How to use Qantas Points to book Emirates flights

Want to make your Qantas frequent flyer points fly even further? Here's how you can use them to book a flight with Emirates and travel to scores of destinations via its Dubai hub.

If you're looking to travel with a dash of luxury you'll certainly appreciate the popular business class bar and the shower suites available to first class passengers.

Emirates' Airbus A380 inflight bar: fly high with style

Best of all, complimentary chauffeur transfers are still offered with every Emirates business class and first class booking made with points (except for purely trans-Tasman itineraries).

This is a major benefit which isn’t usually given on reward bookings with other airlines, and will certainly make your journey flow a lot smoother.

For Australian travellers, the main attraction of Emirates’ network will undoubtedly be its forty destinations in Europe – all of which can be reached through one stop in Dubai. These mostly eliminate the need to backtrack from a major hub such as London.

Connections through Dubai to the USA and Africa are also viable options from Australia, particularly if it’s hard to redeem points for more direct routes.

Closer to home, Emirates operates a number of what are called ‘fifth freedom’ flights – direct flights between Australia, New Zealand and Asia which don’t go through Dubai – and can be booked on their own as a one-way or return journey. These include:

• Sydney to Christchurch and Bangkok
• Melbourne and Brisbane to Singapore
• Auckland to Denpasar/Bali

This opens up the possibility of enjoying Emirates’ long-haul aircraft on routes usually served by smaller planes, such as those seen across the Tasman.

Booking Emirates flights with Qantas Points: key routes

Emirates flies from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth to Dubai, before connecting to destinations in Europe, Africa, the USA and beyond.

If you don’t live in one of those five capital cities but are near an airport served by Qantas or QantasLink, you can usually add a connecting flight to one of those cities for no extra points and a minimal increase in taxes.

Here’s a map showing just a few examples of routes from Australia – you can check Emirates’ website for a full list of destinations.

Dubai’s location makes it an ideal transit point between Australia and Europe. Passengers from Adelaide or Perth may also find it easier to fly to New York with Emirates, rather than making two inconvenient stops through an Australian east coast city and then through another hub within the United States.

Booking Emirates flights using Qantas Points: how many points you’ll need

To start planning your next trip, here’s how many Qantas Points you’ll need to book one of Emirates’ direct flights between Australia, New Zealand and Asia. For a return journey, simply double these figures.

If you’re just headed one-way to Dubai from Australia, this is what you’ll need.

If you’re connecting through Dubai and heading further afield, here’s how many points you’ll require on routes to London or New York. Emirates’ other European destinations will be priced the same or slightly cheaper, depending on the distance from Dubai.

The points required for Emirates flights are identical to the amounts required for equivalent Qantas flights, making it marginally better to book with Emirates rather than other Qantas partner airlines such as Cathay Pacific and Qatar Airways.

However, note that Emirates reward bookings attract high carrier charges, just like Qantas. Using Sydney to London as an example, Emirates’ carrier charges range from $287 in economy to $647 in first class for a one-way redemption.

Because it’s extremely difficult to get premium reward availability across the Pacific to the USA, Australia to New York on Emirates is a good option to keep in mind with plenty of business and first class availability through Dubai. It also doesn’t cost any more points than flying to London, although you’ll need to allow for up to seven more hours in the air.

How to book Emirates flights with Qantas Points

Here's a walkthrough for booking an Emirates flight using your Qantas frequent flyer points. This can be a bit tricky, as certain routes (such as Sydney-Dubai-New York) don’t show up by default –  you’ll need to use a multi-city tool to find them.

Log into your Qantas Frequent Flyer account, enter your proposed flight details – in this example it's Melbourne to Singapore in first class – and ensure the ‘Use Points - Classic Flight Rewards only’ button is selected.

It also pays to be flexible when looking for reward seats, so check that box too if you have some leeway in your dates.

A calendar pops up where you can filter the search results down to first class seats only. Luckily, there's already availability on the date specified plus plenty of availability for the whole month.

In fact, there are first class seats available on both Qantas and Emirates for 90,000 points each. If you're working during the day you may find Emirates’ evening departure to be more convenient.

Then it’s as simple as checking the flight details and taxes owing (in this case, $325.58), entering your passenger details and payment details…

… and voilà, your booking is confirmed. You’ll notice in your Manage Booking page, Qantas will also issue you with another booking reference (PNR) to use on Emirates’ website to choose seating and make other requests.

However in practice, either airline booking reference will work fine on Emirates’ website.

Booking Emirates flights with Qantas Points: making multi-city bookings

Because Qantas and Emirates reward flights are priced identically in points, you can seamlessly add domestic connections to your itinerary and access an Emirates flight from any Australian airport served by Qantas, all on the one booking.

This can be particularly useful for regional travellers who use Qantas or QantasLink to connect to major cities, often at hefty prices.

The multi-city tool lets you find and choose flight combinations that might not be automatically presented when you search initially. In this example, the search is on for first class availability on Emirates from Launceston to New York.

It’s not looking good as the calendar reveals there is not a single business or first class seat available on that route for the whole month.

Closer examination reveals that there are no Emirates options at all, as the system is trying to route me eastwards with Qantas, American Airlines and Jetstar in economy.

But I know QantasLink flies to Melbourne, and from there Emirates should have some availability around those dates, so it's time to bring the multi-city tool into play.

Enter each individual flight segment and the dates required. Ensure Classic Flight Rewards is selected again.

Then go through and select each individual flight, depending on what’s available. Launceston to Melbourne is operated by a Dash-8 which only has Economy...

... but from Melbourne, there's an Emirates flight with First Class seats available for Qantas Points (this is on the EK405 Airbus A380 service which travels via Singapore)...

... as does the onwards Emirates flight (another A380) from Dubai to New York.

Once selected, the pricing is confirmed at 192,000 Qantas Points for all three flights from Launceston - the same cost as if I had started my journey from Melbourne, and essentially giving the QantasLink flight for free.

Almost any Emirates route can be booked using your Qantas Points through one of these two methods, and with such a wide network available, it’s easy to see how those Qantas Points can get you to any corner of the globe.

Brandon Loo

Based in Perth, Brandon enjoys tucking into local delicacies, discovering new cocktails, and making aeroplane food look good on camera.