American Express Qantas Ultimate Card

American Express Qantas Ultimate Card Review

Rates and fees information correct as at 30 September 2016.

Review published: 18 January 2012

What's hot:

1 free domestic return flight per year
Earn up to 52,500 bonus Qantas Points
0% p.a balance transfer rate for 12 months

What's not:

$450 annual fee
1% credit establishment fee for balances transferred

Mozo snapshot:

With up to 52,500 bonus reward points, an easy-to-earn points system and no cap or expiry date on the number of QFF reward points you can earn, the Qantas American Express Ultimate credit card is... ultimately rewarding.

Key features:

The Qantas AMEX Ultimate credit card has a high annual fee of $450. When you consider it includes a free domestic economy return flight every year this is great value. Standard card features include 44 interest free days, 20.74% purchase rate and it comes with a free additional card so you can get your partner to help build up those rewards points. Pay those bills on time or you'll be hit with a $30 late payment fee.

If you have a debt you want to transfer to the new card there is a 0% balance transfer rate for 12 months, but this also comes with an upfront 1% credit establishment fee for any balances transferred.

Ultimately, what makes this card stand out from the crowd is the 50,000 bonus points on offer. This is one of the highest bonus point offers in the market and is simple to accrue simply by using your card and spending a min of $1,500 in the first three months and you will also get 2,500 points when you use the card on selected Qantas products and services.

Cardholders can earn points a plenty. For every $1 spent on Qantas and at restaurants around Australia you will earn 3 points, you will earn 2 points for every $1 spent overseas and on eligible airlines, tour operators and cruises a 1 point per $1 spent on standard purchases (except on telecommunications, insurance, utility and government agency spends where you will earn just 0.5 points)

The Qantas American Express Ultimate credit card also comes with those coveted AMEX service benefits such as free domestic and international travel insurance, refund protection and purchase protection insurance and global 24/7 customer service.

Who it's good for:

The Qantas AMEX Ultimate credit card is perfect for anyone that prefers flying within the Qantas network and pays off their full balance regularly, otherwise that 20.74% interest rate will sting. You'll also need to be earning more than $65,000 a year to be eligible.

Any catches?

If you're planning on using the free travel insurance attached the card you'll need to purchase the trip on your Qantas AMEX Ultimate credit card or with QFF reward points for it to be valid.

Product Type	Overall Rating	Price	Features	Service	Convenience	Trust
American Express credit cards	7.3 Based on 255 American Express credit cards reviews	6.1	7.2	7.3	6.7	7.5

Product Type

Overall Rating

Price

Features

Service

Convenience

Good support and benefits minimal costs.

Full review

Good support and benefits minimal costs.

Price 7 / 10

Features 7 / 10

Customer service 9 / 10

Convenience 7 / 10

Trust 9 / 10

Less

Mozo reviewer (NSW), reviewed almost 3 years ago

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Revealing rewards

How do we do it?

To work out the "Rewards value minus fees" in our Rewards Revealer we:

calculate how many points you'd get each year,

figure out how many flights or gift cards or cashback credits you could get for those points,

work out what that's actually worth to you,

take off the annual fee you'd pay.

More details:

Our calculations are designed to help you compare the value of different rewards schemes. To do this, we've looked at earning a one-way Sydney-Melbourne flight excluding taxes and charges, a return Sydney-London flight excluding taxes and charges, a $100 shopping Gift Card and $100 cashback. Most cards will also offer other rewards, which may be worth more or less than the ones we've shown.

We have made no allowance for bonus points for using your card at specific merchants, introductory offers or special offers. We have not assigned any value to instant discounts, insurances, ticketing and concierge services or other such benefits.

Rewards value calculations do not take credit card interest into account. If you do not pay off your card each month you may be better off looking for a card based on interest rates than on the value of rewards.

In products that have more than one card, a different mix of spend between American Express / Visa / MasterCard will give different results. Mozo's Rewards Revealer lets you choose the mix based on the way you would use such a product, and gives you tailored results.

We assume flights purchased with airline points are 'classic' or 'reward' economy seats with restricted seat availability. 'Any seat' rewards will probably cost more.

To compare the value of flight rewards, we sample online retail flight prices once a quarter based on the average price on a Wednesday 3 months in advance but outside NSW school holidays. For domestic flights we take the lowest available fare from each flight on that day from Qantas Red e-deal, Virgin Australia Saver including baggage and Jetstar Starter including baggage. We calculate the average price excluding taxes and surcharges for each airline, and also the average across all airlines (which we use when rewards are travel agent vouchers). For international flights, we take the lowest available fares on that same Wednesday from each of Qantas, Emirates, Malaysian, Etihad, Singapore, Cathay Pacific and Thai, assuming a return flight 2 weeks later, calculate the average price before taxes and surcharges and use this as our assumed cost of a flight on any airline.

Shopping rewards are based on $100 gift cards from a major national department store.

We make every effort to ensure our calculations are correct and up to date but make no guarantees.

Rewards scheme

Points are automatically credited to the Qantas Frequent Flyer program.
All rewards are redeemed via Qantas Frequent Flyer.
Earn 3 points per $1 for eligible purchases at thousands of restaurants and Qantas, 2 points per $1 on eligible travel purchases, 1 point per $1 dollar at all other providers; except 0.5 points per $1 at utilities, insurance, telecommunications, and government bodies.
One complimentary domestic economy return flight per year when you spend at Qantas.

Privileges

Travel Insurance
Purchase Protection
Account alerts by SMS

Special offers

Receive 50,000 bonus Qantas Points when you spend $1,500 on eligible purchases on your new card within the first 3 months of card membership.

Value of rewards points

Earn $100 gift card reward
Need to spend $17,250 ()
Earn Flight: Sydney-Melbourne reward
Need to spend $8,000 ()
Earn Flight: Sydney-London reward
Need to spend $120,000 ()
Points are capped?
Uncapped
Points expire?
Never

Details behind our 'value of rewards' calculations

Points earning
1 point per dollar on Amex, uncapped
$100 gift card
17250 points buys a Myer $100 Gift Card
Flight: Sydney-Melbourne
8000 points buys a Qantas Syd-Mel flight
Flight: Sydney-London
120000 points buys a Qantas London flight

* How did we do it? Find out...

Rates

Purchase rate
20.74% p.a.
Intro purchase rate
none
Balance transfer rate
0% p.a. for 12 months (1.00% p.a. balance transfer fee)
Balance transfer revert to cash
no
Cash advance rate
none
Interest free days
44

Fees

Annual card fee
$450.00
Introductory annual fee
none
Annual fee spend threshold
none
Reward program fee
none
Late payment fee
$30.00
Cash advance fee
2%, min $2.50
Foreign exchange margin
3.00%
Duplicate statement fee
$0.00
Transaction verification fee
$7.00
Additional card fee
$0.00

Other financial bits

Minimum repayment amount
$30.00
Minimum repayment percent
2.5

Features

Additional cardholders
unlimited
Other restrictions
The maximum balance transfer that can be approved is $10,000 or 70% of approved credit limit, whichever is less.
Other benefits
none

About American Express

American Express is a global mega provider of credit cards, including gold cards, platinum cards, charge cards and more. With American Express, you can find a credit card to suit your lifestyle, tastes and aspirations. If you're a rewards points junkie, be sure to check out the hugely popular American Express rewards programs, including Qantas Frequent Flyer points and Qantas Club rewards.