Making the most of Qantas’s NT Points Plane deal
Every seat to the Northern Territory in February and March 2020 will be available as a Classic Reward.
Qantas's latest Points Plane deal opens up every flight to Australia's Northern Territory for points bookings.
Usually, only a handful of Classic Reward seats are available on any given flight. During this promotion, any direct flight to the Northern Territory from another state with a Qantas QF flight code between 1 February and 20 March 2020 can be booked that way. To be eligible, you need to book before midnight AEST on 24 October 2019.
This is a dilution of the original "Points Plane" concept, where an entire flight was available only to frequent flyers. The first of these ran from Melbourne to Tokyo, while the second was between Sydney and Los Angeles.
More recently though, Qantas has started using the Points Plane label for deals where all flights on a given route are made available as Classic Reward flights, starting with Jetstar flights to Japan. The Northern Territory deal is the first domestic-only Points Plane offer.
While there's something cute about a plane that's frequent-flyer-only, offering a range of dates is actually much friendlier and more flexible. February-March often sees airfares to the NT at their lowest level anyway, but scoring a Classic Reward on any given date is still potentially appealing, especially as flights to the NT on Qantas are rarely super-cheap.
Note that the offer only applies to direct flights, and intra-territory flights (such as Alice Springs to Darwin) aren't included. If you need to make another Qantas flight to connect to your Top End service, you'll have to cross your fingers that a reward seat is also available. And, as usual, you'll still have to pay for carrier charges.
Here's a full list of the eligible routes, how many points you'll need for a one-way booking and what the carrier charges are (these are the same whether you fly Business or Economy).
| Route | Economy points | Business points | Charges |
|---|---|---|---|
| Darwin-Adelaide | 18,000 | 41,500 | $54 |
| Darwin-Brisbane | 18,000 | 41,500 | $52 |
| Darwin-Melbourne | 18,000 | 41,500 | $48 |
| Darwin-Perth | 18,000 | 41,500 | $53 |
| Darwin-Sydney | 18,000 | 41,500 | $53 |
| Darwin-Broome | 12,000 | n/a | $65 |
| Alice Springs-Adelaide | 12,000 | 27,600 | $54 |
| Alice Springs-Brisbane | 18,000 | n/a | $52 |
| Alice Springs-Melbourne | 12,000 | 27,000 | $47 |
| Alice Springs-Perth | 18,000 | n/a | $52 |
| Alice Springs-Sydney | 18,000 | 41,500 | $52 |
| Alice Springs-Darwin | 12,000 | n/a | $53 |
| Ayers Rock (Uluru)-Adelaide | 12,000 | 27,600 | $70 |
| Ayers Rock (Uluru)-Cairns | 12,000 | n/a | $72 |
| Ayers Rock (Uluru)-Darwin | 12,000 | 27,600 | $79 |
| Ayers Rock (Uluru)-Alice Springs | 8,000 | n/a | $78 |
To really max out this deal, seek out Business class seats, which are often difficult to score otherwise, especially on flights to Darwin. That's not an option on every route, since QantasLink and Network Aviation (who run the Broome-Darwin service) don't offer any Business options. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to price some Darwin hotels.
Angus Kidman's Findings column looks at new developments and research that help you save money, make wise decisions and enjoy your life more. It appears regularly on Finder.
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