Without doubt the Number 1 complaint with Qantas points is how hard it is to find First or Business Class award seats when you want to travel.
Often you get your hopes up when you see a premium award seat, only to discover may be on a less glamourous airline than you would prefer.
Searching Point To Point
Given the majority of Qantas Frequent Flyer members are based in Australia, the hardest premium seats to come by are usually out of Australia. The good news is that there are multiple flight options to Asia that have reasonable award availability like Hong Kong (HKG) and Singapore (SIN). Tokyo (NRT/HND) is also a good option as it’s a OneWorld hub for Japan Airlines.
Tip: Use Wikipedia to get a list of direct flights from your home airport.
From there you can use these cities to find onward flights to popular destination like Paris (CDG).
Multi City Search Magic
Once you’ve found the flights that work for you, head over to the Multi City award search to piece them together (making sure to select the Use Points – Classic Flight Rewards Only option):
Tip: Qantas has two Classic Award charts. Classic Flight Awards for flights on Qantas and Emirates with lower points requirements and Partner Classic Flight Awards for other carriers such as British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qatar Airways.
Always stick to the airlines within one chart to get the best points redemption. If you move between the charts the points required will be priced as two awards and require a lot more points.
