Premium Economy Flights You Can Book with Qantas Points

Premium Economy can be a great use of your Qantas Points, offering a significant upgrade over Economy.

You can of course redeem Qantas points for Premium Economy Classic Reward seats and upgrades on Qantas’ own flights. You can also redeem Qantas points to book Premium Economy on a handful of partner airlines. However, you can’t use Qantas points to book Premium Economy on all partner airlines.

Unfortunately, while Premium Economy has exploded in popularity over the last two decades, frequent flyer programs have been slow to catch up. Many airlines don’t make Premium Economy reward seats available to partner airlines. In fact, the award charts of some other airlines ignore the existence of Premium Economy entirely.

In this guide, we’ll show you the airlines where you can book Premium Economy flights using Qantas Points…

Which Qantas partners offer Premium Economy

Many Qantas Frequent Flyer partners offer Premium Economy products. These include:

• Air France
• Air Tahiti Nui
• American Airlines
• British Airways
• Cathay Pacific
• China Eastern
• China Airlines
• EL AL
• Emirates
• Finnair
• Iberia
• Japan Airlines
• KLM
• LATAM
• Qantas
• Westjet

You can earn Qantas points when buying a Premium Economy ticket all of the above airlines, depending on the route and fare class. But not all of those airlines make Premium Economy available for Qantas redemption bookings.

Airlines you can book Premium Economy using Qantas Points

These are the airlines on which you can use Qantas points to book Premium Economy…

Qantas Premium Economy

You can use your Qantas points to book Premium Economy on all Qantas aircraft that offer this product. Currently, these are the Airbus A380s, Boeing 787s and leased Finnair A330s.

These recliner seats offer six more inches of seat pitch over Economy, and are three inches wider. You’ll also get an elevated dining experience and amenities.

On a route such as Sydney-Singapore, a Classic Flight Reward in Qantas Premium Economy will set you back 51,300 Qantas points + ~$227 in taxes and carrier charges, one way.

American Airlines Premium Economy

American Airlines offers Premium Economy from Sydney to Los Angeles on its Boeing 777-300ER, as well as Brisbane-Dallas on its Boeing 787-9.

As with Qantas, you’ll get an upgraded seat with more legroom and recline. The dining experience is also an upgrade over Economy.

To book a Premium Economy reward seat on AA72 from Sydney to Los Angeles, you’ll need 81,300 Qantas points + ~$270 in taxes and carrier charges, one way.

British Airways World Traveller Plus

Premium Economy, termed World Traveller Plus by British Airways, is available on all of BA’s wide-body jets. These include the Airbus A380, A350, Boeing 777 and 787.

British Airways offers Premium Economy year-round to Sydney on their BA15/16 flight from London to Sydney via Singapore. You can book this flight in World Traveller Plus from Sydney to Singapore for 59,000 Qantas points + ~$361 in taxes and carrier charges, or all the way to London for 124,800 Qantas points + ~$600 in taxes and carrier charges.

Note that British Airways reserves its last reward seats in World Traveller Plus for members of British Airways Executive Club. Therefore, you can gain access to more reward seat availability on British Airways by using Avios. If you have points with Amex Membership Rewards, you could convert your Amex points into Qatar Airways Avios and then transfer those Avios into British Airways Avios.

Cathay Pacific Premium Economy

Cathay Pacific Premium Economy is a great option for flying to Asia, Europe and North America, being widely available on many of its aircraft. The seats are an upgrade, although the food and service is more similar to Economy Class. (That’s not necessarily a bad thing as Cathay Pacific Economy Class was recently ranked the world’s best!)

You’ll need 59,000 Qantas points to fly Cathay Pacific Premium Economy one-way from Sydney or Melbourne to Hong Kong, plus ~$250 in taxes and carrier charges.

China Airlines Premium Economy

Taiwanese carrier China Airlines offers Premium Economy on all its flights to/from Australia, often using modern Airbus A350s in a spacious 2-3-2 configuration. In fact, it’s one of only five airlines in the world to offer this Premium Economy configuration on its A350 (rather than 2-4-2).

From Australia to Taipei, Premium Economy costs 59,000 Qantas points + ~$180 in taxes and carrier charges.

This is also a great way to cross the Tasman, with China Airlines offering fifth-freedom services from both Brisbane and Melbourne to Auckland.

Japan Airlines Premium Economy

Premium Economy on Japan Airlines is a great experience, voted best in the world in 2024 by SKYTRAX. Japan Airlines is even one of the few airlines to offer lounge access to Premium Economy passengers!

Onboard, they offer you an elevated dining experience and more spacious seats.

Japan Airlines offers Premium Economy on its Boeing 787-9s and Boeing 777-300ERs which fly to Australia, as well as its new Airbus A350-1000s. As an example, you can book Premium Economy from Sydney to Tokyo for 70,800 Qantas Points + ~$410 in taxes and carrier charges.

Jetstar Business Class

While not technically Premium Economy, Jetstar Business Class is a very similar product to Premium Economy on a full-service carrier. You’ll find a more spacious seat although not lie-flat, with a better food and beverage offering.

Although Jetstar sells this as “Business”, when you use Qantas points to book Jetstar Business Class, you’ll pay the same amount of points as you would for Premium Economy on Qantas. This means, for example, you’ll pay 51,300 Qantas points to fly a route such as Melbourne-Singapore in Jetstar Business Class.

How to book Premium Economy using Qantas points

You can book Premium Economy reward seats with Qantas points on the Qantas website. Select “Premium Economy” and the “Rewards” option in your one-way or return flight search, or use the multi-city booking tool if you want to book a mix of different cabins.

When searching for one-way or return flights, the Qantas website defaults to only showing options in one cabin class at a time. To view options across all cabin classes on a single screen, select “All” from the “Cabin” drop-down menu:

Booking a Oneworld Classic Flight Reward in Premium Economy

You could book a Oneworld Classic Flight Reward in Premium Economy for a maximum price of 249,600 Qantas points per person, plus taxes & carrier charges. This is a multi-city trip with up to five stopovers, which you could even use to fly around the world!

This can be good value, but it’s tricky to put one of these together because you’re limited to using Oneworld airlines. So, for example, you can’t use China Airlines as part of your itinerary. In addition, you’ll be downgraded to Economy on any flights without availability in Premium Economy.

Wilson McTaggart

Wilson's love of travel started from a young age, but his love for points developed after figuring out ways to travel on a gap year for less - leading naturally towards Australian Frequent Flyer! Wilson's hobbies include skiing, cricket and planning trips, both with and without points.

Wilson posts on the AFF forum as @WilsonM.