Qantas will increase the number of points required for Classic Reward flights and upgrades from 5 August 2025. From the same day, it will also hike the carrier charges payable on international Classic Reward bookings in Business and First Class.
Following these changes, as an example, a round-trip Qantas Classic Reward from Sydney to London in Business Class will cost 332,600 Qantas Points + $1,775 in taxes & carrier charges. That’s 43,400 points and $350 more than today.
Here’s an overview of what’s changing…
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Increase in Classic Reward rates
Qantas has announced a change in Classic Reward rates across Qantas, Jetstar and partner airlines. These changes won’t go into effect until 5 August 2025, giving members over six months of notice.
We won’t know the full tables until May, but for now we do have a few examples:
| Route (airline) | Class | Points required (pre-changes) | Points required (post-changes) | Percentage increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney-Melbourne (Qantas) | Economy | 8,000 Qantas points | 9,200 Qantas points | ~15% |
| Sydney-Melbourne (Qantas) | Business | 18,400 Qantas points | 19,300 Qantas points | ~5% |
| Melbourne-Cairns (Jetstar) | Economy | 14,400 Qantas points | 16,600 Qantas points | ~15% |
| Sydney-London (Qantas) | Economy | 55,200 Qantas points | 63,500 Qantas points | ~15% |
| Sydney-London (British Airways) | Economy | 66,200 Qantas points | 76,100 Qantas points | ~15% |
| Sydney-London (Qantas) | Business | 144,600 Qantas points | 166,300 Qantas points | ~15% |
| Sydney-Los Angeles (Qantas) | First | 162,800 Qantas points | 195,400 Qantas points | ~20% |
As Qantas uses a zone-based award chart, you can expect routes of similar length to also have higher Classic Reward pricing. For example, Sydney to New York on QF3 will soon cost 63,500 Qantas points in Economy, and 166,300 Qantas points in Business Class.
Oneworld Classic Flight Reward prices will also increase as a result of these changes. For example, we expect that Economy pricing for a round-the-world itinerary on Oneworld airlines will increase from 132,400 Qantas points to 152,200 Qantas points.
Most of the highlighted examples see reward pricing increase by a moderate 15%.
Emirates moving back to Qantas Classic Reward pricing table
As part of the changes, Emirates is moving back to the Qantas tables for the purposes of Classic Reward pricing. Back in 2020, Emirates moved off the lower-priced Qantas table to the higher-priced partner airline table.
This means that Classic Reward costs for Emirates will see a much smaller increase than other partner airlines such as British Airways. For example, a Sydney-Dubai-Paris in Emirates Business Class would increase from 159,000 Qantas points to 166,300 Qantas points, a 4.5% increase.
Emirates Economy Class Classic Reward costs will slightly decrease as a result of these changes. A Melbourne-Dubai-London Economy Classic Reward on Emirates will reduce to 63,500 Qantas points, down from 66,200 Qantas points.
Note there haven’t been any changes to the extremely high carrier surcharges placed on Emirates-operated Classic Rewards.
Increased carrier charges on Qantas international flights
Qantas has also changed its calculations of carrier charges for Business and First Class redemptions, shifting these to the current Classic Plus rates. These changes will again come into effect from 5 August 2025.
Travellers will particularly feel the increased carrier charges on Business Class redemptions for routes like Sydney-Vancouver or Melbourne-Dallas/Fort Worth.
On the Melbourne-Dallas route, for example, the co-payment on a round-trip Qantas Business Classic Reward will increase from $681 to $1,301. That’s a 91% increase.
On shorter routes such as Sydney-Melbourne in Business Class, you can expect a smaller increase of $21, taking the co-payment from $55 to $76.
There will be no change to Economy and Premium Economy carrier charges at this time. And the changes are only to Qantas-operated flights, as Qantas does not control the carrier charges that its partner airlines choose to levy.
You can find a full list of Qantas carrier charges here.
Reduced lead-in reward cost for Jetstar Economy
Jetstar Economy pricing in Zone 1 (up to 600 miles) will decrease from 6,200 Qantas points to 5,700 Qantas points. This results in Jetstar having the lowest lead-in price for a reward ticket across Australia. This might be something that will annoy Velocity, which has previously advertised its lower lead-in pricing.
The reduction in pricing only affects Zone 1 redemptions – all other zones have seen an increase. This increase will likely see Jetstar still be 20% less than the Qantas equivalent Economy redemption.
Higher Classic Upgrade Reward costs
Qantas will also increase the cost of Classic Upgrade Rewards from August 2025.
The few examples that Qantas has given us so far show upgrade cost increases of between 5%-20%, similar to the increases to Classic Rewards.
The hardest hit are upgrades from Discount Economy to Business, while the increases are smaller on upgrades from Flexible Economy. The full tables should also be released by May, but for now, we have the following examples:
| Route | Upgrade | Cost (pre-changes) | Cost (post-changes) | Percentage increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney-Perth | Discount Economy – Business | 27,200 Qantas points | 32,600 Qantas points | ~20% |
| Sydney-Melbourne | Flexible Economy – Business | 5,400 Qantas points | 6,200 Qantas points | ~15% |
| Sydney-Los Angeles | Economy – Business | 98,100 Qantas points | 117,700 Qantas points | ~20% |
| Sydney-Denpasar | Flexible Economy – Business | 17,900 Qantas points | 19,700 Qantas points | ~10% |
