Points Guru: Which partner airlines accept Qantas frequent flyer points?

Escape’s points expert answers your questions about frequent flyer programs.

You can make your Qantas points work harder.

Escape’s points expert answers your questions about frequent flyer programs.

I’m finding it challenging to book a flight via Qantas on points. Which other airlines accept Qantas frequent flyer points? 

It can be tricky to redeem Qantas frequent flyer points. Leaving Australia, you’re up against something like 13 million other members and let’s be honest, we generally all want to travel at the same time. Between that and the flood gates open for travel, reward seats can be almost impossible to score.

The good news is Qantas has a handful of redemption partners which allows you to cash in your miles with other airlines, often offering more seat availability. 

It is fair to say that Qantas certainly doesn’t make things the simplest when trying to book on partner airlines. Airlines like Singapore Air actually have an option to search for other partner airlines when redeeming your points. Unfortunately with Qantas you need to do a little bit more homework. 

Find out the tips and tricks for transferring your Qantas points.

Being a One World member Qantas has quite a few partners you can redeem with. Well known airlines such as British Airways, Emirates, Fiji Airways and Qatar and even obscure ones such as Royal Jordanian might have availability. You can use your points with Jetstar Australia and it can give you better bang for buck. Aside from domestic flights, Jetstar also flies to Japan, Singapore, New Zealand or Hawaii if you have enough points to fly internationally.

Close and popular, Fiji is often high on Aussie’s destination list. You can use your Qantas points on Fiji Airways. The airline offers non-stop flights to Nadi from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. 

Emirates is a good option for those looking to travel to Europe or Africa with the carrier reaching 138 destinations from Dubai. The airline has international flights leaving almost daily from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. Within Asia, the airline flies to Singapore from Melbourne and Brisbane, to Bangkok and Christchurch from Sydney.

It also recently added its new premium economy service from Sydney, set to begin later this month and has one of the best first and business class products in the sky – a very attractive option for those looking to redeem their miles at the pointy end of the plane. 

The other perk with Emirates is that reward seating is generally more available than Qantas and open slightly more than 330 days before departure.

Master the art of loyalty programs and you could be jetting off sooner.

How do I book a partner flight?

If you know the route you would like you can search for it on the Qantas website however it requires a little bit of a “work around” when booking.

Head to the Qantas website and head to “make a booking” however look for a section marked “multi city”, even if you aren’t flying multi city use this option. Make sure you select “use points - Classic Rewards only”, then simply type in your route and dates and click enter. A calendar will appear with all point redemption options across airline partners. 

The trick to knowing whether it’s a Qantas or partner flight is to look at the flight column with the code of the airline, for example EK415. This indicates the flight is operated by Emirates as Qantas flights begin with QF. If you click through to one of those options, you’ll notice a little line at the bottom explaining the flight is operated by Emirates. Proceed to booking and that’s how it’s done! 

Have a question about points? Drop Sabine an email at [e-mail]. Personal replies are unfortunately not possible.

See also:

Can you claim frequent flyer points after a flight?

Inside Emirates’ brand new premium economy cabin

13 hacks to avoid lost luggage

Australia’s first Waldorf Astoria hotel is coming to Sydney

Originally published as Points Guru: Which partner airlines accept Qantas frequent flyer points?