Qantas announcement: Airline giant reveals huge change coming for Frequent Flyers in late 2026
Members are kicking up a fuss after one of their favourite perks was targeted in the airline’s latest set of changes.
Qantas has announced another set of changes for its Frequent Flyers, coming into effect later this year.
Members of the perks club often share complimentary lounge passes between friends and family who are travelling separately, but from July 1 this will come to a halt.
Staff will only accept the transfer of a pass if the extra person is travelling with you, any other sharing is off the table.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Qantas is also dialling back access to lounges for travellers flying on international Jetstar flights, save for those flying on a Qantas codeshare flight.
The new rule is applicable to Qantas Club, Gold and Platinum Frequent Flyer members.
Members who are part of Qantas’ highest tier, Platinum One, will still be able to use the lounges when flying with Jetstar.
These are the latest changes in what has been a sweeping rollout, including an overhaul of the Frequent Flyer program last month.
Status Credits, which were previously earned by flying only, will soon be available to collect from daily spending.
“You will be able to earn up to 140 Status Credits each Membership year by earning Qantas Points across the ten different categories,” Qantas said.
Reactions to the lounge pass change have been mixed on social media.
“Basically makes them pretty useless to me. Used to give them to my (adult) children to use. So the ‘benefits’ of silver tier are now what exactly?” one Facebook user wrote.
“First points club going now this. They are really on a mission to gut thing and upset people,” another user said.
“Virgin looking even more promising with every change.”
Other users said they couldn’t see the point of going to the lounges anyway.
“I hardly find it worth the effort going to lounges anymore. Last time at Heathrow in a so-called first/business class international lounge, it felt like a daycare — crying babies screaming, people coughing non-stop… zero sense of ‘premium’ at all.”
Qantas said the incoming changes follow “extensive feedback from thousands of members and leading loyalty experts”.
The airline said it aims to “recognise its members” by giving them more opportunities to earn credits and making more of them count toward tier progress.
Qantas also said the changes aimed to remove complexity from the program while “introducing more benefits and milestones to improve ongoing recognition of our members loyalty”.
