What are Qantas points worth?

The amount of value you can extract from your Qantas points varies considerably with some redemption options worth ten times as much as others. Qantas themselves do little to highlight this fact as it’s better for them if you cash your points in for a lower value reward.

Whilst there are many articles online that have attempted to assign a value to Qantas points, they almost always fail to account for how and where Australians actually travel, resulting in inflated figures that are unobtainable for most Qantas Frequent Flyer members.

This guide uses a data-driven approach to break down the value of all major Qantas redemptions to help you understand how to get the best deal when spending your hard earned Qantas points.

Methodology

For this year’s analysis we’ve developed a new model that aims to provide the most honest and realistic assessment of the value of Qantas points.

Instead of pulling random reward flights out of a hat, our dataset focused only on Australia’s busiest ten domestic routes and the ten most visited countries by Australian travellers according to BITRE and ABS data.

For premium economy and first class, some routes were substituted with flights of a comparable length as those classes are not available when travelling to all ten destination countries.

Every single flight analysed was a return trip with the same starting point as return flights are often cheaper to book than two one-way journeys. All international flights departed from and returned to either Sydney or Melbourne.

Most significantly, each reward flight was compared against the lowest consistently priced paid fare on any airline, not just the carrier that the reward happens to be on. If the cheapest cash airfare didn’t include a checked luggage allowance then it was added to the price.

Lastly, the nominally fixed values of Classic Plus and Points Plus Pay redemptions have been adjusted down to account for the average premium you will pay to book through Qantas compared to somewhere else.

Whilst this provides us with what is perhaps the best approximation of the value that you can expect to obtain from each type of Qantas redemption, there are still a few things you should keep in mind:

• These numbers are for guidance only; the value of Classic Rewards can be much higher (or lower) depending on the route, date and other circumstances
• Reward flights are limited in availability so they’re not always easy to book
• Value is subjective, especially when it comes to business and first class flights
• There’s no right or wrong way to redeem your points – how you choose to use them is entirely up to you

Flight redemptions

There are three different ways you can redeem Qantas points on flights, each with their own benefits and disadvantages:

• Classic Rewards – 1.0-3.0+ cents
• Classic Plus Rewards – 0.8-1.0 cents
• Points Plus Pay – 0.4 cents

Classic Rewards are what most people are referring to when they talk about using Qantas points to book flights. With these fares, you pay a points price which is determined by flight distance and a cash amount to cover taxes and fees (e.g. Sydney to Singapore in economy for 29,000 points and $157).

Classic Reward flights are usually the most valuable Qantas points redemption. Premium economy, business and first class Classic Rewards are generally the best but even economy can be worthwhile – especially on routes where regular airfares aren’t cheap (e.g. regional Australia).

The catch with Classic Rewards is that they’re only released in limited numbers so they’re not always easy to find and book. Often you need to be flexible with your plans and put some effort into finding a route that works for you, particularly if you’re after international rewards in business or first class.

Tools like Gyoza Flights and FlightSeats.io can help you quickly identify reward seats you can book with Qantas points and both have paid alert features you can use to be notified whenever new reward seats are released.

There are also some great Instagram accounts that post Qantas reward seat alerts as well as other tips to help you book them (e.g. The Point Whiz, The Points Coach, The Points Guru, Perk Society and All Signs Point to Travel).

Classic Plus Rewards, on other hand, are a newer type of reward flight that Qantas introduced in April 2024. What makes these flights different to Classic Rewards is that the points component of the price is determined not by flight distance but by the cash price of the same airfare.

As a result, the nominal value of a Classic Plus Reward is fixed at 1.0 cent per point for economy and 1.25 cents for business class, first class and international premium economy.

However, Classic Plus Rewards are only available on Qantas-operated flights so once you factor in the average premium that Qantas charge, those values become more like 0.8 and 1.0 cent per point, respectively.

In some cases, a Classic Plus Reward can even be cheaper than the equivalent Classic Reward if the cash price is low enough (you often see this on trans-Tasman flights) but if that’s the case then you might as well just pay cash and save your points for a higher value redemption.

However, the advantage that Classic Plus Rewards have over standard Classic Rewards is that there are more of them available to book. If you have the points but there are no Classic Rewards left on the dates and routes you want then Classic Plus may well be the only option you have.

Lastly, there is Points Plus Pay. This is the process of paying for a normal cash airfare, either partially or entirely, with Qantas points at a fixed rate of 0.5 cents per point (adjusted to 0.4 cents to account for Qantas’ price premium).

Whilst this is an abysmal rate compared to Classic Rewards and Classic Plus Rewards, the benefit of Points Plus Pay is that you can use it to book any airfare sold by Qantas.

Upgrades with points

Using your Qantas points to upgrade your flight can sometimes be great value but it depends on several factors. Points upgrades are currently only available on Qantas and American Airlines flights and not all fare types are eligible (e.g. international sale fares can’t be upgraded).

Also, the amount of points needed to upgrade varies depending on your original booking. For example, it takes substantially more points to upgrade a Classic Reward economy booking compared to a flexible economy airfare.

Even if you do have all the points required and consider it worthwhile, upgrades are far from guaranteed – especially if you’re trying to upgrade a long haul international flight as a lowly Qantas Bronze status holder.

For that reason, it’s almost always a bad idea to pay for a Qantas (or American Airlines) airfare that you wouldn’t have otherwise booked just in the hope of potentially receiving an upgrade.

Upgrades make the most sense if you’re flying for work and your employer has booked you on a flexible fare. That way you haven’t spent anything and if your upgrade is successful it shouldn’t require many points.

Other points redemptions

For simplicity’s sake, the graph above lists only hotels, gift cards and products but there are several other ways to redeem your points that aren’t necessarily related to flying. Here’s the approximate value you can expect to see when using your points on some of these other redemptions:

• TripADeal – 1.0 cent
• Hotels – 0.7 cents
• Car rental – 0.6 cents
• Wine – 0.5 cents
• BP Fuel – 0.5 cents
• Products – 0.4 cents
• Gift cards – 0.4 cents

At 1.0 cent per point, the Qantas-owned package holiday provider TripADeal is perhaps the best value redemption after reward flights. From time to time TripADeal run promotions where you can get 1.5 cents per point which makes them an even more compelling alternative to many reward flights.

With Qantas Hotels, the value per point can reach as high as 0.95 cents per point on more expensive bookings but for cheaper stays it falls to just 0.7 cents – better than a lot of the other non-flying redemptions but still not great.

Using your points to pay for gift cards, products and wine is objectively one of the worst value redemptions, especially once you consider how often those items are available for less through other stores.

Whilst there are sometimes discounts on the number of points needed to buy wine, gift cards, fuel and other products, they’re seldom generous enough to threaten the supremacy of Classic Rewards.

If you understand this and still decide to cash your points in for one of these lower value redemptions, don’t let anyone make you feel bad about it. After all, those who do help subsidise the business and first class reward flights for the rest of us!

In summary

Whilst you’re entitled to spend your Qantas points on whatever you want, the data shows that you’ll get the most value when booking reward flights, especially premium economy, business or first class Classic Rewards.

However, reward flights are released in limited numbers so you can’t always rely on them being available. Booking these flights can often require planning, flexibility and sometimes a few hacks and tricks to make it all work.

Nevertheless, you should always at least explore the idea of using your points to book flights before resorting to other options. If you still decide to redeem them on something else (e.g. gift cards, wine, toasters etc), try to time your purchase with a points discount promotion so that you’re getting the best possible deal.

Qantas points value calculator

Curious what your Qantas points balance is worth? Use our calculator to find out: