MAJOR UPDATE To Qantas Frequent Flyer Program: Classic Plus Flight Rewards

Qantas has announced major updates to its frequent flyer program by introducing Qantas Classic Plus Reward Seats. This will allow Qantas members to book more economy and qantas business class reward seats and travel for free more often! I'll walk you through everything you need to know in this video!
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▼ ▽ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
0:51 Qantas Classic Plus Rewards Overview
2:54 Value of Qantas Classic Plus Flight
6:00 Booking Classic Plus Reward Flights
7:13 Should You Book Classic Plus Flights?
8:30 My Thoughts
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[@jamesbpritchett]

I saw the news on this last week but I thought, I’ll just wait until Raymond deciphers this all into an easy to understand short video…. a week later guess what.. Raymond delivers! Thank you

[@raymondla]

Haha I’ve got you covered 🤝

[@dancowza6092]

Legendary advice. Thanks mate!!

[@CreatedTech]

Using your SYD>HDN example of 5.1 cents per point for classic rewards vs 1.5 for classic plus, means classic plus is 3.5x worse value for points. I recently scored a business class upgrade on the same route (opposite direction though) for about 100,000 points total (including the original classic rewards seat). Any more than 80-100k points for business class on that route is incredibly bad value. Looks like Qantas is gutting their frequent flyer program yet again. Clearly there is still a glut of points left over from Covid that they want to get rid of. Ok news for those with a stack of points, but bad news for everyone else churning cards or only earning 100-200k points per year. I'd wager Qantas will start slowly reducing the amount of classic rewards seats too. Add on to that how sub-par their lounges have become, it's not looking good.

[@RaahilAbhay]

Cheers for breaking that down bro

[@shaheenharoon]

great summery ! thank you

[@antoinexu219]

Very clearly explained. Thank you so much. Hence, reward plus is not so good value for international business one way redemptions in Business Class, as one way fares are priced at high cash price.

[@V1Rotate380]

Thanks for the video!

[@camiloduartef]

hey thanks for the info ! , sadly i have found... even less classic rewards.. fligths.. even on the days.. the page says will be one. now is 90% of clasic plus... witch is no great value.

[@anned9696]

I agree, the classic reward sometimes pop up in th top tab but is nowhere in the list?!

[@camiloduartef]

I found that the cheap option exist you just need to be creative picking options and airports in the multicity tabs

[@jm.4749]

Thabks for the info, youve got me Interest in churning cards too! Do you typically cancel cards before applying for new ones? Or lower the limit?

[@raymondla]

Glad you help mate! I typically open a new card and then only once I've received it, I then cancel the old card

[@oscarbucknill5631]

It's certainly a nice addition and puts the pressure off getting classic rewards flights as the only sensible way to spend your QF points!

[@raymondla]

It's definitely good to have more options! And the value isn't the worst in comparison to other options available

[@mattweller]

​@@raymondlayou are being way too generous to Qantas here. No these new Classic Plus fares are actual garbage.

[@bailey_jc]

Will you be able to use these reward seats when using a one world around the world trip on qantas flights?

[@raymondla]

No unfortunately these are only for Qantas operated domestic and international flights only!

[@joshuagiuliani3619]

Subbed and on the newsletter

[@raymondla]

Appreciate the support!

[@joshuagiuliani3619]

Do you think it’s worth putting any effort into status points? Just getting started on my Qantas points journey.

[@rabaker7253]

So is it a case that QFF now has 20 million extra seats, but at a much higher cost in terms of points than the regular Classic Rewards option. I was kind of hoping they might announce we have a huge number of extra seats in CR (such as 20 million each year), and another option (their new program) for those who want to pay a premium of points. For CR, 5m might sound like a lot but its not really - esp if not much available in premium cabins - which is what QFF members really want. Although it might be an improvement in some areas, overall I was a bit disappointed to be honest with their announcement.

[@listey]

Why disappointed? It's an overwhelming positive for anyone with heaps of Qantas points.

[@rabaker7253]

@@listey Trying to find biz class flights to USA or LatAm for Oct or early Nov - no luck. Used different routes and departing different cities - no results. I can see a few more available economy seats - but where are the biz seats? As I said - 5mn sounds like a lot, but in reality, not much improvement. Melb to LA requires over 500,000 - 800,000 points 1 way to USA from Australia in Classic+ is not what I call a great improvement.

[@smkhmrdu6626]

would i be able to somehow use travel credits that i have from amex aswell as this?

[@raymondla]

You would typically have to use your AMEX travel credits in the AMEX's own travel portal

[@leynachacha]

To use amex credit you only can book flights with amex travel which won’t able to use qantas rewards system

[@Cocosia73]

So once the “classic plus”seats are sold will there be any “classic reward”seats available?

[@raymondla]

Classic reward seats are still available and don't only appear once Classic Plus seats are sold out. Unfortunately if you can't find any classic reward seats for the dates / routes that you're planning to travel then they may have all been sold out!

[@Matt1986H]

I know some people don’t have a choice, if they want to book a reward flight on qantas. They’re terrible value though. I feel sorry for people that have to use the classic plus reward flights. I’ll be sticking to the classic reward flights.

[@raymondla]

Yeah in an ideal world everyone would book classic rewards, but I think for some they'll appreciate being able to book during peak periods! I've already noticed a lot of Classic Plus availability disappearing over the Christmas period, so people are definitely snapping them up!

[@Matt1986H]

@@raymondla there’s probably a lot of people with a lot of points saved that haven’t been able to use them. It’s a lot of work to find good classic reward seats. I understand some people don’t have the time to spend looking constantly. I agree with what you have said. I just wish they offered abit more in terms of the standard classic rewards.

[@NishaSingh-bc3qb]

Does Qantas Gold status help you find more classic reward seats over silver and bronze or not really these days since Qantas release classic reward seats in batches for all?

[@raymondla]

You're meant to have earlier access to reward seats if you're gold, but as you said it's less relevant now with how Qantas have been releasing their reward seats. It's pretty random these days as to when Qantas releases them

[@NishaSingh-bc3qb]

@@raymondla So that means it does not matter these days what status one hold with Qantas when it comes to reward seats 😟 Thank you so much for your help

[@anthonyfox9513]

Hi Raymond, can you please do a RTW QFF Classic rewards video with some great tips?

[@raymondla]

I can certainly look into that!

[@JulioSantos-dw1po]

@@raymondlathat would be awesome, cant find clear videos about rtw.

[@PerthHunter]

Basically they’re providing availability now but with significant devaluation on the value of points. Pretty ho hum.

[@listey]

I'm not sure you've fully understood this.

[@DavesWings]

​@listey either you work for Qantas or you don't understand it. That's exactly what they've done.

[@CreatedTech]

@@DavesWings Don't mind this Listey guy, he's commented elsewhere in this thread shilling for Qantas. He's probably the executive that propositioned this new rewards redemption scheme to the Qantas board.

[@listey]

No affiliation to Qantas whatsoever. I do have a fairly significant number of Qantas points that I have largely been unable to use under the existing system. It sounds like they've brought in a better system that will enable me to have better access to the flights I may want to take (albeit at a higher points cost, which seems reasonable). All things considered the additional availability of rewards flights is a positive, surely?

[@listey]

Slightly sad that someone uses their brain and is dubbed a "shill" but I guess that's the society we live in today.

[@aubattler]

Qantas Point are near worthless on USA flights, if you are not platinum or Gold

[@graceho7845]

Still terrible value with classic plus

[@mattweller]

Classic Plus is actual garbage.