QANTAS: Round the world flights need more classic rewards

Qantas Frequent Flyers are great hoarders of points for that special trip. They think in terms of an around-the-world trip in business class on Qantas and other OneWorld members and partners. Besides the fact that these are a nightmare to try and book yourself without the assistance of the premium call centre, by the time you have saved the points, their value will have fallen through the floor.

Being able to book those Oneworld Classic Flight Reward round the world trips is about to get even more expansive, in both points and fees. They are classified as Zone 10 in the Qantas rewards chart, and will allow you to fly up to 15 sectors, with a max of five stopovers.

Round-the-world redemptions

The round-the-world OneWorld redemption category fits in Zone 10 and permits a maximum of 35,000 miles for 15 flights with up to five stopovers.

First Class round-the-world

A First Class OneWorld round-the-world redemption now sets you back 455,000 points, but after 5 August, it will be 523,200. That’s a 15% increase.

Business Class

Currently, that will set you back 318,000 miles—if you can find the seats on the flights you want. From 5 August, that escalates to 365,800 points, a 15% increase.

Premium Economy

The next best is a premium economy round-the-world points redemption, currently 249,600 points. That will increase to 287,000 points from 5 August, again, about 15%.

Economy

That’s up from 132,400 to 152,200 Qantas Points after 5 August. Again just shy of 15%.

2PAXfly Takeout

I think the golden rule here is: don’t wait too long to use your points, or they will devalue. We all need to find the balance between the time it takes to accrue the points and the time it takes for Qantas to devalue them.

I’ve been pursuing a bit of a split strategy. With my points earned on Qantas and partners, I spend them on upgrades, particularly on certain domestic sectors. With accrued points on credit cards, which can be applied to multiple airlines, I save those into the hundreds of thousands for international premium long haul. At least there, I can apply them to a choice of different airlines, including OneWorld members. Well, that’s my reasoning anyhow.