A few days before Qantas announced its mega-profit, Australia’s national airline sweetened up the offers available to its loyal band of frequent flyers. Qantas has extended its commitment to making 50% more reward seats available until the end of the year, adding an extra six months and tens of thousands more seats to the deal.
Qantas Loyalty, the division in Qantas where the frequent flyer scheme lives, has been the standout business segment of the airline for years. For the six months that ended December 31st (1H23), it generated revenue of AU$1 billion ($682 million) and underlying earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) of AU$220 million ($150 million), a year-on-year increase of 73%.
With prices high reward seats are popular
More than three million flights were taken using Qantas points in the half-year, double the previous year, and the program has in excess of 14.7 million members. During the last 12 months, the frequent flyer program added around 80,000 new members a month and is one of the country’s largest loyalty programs.
On Friday, Qantas released “tens of thousands” of new international reward seats, extending its existing commitment of 50% more Classic Reward seat availability by six months. The additional reward seats are now available for booking across all cabins, including first and business class, on the entire Qantas international network of more than 30 destinations.
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Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth said frequent flyers have been using their points to book reward seats in record numbers, with demand for seats on international flights “particularly strong.”
“We’re releasing tens of thousands of new Classic Flight Reward seats to international destinations to make it easier for our members to use their points towards their next overseas trip.
“There are more than 5 million reward seats available for booking across the Qantas and Jetstar international and domestic networks over the next year.”
Wirth added that the number of points needed to book reward seats has not increased for years, while the number of ways they can be accumulated has grown significantly. While air travel was grounded during the pandemic and Australia’s long, strict lockdown period, frequent flyers continued amassing points using the vast network of retail and service partners in the Qantas network.
With nowhere to go, those points gathered dust, but with restrictions a thing of the past, members are out in droves looking to use those points. With Qantas’ international capacity hovering around 60% of pre-COVID levels, finding even an exorbitantly priced seat is proving difficult, so adding thousands more into the pool will be highly popular.
Another Qantas initiative is the increased availability of Points Planes, where every seat on the aircraft can be booked using frequent flyer points. Since October 2021, when Qantas launched the 50% more reward seat offer, one in every eleven frequent flyers carried by the airline traveled on a reward seat.
International is the place to be
The most popular use of reward seats is for international flights, with seats on routes to London, Singapore, Bali, Tokyo, and Los Angeles in high demand. Given that Airbus A380s ply some of these routes, it’s an extra bonus for those who love flying on the super jumbo and are thrilled that Qantas has returned them to service.
Through the Qantas network of more than 45 partner airlines, frequent flyers can use their points to access rewards seats to more than 1,200 destinations worldwide. As of this week, the points needed for some popular routes, excluding those pesky taxes, fees, and charges, are:
- Sydney/Melbourne to London (LHR) 55,200 economy and 144,600 business
- Brisbane/Sydney to Los Angeles (LAX) 41,900 economy and 108,400 business
- Sydney to Tokyo Haneda (HND) 31,500 economy and 82,000 business
- Melbourne to Auckland (AKL) 18,000 economy and 41,400 business.
