Finding Business Class award availability out of Australia on Oneworld airlines is often a challenge. But if you’d like to redeem your Qantas points to fly in Business Class to South Asia, the Middle East or Europe, it may be worth considering SriLankan Airlines.

Based in Colombo, SriLankan Airlines has been part of the Oneworld alliance and a Qantas Frequent Flyer partner since 2014. While it has reduced its schedule during the pandemic, it normally flies daily from Melbourne to Colombo. The airline also now flies a few days per week between Sydney and Colombo.

For several months in 2022, SriLankan Airlines award availability is wide open on flights from Australia to Sri Lanka. This opens up some good opportunities to redeem your Qantas points. Plus, SriLankan Airlines has no fuel or carrier surcharges – meaning you only pay airport & government taxes when redeeming your frequent flyer points to book a seat.

If you’re flying from Melbourne or Sydney to Colombo, SriLankan Airlines is clearly a convenient option with its non-stop service. But from Colombo, there are also onward connections available to many parts of the Middle East, India, the Maldives and Europe, with SriLankan flying from Colombo to Paris and London. Business Class award availability on SriLankan Airlines between Colombo and Paris is particularly excellent at the moment, with multiple award seats available on most scheduled flights for next year.

It costs 37,800 Qantas Frequent Flyer points plus $155.22 in taxes for a Classic Flight Reward from Melbourne to Colombo in Economy class, or 90,000 Qantas points + $155.22 in Business.

If you were to book a Classic Flight Reward all the way from Melbourne to Paris via Colombo, it would cost you 159,000 Qantas Frequent Flyer points + $155.22 taxes. With this itinerary, for example, the connection time in Colombo is only two hours and you’d be flying in Business Class on SriLankan Airlines Airbus A330-300s the whole way.

You could also redeem points or miles with any other Oneworld airline’s frequent flyer program (except Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, which is not currently offering redemptions on this route).

For example, a Business seat from Melbourne to Colombo would cost 80,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles + taxes, or 70,000 Cathay Pacific Asia Miles + taxes. (You can even add on a connecting flight to somewhere in India for no extra cost.)

International transits via Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo are currently allowed, with a maximum transit time of 16 hours. A pre-departure COVID-19 test may be required.

SriLankan Airlines offers lie-flat Business Class in a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone configuration on its Airbus A330-300. The onboard service is usually very good, with particularly good catering.

Current award availability trends on SriLankan Airlines flights from Australia

Award seats on SriLankan Airlines seem to have been released in batches so far for some travel dates in 2022. Seats are not available on every flight. But in the months where award seats are available, there is lots of it.

There are two main catches:

1. There is only ever a maximum of one Business Class award seat per flight out of Australia
2. There is currently little or no award availability on flights from Sri Lanka to Australia – just in the other direction

If you need two or more Business Class award seats on the same flight, or are travelling back to Australia, you would unfortunately need to consider other airlines for now. But there is currently some award availability on flights back into Australia on other Qantas partner airlines such as Japan Airlines and Malaysia Airlines. Qantas Business Class award availability between Delhi and Melbourne is also currently quite good.

From Sydney to Colombo, there are currently around two Economy award seats per flight available between 18 January and 31 March 2022. However, there is not yet any award availability on this route from April onwards.

Award seats are more plentiful from Melbourne to Colombo. There are up to 9 Economy award seats available on this route from late January until late March 2022, then again from September 2022 through to December 2022 (through to the end of the current published schedule).

You can also find 1 Business award seat on most flights from Melbourne to Colombo from April 2022 onwards.

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Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… 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.