How to book Qantas' new Melbourne-Perth-London flight with points
By Chris C., April 28 2017
From March 24 2018, Qantas will swap its Airbus A380 Melbourne-Dubai-London flights with a new Melbourne-Perth-London service, which Qantas Frequent Flyer members can book using their hard-earned Qantas Points.
While it marks the end of Qantas first class flights from Melbourne to London, travellers can still use their points to book business class, premium economy and economy on the Roo’s new Australia-London route.
As with other Qantas journeys, you can search for ‘classic flight rewards’ via the Qantas website: just plug in ‘Melbourne to London’ or ‘Perth to London’ and enter your preferred travel date.
Alongside reward opportunities with partner airlines like Cathay Pacific and Emirates, keep your eyes peeled for flight QF9 (or QF10 on the return leg), which will appear if a reward seat is available:
From Melbourne through to London (via Perth), you’ll need 128,000 Qantas Points for a business class ticket, 96,000 Qantas Points for a seat in premium economy and 60,000 Qantas Points to fly in economy.
You’ll also pay an amount on the side in real money which can vary based on your specific route, travel dates and class of service: but for a straight Melbourne-Perth-London trip in business class on QF9, you’re looking at a payment of $620.14 in addition to the points required:
Passengers flying solely from Perth to London will need a lower 112,000 Qantas Points to fly up in business class, 84,000 Qantas Points for a journey in premium economy and 55,000 Qantas Points for a one-way economy flight.
However, there’s a catch: just because you can find a reward flight on the entire Melbourne-Perth-London route doesn’t necessarily mean that the same reward option will be available for a booking solely from Perth to London.
On the dates we searched, we could only find these business class rewards when beginning the journey in Melbourne: searching from Perth, even on the same date, returning nothing at all.
It’s also possible to book only the Melbourne-Perth and Perth-Melbourne segments of these flights using points, although Qantas is not yet releasing any reward availability on QF9/10 purely for domestic travellers, with paid tickets also priced at a premium compared to other flights on the route.
Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.
QANTAS
12 Jun 2014
Total posts 22
Will there be an inaugural Domestic Flight? Have been waiting 😊
10 Feb 2012
Total posts 10
Noticed only 480 Status Credits earn on J Class from Sydney, verses 560 via Dubai. Will stick to QF/EK (or Etihad alternatively). More comfort, room, more choice, more service, more status, more points.
30 Nov 2016
Total posts 21
I don't believe that's correct. In entering a dummy booking in J (business saver) for 4 April 2018 SYD > PER > LHR (QF577 & QF9) returning 6 April LHR > PER > SYD (QF10 & QF566, the message received is:
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
26 May 2014
Total posts 464
If QF are going to give MEL based customers preferential access to award bookings, that will be another reason for PER customers to not use this new service. QF may find it a challenge to win back the customers that they forced to find alternatives to flying QF to LHR.
05 May 2016
Total posts 619
So, no discount for the inferior service. Typical.
24 Apr 2012
Total posts 2441
Frequent flyer reward seats vary from flight to flight: airlines typically only release reward seats on flights where they believe that particular seat won't be bought by a fare-paying passenger, so the number of available reward seats will vary based on expected sale volumes on each flight. :)
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
28 Oct 2011
Total posts 462
05 May 2016
Total posts 619
The A380 can be used on better routings for MEL, offers F seats as an option, most likely would have greater numbers of award seats, upgrades etc. and is overall better for passengers.
The seat problem is easily fixed by refurbishing the A380 with the new seats. The seats are a weak justification for no longer offering the A380 service.
03 May 2012
Total posts 120
The seats are not the justification. The justification is to provide a service on QF from Melbourne to London, on a modern aircraft with a lovely cabin, in circumstances where the A380 service was unprofitable because not enough people were paying to occupy the larger premium cabins.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
18 Aug 2014
Total posts 72
Boring seat Qantas, but great to see still holding onto the princess of the sky...
15 May 2017
Total posts 1
Just as I expected. The new non-stop flight Perth to London does not exist for Perth passengers, as preference will be given to Melbourne (or Sydney) customers.
Jetstar Airways - Qantas Frequent Flyer
13 Oct 2017
Total posts 3
Not pleased to read all the comments as I live in Perth and like to use points. Perhaps I will look for better value carriers and continue to fly to Europe with one stop instead.
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