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Complete Guide: Earning more Qantas Points with the oneworld Alliance
Did you know Qantas is a partner of the oneworld Alliance? Here's how it could boost your Qantas Frequent Flyer balance and open up a world of travel options.
Have you ever wanted to drop everything and book an around-the-world holiday? If you’ve successfully saved your pennies and your Qantas Points, this fantasy could become a reality thanks to Qantas’ affiliation with the oneworld Alliance.
The oneworld and Qantas alliance
The oneworld Alliance is an alliance of international airlines that allows members of frequent flyer programs to redeem and earn rewards with their airline’s partners. As Qantas is a member of the oneworld Alliance, Qantas Frequent Flyers can use their Qantas Points to redeem an around-the-world trip with the airline and its partners each year.
You can use your points to book up to 15 Classic Rewards flights with the oneworld Alliance and travel a total of 35,000 miles in Economy, Premium, Business or First Class with Qantas and its oneworld partners.
The different reward flights you can redeem your points for include:
Qantas Classic Flight Reward. The Qantas Classic flight reward offers the cheapest flights from Qantas, Airnorth, Fiji Airways, Air Vanuatu, American Airlines, Emirates and Jetstar.
Jetstar Classic Flight Reward. Prices for Jetstar flights are 20% less than the Qantas Classic price.
Partner Classic Flight Reward. These prices refer to those who are only booking one flight with a oneworld partner airline.
oneworld Classic Flight Reward. If you are booking an around-the-world flight and have an itinerary that includes at least two flights on a oneworld airline, you should consult these prices.
Before booking your around-the-world trip, there are decisions you’ll need to make, and we’ve. outlined a few of your travel options when booking with Qantas. We’ll go through the value of oneworld Alliance and the airlines partnered with Qantas as well as the destinations available. We’ve also summarised some of the benefits and conditions you should consider before making your booking.
What is the oneworld Classic Flight Reward?
The Qantas rewards structure can be confusing as there are so many options. Simply, the oneworld Classic Flight Reward redemption covers any itineraries that include two or more oneworld airlines apart from Qantas (it can also include Qantas flights), so it's useful for multi-city trips and RTW journeys.
Who can you fly with in the oneworld Alliance?
The oneworld Alliance combines some of the biggest airlines in the world to help you fly further. As Qantas is a member of this organisation, you can redeem your points for up to 15 flights with Qantas and members of the oneworld Alliance each year. These oneworld Classic Rewards can be redeemed for up to 35,000 miles of travel in Economy, Premium, Business or First Class.
As well as Qantas, the oneworld Alliance members include:
AirBerlin
American Airlines
British Airways
Cathay Pacific
Finnair
Iberia
Japan Airlines
LAN
Malaysia Airlines
Qatar Airways
Royal Jordanian
TAM Airlines
SriLankan Airlines
S7 Airlines
Thanks to this expansive list, customers can fly to 150 countries and 1,000 destination airports. If you’re a Qantas Frequent Flyer, you can take advantage of this oneworld Alliance and extend where your points can take you around the world.
How can the oneworld Alliance help you earn and use Qantas Points?
Classic Flight rewards allow you to use your Qantas Points to book flights on Qantas, Jetstar, oneworld Alliance and other airline partners and affiliates.
You can redeem your Qantas Points on flights booked through any of the Partner Classic Flight Rewards. The amount of points required is based on the miles travelled between cities. You can redeem points on flights of up to 15,000 miles, after which you would need to book each leg of the flight separately. Or redeem your points on shorter flights that fall under 15,000 miles.
The oneworld Classic Rewards program allows you to earn points beyond the Qantas network. You can earn points and status credits on all eligible flights booked through the 15 affiliated oneworld Alliance partners. By earning points and status credits, you can enjoy the membership tier benefits throughout your journey. However, Qantas Points and status credits can’t be earned on Classic Flight Rewards.
Where can you go with the round-the-world Classic Flight Reward?
With so many destinations available, planning your travel itinerary may be the hardest decision of all. The Qantas oneworld Class Flight Reward allows you to travel to any of the cities covered by oneworld, as long as the total travel distance doesn’t exceed 35,000 miles. You must complete the adventure within a 12-month period, stop over at no more than five cities and are allowed up to 15 connections.
One example of how Qantas and the oneworld Alliance can take you around the world includes the following route:
Brisbane to Johannesburg with Qantas
Johannesburg to London with AirBerlin
London to Rome with British Airways
Rome to Lima with Iberia
Lima to Auckland with LAN
Auckland to Brisbane with Qantas or Jetstar
For this itinerary, you will have flown a total of 28,682 miles. With the maximum mileage allowance at 35,000 you have room to add a few extra flights and explore more cities. There are mileage calculators that allow you to input your flight plan and show the total miles, ensuring you don’t exceed the mileage limit. To add extra value, you can expand your itinerary to include up to 15 connections.
