Qantas launches 1700 ‘points planes’ for frequent flyers

The flying kangaroo is making 1700 domestic flights available for frequent flyers to help them part with stockpiled points.

Qantas boss Alan Joyce and Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth at the launch of the airline’s ‘green tier’ for frequent flyers.

In an effort to appease frequent flyers sitting on massive stockpiles of points, Qantas has announced more than 1700 “points planes” within Australia over winter.

Although much of the demand for points redemptions is for international travel, Qantas is hoping to give frequent flyers a chance to burn through some points and explore their own backyard.

In an added sweetener, frequent flyers will need 30 per cent fewer points to book economy seats on the relevant routes, which are mostly from capital cities to regional destinations.

As a result as few as 5600 points are needed for a one way flight from say, Melbourne to Mount Gambier or Brisbane to Proserpine, plus taxes, fees and carrier charges from $27.

Flying from Canberra to Cairns or Perth to the Gold Coast will require 12,600 points plus taxes, fees and carrier charges of $69 and $41 respectively.

Some of the other routes include Sydney to Byron Bay, Sydney-Uluru, Brisbane-Tamworth, Brisbane-Hobart, Adelaide-Newcastle and Melbourne-Townsville.

Almost 130,000 classic reward seats are up for grabs in total, with bookings open until May 15. All flights will operate in August.

Qantas Loyalty chief executive Olivia Wirth said flights remained frequent flyers’ favourite way to use their points.

“We’ve seen a huge increase in demand for regional travel since the start of the pandemic and these points planes will help tens of thousands of frequent flyers discover regional Australia this winter,” Ms Wirth said.

“These points planes will help boost tourism right across the country during August and make it easier for residents in these regional towns to get away for a city escape.”

The domestic points planes are a first for Qantas which has previously made key international flights available for frequent flyers only.

Overseas travel is still a long way from pre-Covid levels however, with Qantas now operating at about 40 per cent of 2019 capacity, compared to 105 per cent of domestic capacity.

International capacity was expected to climb to more than 70 per cent in the next financial year before returning to full pre-pandemic levels in late 2023 or early 2024.

It was estimated Qantas frequent flyers amassed billions of points during the pandemic even in the absence of flying, through activities such as credit card use, grocery shopping and filling up the car.

The domestic points planes are the latest in a string of initiatives designed to help frequent flyers work through their stockpiles, including “points auctions” and invitation-only bespoke shopping.

With over 13 million members Qantas frequent flyers is the country’s biggest loyalty program, ahead of Woolworths Rewards, Virgin Australia’s Velocity scheme and Coles’ FlyBuys.

Ms Wirth has previously highlighted the ability of Qantas frequent flyers to “change behaviours” because of its massive membership and high level of engagement.

To that end, Qantas has challenged members to achieve “green tier” status through a series of actions intended to benefit the environment, such as carbon offsetting flights, donating to sustainability projects and booking eco-friendly hotels.

Originally published as Qantas launches 1700 ‘points planes’ for frequent flyers