If you have a decent Qantas Point balance of 100,000 points and no immediate plans to use them, then we’re here to help!
This post outlines some of the best-value redemptions when it comes to using Qantas Points at or around the six-figure mark.
One key thing to note is that the best value redemptions are to be had by redeeming for Premium Economy, Business or First Class flights. To understand why, consider joining the Point Hacks ‘earning more points’ email course.
Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane to New Zealand in Emirates First and Business (90,000 Qantas Points return)
Arguably one of the best and quickest redemptions to use Qantas Points for glamorous travel, Emirates flies from Melbourne and Brisbane to Auckland (being discontinued from 25 March 2018) and Sydney to Christchurch daily on their A380 fleet, which features an onboard shower for First Class passengers.
Emirates A380 Trans-Tasman First Class overview
A one-way First Class redemption costs 54,000 and Business Class 36,000, so you could fly First in one direction and Business the other for a total of 90,000, but if you have some more points, you might as well fly in First both ways for 18,000 more (108,000 in total).
Emirates A380 Trans-Tasman Business Class overview
When flying First out of Sydney or Melbourne, you’ll get access to the excellent Qantas International First Lounges; Brisbane also has a new shared lounge for First and Business passengers.
Qantas International First Lounge, Melbourne overview
Fly between the East and West Coast return in a modern Qantas A330 Business Suite (72,000)
Qantas has been refurbishing its large fleet of Airbus A330 aircraft with their new Business Class seating and it has now been introduced on most East-West Coast flights.
All seats have direct-aisle access in the 1-2-1 configuration.
Qantas A330 domestic Business Class overview
We are ridiculously lucky with the quality of Business Class cabins in the market here in Australia, with both Qantas and Virgin Australia on another level to many other carriers globally. This is the cream of the world’s domestic Business Class crop.
Do also note that two of Qantas’ daily flights between Sydney and Auckland are now serviced by the Airbus A330, giving you another opportunity to fly this product.
Jump around Asia in Cathay Pacific First Class (from 26,000 one-way)
This cabin is flown exclusively on the Boeing 777-300ER, with six open suites in a private 1-1-1 configuration.
It is renowned for its wide seat and excellent lounge access options, including The Wing and The Pier lounges when departing from Hong Kong Airport.
The oneworld carrier operates this product mostly on long-haul flights between Hong Kong and North America/Europe, but it also puts it on services to select Asian cities, with the cheapest redemption being the two-hour flight to Taipei for just 26,000 points!
Bangkok and Manila are a little further away at 38,000 points, and Singapore and Tokyo at 56,000 points, which is still great value given the latter flights retail from $3,000.
Another nifty option is the five-hour fifth-freedom flight that Cathay operate between Vancouver and New York, costing 78,000 points.
Learn how to make a booking in our beginner’s guide to using points on Cathay Pacific flights.
Adelaide/Sydney/Melbourne to Doha in Qatar Airways Business Class (104,000 one-way)
On Qatar flights from Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne, you’ll get a fully-flat bed stretching to 203cm with a 17-inch personal entertainment screen, as well as an onboard bar.
Qatar Airways A350 Business Class overview
Qatar also operates flights to Perth and a new one to Canberra via Sydney, but they use the older 777 product.
Read more about the offerings in our guide to using points on Qatar Airways flights.
Routes monopolised by one airline, such as Sydney/Brisbane to Lord Howe Island in Qantas Economy (16,000 return)
When flying in and out of smaller airports with little competition, whether in Australia or overseas, tickets bought with cash can be very expensive.
Say you want to fly to Lord Howe Island. The only direct flights (which are two hours or less) are from Sydney and Brisbane on Qantas, and cost upwards of $1000 return.
Beautiful Lord Howe Island
Compare that to the similarly-distanced Sydney-Adelaide flight, which with more competition, can cost as little as $280 return on Qantas.
Forking out just 16,000 points vs $1,000 cash for a return Economy ticket to Lord Howe Island (the Bombardier Dash 8 that operates these routes only has 36-50 all-Economy seats) would represent 6.25c per-point value, which is absolutely great. You could take yourself and five family members/friends for less than 100,000 points!
Note that it can be hard to find award availability on these monopolised routes, as there isn’t much incentive for Qantas to prioritise award seats over cash ones, but sometimes you can find open seats when the calendar first opens up (see below) or last-minute in the two weeks before departure.
Perth to New Zealand in Qantas/Emirates/LATAM Business (100,000 return)
With prices for a return flight from Perth-Auckland (with a stop on the East Coast) on Qantas and its partners topping $1,000 return (and that’s in Economy!), this can be a good-value redemption.
With most services between Perth and the East Coast on the new A330s with lie-flat seats in Business Class (as mentioned above), you could then transfer to:
- another Qantas flight to any of the four major airports in NZ
- one of Emirates’ A380 services to Auckland or Christchurch
- LATAM’s 787 Dreamliner service from Sydney to Auckland
There is usually acceptable Business Class availability if you are flexible about your travel dates and times and look early enough for an award seat.
Explore further with our guide on how to use your points to fly between Perth and New Zealand.
If you live out west, you may be interested in our custom guide to the best uses of Qantas Points from Perth.
Sydney to Hong Kong in Qantas Premium Economy (90,000 return)
For the nine-or-so-hour flight from Sydney to Hong Kong, having some more legroom and better food choices than in Economy is a good way to make your flight more comfortable without breaking your points bank.
Unfortunately, whilst Qantas flies to Hong Kong from Melbourne and Brisbane also, they are on an Airbus A330, which does not have Premium Economy as on the 747 service from Sydney.
Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane to Los Angeles in Qantas Economy (96,000 return)
Whilst Economy Class redemptions often do not represent the best value, at least you may be on the jetlag-reducing A380 on Qantas to the US.
