additional points solely for a temporary membership benefit should still be assessed against the cost.
Green Tier
Green Tier also retires on 8 December 2026.
Unlike Points Club, its benefits generally do not continue under the same extended transition arrangements.
Members should check any outstanding Green Tier benefits and the applicable expiry rules before retirement.
6. New Lifetime Status milestones
Qantas is introducing additional recognition for members accumulating substantial Lifetime Status Credits.
From 2027, members will be able to receive a banked year of Platinum status at the following lifetime balances:
| Lifetime Status Credits | Reward |
|---|---|
| 25,000 | One banked year of Platinum |
| 35,000 | Another banked year |
| 45,000 | Another banked year |
| 55,000 | Another banked year |
| 65,000 | Another banked year |
A maximum of five banked Platinum years can be accumulated.
Members will be able to activate these benefits under the applicable rules rather than necessarily using them immediately.
The existing Lifetime Status milestones remain:
- Lifetime Silver: 7,000 Status Credits.
- Lifetime Gold: 14,000 Status Credits.
- Lifetime Platinum: 75,000 Status Credits.
For members pursuing Lifetime Gold or Platinum, the introduction of ground-earned Status Credits is also relevant because those credits will count towards lifetime balances.
At the maximum of 140 per year, ten years of ground earning would contribute 1,400 Lifetime Status Credits.
That is an upper limit, not an expected result for every member.
7. What has not changed?
Several important requirements remain.
Four eligible flight segments
Members still need at least four eligible flight segments with a Qantas or Jetstar Group flight number in each membership year.
Ground-earned Status Credits and rollover do not remove this requirement.
Platinum One's Qantas-marketed requirement
Platinum One continues to require:
- 3,600 Status Credits overall; including
- at least 2,700 Status Credits from Qantas-marketed flights.
Rolled-over Status Credits can contribute towards the overall target but not the separate Qantas-marketed requirement.
Flight earning rates
Qantas has not announced a general change to its existing flight Status Credit earning tables as part of this overhaul.
The number of Status Credits earned from a particular flight will therefore continue to depend on the airline, route and fare category.
Double Status Credits offers
Qantas continued running Double Status Credits promotions during 2026.
The February, May and August offers provided opportunities to earn additional Status Credits on eligible bookings.
Future offers are not guaranteed, but their historical frequency makes them worth monitoring where you have flexible travel plans.
Our Double Status Credits guide tracks the history and eligibility rules.
What should you do before the changes?
The most useful action depends on your current tier and membership-year timing.
If you are retaining Gold or Platinum
Start by checking how many Status Credits you normally earn in a year.
If you routinely retain close to the existing threshold, the higher requirement could be material.
Then identify which ground-earning categories you already use.
Do not assume the full 140 Status Credits will be available without changes to your normal spending.
The Status Run Builder can help assess the cost of earning any remaining Status Credits through flying.
If your travel varies from year to year
Rollover may be particularly useful.
A strong travel year can provide a head start towards status in the next membership year.
However, rollover only applies to credits earned above the relevant attainment threshold and is subject to the applicable cap.
Check whether your current membership year qualifies before changing the timing of planned travel.
If you are pursuing Lifetime Status
Ground-earned Status Credits will provide an additional way to increase your lifetime balance.
Review the categories that are realistic for you to complete each year.
The greatest benefit may come from earning additional Status Credits through activity you already undertake rather than deliberately increasing spending.
If you are close to Points Club qualification
The program closes on 8 December 2026, but qualifying before retirement can preserve the relevant benefits into the following membership year.
Check how much eligible earning is still required and whether the benefits justify any additional activity.
If you are pursuing Platinum One
The overall 3,600-Status-Credit requirement remains unchanged.
Rollover can help with the overall target, but it does not reduce the separate requirement for 2,700 Status Credits from Qantas-marketed flights.
The new Lifetime Platinum milestones may also be relevant for members accumulating substantial lifetime balances.
What to do next
Start with three numbers:
- Your current Status Credit balance.
- Your membership-year end date.
- Your expected Status Credits from flying over the next twelve months.
Then identify which ground-earning categories you already use and whether your current membership year qualifies for rollover.
For members regularly retaining Gold or Platinum near the existing thresholds, the changes warrant particular attention.
A higher annual target and the loss of the Loyalty Bonus may increase the amount of flying required, even after allowing for some ground earning.
For members with uneven travel patterns, rollover may provide a useful benefit that did not previously exist.
The Qantas Status Run Builder can help compare the cost of earning additional Status Credits through eligible flights, while our Double Status Credits guide tracks opportunities to earn more from planned travel.
The important question is not whether the changes are universally better or worse. It is how the new rules affect the way you already earn and retain status.
Methodology and sources
Verification date
This guide was updated on 21 October 2026.
The status changes were originally announced by Qantas in February 2026.
The rollout dates and rollover rules were checked against Qantas' updated program-change material in August 2026.
The permanent Status Credits on the ground categories and thresholds were incorporated from Qantas' Status Credits on the ground page, read on 21 October 2026.
Program changes
The principal source is Qantas' Frequent Flyer program changes page.
It confirms:
- Status Credit rollover from 8 December 2026;
- ground-earned Status Credits from 8 December 2026;
- retirement of Points Club and Green Tier;
- introduction of single attainment and retention targets during 2027; and
- additional Lifetime Status milestones.
Some 2027 implementation details remain subject to further announcements.
Status Credit rollover
The current Qantas program-change material specifies:
- Silver: 25% of excess credits above 300, capped at 100;
- Gold: 50% above 700, capped at 350;
- Platinum: 50% above 1,400, capped at 500; and
- Platinum One: 50% above 3,600, capped at 500.
The Gold cap was described differently in some earlier Qantas material. This guide uses the latest confirmed figure of 350.
Rollover credits count towards tier attainment and retention but do not count towards Lifetime Status or the other excluded bonus requirements.
Membership-year timing determines when rollover first applies.
Status Credits on the ground
The permanent ground-earning rules were reviewed against Qantas' Status Credits on the ground page on 21 October 2026.
The published framework provides up to 140 Status Credits across ten categories.
Eligible activity from the relevant membership year can count towards the thresholds when the program launches on 8 December 2026.
No ground-earned Status Credits will be awarded before launch.
Qantas excludes certain points sources, including:
- credit card sign-up bonus points;
- rewards points transferred from bank programs;
- hotel loyalty program points earned outside Qantas Frequent Flyer;
- Qantas Wellbeing App points;
- Family Transfers;
- Qantas Business Rewards transfers;
- purchased top-up points; and
- specified bonus and milestone rewards.
Ground-earned Status Credits count towards Lifetime Status but not the Loyalty Bonus, the Platinum and Platinum One Bonus Rewards or Status Accelerators.
Retention thresholds
Current attainment and retention requirements were checked against Qantas' status tier information.
The new single-target arrangement is scheduled to take effect later in 2027.
The exact commencement arrangements for individual membership years may require further clarification from Qantas.
Points Club
The Points Club transition was checked against the worked examples on Qantas' program changes page, re-read on 21 October 2026.
Members who attain or retain Points Club or Points Club Plus before retirement can retain their benefits until the end of the following membership year under the published transition rules.
Scope and limitations
The worked examples illustrate how the announced rules may affect different earning patterns.
They are not forecasts of an individual member's future Status Credits or the benefits they will receive.
The status changes are being introduced in stages, and some rules may change before implementation.
We review this guide following material Qantas announcements. Updates are recorded in the Program Change Log.
Confirm the current terms and your membership-year dates with Qantas before changing travel or spending decisions.