David Jones shoppers to bank Qantas frequent flyer points in revamped scheme

The revamped scheme intensifies competition with Myer, led by Glance’s predecessor and former Qantas Loyalty boss Olivia Wirth, who has outlined a plan to breathe life into the ailing department chain by doubling down on its own loyalty program and bringing on new, trendy beauty and brand options to attract younger shoppers.

While David Jones has positioned itself as a more premium shopping destination than Myer, which has struggled for years to retain relevance with shoppers, its loyalty program has lagged its mass market rival.

Myer One has more than 7 million members, estimated to grow to 10.6 million now that it has acquired Jay Jays, Dotti, Jacqui E, Portmans and Just Jeans. Most of Myer’s shoppers are Myer One members.

Daniel Sciberras, spokesperson for loyalty points advice site Point Hacks, said the Qantas-David Jones announcement could be one of the “most comprehensive partnerships between an airline and a department store in the country”.

Qantas has a lot of partnerships with many retail brands, some that are quite niche. David Jones is a more broader partner but does not have its loyalty program where you can earn and use points like its competitor Myer, Sciberras said. But this partnership will be more comprehensive than the deal between Myer and Virgin Australia’s Velocity program, which Sciberras describes as “limited”.

He believes it could be similar to Qantas’ partnership with Woolworths group Everyday Rewards, which allows consumers to either earn points to take the cost off their shop, or accrue Qantas points.

“It’s a big deal in the sense that you’re talking about two big brands and two big historically Australian brands so I think that will matter,” said Sciberras.

The “earn rate” and the “burn rate” of the points in the Qantas-David Jones deal has not yet been revealed.

Jun Bei Liu, Lead Portfolio Manager at Sydney-based Ten Cap, said Qantas was building a network of loyalty programs by linking Qantas with retail brands.

The airline ran a “very successful loyalty program and it’s been growing very fast for them and at very high margins”, said Liu.

Qantas took in $1.12 billion in revenue from its frequent flyer and loyalty businesses in 2024, up from $868 million the previous year.

By adding more partners, it simply meant loyalty members got more coverage and the program would increase coverage of the Australian population, Liu said.

“One of the worst things about loyalty programs is that you accumulate all these points but you really don’t know how to use them properly, whereas Qantas has now really built a proper loyalty ecosystem now.”

Qantas has announced a series of changes to its points programs in recent months. In August, the airline will increase the number of points needed for classic upgrades and classic rewards seats, even as it boosts the number of points earned on domestic flights. In January, the airline gave frequent flyer members access to more premium cabin reward seats.

Unredeemed frequent flyer revenue stood at $3.3 billion in 2024, up from $3.18 billion in 2023.

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