Useful: Philippine Airlines Now Bookable With Qantas Points

Not to be outdone by Qatar Airways adding Philippine Airlines as a partner, Qantas has today announced that you will be able to redeem your Qantas Points for Economy, Premium Economy and Business Class reward flights across the Philippine Airlines network. You’ll also be able to earn Qantas Points on some Philippine Airlines flights.

Philippine Airlines offers flights from Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth to its main hub in Manila. From Manila, you can connect on to destinations in the Philippines itself, as well as further afield to Asia and North America.

As Philippine Airlines reward flights could previously only be booked via Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios and Philippine Airlines’ Mabuhay Miles, this is a unique partnership for Qantas. This should (hopefully) see a real increase in reward seat availability.

Pricing on Philippine Airlines using Qantas Points

Philippine Airlines will use the Qantas partner airline pricing. This means a redemption from Sydney or Melbourne to Manila will cost you the following:

• 34,700 Qantas Points in Economy
• 70,800 Qantas Points in Premium Economy
• 90,000 Qantas Points in Business Class

From Perth and Brisbane, you’ll pay 28,200 Qantas Points for Economy and 73,400 Qantas Points for Business Class. If you were to fly Philippine Airlines from Perth to Tokyo via Manila, for example, expect to pay 108,000 Qantas Points.

It might be time to speculate whether Philippine Airlines will look to join Oneworld in the future! However, at this time they can’t be included in Qantas’ Oneworld Classic Flight Reward. Also, combining any flights with other partner airlines will simply be priced by the two prices being added together.

You can work out the cost of every Classic Reward on Qantas Points with our guide.

What you’ll get on Philippine Airlines

From Australia, Philippine Airlines operates a mix of Airbus A330s and A321neo LR aircraft. From Sydney and Melbourne, you’ll get an Airbus A330 with 18 Business Class seats, 24 Premium Economy seats and 267 Economy Class seats.

Business Class is actually the exact same hard product as what Qantas offers on its A330s, the Thompson Vantage XL. This means you’ll find a 1-2-1 configuration, with seats alternating between closer to the aisle and window.

Premium Economy is in a standard 2-3-2 configuration, while Economy is in a 2-4-2 layout.

If you’re flying from Perth or Brisbane, you’ll most likely be onboard an Airbus A321neo. These have lie-flat Business Class seats in a 2-2 layout, while Economy is in a 3-3 configuration. This is a much better product to fly than the Business Class onboard Qantas’ A321XLRs scheduled to fly from Brisbane to Manila.

From Manila, Philippine Airlines also flies a mix of Q400s, A320 family, A350s and Boeing 777s. Watch out for some uncompetitive products onboard though, including 10-abreast Economy Class A350s, 9-abreast A330s and middle seats in Business Class on some 777s.

What does this mean for Qantas Frequent Flyers?

It’s obviously great news for members who want to travel to the Philippines, unlocking direct flights to Manila from Melbourne. This complements Qantas’ existing flights from Brisbane and Sydney, and Jetstar’s new service from Perth to Manila. Of course, it also unlocks a number of destinations in the Philippines itself.

But it also provides a lot of benefit for those wanting to use their points to get to the USA/Europe. Besides Philippine Airlines, Qantas and Jetstar, there are seven other Qantas partners that fly from Manila. While some are also based in Asia, the main problem facing Australians with Qantas Points is often getting out of Australia!

Also, Manila is a fantastic place to take advantage of cheap Business Class cash fares to Europe. For example, Etihad was recently selling fares from Manila to Milan for just $2,643 return in Business Class.