Qantas "Classic Rewards Business" ... is it effectively "non-existent" nowadays ?

[ben ifin]

Hi all !

Two 2 things

(A)

We've been looking for 6+ months for 2 x Business Return Qantas Classic Rewards seats. Mel <-> Heathrow -or- Mel <-> Manchester -or- Mel <-> most Major Euro Cities

We've used these many times before up until about 2 years ago and always did the bookings 11 1/2 months out etc.... no problems.

In the last 6 - 9 months, despite almost daily looking, there have been *zero* "Classic" Seats available - all that is there is "Classic Plus" which effectively requires nearly 4 x as many points as "Classic".

It leads me to ask:-

=> for all intents and purposes, are there now so few "Classic" seats made available, such that trying to book "Classic" seats is in reality, "impossible" / "like buying a Tatts Ticket" (?)

(B)

=> is there a way to do your search so it only looks for and shows only "Classic" sets ?

Thanks.
Ben

 

[I love to travel]

Hi all !

Two 2 things

(A)

We've been looking for 6+ months for 2 x Business Return Qantas Classic Rewards seats. Mel <-> Heathrow -or- Mel <-> Manchester -or- Mel <-> most Major Euro Cities

We've used these many times before up until about 2 years ago and always did the bookings 11 1/2 months out etc.... no problems.

In the last 6 - 9 months, despite almost daily looking, there have been *zero* "Classic" Seats available - all that is there is "Classic Plus" which effectively requires nearly 4 x as many points as "Classic".

It leads me to ask:-

=> for all intents and purposes, are there now so few "Classic" seats made available, such that trying to book "Classic" seats is in reality, "impossible" / "like buying a Tatts Ticket" (?)

(B)

=> is there a way to do your search so it only looks for and shows only "Classic" sets ?

Thanks.
Ben

The answer to A is mostly, some Asia and NZ routes have avaiilability if you can't request a seat be released due to having platinum status.
The answer to B is no

 

[Doctore1003]

Use the multi city tool (even if it's just for a single leg) and tick "flexible dates" and it will show only classic availability in a monthly view

https://www.qantas.com/au/en/book-a-trip/flights/multi-city.html

 

[Silvia]

It is certainly a lot harder. You need to be a lot more flexible these days and certainly go through the multi-city tool, allow a layover at times etc. Or, just look at diversifying with other points currencies.

 

[levelnine]

We've been looking for 6+ months for 2 x Business Return Qantas Classic Rewards seats. Mel <-> Heathrow -or- Mel <-> Manchester -or- Mel <-> most Major Euro Cities

The days of getting those types of seats (classic award 2x J to Europe) on simple itineraries (1 stop) are pretty much over.

You need to switch to Velocity/Singapore for that. See the latest AFF podcast for details.

 

[adenda]

Hi all !

Two 2 things

(A)

We've been looking for 6+ months for 2 x Business Return Qantas Classic Rewards seats. Mel <-> Heathrow -or- Mel <-> Manchester -or- Mel <-> most Major Euro Cities

We've used these many times before up until about 2 years ago and always did the bookings 11 1/2 months out etc.... no problems.

In the last 6 - 9 months, despite almost daily looking, there have been *zero* "Classic" Seats available - all that is there is "Classic Plus" which effectively requires nearly 4 x as many points as "Classic".

It leads me to ask:-

=> for all intents and purposes, are there now so few "Classic" seats made available, such that trying to book "Classic" seats is in reality, "impossible" / "like buying a Tatts Ticket" (?)

(B)

=> is there a way to do your search so it only looks for and shows only "Classic" sets ?

Thanks.
Ben

Open this webpage in 2 screens: https://www.flightconnections.com/route-map-oneworld
Type MEL in the From box on screen 1
Type LHR (or MAN etc) in the To box on screen 2 and then see what might work as an intermediate stop (or stops)
I did this successfully when trying to find a way from DOH to BCN as part of a Oneworld Classic Award which always came up blank when I searched as one segment

 

[elanshin]

Hi all !

Two 2 things

(A)

We've been looking for 6+ months for 2 x Business Return Qantas Classic Rewards seats. Mel <-> Heathrow -or- Mel <-> Manchester -or- Mel <-> most Major Euro Cities

We've used these many times before up until about 2 years ago and always did the bookings 11 1/2 months out etc.... no problems.

