Hard to redeem Qantas points on Emirates?

[charlesr]

I think I'm an experienced QF points redeemer. I’ve managed to fly J class every June for the past six years Brisbane to Europe, but has usually been with CX &/or BA, in to London, Paris, Frankfurt etc. I book 350-odd days in advance & not had a problem. Had time on my hands recently & out of curiosity looked at possibilities of getting to Athens nowadays - I know from past experience that it used to be virtually impossible to get there redeeming on the QF site. Turns out there's quite a choice out there now & I just happened to strike an odd day which had Emirates flights, with a simple connection in Dubai – perfect. Wasn’t able to find the same flights on any other date, searching nearly twelve months ahead & back again. I did several random searches to various destinations & realised there wasn’t much anywhere on offer with Emirates, even SYD/Dubai only had first class, not economy even. I realise their partnership with QF isn’t what it used to be, but does anybody know what the situation is now as far as redemptions between the two airlines?

 

[Dr Ralph]

I like you regularly check routes to see availability. From my 'random' checks Emirates availability has reduced over the last 6 months.

 

[azza_1992]

After two weeks of very low EK award availability showing on the Qantas website, it appears to have returned to normal (i.e. wide open Y availability, and rare but occasional J availability)

 

[Isochronous]

Even when seats are available the QF site is known to be buggy in terms of not actually showing what's available, and sometimes in showing availability when there isn't.

 

[Spizz]

There used to be plenty of Business and First class award available for EK flights. Now you are lucky if you find one business class seat with Emirates. Same with Qatar.

 

[pauly7]

Lots of last minute avails still popping up but understand that doesn’t work for most people!!