Qantas - Emirates Award flight Discussion

[Aeryn]

There are very few award seats released during peak travel times and January is peak as its school holidays. Any that were available were likely snapped up when they first dropped in Jan/Feb (11-12 months out).

I have done a lot of searches recently trying to find better flight home form Europe in May and June and I keep getting Emirates flights offered which I do not want because they are not a OW partner and I'm trying to modify a OWA. So if you plan in advance there are EK seats at classic award rates.

 

[Andy72]

Emirates availability is good, mostly due to the high fees. Almost the same price to fly paid Qatar from Jakata as the tax on emirates

 

[MELso]

Emirates availability is good, mostly due to the high fees. Almost the same price to fly paid Qatar from Jakarta as the tax on emirates

Yeah - business awards on EK are not really worth it due to the carrier charges (they're mostly not taxes!). Fortunately, with EK tightening up availability to their own members, Qantas now has fairly good availability for F awards.

 

[Andy72]

Yeah - business awards on EK are not really worth it due to the carrier charges (they're mostly not taxes!). Fortunately, with EK tightening up availability to their own members, Qantas now has fairly good availability for F awards.

Flying Hong Kong to Milan next year, lots of options in F

 

[DCFF1961]

Have you tried booking Mel Denpasar Dubai..if you fly JQ to Denpasar then J with Emirates onwards…you will find the taxes drop to $140..

 

[MonteCristo]

You need to call Qantas to book this route.

I have done so in the past, and the second agent could see plenty of availability. Not sure where the first one was looking!

Funnily enough, I posted here for help after phoning Qantas this morning. And the agent couldn't find anything - went back about 90 days in the calendar just as an exercise to try to understand what the availability rules are and still nothing. And they informed me that they couldn't say when there would be availability.

Maybe it was a dud agent. I'll give it another week or two and see if any new seats are triggered, and/or have better luck with an agent.

 

[Mattg]

Funnily enough, I posted here for help after phoning Qantas this morning. And the agent couldn't find anything - went back about 90 days in the calendar just as an exercise to try to understand what the availability rules are and still nothing. And they informed me that they couldn't say when there would be availability.

Maybe it was a dud agent. I'll give it another week or two and see if any new seats are triggered, and/or have better luck with an agent.

FWIW I had no luck getting the South African call centre agents to find availability on this route. Called back and got Hobart, and they found availability on the first flight I asked for.

 

[lovestotravel]

Seats up to around 29th May are available to book at the moment - on other routes

 

[lovestotravel]

Seems AU to DXB has dried up after 7 March 26 in J or F

Nothing and some seats should be loaded until the 1st week of June at the moment.

Normally 1 x F and 2 or 3 x J on most days but after 7 March, nothing

Hope it fixes itself soon

 

[MELso]

Seems AU to DXB has dried up after 7 March 26 in J or F

Nothing and some seats should be loaded until the 1st week of June at the moment.

Normally 1 x F and 2 or 3 x J on most days but after 7 March, nothing

Hope it fixes itself soon

There is some availability, especially out of ADL, but it's patchy. Not like before March where there is plentiful availability from all AU cities.

 

[MelbFlyer]

Search as Multi-City (flexible dates) AND make sure to sort by duration.

Pretty sure that there isn't an option within the Multi-City tool to sort by duration, unless you're using the "regular" flight search page (not within the classic rewards multi-city portal).

 

[lovestotravel]

There is some availability, especially out of ADL, but it's patchy. Not like before March where there is plentiful availability from all AU cities.

Yeah something has changed... Other routes that I am looking at are fine with normal availability up to end of May but literally nothing MEL/SYD to DXB from 7 March onwards.

 

[RedSMS]

The point that I am trying to make is that with the sheer amount of EK flights ex Sydney and Melbourne, you should be able to book direct flights from either destination for 119,200 points +$$$. The way they force you to fly indirect when you KNOW there are direct reward flights available if you haven't yet selected the previous leg seems insane to me....

