Qantas Frequent Flyer is a program that doesn’t get a ton of attention from US-based travelers or points and miles enthusiasts. While Qantas has a distance-based award chart, an interesting twist is that Qantas charges for points redemptions based on cumulative mileage rather than the total for each segment separately. This can work out especially well for those on short connecting itineraries like those traveling to/from smaller airports and it means that those who are in or near Miami get access to Central America and the Caribbean quite cheaply, even in business class.
Last week, Qantas announced several upcoming changes to its loyalty program and the majority of award flights will be increasing by up to 20%. However, Qantas did its members a favor (especially in comparison with most US-based airlines) by giving us several months notice before these increases go into effect. Until then, the current award charts rule the day.
Here’s a list of some of the best uses of Qantas Frequent Flyer points that might be worth taking a look at before the bottom falls out down under later this year.
Read more about the upcoming changes with Qantas’ rewards program
Qantas Frequent Flyer Award Charts
Qantas award charts are distance-based, but can still have some advantages when compared to other programs because it’s calculated based on the cumulative distance of your trip.
Qantas maintains more than one award chart. First is Qantas Classic Flight Reward Table which applies to bookings on Qantas, Jetstar (unless it uses only Jetstar flight numbers), Fiji Airways, and American Airlines:
There is a separate table for flights that are only on Jetstar, Jetstar Asia, Jetstar Japan, etc:
Even further down the page of tables for the Partner Classic Flight Reward Table that covers Air France, Alaska Airlines, Bangkok Airways, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, China Eastern, EL AL, Emirates, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, KLM, LATAM, Malaysia Airlines, Oman Air, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian and SriLankan Airlines. This second chart has slightly higher rates:
Thought you were done with Qantas Award tables? Think again, because there’s yet another table that is for itineraries that involve two or more oneworld partners, but without a leg on Qantas. Unlike the “Classic” reward tables, this one is based on roundtrip distance:
Collecting Qantas Points
Qantas is transfer partners with the transferable currencies listed below. In addition, it’s also possible to transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to Qantas at a 3:1 ratio (or at a rate of 60K Marriott points to 25K Qantas Points):
| Rewards Program | Amex Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Chase Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Citi Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Capital One Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Bilt Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Wells Fargo Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (~1 day) | 1 to 1 (~1 day) |
Transfer bonuses to Qantas
Transfer bonuses to and from Qantas used to be much more common. In fact, we’ve only seen one in the past two years:
The following display shows current and future transfer bonuses, if any:
| Transfer From | Transfer Bonus Details | End Date |
|---|
Qantas change and cancellation fees
Qantas charges 5,000 points to change an award ticket or 6,000 points to cancel an award ticket. Those fees are pretty reasonable on long-haul flights, but might mean forfeiting more than half the points you used to book your award for shorter itineraries, so keep this in mind when booking. See this page for a full schedule of fees.
Best uses for Qantas points (Economy Class)
Caribbean from 8K one way
- The short story: Qantas offers better pricing than traditional American Airlines award prices on itineraries with a distance of 1200 miles or fewer each way and has no close-in booking fee.
- Miles required: 8,000 miles each way for itineraries covering a distance up to 600 miles (like Miami to Grand Cayman) or 12,000 miles each way for itineraries covering a distance up to 1200 miles (like Miami to most of Central America and the Caribbean). (See: Strengths of Qantas for AA redemptions).
- How to find awards: Search for available space at Qantas.com (you’ll need to create a free Qantas Frequent Flyer account)
- How to book awards: Book online at Qantas.com.
- Key warnings: Alaska Mileage Plan will often be a better value if you have direct flights.
- Transfer from: Amex, Citi, Capital One, Marriott
North America from 8K one-way
- The short story: Qantas offers better pricing than traditional American Airlines award prices on itineraries with a distance of 1200 miles or fewer each way and has no close-in booking fee. This could be especially good for those who need to connect on short itineraries as Qantas measures cumulative distance rather than pricing segments separately.
- Miles required: 8,000 miles for itineraries covering a distance up to 600 miles or 12,000 miles for itineraries covering a distance up to 1200 miles. (See: Strengths of Qantas for AA redemptions). No fuel surcharges on American or Alaska.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at Qantas.com (you’ll need to create a free Qantas Frequent Flyer account). Note that for Alaska space you'll need to search AA.com.
- How to book awards: Book online at Qantas.com for American Airlines. Call for Alaska.
- Change and cancellation fees: 5,000 miles per passenger to change / 6,000 miles per passenger to cancel.
- Key warnings: Alaska Mileage Plan will often be a better value if you have direct flights.
- Transfer from: Amex, Citi, Capital One, Marriott
South America from 12K one way
- The short story: Qantas offers good award pricing on shorter oneworld routes, like Miami to parts of Northern South America.
- Miles required: Qantas has a distance-based award chart that goes by cumulative distance whether one-way or round trip. The shortest-distance flights to South America measure fewer than 1,000 miles one-way but the longest can be more than 5,000 miles one way. Here are the first several distance bands:
- 12K miles for a cumulative distance of 601-1200 miles
- 18K miles for a cumulative distance of 1201-2400 miles or
- 20.3K miles for a cumulative distance of 2401-3600 miles
- 25.2K miles for a cumulative distance of 3601-4800 miles.
- 31.5K miles for a cumulative distance of 4801-5800 miles
- See the full award chart here. No fuel surcharges on American Airlines.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at Qantas.com (you’ll need to create a free Qantas Frequent Flyer account)
- How to book awards: Book online at Qantas.com.
