Latest news

Australia to Reopen International Border from November 2021

The federal government announced today that it will remove parts of the international travel ban from next month. Vaccinated Australians will finally be allowed to leave the country and arrival caps will be removed for vaccinated Australians and permanent residents, who will be able to quarantine at home for 7 days after returning to Australia. … Continued

1 Oct 2021 Coronavirus and Travel

Qantas/BP Status Credit Offer Debacle

In July 2021, BP announced a special offer of 50 Qantas status credits for making five transactions at BP worth at least $50 each by the end of September. This has been a popular promotion with AFF members because there aren’t too many other ways to earn status credits without flying. Unfortunately, now that this … Continued

1 Oct 2021 Qantas

How Qantas Plans to Fly Airbus A330s to the USA

Update: Qantas has delayed the resumption of flights between Brisbane and the United States, but still plans to use Airbus A330s when these routes resume in 2022. Qantas plans to gradually resume international flights from 18 December 2021. But with Qantas’ Airbus A380s not returning to the skies until mid-2022, the Boeing 747s retired and the delivery … Continued

30 Sep 2021 Qantas

Airlines Still Selling “Ghost Flights” to Australia

If you’ve tried searching for flights to Australia over the next two months, you’ve probably noticed there are very few seats available. There are a very small number of flights with expensive Business or First Class seats available that might get you home before December. But most of the “affordable” flights on sale are sadly … Continued

29 Sep 2021 Coronavirus and Travel

NSW Commits to Regional Travel Resumption

Update (15 October 2021): Regional travel within NSW has been delayed by a week until 1 November 2021. The NSW government has confirmed that regional travel within NSW will be able to resume in late October 2021 for people who are fully vaccinated, and early December for everyone else. Under the NSW government’s 3-stage reopening … Continued

28 Sep 2021 Coronavirus and Travel

NSW to Quadruple International Arrival Cap in Late October

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian today confirmed that the state will reinstate the higher international arrival caps that had been in place until July in around a month. As part of the NSW government’s 3-stage reopening plan announced today, vaccinated NSW residents will gain a little more freedom once 70% of the state’s population is fully vaccinated against … Continued

27 Sep 2021 Coronavirus and Travel

Should You Pay Reward Flight Taxes with Points?

When booking a reward flight using Qantas or Velocity points, you’ll also need to pay any applicable taxes & carrier charges in addition to the points. This extra co-payment includes Virgin’s $11 carrier charge or Qantas’ $14 carrier charge per domestic flight (it’s higher for most international flights), plus any third-party airport fees, security charges … Continued

25 Sep 2021 Airlines, Miles and Points

BA Executive Club Welcomes Australian Members

British Airways has removed a bizarre rule which prevented Australian and New Zealand residents from joining its Executive Club frequent flyer program. For many years, Australian and New Zealand residents have been technically excluded from joining the British Airways Executive Club program. The rule was a hangover from the time when Qantas and British Airways … Continued

23 Sep 2021 British Airways

When Will Velocity Reinstate Partner Airline Redemptions?

Velocity Frequent Flyer is finally preparing to bring back reward seat redemptions on Virgin Australia international flights, as well as flights operated by partner airlines. These redemption options have been unavailable since April 2020. While this is welcome news, it’s still unclear when exactly Velocity will reopen international redemption bookings and which partner airlines will … Continued

21 Sep 2021 Virgin Australia

NSW Trials 7-Day Home Quarantine

The NSW government will next month commence a trial of 7-day home quarantine for a small number of travellers returning from overseas, instead of the current 14 days of hotel quarantine. The NSW pilot program will operate for four weeks. NSW Health will choose around 175 people to participate in its home quarantine trial. All … Continued

19 Sep 2021 Coronavirus and Travel

Podcast #69: Singapore Airlines on Operating to Australia in the Pandemic

Flying internationally to or from Australia over the past 18 months has been extremely challenging for passengers. This is especially so for the tens of thousands of Australians who remain stuck overseas in September 2021. Previous episodes of the AFF on Air podcast have investigated the challenge of returning to Australia from a passenger’s perspective. But … Continued

18 Sep 2021 AFF on Air Podcast

Singapore Airlines on Operating to Australia in the Pandemic – AIR069

  Many previous episodes of the AFF on Air podcast have explored the difficulty of getting back to Australia during the pandemic. Navigating the current system is clearly a nightmare for travellers. In this episode, we’ll get an airline’s perspective. Karl Schubert is the Public Relations Manager for Singapore Airlines in the South West Pacific … Continued

18 Sep 2021 AFF on Air (blubrry)