Qantas Points Plane blitz launched with 3,000 flights up for grabs

Qantas Frequent Flyers looking for a summer holiday can take advantage of more than 225,000 reward seats to coastal destinations in Qantas’ biggest-ever release of Qantas Points Plane flights.

Six weeks of flights across 21 routes will be turned into Qantas Points Planes this summer, where every seat, including Business, can be booked as a Classic Flight Reward.

Points Plane routes on offer

From today, Qantas Frequent Flyer members will be able to book Classic Reward Seats on all flights between 9 to 22 January and all of February 2023 on the following routes:

• Melbourne to Hamilton Island, Merimbula, Townsville, Devonport, Burnie, and the Gold Coast
• Sydney to Byron Bay, Hamilton Island, Merimbula, Townsville, and the Gold Coast
• Brisbane to the Whitsunday Coast, Hamilton Island, and Townsville
• Adelaide to Townsville, Kangaroo Island, Mount Gambier, Whyalla, Port Lincoln, and the Gold Coast
• Perth to Broome

Many of the routes on offer are classified as ‘Zone One’, meaning they can be booked from 8,000 points one way. For a family of four travelling from Sydney to the Gold Coast and back, the total outlay comes to under 65,000 points (excluding carrier fees)

The full list of routes, including the points cost and applicable carrier charges, can be found in the tables below:

Economy Qantas Points Plane routes

Business Qantas Points Plane routes

How to book the latest round of Qantas Points Plane seats

All seats in Economy and Business on the designated Points Planes can be booked as Classic Reward seats via the Qantas website. Bookings open at 11 am today, with availability until 11 am, 2 December 2022. Seats on these flights can also be purchased with cash.

Will you be taking advantage of a Qantas Points Plane journey over the summer break?

Just landed: Japan and Hong Kong Qantas Points Planes (expired)

Attention frequent flyers! Qantas and Jetstar are celebrating Japan’s reopening by offering up to 100,000 Reward Seats and Points Planes across six routes to Japan and Hong Kong. Here’s how you can book:

Japan Points Planes

To mark the beginning of the six weeks of reward seats, Qantas will operate two Points Planes between Sydney and Tokyo (Haneda) on 10 May 2023, meaning every seat in every cabin, including Business, can be booked as a Classic Flight Reward.

Frequent Flyer members will pay 31,500 Qantas Points in Economy and 82,000 Qantas Points in Business (plus applicable taxes/fees).

Hong Kong Points Plane

Qantas will also offer Points Planes between Sydney and Hong Kong on 30 January 2023 when the airline restarts its Hong Kong flights. The cost to lock in a Classic Flight reward on this Qantas Points Plane is 25,200 Qantas Points in Economy, or 68,400 Qantas Points in Business (plus applicable taxes/fees).

Additional Classic Flight Rewards

Both Qantas and Jetstar will make every Economy seat between Australia and Japan available as a Classic Flight Reward over a six-week period from 11 May to 20 June 2023. All Economy seats on Jetstar flights between Australia and Japan between 11 October to 30 November 2022 will also be available as Classic Flight Rewards.

Up to 100,000 reward seats will be available across six routes:

This includes Qantas flights between:

• Sydney and Tokyo (Haneda)
• Brisbane and Tokyo (Haneda)
• Melbourne and Tokyo (Haneda)

Jetstar flights are available between:

• Cairns and Tokyo (Narita)
• Cairns and Osaka (Kansai)
• Gold Coast and Tokyo (Narita)

The additional Classic Flight Reward seats and Qantas Points Planes will be available for booking from 10am today until 13 October 2022. Seats on these flights can also be purchased with cash.

Jetstar sale on Japan flights

Prefer to travel to Japan on revenue fares? Jetstar has also launched its own Japan Sale, with $289 one-way Economy fares from Cairns and the Gold Coast to Tokyo and Osaka for travel dates between mid-October to mid-December 2022. The sale runs for a limited time from 12pm AEDT today to 11 October 2022.

Will you be snapping up a Qantas Points Plane seat?

Snap them up: Qantas Points Planes offered on Sydney – New York service (expired)

Published 25th August 2022

Qantas will recommence flights to New York, with a new service from Australia to the Big Apple via Auckland. Subject to regulatory approvals, flights will commence from 14 June next year.

