This is quite possibly one of the largest Amex Offers that has come around and it is perfect for those wanting to travel to the land down under! American Express right now has an offer of $400 back on a $2,500 purchase at Qantas.com! Now, before you say that is a huge amount of money to have to pay for a ticket, let’s break this down to see what a great deal this actually is.
Fly To Australia For As Little As $2,100 For Two People (Amex Offer)
2 Seats For As Little As $2,100 – In Economy?!
Qantas has a decent economy product and I have many friends that have flown it and enjoyed it (I will get my chance in Qantas economy later this year – if a single business class seat doesn’t open first!). Contrary to what many people may think, traveling in economy, even long-haul economy, is not the end of the world! If that is what you are able to do with the miles and points you have, you are still getting to travel around the world for next to nothing – who cares if you don’t have a lie-flat seat for those 12 hours?! 🙂
I have flown to Australia a few times and in economy and had no problem at all. In fact, the hardest part of the trip was the transcontinental (JFK-LAX-JFK) segments for some reason! So, do not let the prospect of flying economy to Australia scare you away from this potential deal!
Amex Offer
This, like other Amex Offers, can be found when you login to your American Express account.
Accessing the Amex Offer
Log in to your American Express account and click on any of the cards you have in the account. Scroll down to the Offers portion and you should see the following offer waiting for you!
Here are the details:
- Must be used by April 26, 2015 (not flown by then, just purchased)
- Must be used online at Qantas’ US website
- Enrollment limited (in other words, save this offer to your card now)
- Offer not valid on vacation packages
- Make sure you read the rest of the terms to ensure that you follow them – $400 is a lot of money!
To maximize it, add the offer to separate cards, simply login to your American Express account and then choose to duplicate the tab (if using Google Chrome) as many times as you have cards. Once they are all open, select a different Amex card in each tab and select to save the offer to the card. This shows up as available on every one of my cards – charge cards, business cards, and personal cards.
Searching For Tickets
Of course, you do not need to buy 2 tickets – you could use this statement credit to offset higher priced tickets to anywhere in Qantas’ network. I do a lot of bookings for tickets to Papua New Guinea. That used to be one of the higher priced areas to go to (even in economy!) so if you wanted to check out the beautiful nation of Papua New Guinea, this discount could help with a single ticket (or two).
When searching, I started at ITA Matrix to find the dates for the cheapest flights. I searched a variety of airports and the cheapest airports for many dates are actually Los Angeles to Melbourne, Australia. Those tickets come in around $1,140 – which means you will actually have to pay a little more (very doable by selecting a different date or different fare class) just to get the cheaper tickets in the end (since you have to pay a minimum of $2,500 – and I am figuring for 2 tickets with that).
Use ITA Matrix to find the cheapest dates and airports
As you might expect, the dates with some of the cheapest flights are during our summer/their winter. But, there are still some cheaper tickets in November before it starts to get above $1,600 per ticket for December and January.
A lot of cheaper options!
Even searching from JFK, I still got some great prices in the mid-$1,200s per person – which works out great to hit the $2,500 amount and kick in the $400 statement credit.
Maximize Your Trip!
Do not forget to check out Auckland as well! And to really maximize your time in that wonderful region of the world, do not forget to use Avios to book awards on Qantas. Qantas domestic flights can be pricey so nothing like using a few thousand Avios to get that same ticket!
A sample itinerary – after the Amex Offer discount, that is $2,154 for two people!
You could fly from JFK to Melbourne, bounce around a bit and then hit Auckland. Your ticket could then return from Auckland to JFK. So, it would be JFK-Melbourne / Auckland – JFK – for a total of $1,277 per person! If two of you flew, that would total $2,554 – enough to kick in the $400 statement credit! With that, your out-of-pocket price for the ticket would only be $1,077 per person! That is a pretty good deal for Qantas!
Do Not Neglect Premium Economy!
Qantas’ Premium Economy is cheaper with this offer, too!
If economy to Australia is really not something that is of interest, do not forget to check out Qantas’ Premium Economy! International carriers’ premium economy products are like upgraded domestic first class in the US. I searched quite a few dates and found our special number in play – right around $2,600 for one person, roundtrip, in premium economy! With the $400 discount, that is $2,200 for a premium economy flight to Australia!
Terms
Valid online only at qantas.com. Valid only on purchases of airfare made at Qantas’ US website. Not valid on purchases made by phone or at physical locations including, but not limited to the Qantas shop, the Qantas store and Qantas lounges. Offer not valid on purchases made in flight. Offer not valid for any purchases of a vacation package or through a third party (including resellers and online marketplaces). Qantas freight airfare not included. Offer not valid on any purchases made by using American Express Membership Rewards. Enrollment limited. Excludes Corporate Cards and all prepaid Card products (other than Serve and BlueBird). Must add offer to Card and use same Card to redeem. Limit 1 statement credit per American Express Card across all American Express offer channels. Statement credit will appear on your billing statement within 90 days after 4/26/15, provided that American Express receives information from the merchant about your qualifying purchase. Note that American Express may not receive information about your qualifying purchase from merchant until all items from your qualifying purchase have been provided/shipped by merchant. Statement credit may be reversed if qualifying purchase is returned/cancelled. If American Express does not receive information that identifies your transaction as qualifying for the offer, you will not receive the statement credit. For example, your transaction will not qualify if it is not made directly with the merchant. In addition, in most cases, you will not receive the statement credit if your transaction is made with an electronic wallet or through a third party or if the merchant uses a mobile or wireless card reader to process it.
Summary
This could be a huge deal and savings for anyone wishing to visit Australia or New Zealand. It is not always easy to find award tickets that suit your schedule and mileage accounts so this is a nice way to do it for less than the cost of some places in Europe!
Interested in this one? I know I have saved it to my accounts as I have friends who will be heading there later this year.
This is a horrible deal. Right now using a trick one can get J class to OZ for about 1k per person RT.
Well, then this would be for the people who do not know the trick – and there are several like that, I’m sure.
Keith,
I’m guessing this trick isn’t known to the masses…..would you be willing to share the info? Or at least hint where it can be found? Thanks.
Can someone point me in the direction of this J buying trick?
I would be all over this deal if the cheap Qantas fares could be credited to Alaska.