This redemption may make more sense during peak periods or if booking last-minute, when tickets paid with cash are more expensive, but the amount of required points remains the same.
Summing up: increase your chances of using your Qantas Points by planning ahead
Qantas Frequent Flyer members have access to the redemption seats made available by Qantas earlier than their oneworld partners, at 353 days out from travel.
Compared to some of the other programs that compete for Qantas award availability, like Asia Miles and American Airlines AAdvantage, this gives us a three-week head-start to snag any award seats on Qantas flights at nearly a year out from travel.
What has been your best-value redemption for 100,000 Qantas Points or less? We’d love to hear about it in the comments.
Supplementary images courtesy Flickr.
Looking for more inspiration for how to spend your hard-earned frequent flyer points?
Here is a comprehensive list of all of our Best Uses of Points guides. There may be some overlap but each guide has its own twist.
Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Best uses of Qantas Points
- ‘Ultimate’ uses of Qantas Points
- Best uses of 60,000 Qantas Points
- Best uses of 80,000 Qantas Points
- Best uses of 100,000 Qantas Points
- When it makes sense to use your Qantas Points for domestic travel in Economy (and when it doesn’t)
- Best uses of Qantas Points from the East Coast
- Best uses of Qantas Points from Perth
- Reader responses: what is the best use of Qantas Points?
- Seven of the cheapest Qantas Points redemptions for luxurious Emirates flights
- The cheapest ways to fly Cathay Pacific First Class with Qantas Points
Velocity Frequent Flyer
- Best uses of Velocity Points
- Best uses of 80,000 Velocity Points
- Best uses of 100,000 Velocity Points
- Five flight redemptions that maximise your Velocity points balance
Asia Miles
KrisFlyer
Etihad Guest
- Best uses of Etihad Guest miles
- Etihad Guest vs Velocity for Virgin Australia flights comparison guide
Emirates Skywards
American Express Membership Rewards
- Best uses of 100,000 American Express Ascent Membership Rewards points
- Best uses of 100,000 American Express Gateway Membership Rewards points
Point Hacks Is always a great read….thanks. Couldn’t help noticing the add for the Westpac Altitude Black card. I applied and received this card at the beginning of March this year for the 100,000 bonus points on offer at the time. By end of March I had made the $3k spend requirement. I still do not have the points in my Qantas account! Westpac assure me it will happen this cycle. Frankly this that’s been a very frustrating experience as I had trips planned to use the points but were unable to do so. By comparison I have had no issues in the past getting bonus point processed efficiently by ANZ and NAB for similar offers. Just wondering if others had similar issues with Westpac or have I just been unlucky this time?
I just didn’t want the article to end….awesome work! Thanks for sharing.
BNE – Lord Howe Island for 16000 pts return?? Try closer to 100k pts. had a look today for flight in mid October and the points cost was certainly not 16000. Do please tell when this deal is available. thanks
Hi Peter, if you use the Qantas Points Calculator, it is listed as 16,000 points return. The thing is that availability on this route can be hard to come by, so keep checking and you can also sign up to our Impulse Points newsletter, which will list last-minute availability two weeks out for any seats to Lord Howe. Hope that helps!
It’s 16000 return plus about $174. This is great value. Yes it was hard to find and fly in on a Sunday and out on a Saturday but prob the best use of points domestically.
If I have 200,000 points. Is it better to redeem business return. Or I purchase economy ticket and use the points for upgrade to business?
Looking to redeem QFF points for a return Europe trip I found taxes departing Australia/Singapore/Thailand/Indonesia really took the shine off the scheme.
Determined to maximise my points/dollars/luxury experience with time to burn, I found that booking from Hong Kong as the departure point was most cost effective. And therefore purchased a return trip to HKG return to complete my trip.
For only AUD$110 in taxes and 147,000 points: HKG to Dubai (A380 EK J class), 14hr layover with Emirates Dubai Connect picking up the tab for transfers and 4+ star hotel, Dubai to Barcelona (A380 EK J class), and Dusseldorf to HKG (A350 CX premium econ) – ridiculous value!
That’s excellent value, Matthew! Enjoy your trip!
One thing is the outrageous fees and charges Qantas adds when using points, its wrong and should be reduced by at least 50%.
Awesome article!
Glad you found it helpful!
Would love to do your suggestion of Sydney to Lord Howe. But I have been trying for about 3 years (with no date restrictions) and NEVER seen seat availability. I just looked, over the next 365 days, and there is nothing. So, if only it were that easy.
Wow, that is a long time to be waiting. I did a search and couldn’t find anything from Sydney or Brisbane. Thanks for bringing that up. Please let us know if you do see any award space open up – I’m sure a few people would be interested in that!
There was definitely a batch of seats that came out earlier this year for travel around now and in August, but I totally agree that it’s a very hard to find option. We are now including this in our Impulse Points seat searches so will be interesting to see if availability comes up more last-minute.
Brilliant – thank you guys!!!
I liked out trip from HKG to ZUR in F last year, I think it was 112K one way, but amazing service.
My personal favorite (if your already in Asia) is 26’000 points plus about $30 in tax for 2hrs of First class luxury with CX, HKG-TPE, get to the Wing early and enjoy the private Cabana. A little over 100k points and $100 in taxes is going to get 4 of us to there to visit friends in September, being only 6 seats if F on the 777 I’m hoping we have the whole cabin to ourselves 😉
MEL – HKG is only a 747 x 3 days a week with the remaining being a A330… so some Premium Economy options, but not always
Unfortunately JQ will stop their direct BNE-HNL service from Oct. So if you can find an award seat in the next couple of months then it’s great.
True Michael. Thanks for that Looks like their operating Thursdays and Saturdays (plus some Mondays), with 29 October the last flight in both directions.