In compelling news for frequent flyers, two Qantas Points Planes will fly in the first week, with all seats across every cabin available as a Classic Reward flight on QF3 and QF4 on 16 June. Qantas Points Plane connections will also be available for Frequent Flyers based in Brisbane and Melbourne to use Classic Rewards for their trans-Tasman flights.

We’ve checked the Qantas website and can see that seats are now available to snap up across the three cabins of travel:

With demand for international Classic Flight Rewards currently at unprecedented levels, if you’re interested in joining this Qantas Points Plane opportunity, you’d best move quickly!

The launch of QF3 and QF4 will see the flying kangaroo return to New York three days a week initially, after a three-year COVID-induced hiatus. Flights will be operated by its Boeing 787 Dreamliners, with three new aircraft scheduled for delivery next year.

Qantas currently operates six daily services to Auckland from Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne which will increase to 11 daily services when the new flight to New York launches.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said flying via Auckland would provide better connectivity from more destinations in Australia, before an uninterrupted 16 hour flight to New York.

Qantas announces Points Planes to Noumea (expired)

Published 6th July 2022

Qantas Frequent Flyers seeking a tropical getaway will have access to more reward seats with over 100 flights available as Qantas Points Planes between Sydney, Brisbane and Nouméa.

From 9am today until 31 July 2022, Qantas will make most flights between Australia and New Caledonia Qantas Points Planes – where every seat in every cabin, including Business seats, can be booked as a Classic Flight Reward – for travel in August, September, October and November. Seats on these flights can also be purchased with cash.

Qantas operates five return flights per week with a Boeing 737-800 aircraft between Australia and New Caledonia – a weekly service from Brisbane and four services a week from Sydney. Qantas also codeshares with Aircalin on an additional seven return flights per week where additional Classic Reward seats will also be available from Sydney and Brisbane.

Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth said flights remain frequent flyers’ favourite way to use their points.

“We continue to see incredibly strong demand across domestic and international travel as frequent flyers use the Qantas Points they saved during the pandemic to book reward seats in record numbers, Ms Wirth said.

“Qantas Frequent Flyers have used points to travel on Qantas Points Planes to New Zealand, Rome, London, LA and across Australia, with more to Korea and India in the coming months.”

Classic Flight Rewards seats cost on Noumea eligible routes:

Sydney – Nouméa (one way)

• Economy: 18,000 points plus $119 taxes, fees and carrier charges
• Business: 41,500 points plus $119 taxes, fees and carrier charges

Brisbane – Nouméa (one way)

• Economy: 12,000 points plus $116 taxes, fees and carrier charges
• Business: 27,600 points plus $116 taxes, fees and carrier charges

It’s worth noting that Qantas has applied blackout dates for selected travel dates, including some school holiday periods. Flights departing from Australia 17 August to 21 August, 23 September to 4 October 2002 and 19 October to 24 October 2022 can’t be booked with points. Departing from New Caledonia, blackout dates include the travel periods of 3 August to 7 August and 2 October to 12 October 2022.

Qantas launches hundreds of Points Planes for domestic travel (expired)

Published 9th May 2022

Qantas Frequent Flyers looking for a winter getaway will be able to use Qantas Points to book any seat on any flight for travel in August across more than 30 domestic routes.

In a first for the national carrier, more than 1,700 Qantas Points Planes – where every seat can be booked using points – will operate from capital cities to mostly regional destinations during the month of August giving frequent flyers access to almost 130,000 Classic Flight Reward seats.

The Qantas Points Planes will be available between Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra and Brisbane into more than 20 regional destinations including Uluru, Coffs Harbour, Broken Hill, Merimbula, Mildura, Newcastle, Orange, Tamworth, Mount Gambier, Burnie, Sunshine Coast and Townsville. Seats on these flights can also be purchased with cash.

In addition, frequent flyers will need 30 per cent fewer points to book economy Classic Flight Reward seats on these routes, for travel from 1 June to 30 November 2022. This includes the month of Qantas Points Planes in August. Frequent Flyers can book these seats using points from 12:01am on Monday 9 May until 15 May 2022.

