Qantas
- IATA/ICAO Code
- QF/QFA
- Airline Type
- Full Service Carrier
- Hub(s)
- Brisbane Airport, Melbourne Airport, Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport
- Year Founded
- 1920
- Alliance
- oneworld
- CEO
- Alan Joyce
- Country
- Australia
Australian airline Qantas has given its frequent flyers an enticing way to use points they stored up during the pandemic. From today, Qantas has designated more than 100 flights between Australia and New Caledonia as Points Planes, where every seat can be booked using frequent flyer points.
Time for a tropical holiday on the points
The Qantas Points Planes will operate routes between Brisbane and Sydney to Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia. Sitting in the Pacifc Ocean around 2,000 miles (3,200 km) east of Australia, New Caledonia is part of Overseas France, a collection of 13 French-administered territories outside of Europe.
Qantas operates from Sydney and Brisbane to Noumea with the Boeing B737-800, the mainstay of its domestic fleet. Photo: Qantas
With Australians in the depths of winter, a trip to a Pacifc island using frequent flyer points is an attractive proposition. Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth said that flights remain frequent flyers’ favorite way to use their points.
“We continue to see incredibly strong demand across domestic and international travel as frequent flyers use the Qantas Points they have saved during the pandemic to book reward seats in record numbers.”
Qantas uses Boeing 737-800s on both routes and, apart from certain blackout periods, frequent flyers can use points on every flight in August, September, October and November. From Brisbane, there is a weekly flight that departs from Brisbane Airport (BNE) on Saturdays at noon and arrives at Noumea La Tontouta International Airport (NOU) at 15:00. On the return leg, flight QF90 departs at 16:05 and arrives in Brisbane at 17:25. Frequency from Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (SYD) is four times a week on QF91 departing at 07:40 to arrive in Noumea at 11:30, with the return flight leaving NOU at 12:35 and landing in Sydney at 14:55. On Points Planes, every seat, including business class, can be booked with Qantas frequent flyer points or purchased in the usual way.
Aircalin is another way to get to the sun
Qantas also codeshares with Aircalin, New Caledonia’s airline, on an additional seven flights per week, where more Classic Reward seats will be available from Brisbane and Sydney. From Brisbane, Aircalin uses its Airbus A320-200neo, which it uses in tandem with an Airbus A330-900neo on the Sydney flights. According to ch-aviation.com, Aircalin has a fleet of five aircraft, one A320neo, two A330neos and two De Havilland DHC-6-300 aircraft. The airline has recently started direct flights from Noumea to Singapore Changi Airport (SIN), using the A330neo. Aircalin also operates the A330neo to Tokyo Narita International Airport.
Aircalin uses the A320neo on flights to Brisbane and in combination with the A330neo on the Noumea-Sydney route. Photo: Airbus
For Brisbane to Noumea, Qantas frequent flyers will need 12,000 points for a one-way economy seat and 27,600 points for business. The longer Sydney-Noumea flight will deduct 18,000 points in economy or 41,500 points (one-way) in business from the traveler’s account. They will also need to add pay around A$120 ($82)per booking for the usual taxes and charges. Beyond Points Planes, Qantas said millions of Classic Flight Reward seats are available across domestic and international routes for the rest of the year on Qantas, Jetstar and partner airlines.
Designating flights as Points Planes is not new at Qantas, with frequent flyers taking advantage of previous flights to New Zealand, Rome, London, Los Angeles and domestically in Australia. The airline said it would be adding Points Planes to South Korea and India in the coming months. Qantas has more than 13 million members in its frequent flyer program, while its main competitor Virgin Australia has around 10.8 million.
Are other airlines around the world offering similar Points Planes deals?
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