If your looking for a frequent flyer scheme in Australia then the natural choice will of course be to join the Qantas frequent flyer award program. As well as earning points on any Qantas flight you can also earn and redeem points with any airline the large oneworld alliance with airlines such as British Airways.

For the frequent flyer, earning Qantas points will be even faster if you are qualified for higher levels in the Status program within the Qantas Frequent Flyer program. As well as earning points you can also earn status credits for each eligable flight you may on Qantas, Jetstar or partner airlines. The most basic level is Bronze, but once you reach Silver (350 credits needed to qualify), Gold (700 credits) and Platinum (1,400 credits), your potential for earning Qantas points is progressively accelerated. When you hold a higher status level you earn bonus points above your standard points on each eligable flight ranging from 25% extra with a Silver membership, 50% extra for Gold and double points for Platinum membership.

You also earn Qantas points when you use your Qantas Frequent Flyer credit cards at any of their 350 partner establishments worldwide, which include car rental companies, parking facilities, car purchases, hotels, arrangements for travel (foreign exchange, insurance, calling cards, foreign exchange, etc.), financial products and services, fashion and entertainment, gifts, many types of services, and even real estate.

If you do not fly too often, the easiest way to amass Qantas points is to maximise the travel rewards you receive by using Qantas frequent flyer credit cards or Qantas partner credit cards to pay for spending on ordinary purchases. The number of Qantas points you earn will depend on the specific travel rewards schemes offered by the Qantas-affiliated bank credit cards.

The credit cards that directly earn Qantas points through their rewards schemes are: the Westpac Earth series (classic, gold and platinum), the ANZ Aust. Frequent Flyer Visa (classic, gold and platinum), the Qantas frequent flyer credit cards from American Express (classic, premium and ultimate), the Diners Club (Aust.) Frequent Flyer charge card, and the ANZ NZ Visa (classic and platinum).

Rather than having to transfer points the frequent flyer points you clock up through your credit card spending gets credited directly to your Qantas frequent flyer account. In addition, if you use any of them to pay for eligible purchases at any of Qantas' 350 partner establishments, you stand to earn Qantas points two times — once on your card's travel rewards scheme and once more through the partner establishment.

There are credit cards whose travel rewards schemes are linked to the Qantas Frequent Flyer Other Rewards program. The credit cards on the Qantas Other Rewards program are: American Express Membership Rewards (Ascent Australia and NZ), ANZ Rewards Visa, Citibank Rewards (classic and platinum), Diners Club Rewards, NAB (gold rewards and Ant Rewards), St George private bank platinum rewards, Suncorp clear options, and Westpac Altitude.

You may also use these cards to earn Qantas points, but you will need to watch out. Qantas have stated that they will stop converting points earnt on these credit cards into Qantas points. As you result you need to convert your points by the end of March 2009.