Qantas has 30% off Economy Classic Rewards seats
Get more from your frequent flyer points.
This week, Qantas is offering 30% off the usual points needed if you book economy Classic Reward seats on Qantas, Jetstar or Emirates services. With Classic Rewards, you pay for your seat entirely with Qantas Points, though you'll still have to pay carrier charges and airport taxes. That offers better value than Points Plus Pay, which can chew through your points at an alarming rate.
Qantas usually runs a sale at least once a year offering 25% off the points needed for Classic Reward bookings across all classes, but it's more unusual to have a sale that only covers economy rewards. A wide range of dates are available, stretching from now until the end of February 2020 for Qantas flights. Emirates and Jetstar offers are slightly more restricted. Here are the dates where the discount applies across all three airlines:
| Airline | From | To |
|---|---|---|
| Qantas | 1 May 2019 | 29 February 2020 |
| Emirates | 1 May 2019 | 23 February 2020 |
| Jetstar | 1 May 2019 | 11 December 2019 |
According to the official terms, you need to book between 11am on 21 March 2019 and 11:59pm on 25 March 2019 to score these flights with the 30% discount. You'll see the updated total on eligible flights when booking, so (for example) a Sydney to Melbourne flight, which normally requires 8,000 Qantas Points, will show up at 5,600.
In practice, I'm already seeing these lower totals while checking the site this morning before the "official" start, so you might want to get in quickly.
Dedicated frequent flyers often turn their noses up at economy flights, but that doesn't always make sense, as I've pointed out before. Availability for economy is generally much better, and you can usually easily exceed the goal of making sure every 1,000 points you spend is worth at least $20 in value.
If you pick regional destinations, you can get even higher values from your points. Firstly, on many QantasLink routes business isn't an option anyway, and cash fares are often high. Coastal getaways to Lord Howe Island, Coffs Harbour or Port Macquarie, or an outback venture to Dubbo would all be options, and that's just in New South Wales. Excuse me, I'm off to contemplate a few itineraries.
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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