Qantas and Taiwanese carrier, China Airlines, are expanding their partnership with frequent flyers now able to use Qantas Points on more than 75 destinations via Taipei. Previously, you could use Qantas Points solely on flights between Australia and Taipei, so this change is great news for travellers hoping to head further afield.
Is a trip to Europe on your bucket list? You can fly from Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane to London via Taipei in Business Class for 159,000 Qantas Points per person. Taxes are pleasingly low – under AU$250 per person, each way.
Our network of more than 45 partner airlines means frequent flyers can use their Qantas Points to travel to more than 1,200 destinations around the world, and this expanded partnership means they have more options than ever.
– Olivia Wirth, Qantas Loyalty CEO, 15 March 2023
China Airlines is known for its aesthetically-pleasing cabins, especially in Business Class. On all Airbus A350 and Boeing 777 flights, expect 1-2-1 lie-flat seats up at the front. The Airbus A350 Premium Economy cabin is also worth a look, with a wide 2-3-2 arrangement and fixed-shell reclining seats that your shoulders and knees will appreciate.
Where can I fly with China Airlines?
Importantly, there is good availability throughout the year with two seats in Business on many routes.
Here is an example booking for two passengers from Sydney to London in October 2023. You should use the Qantas multi-city booking tool to piece together these flights.
The benefit of using the multi-city booking tool is that you can also access the calendar view, which shows the dates that may have Business Class availability.
Here are some other example routes you could fly with Qantas Points, via Taipei. Note that the points needed for Premium Economy are just under that of Business Class, so we’d advise you to try to go for Business Class, where possible.
| Route | Economy | Premium Economy | Business | Fees and taxes |
| Sydney-New York | 66,200 points | 124,800 points | 159,000 points | AU$248.70 |
| Brisbane-London | 66,200 points | 124,800 points | 159,000 points | AU$192.60 |
| Melbourne-Amsterdam | 66,200 points | 124,800 points | 159,000 points | AU$179.77 |
| Brisbane-Tokyo | 37,800 points | – | 90,000 points | AU$167.60 |
| Sydney-Osaka | 37,800 points | – | 90,000 points | AU$165.30 |
Summing up
Having access to another partner airline’s full network is welcome news for Qantas Frequent Flyer members. China Airlines is a well-regarded carrier with very elegant cabins, and we’re certainly looking forward to flying with them later this year!
We released a reward seat alert email about China Airlines reward seats to our subscribers in the early hours of 15 March 2023. If you missed out, sign-up here to receive future reward seat alerts.
Brandon I’m trying to fly internally in China using China Air , whats the best way to do this ?
any ideas would be very helpful
Hi George, China Airlines is based in Taiwan, not mainland China. Of the carriers based in mainland China, you could book China Eastern flights using Qantas Points. Alternatively, you could book Air China using Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles.
Hi Brandon, I’ve noticed that there are barely any business class reward flights from Brisbane to Taiwan now. Previously I would be able to book them 3-4 months in advance however, I’ve been looking for business class flights all the way to November 2024 and can’t find any direct to Taiwan. Do you think the partnership expansion has caused business class flights to be unobtainable now?
Hi Brandon, Thank you for the article and looking to book a flight in a couple of months but I am having trouble even getting the QF FF site to show availability.
Keep getting an error message.
Have tried various dates in the next two months and no go. Was there a date for commencement of China Airlines QF points bookings?
Cheers
Neil
Hi Neil, you can already make bookings and I made one recently without any problems. Are you starting your journey from somewhere not supported by the website such as Taipei? That usually throws up errors, but you can get around it by calling Qantas to book.
I Just tried Sydney/Taipei/Delhi (Aug 24) and had the same result. It would be much more helpful if the Qantas site actually told the user what the issue was, instead of the generic ‘problem with the search’ and try again. Mind you, Qantas are not solo on this problem.
No luck here. I get this error message.
Taipei is not available on the Classic Flight Rewards. Select ‘Use money, points or both’ to continue.
Can Qantas Platinum FFs access the Sydney Qantas First Class Lounge on these flights?
Hi James, unfortunately access wouldn’t be permitted unless you booked the Qantas codeshare (QFxxxx), which is not possible for Classic Reward bookings.
Awesome timing, had been looking at booking 2 business seats to TPE then a paid ticket onto Osaka, but just booked all the way through using classic rewards.
Thanks for the heads ups.
China Airlines is a partner not a carrier aren’t they?
So you can’t use these flights as part of the OneWorld around the world trip?
Hi Sherman, China Airlines is not part of Oneworld, so correct, you can’t include them with the Oneworld Classic Flight Reward booking.