Second Qantas Points Auction Goes Live

Prizes in the new Qantas Points Auction include a trip to Hamilton Island on a private jet
Prizes in the new Qantas Points Auction include a trip to Hamilton Island on a private jet. Photo: Qantas.

Qantas has launched its second “points auction” for 2021, with 10 unique experiences and items of Qantas memorabilia going under the hammer over the next nine days.

During Qantas’ inaugural Points Auction, which took place in August, there were five “money can’t buy” experiences and products auctioned off including a flight simulator session, Dash 8 day trip and a pair of second-hand A380 SkyBed seats.

In the new auction, rewards include luxury all-inclusive trips to South Australia, Hamilton Island, London and Vancouver, a dining experience with Neil Perry in the Qantas First Lounge and a tour of the MCG with Ricky Ponting. On the final day of the second Points Auction, Qantas will also offer a pair of pre-loved Airbus A380 Premium Economy seats and an Airbus A330 Business Class seat.

One lucky bidder will get a pair of Qantas' old A380 Premium Economy seats delivered to their home or office
One lucky bidder will get a pair of Qantas’ old A380 Premium Economy seats delivered to their home or office. Photo: Qantas.

The experiences come with lots of inclusions are for between 2 and 24 people, depending on the item. For example, the day trip from Brisbane to Hamilton Island includes return flights for up to 24 people on a luxury private jet that used to belong to the Dutch royal family, champagne on board and a scenic flight over the Great Barrier Reef.

Bidding is open from 8am-9pm (AEDT) each day from 1-9 December 2021, with the following items up for auction each day:

  • 1 December: Luxury trip to South Australia
  • 2 December: Luxury trip to London
  • 3 December: Sydney NYE package
  • 4 December: Canada ski package
  • 5 December: First Lounge dining experience with Neil Perry
  • 6 December: Huntington Golf Course package
  • 7 December: Trip to Hamilton Island for 24 people on a private jet
  • 8 December: MCG tour and lunch with Ricky Ponting
  • 9 December: Pre-loved Qantas A330 Business seat & A380 Premium Economy seats

You can learn more about any of the prizes or place a bid on the Qantas website.

The first item in the new Qantas Points Auction, an all-inclusive five-day trip to South Australia, went for 900,510 points after bidding opened at 100,000 points.

A total of 12,314,485 Qantas Frequent Flyer points were redeemed for the five prizes offered in August’s Points Auction, which were hotly contested. In several of the past auctions, the winning bids were placed in the final seconds.Ā Last time, two of the prizes were also won by the same Qantas Frequent Flyer member.

“The response from our first Points Auction was phenomenal. We saw tens of thousands of visitors to the auction site with our frequent flyers really embracing the opportunity to use their points to treat themselves and their loved ones to once in a lifetime experiences,” Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth said.

“From taking to the slopes with an Olympian in Whistler, to a private dining experience prepared by Neil Perry in the First lounge, we have no doubt that these auction items will be in hot demand. We canā€™t wait to see the bidding unfold in the coming days.”

“Throughout the pandemic frequent flyers have continued to earn points on the ground, and weā€™ll continue to provide new and unique opportunities for them to put their points to good use.”

Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Qantas Points Auction

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countriesā€¦ with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.
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Are they going to pay you to take themā€¦.?

Reply 9 Likes

well it's a way to reduce points liability I guess.

I remember when the flight sim was offered to P1's (but that's an aside)

Reply 1 Like

Seems like a clever play from Qantas. The free PR this will generate for them will be worth more than the marginal cost to Qantas of the prizes IMHO. Getting some points off the books is the icing on the cake. šŸ™‚

Reply 8 Likes

Are they offering multiples of any of these? For example the Skybeds, if they've gone to the trouble to figure out how to package them up for sale, it seems they'd want to sell off more than one pair.

Reply 2 Likes

I think this is a fun idea, and a good way for Qantas to reduce the points that must be building up with people cancelling award flights, not booking new award flights, and still earning points with credit cards, everyday rewards etc. Quite clever.

I also think they should consider some smaller point value opportunities, with multiple "winners". Even now, I would not want to spend hundreds of thousands of my points (still holding dreams of international award flights in the future), but I would spend amounts in the 50-100k bracket for something fun and unique.

Reply 1 Like

What would the consensus of the value (in points) of the Queenstown hotel package be?

I doubt I would ever pay for this, but it looks fun.

I also doubt it would go for the minimum of 300k points either.

Now I have just re read the small print: it appears food, drinks and mini bar are all payable in excess of the package.
Part of the fun of something like this is not having to get ones hand in their pocket during the stay in my opinion. A bit like the lounge. We have paid somewhere along the line, but it does not feel like it.

Reply Like

And Business Class sky beds available to bookshelf that drinks cart. šŸ¤£

Reply 1 Like

And Business Class sky beds available to bookshelf that drinks cart

HaHa, that to me seems a bit of a waste. I would have thought they would be happy for people to take these things to get them out of the way!

Reply Like

HaHa, that to me seems a bit of a waste. I would have thought they would be happy for people to take these things to get them out of the way!

Thereā€™s always someone who will pay. šŸ˜€ The toasters, for example. šŸ¤£

Reply Like

And Business Class sky beds available to bookshelf that drinks cart. šŸ¤£

Have you read the small print on the seats? No warranty, no repairs, don't operate them if anything falls into them. Requires wide access to the house. Don't move them once they're in.

Reply 1 Like