Despite being a low-cost carrier, Jetstar is a major domestic airline in Australia with a range of capital city, leisure and regional flights. Often in smaller towns, Jetstar is the dominant airlines offering connections that aren’t as viable for Qantas or Virgin Australia.
Jetstar also has various offshoots around Asia, including Singapore and Japan, which extends its network reach quite far beyond Australia.
One unique use of Qantas Points is access to reward seats on Jetstar flights worldwide since Jetstar is part of the Qantas Group.
In this guide, we outline the routes, aircraft and cabins Jetstar operates; step-by-step instructions on how to make a booking; sweet spots in the award chart; and links to Jetstar guides and reviews.
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How do I redeem Qantas Points for Jetstar flights?
See if Jetstar operates the route with Qantas’ route maps or timetables. You could also check the points pricing using the Qantas Points Calculator if needed. Then it’s time to book.
- Start on the Qantas website and enter your desired travel dates, destinations, and number passengers
- Toggle the ‘Use Points’ button and ‘Flexible with Dates’ button if your travel dates are flexible
- You’ll see any available reward seats across all eligible Qantas partner airlines, including Jetstar
- Choose the Jetstar flight option and continue with the booking process
- Use a valid payment method to pay the taxes and surcharges. You will now have a Jetstar booking made with Qantas Points.
It’s possible to mix Jetstar Economy and Business Class in one booking, where Business is not available on one leg. This is called a ‘mixed-cabin redemption’ and will come up automatically when you search for awards on the Qantas website.
Where does Jetstar fly?
Jetstar Australia operates to mainly leisure destinations within Australia and to New Zealand, Asia and Hawaii. Its largest international hubs are Melbourne Tullamarine and Sydney.
Overseas, Jetstar Asia is based in Singapore and services 22 popular destinations in North and South-East Asia. Jetstar Japan operates 29 domestic and international routes out of Japan.
You can use your Qantas Points across all of Jetstar’s various regional offshoots, depending on flight availability.
What kind of planes will I find on Jetstar flights?
Jetstar operates just three types of planes for simplicity:
- a larger twin-aisle Boeing 787 Dreamliner with both Business Class and Economy Class
- an all-Economy Class Airbus A320
- a longer all-Economy Class Airbus A321
Jetstar Business Class on the Boeing 787s is usually available on most routes from Melbourne, Sydney, Cairns, Gold Coast and Brisbane to international Asian destinations, plus Hawaii. However, flights are unlikely to resume until at least mid-2021 due to border restrictions.
All other routes (domestic and New Zealand) are serviced by the smaller all-Economy Class Airbus A320-series planes. You’ll most likely fly on one of these in the foreseeable future.
What is Jetstar Business Class like?
Business Class on the Dreamliner is arranged in a 2-3-2 configuration. You’ll get a leather recliner seat, similar to what you’d find on a domestic Business Class flight with Qantas or Virgin Australia. Our pick for the best seats is 3G and 3J, which offer extra recline.
In Business Class, you’ll get complimentary meals and beverages, inflight entertainment and a 30kg baggage allowance. Lounge access, Qantas Points and Status Credits are not included unless you purchase a Business Max bundle on top of your fare.
Read our reviews of Jetstar 787 Business Class on a special Sydney-Melbourne domestic hop, and on a proper Cairns-Osaka international flight.
What is Jetstar Economy Class like?
Economy Class is arranged in a 3-3 configuration on the smaller planes and 3-3-3 on the Dreamliner. Meals, drinks, entertainment and baggage are at an extra cost, either separately or with a Bundle.
If you’re comparing Qantas and Jetstar, know that you’ll usually get more legroom when flying on the Red Roo.
Most of Qantas’ international flights have at least 31 inches of seat pitch, whereas Jetstar offers a maximum of 30 inches on the Dreamliner and can even be as tight as 28 inches on domestic flights.
As Jetstar is a low-cost carrier, they have regular sales. That means that tickets on these flights are usually best to be purchased with cash rather than points. Exceptions include last-minute purchases or travel during a peak period like school holidays.
Want to see what the experience is like? Read our review of Jetstar Airbus A321 Economy Class.
Sweet spots: maximising Qantas Points for travel on Jetstar
As stated before, the best value redemptions of Qantas Points on Jetstar flights are for Business Class tickets. These are exclusively available on routes serviced by the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
If Qantas also operates on the same route with an Airbus A330 (e.g. Sydney to Bali or Melbourne to Singapore) then it is generally worth paying the 20% premium to enjoy their superior Business Class product. That’s provided you can find award availability.
Let’s say your home airport is one that does not have Dreamliner flights operating out of it, e.g. Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Darwin. Then the best value can be found in using your Qantas Points for Economy Class tickets for routes on which Qantas does not operate (examples below).
