Reward Seat Alert: Qantas First Class to Johannesburg

From 8 July 2024, Qantas will upgrade its Sydney-Johannesburg route to a double-decker Airbus A380.

The introduction of the A380 also means the re-introduction of Qantas First Class service to South Africa. On that front, there’s some very good news for Qantas Frequent Flyer members who’d like to redeem their points…

We’re currently seeing up to nine Classic Flight Reward seats available in First Class on QF63 from Sydney to Johannesburg:

It’s a similar story for award availability on QF64 from Johannesburg to Sydney:

These seats are only available if you have Qantas status

These seats are available for travel dates between 8 July and around 22 August 2024. However, these seats are currently only available to Qantas Frequent Flyer members who have status.

If you have Qantas Gold, Platinum or Platinum One status, you should be able to redeem your points for any available reward seats until the end of the published schedule – which is 353 days in advance. Qantas Silver members may get access to seats around 323 days in advance. Note that you’ll need to be logged into your Qantas Frequent Flyer account to see the available reward seats.

Unfortunately for those without Qantas status, Qantas typically doesn’t release any premium cabin reward seats on long-haul flights until around 297 days prior to departure. But Qantas Frequent Flyer does allow members to book Classic Flight Reward seats for eligible family members. You can also transfer up to 600,000 Qantas points per year to or from a family member.

How many Qantas Points do you need to fly First Class to South Africa?

It costs 142,300 Qantas Frequent Flyer points + $253 in taxes and carrier charges, per passenger, to book a Qantas First Classic Reward ticket from Sydney to Jo’burg on QF63.

A return trip in Qantas First Class from Sydney to Johannesburg would cost 284,600 Qantas Points + $488 in taxes and carrier charges.

Enjoy a winter safari in South Africa!

If you’re thinking about booking a holiday next winter, why not enjoy a spectacular South African safari… and get there in style in Qantas First Class?

In fact, if you have enough points, this could be a rare opportunity for you to take your whole family to Africa at the front of the plane!

You can’t even buy these tickets with money (yet)

Qantas announced the A380 upgrade for its Sydney-Johannesburg route a couple of weeks ago. Bizarrely, although there is First Classic Flight Reward availability, Qantas isn’t yet even selling these flights for money.

If you try to search for First Class seats from Sydney to Johannesburg on the Qantas website, the only options in the drop-down list are Economy, Premium Economy or Business.

On the flight results page, you can change the class of travel to First. However, the Qantas website still shows no flights available:

If you do the same search but you’re logged into a Qantas Frequent Flyer account that has access to the First Class reward seats, you will then be shown the Classic Flight Reward options:

If you’d like to book a seat, we’d suggest getting in quickly!

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.