Qantas Frequent Flyers have taken advantage of their new Qantas Cash cards over the Christmas break with a 61 per cent spike on money loaded onto the cards during December, compared to previous months.
Spending on the card for the month of December was also up 250 per cent compared to November, as members headed overseas on holiday.
More than 200,000 members have activated their Qantas Cash facility following the launch in August 2013, allowing them to store foreign currency, access cash worldwide via ATM withdrawals and earn points on spending in Australia and overseas.
The card has been used across 131 countries, with the top five most popular currencies being AUD, USD, EUR, GBP and NZD.
Qantas Loyalty CEO Lesley Grant said the uptake of the new Qantas Cash facility highlights how beneficial the card is for members of the Qantas Frequent Flyer program.
“We’ve seen consistently strong demand for this feature, in fact it equates to a member activating their card every minute per day since launch,” said Ms Grant.
“We expected to see an increase in both Qantas Cash activations and also foreign currency loading on the cards over Christmas as more people took a holiday. Our own expectations were surpassed and we put that down to more members beginning to understand the value and convenience of the new card.”
Qantas Cash is one of the ways Qantas Frequent Flyer is improving member benefits to drive the growth of the program and ensure it continues to offer innovative benefits to its increasing membership base.
Using the card’s Qantas Cash functionality, members can load funds, choosing up to ten different currencies and lock in exchange rates. Members can use the card to make purchases anywhere MasterCard is accepted electronically and earn points on all eligible spend* at a rate of 1 Qantas Point per $1 spent in foreign currency or 1 Qantas Point per $2 spent in Australian dollars.
Qantas Frequent Flyer recently launched a number of initiatives including Qantas Hotels, Qantas Cruises and Qantas Restaurants providing even more ways for members to earn and use their points.
In the 2013/14 financial year Qantas Frequent Flyer is expected to reach 10 million members.