Qantas ‘Year of Points Planes’ 2027

[Doctore1003]

Qantas will be flying points planes every month in 2027, starting with Tokyo and Hobart in Jan, and Paris in Feb. Bookable from 9am (AEDT) 6 November 2026.

Extremely limited dates (Tokyo 5 / 12 Jan; Hobart 12 / 19 Jan; Paris 22 Feb / 18 March)

https://www.qantas.com/en-au/frequent-flyer/use-points/classic-flight-rewards/points-planes

 

[elanshin]

Tokyo for early Jan seems pretty generous.

 

[levelnine]

QF likely expecting an uptick in distressed inventory as the economy heads south. Good way to offload.

 

[SYD]

QF likely expecting an uptick in distressed inventory as the economy heads south. Good way to offload.

Or just partially make up for the millions of CR seats that went MIA post Covid?

 

[kpc]

Tokyo for early Jan seems pretty generous.

Pretty cold in Tokyo / Japan in Jan, having been before.

 

[SYD]

Pretty cold in Tokyo / Japan in Jan, having been before.

Not if you’re a skier was the point of previous post.

 

[SYD]

The challenge with these “points planes” is they’re usually only one way - so you need to get home somehow else.

However, the regular booking search ought to allow peeps to book points out and $s back.

I’d be looking at cheap days home now and try those as the return date when the point seats open.

 

[MELso]

The challenge with these “points planes” is they’re usually only one way - so you need to get home somehow else.

However, the regular booking search ought to allow peeps to book points out and $s back.

I’d be looking at cheap days home now and try those as the return date when the point seats open.

In this case, there's one or two out and one or two back. So provided you can make those specific dates work, you can get a return points trip.

 

[SYD]

In this case, there's one or two out and one or two back. So provided you can make those specific dates work, you can get a return points trip.

Or try and mix ‘n match (points and $) to at least leverage one CR (with good availability).

 

[henrus]

Revenue management has identified 21 flights not selling well so passed them to the awards department?

 

[levelnine]

Or just partially make up for the millions of CR seats that went MIA post Covid?

They wouldn't care about that.

It's all about future revenue.

And there's plenty of anecdata out there that premium cabins are starting to get hit:

'“We’re still seeing the upper-class cabins booked, but maybe business class travellers might be choosing premium economy, to still get the two-week holiday,” said Emily Foy, whose family has been sending Queenslanders to the snow for more than 40 years, first on bus trips to the NSW Snowy Mountains and now on luxury holidays abroad.'

Ski travellers swap business flights for premium economy to cut costs

European winters are very much still on the cards for Brisbane’s wealthy travellers, though they’re making savings along the way.

www.afr.com

 

[SYD]

They wouldn't care about that.

Same publication.

“Qantas’ first points planes….soothing concerns from Qantas Frequent Flyer members about a lack of availability of Classic Rewards seats.”

Qantas boosts ‘points planes’ to increase its cheapest reward seats

Ten dedicated “points planes” will take off next year, giving members more options to flex their frequent flyer points in the most efficient manner possible.

www.afr.com

It's all about future revenue.

Correct. Letting QFF’ers get some value from points will have them back spending $s in the hope of more award seats.

 

[levelnine]

Same publication.

“Qantas’ first points planes….soothing concerns from Qantas Frequent Flyer members about a lack of availability of Classic Rewards seats.”

If cabins were full of paying passengers, they would not be releasing these points planes. We know that because that's exactly what's been happening since COVID-19.

It's only now that the cabins are starting to empty out that they're making noises about increasing award availability.

 

[LionKing]

Point planes to Paris in February seems a bit too late. I hope it could have happened in January which would be more attractive.