Qantas auction sparks multi-million point spending ‘frenzy’

Qantas’ first-ever points auction has blown expectations out of the sky

Loyalty members have splashed up to 12.3 million Qantas points in a bid to nab some exclusive items.

Among the unique launch offerings, were a rare set of Qantas lie-flat business Skybeds and a lavish Dash-8 private charter flight for up to 30 mates.

Two Qantas A380 sky beds used for crew training since 2008 have “sold” for two million frequent flyer points and that equates to around $40,000.

With little flying going on, Qantas came up with the concept of a “points auction” to engage frequent flyers who have continued to amass points from activities like credit card use and grocery shopping.

Five items or experiences have gone up for auction since Monday, with the sky beds attracting the second-highest bid to date.

Other items to go under the hammer in the daylong auctions included a Boeing 787 simulator experience with a Qantas captain which went for 1.2 million points.

A soccer clinic for 20 children with Socceroos coach Graham Arnold attracted a winning bid of 501,000 points and a holiday for four to Queenstown flying in business class “sold” for 3.76 million points.