So where can you go? Below, we’ve listed out each Points Plane route, by state/territory

South Australia

Queensland

Australian Capital Territory

Victoria

Western Australia

New South Wales

Tasmania

Northern Territory

Qantas to launch three days of ‘Qantas Points Planes’ to help Frequent Flyers cross the Tasman (expired)

Published 26th March 2021

Once the Australia and New Zealand travel bubble opens, frequent flyers will be able to snap up seats with points – but you’ll need to be quick!

Qantas and Jetstar have announced that they will offer Frequent Flyers uncapped Classic Flight Reward seats for the first three days of travel when the two-way trans-Tasman bubble opens.

Once the start date is confirmed, thousands of seats across all cabins will be available to be booked as Classic Flight Rewards over the 72-hour travel period. Customers can also pay for these seats with cash.

How many points are needed to fly across the Tasman?

Classic Flight Reward seats across the Tasman start from 18,000 Qantas Points with Qantas and 14,400 with Jetstar plus taxes, fees and carrier charges.

Business class Classic Award seats start from 41,500 Qantas Points (excluding taxes, fees and carrier charges).

Customers travelling on the Qantas Points Planes, or on any Qantas-operated flights booked before 30 April 2021 can enjoy added flexibility with unlimited fee free date changes when travelling before 28 February 2022.

Plus, expect 50% more award seats for the remainder of 2021

Qantas and Jetstar will be adding significantly more flights between Australia and New Zealand across a number of routes, flying to all its pre-COVID destinations. It’s not yet known how many of these will be serviced by 737 aircraft, vs the larger A330, which features an international grade, lie-flat business class suite.

In addition to operating the Qantas Points Planes, Frequent Flyer will also add 50 per cent more Classic Reward seats on Qantas’ trans-Tasman flights for the remainder of the year.

Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth said the initiative would reward the program’s Australian and New Zealand members who have continued to build their points balance during the pandemic in anticipation of international travel resuming.

Qantas Points Planes are the latest in a series of initiatives to reward Frequent Flyers who’ve had limited opportunities to use points on travel over the past 12 months, including:

• More availability: Increased availability of Classic Flight Rewards by up to 50 per cent to the most popular destinations across Australia. This helped drive a 2.5 times increase in flight redemptions to record levels when border restrictions started to ease.
• Better value on Qantas Hotels:Improved Classic Hotels Rewards giving members more value and choice when they book accommodation with points.
• Greater flexibility: Waived change and cancellation fees on Flight Rewards to give members more confidence to book with points.
• Status support:Provided a range of support mechanisms to help members retain their tier including status extensions, Status Credit boosts and the ability to earn them on the ground.

Will you be looking to lock in a flight across the Tasman on a Qantas Points Plane?

Qantas launches new Points Plane service to the USA (expired)

Published 26th August 2019

Qantas has announced a new Points Plane service to the USA – with every single seat bookable using Qantas Points!

Qantas’ second Points Plane journey will depart Sydney for Los Angeles on Sunday 13 October 2019. The flight will be operated by the Qantas Boeing 747 – ‘Lord Howe Island’.

And while the 747 doesn’t feature an updated Qantas Business suite or premium economy seat, this represents a chance to join the final flight for one of Qantas’ iconic ‘Queen of the Skies’.

Plus, this could be an opportunity to use your Qantas Points before increased redemption costs in premium cabins kick in next month.

We’ve set out the number of seats in each cabin as follows, with the applicable number of points needed to travel from Sydney to Los Angeles:

• Business (58 seats): 96,000 Qantas Points plus taxes
• Premium Economy (26 seats): 72,000 Qantas Points plus taxes
• Economy (over 200 seats): 41,900 Qantas Points plus taxes

Travelling from a different city? Note that under Qantas award zone rules, travellers departing Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra or Hobart can book a connecting flight to Sydney and on to LAX for the same amount of points.

How to book your seat

Qantas Frequent Flyers can book seats on the Qantas Points Plane service right now. Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and above members will all have equal opportunity to secure a booking on dedicated Qantas Points Plane flights.

At the time of writing, there are seats in all cabins available, however, you’ll need to be quick – we’d expect that Business and Premium Economy reward seats will be snapped up very quickly!

Qantas Frequent Flyer members have exclusive access to seats until midnight 2 September 2019. Presumably, after this time, Qantas will open up any remaining reward seats to members of partner programs.

Will you be booking a seat on the Qantas Points Plane service to LAX?

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