In June 2019, as part of its major frequent flyer program overhaul, Qantas Frequent Flyer announced it would soon be possible to redeem points to fly with four new partner airlines – Air France, KLM, Air New Zealand and Bangkok Airways.
In the months that followed, Qantas did indeed make Classic Flight Reward seats available on Air New Zealand domestic flights as well as Air France & KLM flights. But almost three years later, it is still not possible to redeem Qantas points for Classic Flight Rewards on Bangkok Airways.
Qantas already has a partnership with Bangkok Airways dating back to 2014, when it began codesharing on the boutique Thai carrier’s flights from Singapore and Bangkok to numerous destinations across Southeast Asia. These “QF” codeshares were designed to offer seamless connections to Qantas customers travelling from Australia to places like Koh Samui, Krabi, Phnom Penh or Siem Reap.
Under the current partnership, Qantas Club members and eligible frequent flyers can already enjoy lounge access (and a very small number of other benefits) when travelling with Bangkok Airways on a Qantas codeshare service.
But so far, the agreement hasn’t been extended beyond a basic codeshare arrangement – despite Qantas promising more choice to customers through a “new frequent flyer agreement” with the airline in 2019. So, what happened?
Australian Frequent Flyer understands that although the expanded partnership was delayed by the pandemic, both airlines are still working towards implementing this. Qantas still plans to offer increased benefits including frequent flyer redemptions on Bangkok Airways, and vice versa. But there is currently no timeline for when this will happen.
It’s also not yet clear whether Classic Reward seats will only be made available on routes where Qantas also codeshares with Bangkok Airways (similar to the current arrangement where Air New Zealand redemptions are only available on domestic routes).
Thailand’s border was closed for much of 2020 and 2021, but the country has now partially reopened to tourists. Both Qantas and Jetstar resumed international services to Thailand last week.
Presumably, once the partnership eventually does take effect, you’ll also be able to redeem Bangkok Air FlyerBonus points for Qantas flights. (Hopefully by then, Bangkok Airways will have updated its award redemption website so that Canberra is not listed as a city in Austria ;).)
In the meantime, it’s already possible to redeem Etihad Guest miles, Emirates Skywards miles, Qatar Airways Privilege Club Qmiles and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles for Bangkok Airways flights.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Qantas reward bookings on Bangkok Airways?
