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Qantas will run its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners across the Tasman between Sydney and Auckland from December, bringing Premium Economy onto the route. And in good news for frequent flyers, Qantas now has as many as 8 Premium Economy award seats available for booking from Sydney-Auckland most days from December 2019 until June 2020. There is also currently fairly generous Business class award availability to New Zealand.
Qantas will use Boeing 787 Dreamliners from 4 December 2019 until 28 March 2020 on flights QF141 (the 7.40am departure from Sydney to Auckland) and QF144 (the 2.10pm departure from Auckland to Sydney). Then, from 29 March until 23 June 2020, the Boeing 787 will operate on QF143 (the 9.30am flight out of Sydney) and QF146 (the 3.55pm departure from Auckland). From 24 June, the Dreamliner will be taken off trans-Tasman duties and instead be used for Qantas’ daily Sydney-Santiago flights.
Award availability is wide open on these flights. This applies to all three classes of travel, but especially Premium Economy. There are 28 Premium Economy seats on the Qantas Dreamliner in a 2-3-2 configuration.
The only dates that don’t have award availability are – surprise, surprise – during school holidays. We couldn’t find any award availability from Sydney to Auckland in Premium Economy from 14 December 2019 until 12 January 2020, or between 8-28 April 2020.
How to book a Qantas Premium Economy award from Sydney to Auckland
You can of course book a seat from Sydney to Auckland using Qantas Frequent Flyer points. The cost is 31,000 Qantas points + $138.22 in taxes & charges, one-way (of this, $14 is Qantas carrier charges). It does not cost any extra Qantas points to add on a connecting domestic flight from Melbourne, Brisbane or Canberra to Sydney, however the domestic connection will be in Economy. For Business class, the price from Sydney to Auckland is 41,500 Qantas points.
You can also book a seat using miles or points with another Oneworld frequent flyer program. For example, it costs 16,500 British Airways Avios for a one-way Premium Economy seat from Sydney to Auckland. For Business, you would pay 22,000 Avios one-way. (That’s about half the number of points that Qantas Frequent Flyer charges!)
You can also redeem Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, which you can transfer Amex points to. The cost for Premium Economy is 22,000 Asia Miles and Business Class is 30,000 Asia Miles, each way.
Upgrade to Premium Economy using Qantas points
If you’ve purchased an Economy Saver or Economy Flex ticket on one of the Qantas Dreamliner flights between Sydney and Auckland, you also have the opportunity to upgrade using Qantas points. You won’t find out whether your upgrade was successful until a few days before the flight. But given the amount of award availability, it is quite likely your request would be successful.
Upgrading to Premium Economy on the Sydney-Auckland route costs 13,600 Qantas points from an Economy Saver ticket, or just 4,300 points if you’ve booked a flexible Economy airfare.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Dreamliner upgauge for QF141/144 (SYD-AKL) 4Dec19 – 28Mar20
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