This table shows the best value one-way redemptions sorted from the highest per point value to lowest. Importantly, it does not factor in taxes, which reduces the per point value of all redemptions.
| Route | Class | Qantas Points | Typical cash price | Per-point value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cairns to Osaka | Business | 51,300 | $1,618 | 3.2 |
| Sydney to Phuket | Business | 51,300 | $1,563 | 3.1 |
| Melbourne/Sydney to Honolulu | Business | 61,500 | $1,832 | 3.0 |
| Melbourne to Bangkok | Business | 51,300 | $1,460 | 2.8 |
| Melbourne/Sydney to Bali | Business | 42,200 | $1,079 | 2.6 |
| Gold Coast to Tokyo | Business | 51,300 | $1,313 | 2.6 |
| Adelaide to Sunshine Coast | Economy | 9,600 | $201 | 2.1 |
| Brisbane to Hobart | Economy | 9,600 | $180 | 1.9 |
| Perth to Cairns | Economy | 14,400 | $238 | 1.7 |
You can see that you can get up to double the value per point by redeeming your points for Business Class rather than Economy Class.
Summing up
Using your Qantas Points for redemptions on Jetstar flights is quite an easy online process. However, do try to get the most value out of your points by using them for Business Class flights internationally, once border restrictions allow.
Another good use is for Economy Class tickets on routes within Australia and to New Zealand on which Qantas does not operate. This may be a more viable option in 2021 and onwards.
Frequently asked questions
You will not earn Qantas Points on most Jetstar tickets, those being the cheapest tickets (Starter & Starter FlexiBiz). However, you can earn points if you purchase a more expensive Starter Plus, Starter Max or Business Max fare. You can add your Qantas Frequent Flyer number to your booking on the Jetstar website under Manage booking.
Yes, you can use your Qantas points to book flights on Jetstar. In fact, Jetstar redemptions are 20% cheaper than those with Qantas. You can choose to fly in Economy or Business Class. To book your Jetstar flight using Qantas Points, go to qantas.com.
Unless you hold elite status with Qantas or are a Qantas Club member, you won’t get lounge access before a Jetstar Business Class flight redeemed with points. Only Business Max fares purchased with cash will make you eligible.
It is best to search for and book your Jetstar online in order to avoid the 3,500/6,000 (domestic/international) Qantas Point ‘Award Assistance Fee’ incurred by booking over the phone. However, you can also phone 13 11 31 Monday to Saturday between 7am and 7pm AEST.
Qantas Frequent Flyer will generally release award seats for Jetstar flights around 300 days before departure. A general rule is that Jetstar will release more award seats than Qantas.
Jetstar has very few frequent flyer program partners. Therefore, Qantas Frequent Flyer is the best currency by far for redeeming with Jetstar when it comes to the availability of points and ease of redemption.
If you have some Emirates Skywards miles up for expiration, you can book a Jetstar redemption flight from 7,000 miles. However, Qantas redemptions start at only 1,000 points more.
Supplementary images courtesy Jetstar. Previously written by Matt Moffit.
We do not want to pay with points or cash for seats and bags but the only alternative is fiji airways, which has terrible reviews.
Your prompt reply would be greatly appreciated.
We’re looking at the same option; ie Sydney to Nadi. Do you recommend we transfer our Amex platinum points to Qantas FF points?
We would ideally like to fly with Fiji Airways but couldn’t see the option on the Qantas website.
You would have also avoided carrier charges since these are not allowed in HKG!
Anyway, everyone is different and has different needs….just so people realise that 50,000 pts and getting $500 dollars of value could be viewed as a total waste of points that could have delivered more like $1500 – $3,000 worth of value…only saying…
Also factor in risk of cancellation of flight (some of the historical data is listed on the Jetstar source website)…
The sweet spot table (whilst a brilliant idea), but the maths is way out:
(1) It doesn’t appear to factor in the carrier charges – for example SYD-HNL is 57,600 pts PLUS $310
(2) The fares quoted are just plain wrong for many dates (your “random date” method does not appear to provide a typical representation) – the Business fare CNS-KIX is more like $749 to $1159!
So the CNS-KIX example should compare a $749 fare with a 48,000 pt plus $267 fees: the 48,000 pts is saving just $482 – that’s 1 cent per point. That’s throwing away a first class one way SYD/MEL/BNE to AKL worth $1300!
Just don’t ever think of redeeming onto Jetstar!!!
Otherwise, a really great article in terms of describing he “how to: process!
I learnt this the hard way last month where I was able to check in and get a boarding pass for 3J but was moved into 2E (going from the most desirable seat to the least desirable isn’t fun!)