One of the best ways to earn Qantas Points, and one that surprisingly few people are aware of, is through Qantas epiQure. This online store mainly sells wine and other alcoholic beverages but recently has expanded to include gourmet food and access to exclusive wine-themed events.
As many Qantas Points enthusiasts would have guessed by now, Qantas epiQure rewards shoppers with Qantas Points for any purchases made but the services goes a lot deeper than that. So much deeper. So much so that, when used correctly, can earn Frequent Flyers more Qantas Points than actually flying and, within just a couple of months, can build up enough points to redeem for a flight.
How to Game Qantas epiQure
On Qantas epiQure, Frequent Flyers are rewarded with one Qantas Point for every dollar spent. For example, buying a case of six bottles of Allan Scott Cecilia Brut NV for $147 will earn shoppers 147 Qantas Points. Those points are pretty good and the wine has also been discounted by $1.50 per bottle, so there are some financial savings to be had as well.
Normal Purchase: $147 = 147 points
Now, what’s really great about Qantas epiQure is that every month they offer a variety of wine (and food, other drinks, etc) that reward shoppers with bonus points. A lot of bonus points. At the time of this writing, the previously mentioned Allan Scott Cecilia Brut NV, which we’ll continue to use as an example throughout this article, is part of a 3,000 Qantas Point promotion. Other wines have 1,000 or 5,000 point bonuses and some are even promoted with 10,000 bonus points, though these wines are usually more expensive.
Bonus Points Purchase: $147 = 147 + 3,000 = 3,147 points
That’s pretty fantastic value for points and it gets even better. Qantas epiQure also offers a special upgrade called, the Qantas epiQure Premium Membership. It costs $99 for an annual membership and it more than pays for itself in two ways. First, it completely removes all fees associated with shipping. Shipping a box of 6 bottles in a “Metro” area usually costs around $7 but to ship to “Regional” is $12 and to post to “Country” is $19. Anyone who orders between five and nine times in a year will easily break even depending on where they live. Second, Qantas epiQure Premium Members earn not one but three points per dollar spent in the online store. Combine this with the special promotional wine and the Qantas Points really begin to add up.
Bonus Points Purchase w/Premium Membership: $147 = 147×3 + 3,000 = 3,441 points
Naturally, anyone who uses a Qantas Point-enabled credit card also earns additional points. Most cards will reward owners with one to two points per dollar spent, some even more than that, but for the sake of this example, let’s use the Qantas Cash card which rewards just half a point for every dollar spent within Australia. Still, that’s 73.5 extra points.
Bonus Points Purchase w/Premium Membership paid with Qantas Cash: $147 = 147×3 + 3,000 + 73.5 = 3,514 points (rounded down)
Where Can These Qantas Points Take Me?
Using Qantas’ own official points calculator, a Melbourne to Sydney flight can be purchased with 8,000 Qantas Points so 16,000 would be needed for a return flight. Buying one $147 case of wine on a monthly basis, it would take just 5 months to earn more than enough points to cover this flight. It would take even less time when buying a special promotional wine with more bonus points. During 2015, I bought several cases of wine for around $100 with 5,000 bonus points each. This got me a domestic return flight in just a few months.
That’s a Lot of Wine!
A question I get asked a lot when I tell people about Qantas epiQure is, “What do you do with all of that wine?!” The thing is though that the amount of wine isn’t really a problem. If I drink just one bottle a week on the weekend, that takes care of a lot of it but people seem to forget that wine travels really well and doesn’t need to be consumed immediately after purchase.
It’s actually a good idea to build up a collection at home for when future guests come over and it also comes in handy when visiting someone else’s place for a social gathering. BYOG is very common nowadays and even if an event doesn’t require guests to bring booze, who wouldn’t appreciate a bottle of wine over the usual selection of boring snacks. Wine also makes for a fantastic gift in general, especially for those family members or friends that are hard to shop for (assuming they drink alcohol that is). Plus, Qantas epiQure now sells more than just wine.
It’s also important to remember that most people buy wine on a regular basis anyway. Why not get some free travel out of it?
Are you a fan of Qantas epiQure? How long have you been using it for? Do you have any wine recommendations? Let me know in the comments below.
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