QANTAS: Frequent Flyer points no longer die with you

Finally, Qantas is allowing the inheritance of a dead member’s frequent flyer points, a facility that Virgin Australia has had for a while. As of 6 November 2023, Qantas points no longer die with you. They don’t evaporate with the death of the Frequent Flyer member, but are held for 12 months, to allow for potential transfer/inheritance.

What paperwork you need

Needless to say, you are going to require some paperwork to lodge your claim within 12 months of the deceased’s death. Fortunately, most is what is required for other transactions, like accessing bank accounts, credit cards and social media accounts of the person who has died.

You will need:

• Proof of the member’s death – a death certificate should be fine
• Proof of your status in accessing the points – usually a document appointing you as an executor or administrator of a will. This may form part of the will.
• Details of the member’s account – most easily their Frequent Flyer number

Who can receive those points

According to Qantas, an ‘Eligible Family Member’ is any person the Member can demonstrate, to the reasonable satisfaction of Qantas, as being related to that Member in any of the ways described below:

• Husband/Wife
• Parent/Step-parent
• Domestic Partner/De Facto
• Child, including foster and step-child
• Brother/Sister
• Half Brother/Sister
• Grandparent
• Grandchild
• Son/Daughter-in-law
• Brother/Sister-in-law
• Father/Mother-in-law
• Uncle/Aunt
• Nephew/Niece
• First cousin

Some of these are going to be easy to prove with the likes of a birth certificate or a marriage license, or a registration of a relationship in some states. Others may be more difficult. Let’s hope Qantas will accept a Statuary Declaration for some of these.

2PAXfly Takeout

I applaud Qantas for finally getting around to this.

It’s unlikely that the deceased’s Qantas Frequent Flyer points will be at the forefront of the minds of bereaved spouses and relations. There are so many other things to organise, not to mention dealing with the grieving process.

Practically, it might be easier for a Qantas Frequent Flyer member to allocate their points to someone while they are alive so that the transfer occurs automatically on the member’s death. It sounds simple, but inheritance is rarely that straightforward. I can see that Qantas might avoid this option since it could involve them in a whole other can of worms. Think disputed frequent flyer point inheritance.