 

[MELso]

The point that I am trying to make is that with the sheer amount of EK flights ex Sydney and Melbourne, you should be able to book direct flights from either destination for 119,200 points +$$$. The way they force you to fly indirect when you KNOW there are direct reward flights available if you haven't yet selected the previous leg seems insane to me....

But this is just it - there are often no direct reward flights, so Qantas offers the next best thing: a business or (sometimes incorrectly priced) economy connection to the nearest city with premium cabin availability. It prices for more points as there are different airlines involved.

There's no non-stop DXB-MEL classic reward availability in J or F in 2026 as it stands based on my quick look. This is down to Emirates not releasing those seats to Qantas because, well, they don't want to give something away for free that people are happy paying for. Simply put, you're not entitled to get the award seat you want on the flight you want.

 

[lovestotravel]

There's no non-stop DXB-MEL classic reward availability in J or F in 2026 as it stands based on my quick look. This is down to Emirates not releasing those seats to Qantas because, well, they don't want to give something away for free that people are happy paying for. Simply put, you're not entitled to get the award seat you want on the flight you want.

DXB-MEL is hard to get, but I suspect availability will open up once the new QF increased QF points change on 5 August

Still unable to book MEL/SYD-DXB in J/F after 7 March which is strange....

 

[SYD]

DXB-MEL is hard to get,

There around. But strangely, the multi-city search isn’t picking them up - well not for me using Safari. But the regular search sees them.

but I suspect availability will open up once the new QF increased QF points change on 5 August

Why? Either EK release seats to QF (and other partners) or they don’t. If QF hold back inventory, they’ll be sniffled by others using other points currencies.

Still unable to book MEL/SYD-DXB in J/F after 7 March which is strange....

I can see EK DXB-MEL out to 02 Jun 2026. But the direct flights weren’t leaping out at me. Mostly via SYD.

 

[lovestotravel]

Why? Either EK release seats to QF (and other partners) or they don’t. If QF hold back inventory, they’ll be sniffled by others using other points currencies.

I can see EK DXB-MEL out to 02 Jun 2026. But the direct flights weren’t leaping out at me. Mostly via SYD.

MEL or SYD to DXB is the strange one. I've been watching it daily for a few months, and suddenly from 7 March onwards no seats..

I suspect some sort of blocking by QF/EK (until the points change) as other routes I watch like DXB-LHR/CDG/MLE and back to DXB have a pattern and I've got 2 x F's and 4 x J's booked

But looking ahead for mid/late next year I need MEL-DXB and nothing has been released for 2 months now

 

[offshore171]

Why? Either EK release seats to QF (and other partners) or they don’t. If QF hold back inventory, they’ll be sniffled by others using other points currencies.

Which frequent flyer scheme points have access to EK reward seats? Is it just Skywards miles, Air Canada points and QF points? Avios for example dont work I believe.

Anyone got a list? Google isn't super clear.

 

[SYD]

MEL or SYD to DXB is the strange one. I've been watching it daily for a few months, and suddenly from 7 March onwards no seats..

There are some U seats in May ex SYD.

I suspect some sort of blocking by QF/EK (until the points change) as other routes I watch like DXB-LHR/CDG/MLE and back to DXB have a pattern and I've got 2 x F's and 4 x J's booked

I doubt it because there’s a truck load of F/J CR seats available leading up to Dec.

But looking ahead for mid/late next year I need MEL-DXB and nothing has been released for 2 months now

Yes, it is strange. Other partners eg FJ had been coming out like clockwork. Although mid June to mid July is looking grim with Worldcup and fewer seats being released.

 

[MELso]

Which frequent flyer scheme points have access to EK reward seats? Is it just Skywards miles, Air Canada points and QF points? Avios for example dont work I believe.

Anyone got a list? Google isn't super clear.

Just those three for F awards now. I imagine most other partners (e.g. JL, UA) offer Y and J awards though.