In the last 6 - 9 months, despite almost daily looking, there have been *zero* "Classic" Seats available - all that is there is "Classic Plus" which effectively requires nearly 4 x as many points as "Classic".

It leads me to ask:-

=> for all intents and purposes, are there now so few "Classic" seats made available, such that trying to book "Classic" seats is in reality, "impossible" / "like buying a Tatts Ticket" (?).

First part. Are you looking to fly QANTAS or use QFF. Two very different things. Flying on QF the airline is much much harder at this time frame out now. Flying on QFF points however is still more than doable with their partners (which generally have a superior product anyway).

You can still easily like clockwork find award seats for JAL, China Airlines (the one in Taiwan) and Malaysian Airlines. Cathay also has quite a reasonable amount. The issue is if you do a search for "Sydney to London" none of these options will ever show up as the preferred default is through Singapore or Dubai. You have to search - Sydney to Tokyo, Tokyo to Frankfurt for example or Helsinki.

Plenty available at 360 days on JL and 350 for CI.

(B)

=> is there a way to do your search so it only looks for and shows only "Classic" sets ?

Thanks.
Ben

Use the multi city too. Or better yet pay $15~ and use something like seat aero

The days of getting those types of seats (classic award 2x J to Europe) on simple itineraries (1 stop) are pretty much over.

You need to switch to Velocity/Singapore for that. See the latest AFF podcast for details.

I disagree with that statement that one stop on QFF is over. QFF actually has significantly better "like clockwork" releases on their partners than VFF does and its earlier. As an overall blanket statement, it is true that SQ + QR has more overall awards, but CX + JL + CI + EK are nothing to sneeze at either. It's just QF themselves that's actually hard to book and the booking engine tries to prioritise QF routes.

If anything, I've been using AC as my alternative to QFF forgoing QR but getting TK and TG as a replacement when compared to VFF. But overall Amex is probably best program.

 

[levelnine]

CX + JL + CI + EK

None of them provide one-stop J tickets to Europe for 2x passengers like clockwork to QFF points holders except for JL.

 

[elanshin]

None of them provide one-stop J tickets to Europe for 2x passengers like clockwork to QFF points holders except for JL.

CI does, CX isn't on a clockwork but quite wide open 11months out. EK is the only one that can be a bit suspect sometimes. Oh and I forgot MH.

Been doing quite a bit of searching over the last 3 months for our existing OWA and about to book another OWA for 2026 before devaluation.

 

[levelnine]

CI does,

Where are they providing 2 Jx award tickets from TPE to Europe (not Australia to TPE) like clockwork?

 

[WilsonM]

CI also has the added pain of divorcing their segments so that you often can't combine flights with the multi-city tool.

But JL out of Australia and AY to Europe is doable at booking window open.

 

[levelnine]

What I'm hinting at is that CI have stopped releasing 2x seats on most flights to EU & US. MH & JL are the only clockwork partners on QF atm.

 

[bam71]

Hi all !

Two 2 things

(A)

We've been looking for 6+ months for 2 x Business Return Qantas Classic Rewards seats. Mel <-> Heathrow -or- Mel <-> Manchester -or- Mel <-> most Major Euro Cities

We've used these many times before up until about 2 years ago and always did the bookings 11 1/2 months out etc.... no problems.

In the last 6 - 9 months, despite almost daily looking, there have been *zero* "Classic" Seats available - all that is there is "Classic Plus" which effectively requires nearly 4 x as many points as "Classic".

It leads me to ask:-

=> for all intents and purposes, are there now so few "Classic" seats made available, such that trying to book "Classic" seats is in reality, "impossible" / "like buying a Tatts Ticket" (?)

(B)

=> is there a way to do your search so it only looks for and shows only "Classic" sets ?

Thanks.
Ben

Also check ex ADL, BNE, PER and dare I say it DRW.

 

[J-P]

Others have separately answered 2 (no, but use the multi-city search).

On point 1 there is classic rewards availability but it depends on the destination. From Australia to Europe I'm seeing close to zero there, plus Santiago. USA is tricky. Other destinations yes.

From Melbourne there is classic availability in J to pretty much any destination in Asia-Pacific (Denpasar, Tokyo, Singapore, Jakarta, NZ etc) all on Qantas metal. If extended to partner redemptions then the options go up but I'm just using Qantas planes for the example.

 

[madrooster]

MH & JL are the only clockwork partners on QF atm.

AY too... I've seen them open with as much as U7 which is insane on the HKG route.