What do people put the lack of partner availability down to?
It is both a demand and supply problem.
Demand for award travel has increased due to more people sitting on larger piles of points, having been able to collect points, but not redeem points, for 2+ years. Also, the attraction of flying business class has only increased due to an enhanced desired to sit further away from strangers.
Supply for award seats has dramatically decreased. On Qantas' own flights, they have only half the number of seats flying to key destinations, such as the US, compared to pre-COVID.
On Qantas' partners, supply has dramatically decreased for different reasons:
- Qatar because Qantas appears to be in a dispute with them and because Qatar appear to have shifted allegiances to Virgin
- Cathay because of the HK lockdown (slowly getting better)
- JAL because of Japan's lockdown (slowly getting better)
- Emirates for some unknown reason (presumably because they are filling their planes with cash passengers)
- AA because it has shifted to dynamic pricing, leaving few classic flight rewards
- UL because the airline is teetering on the brink of financial collapse
- LATAM left oneworld and has aligned with Delta (though some availability is coming back)