If seats aren’t available for the most direct flight, you can afford to make extra transits as long as you keep your mileage under the permitted 35,000. A transit is considered a period between flights that does not exceed 24 hours. If you spend more than 24 hours in a city between flights, it will be classed as a stopover.
How many Qantas Points do you need for a oneworld RTW trip?
As of 18 September 2019, Qantas implemented a program-wide overhaul which saw an increase of cost for premium rewards and a small discount for economy rewards. Despite the recent devaluation, there is still much value to be had in this redemption. Here's how many points you need for each of the oneworld Classic Flight Rewards currently available:
Cabin class
Required Qantas Points
Economy
132,400 points (down 7,600)
Premium economy
249,600 (up 39,600)
Business
318,000 points (up 38,000)
First
455,000 (up 35,000)
The above rates assume you're going for maximum value and travelling the full 35,000 miles, which is the maximum for this award. Here is the oneworld Classic Flight Reward chart for other zones and travel classes:
Zone
Return miles
Economy
Premium economy
Business
First
1
0–1,200
20,000
31,600
40,000
58,000
2
1,201–2,400
28,000
47,500
60,000
87,000
3
2,401–4,800
40,000
69,000
87,600
129,000
4
4,801–7,200
49,000
97,000
122,400
179,600
5
7,201–9,600
60,400
118,000
150,000
215,500
6
9,601–11,600
75,600
141,600
180,000
258,600
7
11,601–14,000
90,000
163,600
209,000
299,600
8
14,001–16,800
100,600
187,000
238,400
341,600
9
16,801–19,200
123,000
218,000
278,400
398,600
10
19,201–35,000
132,400
249,600
318,000
455,000
A mixed cabin redemption is permitted, but the entire journey will automatically be priced according to the highest cabin class, which is not ideal. In other words, if you book three economy legs and one business leg, you'll still end up paying business rates for every single flight.
Zone 10 (19,201–35,000 miles) in business class is the sweet spot, simply because many airlines and routes do not feature first class. The same is true of premium economy and an economy redemption doesn't get you the most bang for your buck.
Mistakes to avoid
To ensure you get the most out of your around-the-world trip, try to avoid these mistakes:
Miles travelled. Your total flight duration must not exceed 35,000 miles. Journeys longer than this must be divided into separate itineraries.
Stopover allowance. Up to five free stopovers are permitted. Only one stopover is permitted in any one city and only two transfers may be taken in each city.
Oneworld flights required. Round-the-world trips booked with oneworld require at least two flights with oneworld alliance airlines other than Qantas.
Seats available. Seats are subject to availability and conditions can be changed at any time by the airline.
Points plus Pay. Before searching for flights you will need to ensure the ‘Classic Flight Rewards checkbox has not been ticked. By doing this, searches will include ‘Points plus Pay’ options. Points plus Pay allows you to pay for a portion of the flight and use your points to cover the remaining cost of the flight.
Points and status credits. You will not earn points or status credits when you combine a Classic Flight Reward flight with another single booking fare.
Journey length. Your journey can last up to 12 months.
By booking your round-the-world trip through Classic Flight Reward or oneworld airlines, you’ll not only get to explore the world, you’ll also get to save and get more out of your Qantas Points.
Selecting your flight routes and abiding by the terms and conditions can be overwhelming, so doing your research and comparing your options beforehand will help ensure the trip goes smoothly.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can book a oneworld RTW trip either online using the Qantas website or over the phone. The Qantas Frequent Flyer website has a multi-city flight search function which makes this easier. Once you've selected an itinerary that includes multiple oneworld partners, the system automatically prices it according to the oneworld Classic Flight Reward table. Alternatively, you can book over the phone with one of the phone agents. Calling a phone agent is my preferred option especially when I have specific flights in mind.
The RTW ticket can be stretched out over a one-year period between the first flight and the last flight. As different airlines publish their reward seats at a different schedule, securing a reward seat one year in advance may be challenging. Should more redemption seats be made available after your initial booking, you may change your itinerary by paying a "change fee" of 5,000 points. That can still be much better value than making individual bookings.
Depending on the airlines, routes and airports, the fees vary. For a RTW trip with 5 stopovers, expect to pay more than $1,000. In general, flights ex-London as well as on British Airways are quite unfavourable in terms of their fees and surcharge. Ultimately, hefty fees and surcharges erode the value of points. This is especially so for economy class when cash tickets are generally reasonably priced. Hence, it's difficult to justify spending your hard-earned points when the out-of-pocket fees are high.
Sally McMullen was a creative content producer at Finder. Sally wrote about credit cards for almost 5 years, authoring almost 900 articles on Finder alone. She has also been published in Yahoo Finance, Dynamic Business, Financy and Mamamia, as well as Music Feeds and Rolling Stone. Sally has a Bachelor of Communication and Media Studies majoring in Journalism (Hons) from the University of Wollongong.
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