How to book a seat on Qantas' exclusive Airbus A380 frequent flyer jet

UPDATE 15/5/19 | Qantas has now opened bookings for all seats on its special Airbus A380 frequent flyer charter from Melbourne to Tokyo.

It's a one-off service with every seat on the superjumbo – from the entire first class cabin of 14 suites, through to 371 economy seats down the back of the (Air)bus – available for booking with Qantas Points, at the following Classic Flight Reward rates:

• first class; 108,000 Qantas Points plus $272 in taxes, fees and carrier changes
• business class: 72,000 Qantas Points plus $272
• premium economy: 54,000 Qantas Points plus $257
• economy: 35,000 Qantas Points plus $182

Visit the Qantas website and log to your Qantas Frequent Flyer account, as usual. Search for Flights (one way) and select Use Points for your booking.

Set your route as Melbourne to Tokyo (Narita) departing Monday 21 October 2019, and make sure you choose flight QF79.

As at 7am today, when bookings opened, it was a rare sight: frequent flyer award seats available in business, premium economy and economy (for some reason, first class wasn't showing at the time of writing).

[Update: first and business class on this flight sold out within the first ten minutes, although as at 9.45am we're told there are plenty of seats left in premium economy and economy.]

Of course, you've also got to get back from Tokyo.

The Airbus A380 won't be covering the return leg, so Qantas is putting on an Airbus A330 as a dedicated Points Plane for Tokyo-Melbourne departing as QF80 at 8.05pm on 26 October.

Every seat on that A330 will available at the standard Classic Flight Reward rate of 72,000 Qantas Points in business class or 35,000 Qantas Points for economy.

Other return flights and dates are of course available as per usual, with a choice of Classic Reward seats or 'Points Plus Pay' bookings on either Qantas or Oneworld partner Japan Airlines.

Also read: How to book Japan Airlines flights online using Qantas Points

As to why these Airbus A380 and A330 jets are just doing one leg, the others are "being used as a charter flight for another purpose," a Qantas spokeswoman told Australian Business Traveller, but declined to offer more details on those flights.

PREVIOUS | Do you sometimes have trouble finding a seat to spend your Qantas Points on? We know the feeling. So, it would seem, does Qantas – with the airline making an entire Airbus A380 available for frequent flyer bookings.

Scheduled to fly from Melbourne to Tokyo on 21 October 2019, this 'Points Plane' is the first in what Qantas promises will be "a series of dedicated Frequent Flyer redemption flights across its network with seats only available to members redeeming Qantas Points."

In the case of the Airbus A380, that means all 484 seats from tip to tail: the entire first class cabin of 14 suites, through to 371 economy seats.

And in the case of this particular flight, it's not as if anybody needs a reason to fly to Tokyo.

The Points Plane superjumbo departs Melbourne as flight QF79 at 10.30am on October 21, and will arrive into Tokyo's Narita airport at 6.30pm.

All seats go on sale at 7am on Thursday 16 May at qantas.com/pointsplane at the following one-way rates:

• first class; 108,000 Qantas Points plus $272 in taxes, fees and carrier changes
• business class: 72,000 Qantas Points plus $272
• premium economy: 54,000 Qantas Points plus $257
• economy: 35,000 Qantas Points plus $182

There's no status-based ranking of availability: every seat is available to every frequent flyer, on a first-come first-served basis.

As to getting back from Tokyo: the Airbus A380 won't be covering the return leg, as it's being used as a charter flight, so Qantas is putting on an Airbus A330 as a dedicated Points Plane for Tokyo-Melbourne departing as QF80 at 8.05pm on 26 October.

Every seat on this special charter flight will available at the standard Classic Flight Reward rate of 72,000 Qantas Points in business class or 35,000 Qantas Points for economy.

Other return flights and dates are of course available as per usual, with a choice of Classic Reward seats or 'Points Plus Pay' bookings.

Qantas says passengers on its inaugural Points Plane will enjoy "a distinctive inflight service with special on-board experiences including a bespoke cocktail and meal service, signature pyjamas and inflight giveaways.'

“This is the first time we have dedicated an entire aircraft – let alone an A380 – to our frequent flyers, and we are expecting to see significant demand for these flights,” says Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth.

"If this concept is a success, which we think it will be, Qantas hopes to operate more regular Frequent Flyer only flights to other international and domestic destinations in the near future."

Points Plane flights will become available when Qantas moves aircraft around the network for a range of operational and commercial reasons.

Likely candidates would be some of the Airbus A380s making their way back from being upgraded through to the end of 2020.

David Flynn

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.