Flying around the world in business class for 365,800 Qantas points and $1,100

One the best ways to use Qantas points is to book a business class Oneworld Classic Flight Reward for 365,800 Qantas points plus taxes, fees and carrier charges.

Less than two months ago I had a sudden opening in my schedule and spontaneously decided to make one of these bookings. Two weeks later I set off on a 50,000 kilometre, fourteen flight business class journey around the globe.

In this article you’ll find my itinerary, a breakdown of how these complicated Oneworld Classic Flight Rewards work and my tips for anyone planning to book one of their own.

My itinerary

By booking my trip at the last minute I was able to benefit from some great reward seats that airlines sometimes release in the weeks leading up to departure.

Specifically, once I saw that Fiji Airways had opened up some business class seats from Sydney to Los Angeles (via Nadi) I knew I could probably make the whole thing work as getting out of Australia is often the hardest part of redeeming points.

However, the downside to booking so late is that I would very likely be stuck with whatever flights I first picked as I wouldn’t have the luxury of amending my booking weeks or months later if better seats dropped.

I had planned to return from Europe via the Middle East since both Oman Air and Royal Jordanian had decent business class reward availability but as I was building those destinations into my itinerary the Iran war began breaking out.

In the end, I managed to piece together an itinerary that allowed for a short stay in the United States, longer visits to France and Poland (the destinations I was primarily interested in) and a brief sojourn in Malaysia on the way home.

I was lucky to secure business class seats for all but one of my fourteen flights. Ordinarily, I would never countenance spending 15,000 points to move from economy to business on a short Sydney to Melbourne hop but in this case I did upgrade so that I wouldn’t have to end my trip on a low note.

I won’t pretend that my final itinerary was ideal but that’s just how it is when booking a Oneworld Classic Flight Reward. You will invariably feel that some of your visits are shorter or longer than you would like but you take what you can get.

How these bookings work

The terms and conditions for Oneworld Classic Flight Rewards can be found here under the heading ‘14.4 Booking oneworld Classic Flight Rewards’.

This article is all about business class but you do have the option of booking them in other travel classes:

• Economy: 152,200 points
• Premium Economy: 287,000 points
• Business: 365,800 points
• First: 523,200 points

However, most people tend to just focus on business class because it strikes the best balance between value and achievability.

Whilst your itinerary can include multiple travel classes, you’ll be charged the price of the highest one (e.g. if you have one first class class flight and ten business flights you’ll still be charged the full first class rate of 523,200 points).

On top of the points price, you’ll also have to pay taxes, fees and carrier charges. In my case this was a reasonable $1,099.62 but you could end up paying more (or possibly even less) depending on the flights you choose.

Here are the basic rules for Oneworld Classic Flight Rewards:

• You must fly at least two different Oneworld airlines
• Your trip must be within 56,315 kilometres (35,000 miles)
• Up to sixteen flight sectors are allowed
• Up to five free stopovers are allowed
• Only one stopover is allowed in any one city
• Only two transfers are allowed in any one city
• Your last flight must be within 12 months of your first flight

Stopovers are stays of more than 24 hours whilst transfers (transits) are stays of within 24 hours. Whilst my itinerary shows two flights to Paris, only one was a stopover whilst the other was simply a transfer as my next flight to Kuala Lumpur departed within 24 hours.

You are allowed to have surface sectors (e.g. fly into Paris, make your own way to the Netherlands and then fly out of Amsterdam) but the distance between the two points will still be factored into your booking.

Only one departure is allowed from the city or country where your itinerary begins so you cannot, for example, start your trip in Australia and then return home mid-journey before flying overseas again.

As the name suggests, Oneworld Classic Flight Rewards only work with Oneworld airlines so don’t make the mistake of trying to include a non-member airline such as Jetstar, Emirates, LATAM, Air France etc.

You can book Oneworld Classic Flight Rewards online using Qantas’ multi-city search tool or over the phone. There’s a fee for phone bookings but it’s waived if the website won’t let you book online (a common occurrence).

If you’re booking more than ten flight sectors in one go, you’ll have no choice but to use the call centre as the Qantas multi-city tool will only allow you to book up to ten online.

What it really cost

365,800 points and $1,100 sounds very cheap but it doesn’t quite tell the whole story.

On top of the 365,800 points, I paid an extra 10,000 points because I called Qantas twice to make changes to my booking (5,000 points fee each time you call). In hindsight, I should have made both of those changes in a single call and saved myself 5,000 points.

Since there were no business class reward seats available for my final Sydney to Melbourne flight, I decided to spend an additional 15,000 points to upgrade it. This really wasn’t necessary but I didn’t want to end my trip in economy.

Then there’s the cost of earning those points. Contrary to the name of this very website, the points you earn almost always cost you something.

Sometimes this is a direct cost (e.g. the annual fee on a points-earning credit card) whilst in other cases it may be an indirect or opportunity cost (e.g. choosing to receive 1,000 Qantas points instead of $10 off a Woolworths shop).

It’s difficult to assign an exact figure since I earn Qantas points in so many different ways but it wouldn’t be unreasonable to say that the whole booking effectively cost around $5,000 which is still excellent value.

Tips for booking a Oneworld Classic Flight Reward

Be realistic

If you’re a highly flexible solo traveller and aren’t too fussed about when and where you go, you should be able to book a Oneworld Classic Flight Reward without too much work. Even if you’re booking for two it could still be possible.

