Many Australians save up their Qantas Frequent Flyer points in the hope of redeeming them for a free flight.
Qantas Classic Flight Rewards can be great value, but they’re not entirely free. In addition to the Qantas points, you still need to pay for any taxes or airport fees. Depending on the airline you’re flying, you might also need to pay a carrier charge (previously known as fuel surcharges).
When booking a Classic Flight Reward for travel on Qantas, the carrier charges can add as much as $700 to the cost of a round-trip booking! (This is how much you could expect to pay just in Qantas carrier charges on a return Qantas Business Class redemption from Perth to Rome, Paris or London – in addition to the points and other legitimate third-party taxes & fees.)
Carrier charges on Classic Plus bookings
Since April 2024, Qantas also offers Classic Plus Flight Rewards. When booking a Classic Plus reward, the price is based on a commercial airfare. But you still need to pay the taxes and carrier charges using money.
The carrier charges on Economy and Premium Economy bookings in Classic Plus are the same as with Classic Rewards. On long-haul Business and First Class flights, the carrier charges are higher on Classic Plus bookings. For example, the carrier charges on a round-trip Classic Plus reward booking from Australia to Europe are $1,050.
How to work out the taxes & carrier charges
Unfortunately, Qantas is not entirely transparent about these carrier charges on reward flight bookings. You can find out how much you’ll need to pay on simple one-way or return Classic Flight Rewards when searching for flights on the Qantas website – if there happens to be a reward seat available when you search. But the airline does not publish a complete list of these fees anywhere.
If you want to make a multi-city booking, or your itinerary can’t be booked online (e.g. because it departs from one of the many overseas countries not supported by the Qantas website), it can be much harder to find out how much you’ll have to pay.
When making a multi-city Classic Flight Reward booking online, the Qantas website will show you the number of points you need to pay at each stage of the booking process. But the taxes and charges are only shown later in the booking process, and only if you already have enough Qantas points in your account to complete the booking.
If you do have enough Qantas Frequent Flyer points in your account and are able to book the reward flight online, you can see the Qantas carrier charge amount by clicking on “Flight amount breakdown” later in the multi-city booking process. Qantas lists its fees under the oddly-named “Air Transportation Charges” heading as “Other Carrier Charges”. This breakdown is not always available when booking a reward flight that originates overseas.
If you can’t book online, you would need to phone the Qantas call centre to find out how much you’ll be slugged in additional fees and charges.
As you can see, Qantas doesn’t exactly make it easy to work out their surcharges on Classic Flight Reward redemptions! So, we put together our own unofficial list of Qantas carrier charges.
Table of Qantas carrier charges
The amount of carrier charges you’ll pay when redeeming Qantas points depends on your route and class of travel. They apply on a per-sector basis. For example, for a return Classic Reward in Business from Adelaide to Singapore via Melbourne, you could expect to pay $308 in Qantas-imposed carrier charges. That’s $14 for each of the Adelaide-Melbourne flights, and $140 in each direction between Melbourne and Singapore.
The amounts listed in the table below apply to one-way Classic and Classic Plus Reward bookings made using Qantas points in Australian Dollars (AUD). For return flights, double the amount.
This information was correct as of April 2024 and applies to Qantas-operated flights:
| Route (one-way) | Economy | Premium Economy | Business/First (Classic) | Business/First (Classic Plus) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic Australia | $14 | $14 | $14 | $14 |
| Australia-New Zealand/Pacific Islands | $14 | $14 | $14 | $14 |
| Australia-Indonesia/Palau | $35 | – | $105 | $210 |
| Australia-Singapore/Thailand | $45 | $115 | $140 | $210 |
| Australia-Philippines | $45 | – | $105 | $210 |
| Australia-Hong Kong | $45 | – | $55 | $140 |
| Australia-Japan/China | $55 | $85 | $105 | $210 |
| Australia-India | $55 | – | $105 | $210 |
| Australia-Hawaii/US West Coast | $60 | $140 | $185 | $465 |
| Australia-Dallas/Canada | $75 | $165 | $215 | $525 |
| Australia-South Africa | $95 | $120 | $160 | $320 |
| Australia-South America | $95 | $165 | $215 | $525 |
| Australia-Europe | $140 | $230 | $350 | $525 |
| Singapore-London | $95 | $115 | $210 | N/A |
