If you’ve been struggling to redeem your Qantas Frequent Flyer points for international flights, set your alarm clock for 11am (AEDT) this Friday, 24 February 2023.

Starting at that time, Qantas says it will release “tens of thousands” of additional Classic Flight Reward seats on international Qantas flights. These seats will be available to all international Qantas destinations including London, Los Angeles, Denpasar and Tokyo, in all classes of travel. This includes seats on Qantas-operated flights in Premium Economy, Business and First Class.

The extra Classic Flight Reward seats will likely cover travel dates between July and December 2023.

From 11am (Sydney/Melbourne time) on Friday morning, you’ll be able to book these extra seats through the Qantas website. The seats are expected to sell out very quickly.

It comes as Qantas Frequent Flyer extends its commitment to make up to 50% more reward seats available until 31 December 2023 (previously 30 June 2023).

It has become very difficult to redeem Qantas points for international flights

If you would like to redeem your Qantas Frequent Flyer points to fly overseas later this year, Friday’s seat release could be your best bet. That’s because, outside of special promotions, PR stunts and random batch releases, Qantas is now releasing very few Classic Flight Reward seats in premium cabins to the United States and other long-haul destinations.

The good news is that Qantas has around 25 other partner airlines that you can also use Qantas points to book reward seats on. Unfortunately, many of these partner airlines are also now releasing very few Classic Flight Reward seats on flights to or from Australia, and the few available seats have been selling out quickly.

To make matters worse, Qatar Airways is no longer releasing any Business or First Class reward seats to Qantas Frequent Flyer members. American Airlines award flights are also no longer available due to a recent change made by American Airlines.

Clearly, the demand for Classic Flight Reward seats currently far exceeds supply – something that Qantas has acknowledged.

“Our frequent flyers have been using their points to book reward seats in record numbers, and demand for seats on international flights is particularly strong,” Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth said.

“We’re releasing tens of thousands of new Classic Flight Reward seats to international destinations to make it easier for our members to use their points towards their next overseas trip.

“There are more than 5 million reward seats available for booking across the Qantas and Jetstar international and domestic networks over the next year.”

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.