However, if you’re hoping to take your whole family on a globe-spanning adventure in business class during peak travel periods then you’re probably out of luck.

By all means give it a go but be prepared for disappointment. These days it’s often a challenge to book a single business reward class flight so trying to piece together a dozen of them requires a lot of patience, research and, frankly, luck.

Use the right search tools

Attempting to book a Oneworld Classic Flight Reward using only the Qantas website or multi-city search tool is a torturous exercise.

Instead, use Qantas’ new Flight Reward Finder or one of the more advanced third-party search tools like seats.aero, FlightSeats or Gyoza Flights.

This will allow you to quickly and easily find more reward flights by searching region-to-region (e.g. Australia to Asia) instead of city-to-city (e.g. Sydney to Singapore). You can also search across a much broader range of dates.

Don’t use the Oneworld Round the World tool that’s linked on the Qantas search page as that’s a separate thing. In fact, when dealing with Qantas you should avoid saying ’round-the-world’ altogether as the correct term is Oneworld Classic Flight Reward.

Once you’ve identified suitable flights, you can punch them into Qantas’ multi-city search to see if they can be booked. If the website won’t allow you to book online (this happens a lot), call Qantas and they should waive the phone booking fee.

You can also use the Great Circle Map to check how close you are to the 56,315 km limit, although bear in mind that Qantas’ own measurements are slightly different so if you’re right on the edge of the limit you might actually be over it as far as they’re concerned.

Last minute bookings are sometimes easier

Ideally, you’d want to book one of these trips far in advance. That way you have the most options available to you and you can amend your booking later on for a fee of 5,000 points per person if more desirable seats appear.

However, as I can personally attest, the benefit of booking days or weeks before departure is that you can take advantage of some fantastic reward seats that airlines often release at the last minute.

It’s worth keeping this in mind if you suddenly find that you have some spare time on your hands and a sizeable Qantas points balance ready to go.

Be prepared to spend a lot of time on the phone

If your Qantas status isn’t very high then you’ll likely be spending a few hours on the phone unless you get lucky and can book your entire itinerary online with no later changes required.

What is particularly infuriating is that sometimes you’ll be connected to Qantas staff who insist that something is impossible when it isn’t.

For example, one agent I spoke to was adamant that a particular flight couldn’t be added to my booking but after hanging up and calling back (yet another hour on hold) I was able to speak to someone else who was easily able to accomplish it.

Ensure your booking is ticketed before hanging up

If you’re placing or changing a booking over the phone, make sure they successfully ticket your itinerary before you hang up. Let them know that you’re happy to wait on the call until your new ticket is emailed to you.

This is crucial because if your flights aren’t ticketed or re-ticketed within a certain period of time (sometimes just a few hours) then you may end up losing your seats.

If you ever find yourself in this situation, you should email rewardticketingescalations@qantas.com.au but it’s worth remembering that Qantas cannot compel their partner airlines to release new reward seat space for you.

Look for airlines with low carrier charges

When you book a reward flight you have to pay taxes, fees and carrier charges on top of the points price. The taxes and fees are largely unavoidable costs such as government levies whilst carrier charges, on the other hand, are decided by each individual airline.

This means you can potentially save hundreds or even thousands of dollars by booking flights on airlines that have low or no carrier charges (e.g. Finnair, Fiji Airways etc).

Note that carrier charges can vary a lot even for flights on the same airline. For example, international business class can be quite pricy on Japan Airlines and American Airlines but their domestic reward seats generally have no carrier charges at all.

Avoid countries with high departure taxes

Another way to save money when booking reward flights is to avoid flying out of countries with high departure taxes.

The United Kingdom’s Air Passenger Duty is a major one to watch out for as it can increase the cost of a single long haul business class flight by almost $500.

The booking summary page on the multi-city search tool provides a breakdown of all the taxes, fees and carrier charges for the flights you’ve chosen. If you find that some of them are too high, you can try searching for alternatives.

Business class isn’t the same everywhere

In Australia we’re fortunate that business class usually always comes with lounge access, a better seat and a decent meal. In other countries those things aren’t guaranteed.

For example, American Airlines ‘first class’ domestic flights do not include lounge access (mercifully, I was still able to get into the Admiral’s Club thanks to my Qantas Club membership) and, depending on the time of departure, you may only be given a packet of peanuts to eat onboard.

Similarly, on intra-European flights business class is generally just an economy row with the middle seat blocked off. It’s better than nothing but it doesn’t quite compare to the business class thrones you’ll find on Qantas and Virgin’s domestic fleet.

It’s a good idea to research each flight you’re considering so you know exactly what to expect and don’t end up disappointed.

Get expert advice

The Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Definitive Thread on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum is an incredible resource. If you have a question about making one of these bookings, chances are you’ll find the answer there.

If you don’t have much experience booking reward flights, you might also want to engage a professional such as The Point Whiz, The Points Coach or The Points Guru. Even just following their public posts on social media can help alert you to important news or reward seat releases.

In summary

There is no doubt that a business class Oneworld Classic Flight Reward is one of the greatest ways you can spend your Qantas points.

However, they are by no means easy to book. In my case, it was only really possible because I was extremely flexible with when and where I was going.

Whilst the end result wasn’t exactly my dream itinerary, it still made for a thoroughly enjoyable trip around the world that was well worth the 365,800 Qantas points and $1,100 I paid for it.