- Key warnings: Avios might be a better value if you have direct flights (though this varies with precise distance).
- Transfer from: Amex, Citi, Capital One, Marriott
Europe from 20.4K one way
- The short story: Qantas offers decent pricing than traditional award prices from the US Northeast to Northwestern Europe on itineraries with a distance of 3600 miles or fewer each way.
- Miles required: 20,400 miles for itineraries covering a distance between 2401 miles and 3,600 miles. No fuel surcharges on American.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at Qantas.com (you’ll need to create a free Qantas Frequent Flyer account).
- How to book awards: Book online at Qantas.com.
- Change and cancellation fees: 5,000 miles per passenger to change / 6,000 miles per passenger to cancel.
- Key warnings: Alaska Mileage Plan will often be a better value if you have direct flights.
- Transfer from: Amex, Citi, Capital One, Marriott
Best uses for Qantas points (Business Class)
South America from 41.5K round trip
- The short story: Qantas offers good award pricing on shorter oneworld business class routes, like Miami to parts of Northern South America. Keep in mind that LATAM flights can still be booked with Qantas points even though it is not a oneworld member.
- Miles required: Qantas has a distance-based award chart that goes by cumulative distance whether one-way or round trip (booking round trip will work out to fewer net miles each way). The shortest-distance flights to South America measure fewer than 1,000 miles one-way but the longest can be more than 5,000 miles one way. Here are the first several distance bands:
- 27.6K miles for a cumulative distance of 601-1200 miles
- 41.5K miles for a cumulative distance of 1201-2400 miles or
- 57K miles for a cumulative distance of 2401-3600 miles
- 68.4K miles for a cumulative distance of 3601-4800 miles.
- 82K miles for a cumulative distance of 4801-5800 miles
- See the full award chart here. No fuel surcharges on American Airlines.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at Qantas.com (you’ll need to create a free Qantas Frequent Flyer account)
- How to book awards: Book online at Qantas.com.
- Key warnings: Alaska Mileage Plan or Avios might be a better value if you have direct flights (though this varies with precise distance).
- Transfer from: Amex, Citi, Capital One, Marriott
Europe for 57K one-way in business class from Northeast US
- Miles required: Qantas charges 57,000 for American Airlines business class awards with a distance of 2401-3600 miles each way. This includes the Northeast US to much of Western Europe.
- See the full award chart here. No fuel surcharges on American Airlines or Alaska.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at Qantas.com (you’ll need to create a free Qantas Frequent Flyer account)
- How to book awards: Book online at Qantas.com.
- Key warnings: Alaska Mileage Plan or AA might be a better value if you have direct flights (though this varies with precise distance).
- Transfer from: Amex, Citi, Capital One, Marriott
Australia for 61.5K one-way in business class from Hawaii
- The short story: Qantas's low-cost-carrier Jetstar flies between Hawaii and several Australian cities and can be booked with Qantas points.
- Miles required: 61,500 miles one-way in business class from Honolulu to Sydney.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at Qantas.com (you’ll need to create a free Qantas Frequent Flyer account)
- How to book awards: Book online at Qantas.com.
- Key warnings: Jetstar flights can be quite cheap. While their business class is much more expensive than their economy class fares, it's worth comparing to cash fares to be sure you're getting a decent value.
Israel on El Al from 90K one-way in business
- The short story: Qantas offers good partner pricing for El Al flights to Israel.
- Miles required: 90K points in business class on El Al between Tel Aviv and Boston, Newark, and New York JFK. 104.5K points in business between Tel Aviv and Miami. 119.2K points in business between Tel Aviv and Los Angeles. With a transfer bonus, these rates can get better. No fuel surcharges for travel on El Al. See the full award chart here.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at Qantas.com (you’ll need to create a free Qantas Frequent Flyer account)
- How to book awards: Book online at Qantas.com.
- Transfer from: Amex, Capital One, Citi, Marriott
Oceania on Emirates for 159K (~30 hours of Emirates business class)
- The short story: While the award cost here is substantially higher than most others, it may be worth it to those who really want an indulgently long experience in Emirates business class. It is possible to spend upwards of ~30 hours in business class by routing via Dubai.
- Miles required: 159,000 miles one-way in business class between North American cities and those cities served by Emirates in Australia and New Zealand.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at Qantas.com (you’ll need to create a free Qantas Frequent Flyer account)
- How to book awards: Book online at Qantas.com.
- Key warnings: Choose A380 routes to get a fully-flat aisle access business class seat with a bar at the rear of the plane.
- Transfer from: Amex, Citi, Capital One, Marriott
Bottom line
Qantas Frequent Flyer doesn’t necessarily overflow with sweet spots, but they do exist. Given that they’re relatively easy to accumulate with transfers from Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One Miles and Citi ThankYou points, it’s a program to be aware of and try to maximize before the award rates increase in August.
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Beware of higher surcharges on AA flights to the carribean. $25 pp each way going to many carribean destinations via Qantas, where as Advantage charges $5.60
When I first got into the points and miles game, going to Oceana in biz class (which I’d never flown anywhere) was my top goal. Thanks to Frequent Miler (and Travel Freely) we’ll be able to do that (on Qantas). Also going to fly Emirates A380 (have never flown Emirates or the A380) from New Zealand back to Australia.
Thanks all!