The quiet, yet significant, change to Qantas’ frequent flyer scheme

For cheap-travel fanatics like me, when the clock strikes 10am (AEST) on the date precisely 353 days before you want to travel, it’s action stations.

With your holiday mapped out well in advance, alarms go off; your frequent flyer account is primed and points-stacked … and ready to mobilise to save serious money.

In a huge change, Qantas has quietly altered the schedule on which it opens up its some of its cheapest seats.Credit: Kate Geraghty

Because that has long been the moment Qantas releases its “free” seats. But you no longer have to go to such – you might call them extreme – lengths.

In a huge change, Qantas has quietly altered the schedule on which it opens up its rolled-gold Classic Rewards seats.

There was a massive, well-publicised overhaul of its frequent flyer scheme back in July, when it introduced the (usually) less-generous but more-accessible Classic Plus scheme. And it’s just announced that scheme expands to domestic flights from December 12, taking availability to a huge 20 million seats a year.

But in and around these significant changes, the airline also overhauled – largely unpublicised – how it releases the plum-but-limited-to-5-million-a-year Classic Rewards seats: in tranches now nearer to travel.

Not only will the date pickings be slim, so too will likely be the number of seats available on those dates.

Previously they’d appear at 353 days and then just as swiftly, mostly disappeared as they were snapped up by air-points aficionados.

But if you toggle on “rewards” on your Qantas flight search now, you will see a smattering of Classic Plus seats and Classic Rewards ones, all the way up to 353 days out (in fact, I found some 356 days out on specific searches; the longer-dated ones seem to disappear on the calendar display, though, so be sure to individually check the farther out dates).

Which is great. But here’s why you want Classic Rewards. Classic Plus seats represent value of 1 cent per point for economy class and 1.5 cents per point in business.

It’s a straight-up, pre-set “exchange rate” which is based on the – dynamic – price of a flight. (Note Classic Plus is not available on Jetstar or on partner airlines). That means that sales – for the vigilant – represent an opportunity to pay fewer points.

When domestic fares become eligible on December 12, Qantas has said sales will see 5600-point fares from Sydney to the Gold Coast, 6900 points from Melbourne to Launceston and 25,900 points from Melbourne to Perth.

You see, when you time it right, Classic Plus seats can work out better value than Classic Rewards. For example, the fixed Classic Rewards “price” for the Sydney-to-Gold-Coast and Melbourne-to-Launceston flights, above, is 8000 points – so 2400 and 1100 more points respectively than you’ll shortly, short-term be able to get using Classic Plus.

Melbourne to Perth would be just 18,000 points on Classic though, 7900 points less. In particular, Classic Plus might sometimes have the edge in sales on shorter routes.

Don’t forget either that return flights always cost fewer dollars – and therefore fewer Classic Plus points.

But, in other circumstances (even versus some return flights using Classic Plus), a frequent flyer point redeemed on Classic Rewards will get you more. The exchange rate works out between 2 to 5 cents per point, depending on the dollar price you’d otherwise pay.

There’s also a third way to frequent fly: “Points Plus Pay”. However, this always gives you the worst value, at only about 0.6 cents per point. So, to game the Qantas frequent flyer scheme to win, you’ll mostly want to cash-in on Classic.

And therein lies the new problem: with Classic seat releases now being, well, random, snaring them almost comes down to luck. Or constant monitoring – and who has that time?

You might be lucky enough to secure just one lone Classic seat out, and one back, for an overseas trip – if you can go with the flow on travel dates.

But yes, not only will the date pickings be slim, so too will likely be the number of seats available on those dates. You may have to forget taking your family!

For the more flexible and spontaneous member than me, Qantas frequent flyers just became a lot more accessible. But I’ll still be setting my calendar alert for 10am, 353 days early.

Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon is the author of How to Get Mortgage-Free Like Me, available at www.nicolessmartmoney.com. Follow Nicole on Facebook, X and Instagram.

• Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.

Expert tips on how to save, invest and make the most of your money delivered to your inbox every Sunday. Sign up for our Real Money newsletter.