Qantas Frequent Flyer Considers Norfolk Island an International Destination

Matt Graham
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island. Photo: Sheila C on Unsplash.

Norfolk Island is an external territory of Australia, located in the Pacific Ocean between New Caledonia and New Zealand. Air New Zealand previously served the routes from Brisbane and Sydney to Norfolk Island until 2021, when Qantas took over and eventually won the Australian government contract to continue serving the island.

While these are domestic flights, Norfolk Island was historically outside the Australian migration zone. The routes from Sydney and Brisbane to Norfolk Island are treated like international flights for customs and biosecurity purposes. They depart and arrive at the international terminals in Sydney and Brisbane. Qantas has even given these routes flight numbers that are normally designated for international routes.

But as they are not actually international flights, the Australian government’s $70 Passenger Movement Charge (a.k.a. international departure tax) is not payable.

Treating Norfolk Island as an international destination has some benefits

The fact that Qantas’ flights to Norfolk Island depart from international terminals does have some benefits for passengers. A key advantage is access to Qantas’ superior international lounges for departing passengers, particularly the First Class Lounge in Sydney for Qantas Platinum, Platinum One and Oneworld Emerald frequent flyers.

The Qantas Sydney First Lounge with an A380 at the gate
The Qantas First Lounge in Sydney. Photo: Qantas.

Eligible passengers flying on the domestic leg of an international tag flight like QF5 or QF33 can also use the international lounges, even if just flying from Sydney to Perth.

Qantas Frequent Flyer members buying Business Saver fares also earn slightly more status credits, due to the loyalty program designating Norfolk Island as an international destination. But this also means that Economy Sale fares are ineligible for Qantas points upgrades.

How this affects Points Club members with Classic Reward bookings

In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter that Qantas treats Sydney-Norfolk Island and Brisbane-Norfolk Island as international routes.

What does matter is that there’s no way for Qantas Points Club members booking Business Reward seats on these routes to know that they’ll earn fewer status credits as a result.

This has caught quite a few AFF members by surprise over the years. Here’s what one of them wrote on our forum:

I have travelled to Norfolk Island a bunch of times since Qantas took over the route and more often than not via J Classic Award. I only just noticed on this occasion that I am receiving 24 Status Credits for the flight (Points Club), which indicates an international destination, instead of the 28 status credits for a domestic destination.

As a frequent traveller to Norfolk, I am well aware, flights depart and arrive through international terminals and the Qantas flight number, follows the international flight numbering convention, and the Island itself is duty free….. however, from my perspective, none of these unique characteristics of Norfolk make the island an International destination. It clearly has just as many uniquely domestic characteristics as well – hospitals and education provide by Queensland, votes in the ACT electoral district, has a NSW postcode, you don’t need a passport to travel there….. and it is a Territory of Australia just like Australia’s other Territories.

GrahamBRI on the AFF forum

The Classic Flight Reward tables for Points Club members on the Qantas website show that Australian domestic flights should earn the following amounts of status credits:

Table from Qantas website showing the number of status credits Qantas Points Club members can earn on domestic flights
Table showing the number of status credits Qantas Points Club members can earn on domestic flights.

The distance from either Sydney or Brisbane to Norfolk Island is between 751-1,500 miles. This would mean that Points Club members booking a Business Reward seat would earn 28 status credits. But Qantas is actually awarding status credits from the Norfolk Island routes according to the “Other flights” table, meaning an earn rate of 24 status credits.

Table from Qantas website showing the number of status credits Qantas Points Club members can earn on other international flights
Table showing the number of status credits Qantas Points Club members can earn on other international flights.

Again, this in and of itself isn’t a big deal. The problem is that Qantas does not disclose this exception for Norfolk Island anywhere.

Indeed, there’s no obvious way to see this when booking your flight either, since the Qantas website shows Classic Reward bookings as earning no status credits. (The ability to earn status credits on these tickets is a specific benefit only for Points Club members.)

Qantas website reward booking from BNE to NLK
The Qantas website doesn’t show the status credits Points Club members will earn when booking a Classic Reward.

The Qantas Points Calculator does not show status credit earn rates for Classic Reward bookings either.

Qantas will update its website

We got in touch with Qantas about this issue. While Qantas didn’t provide a statement, we understand that the airline plans to update its website to make it clearer that it treats Norfolk Island as an international destination for the purpose of awarding status credits. This hasn’t happened yet, but hopefully it will soon.

Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum
Matt Graham
The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to more than 100 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.
Matt Graham
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oz_mark May 15, 2025 #1

A bit like Cocos and Christmas Island, Norfolk Island fits into the special case 'external territories' bucket. In some respects they are treated as domestic, and in others international.

As for Horn Island, it is regarded as part of Queensland.

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justinbrett May 15, 2025 #2

I’d be leaning towards it being an international flight.

It’s inside the immigration zone but outside of the customs zone. They are required to operate to/from international terminals so I think that pretty much settles it. You’re entitled to duty free which is a nice concession.

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GrahamBRI May 15, 2025 #3

A bit like Cocos and Christmas Island, Norfolk Island fits into the special case 'external territories' bucket. In some respects they are treated as domestic, and in others international.

Yes, acknowledging it is a special case in terms of a lot of things, but, personally, I don’t think any of these special cases form an adequate definition in terms of “domestic travel”.

As for Horn Island, it is regarded as part of Queensland.

Acknowledged. My point was that Qantas was using close proximity to another country to form their opinion of what is domestic or international. As they gave me no other basis for their definition, I was pointing out that the definition they used was flawed.

They are required to operate to/from international terminals so I think that pretty much settles it.

So as I noted above, why does Qantas itself use the term domestic when it refers to other flights operating to and from international terminals - “Australian domestic flights departing from an international terminal (flights QF1-QF399)……”. This is not a consistent application of the term, by them.

I also note that the Australian Government, has already defined this route as a Domestic Flight -


So, while I acknowledge that it’s special case, and there will be lots of different viewpoints here. I am yet to see anything would cleary define this as an international flight and I see plenty to say it is domestic. What is Qantas’s basis for it decision - since proximity to New Caledonia is an insufficient reason.

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justinbrett May 15, 2025 #4

So as I noted above, why does Qantas itself use the term domestic when it refers to other flights operating to and from international terminals - “Australian domestic flights departing from an international terminal (flights QF1-QF399)……”. This is not a consistent application of the term, by them.

I also note that the Australian Government, has already defined this route as a Domestic Flight -


So, while I acknowledge that it’s special case, and there will be lots of different viewpoints here. I am yet to see anything would cleary define this as an international flight and I see plenty to say it is domestic. What is Qantas’s basis for it decision - since proximity to New Caledonia is an insufficient reason.

No - key difference is that Qantas is not required to operate flights between Melbourne and Perth from international terminals. It elects to do that to enable transit on to London. These are completely different to NLK services.

A better resource:


Norfolk Island travel information

Where is Norfolk Island? Norfolk Island is situated in the Pacific Ocean approximately 1,600km north-east of Sydney, 890km north-east of Lord Howe Island and 1,100km north-west of Auckland. What time zone is used in Norfolk Island? Norfolk Island observes Norfolk Time (UTC+11). Daylight saving...

View image at the forums


www.infrastructure.gov.au

Flights depart and arrive via international terminals, do international movement conditions apply?
Yes, your travel experience will be similar to an international traveller. You must complete an incoming passenger card, and you and your luggage will be screened and could be inspected by Australian Border Force and Biosecurity officers.

From 1 July 2016, the Biosecurity Act 2015 will apply to movements onto Norfolk Island, and biosecurity import conditions will apply to all goods arriving onto Norfolk Island.

You must declare certain food, plant material (including wooden articles) and animal products on your incoming passenger card.

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GrahamBRI May 15, 2025 #5

A better resource:


Norfolk Island travel information

Where is Norfolk Island? Norfolk Island is situated in the Pacific Ocean approximately 1,600km north-east of Sydney, 890km north-east of Lord Howe Island and 1,100km north-west of Auckland. What time zone is used in Norfolk Island? Norfolk Island observes Norfolk Time (UTC+11). Daylight saving...

View image at the forums


www.infrastructure.gov.au

Acknowledged, that is the latest version of what I posted. The one I posted, clearly stated the Federal Governments change in position in respect to Norfolk. It stated “From 1 July 2016, travel to Norfolk Island from mainland Australia will be classed as domestic travel”. The updated version you have posted, no longer states this change - I assume since the change in status is now well established (was made back in 2016).

Flights depart and arrive via international terminals, do international movement conditions apply?
Yes, your travel experience will be similar to an international traveller. You must complete an incoming passenger card, and you and your luggage will be screened and could be inspected by Australian Border Force and Biosecurity officers.

From 1 July 2016, the Biosecurity Act 2015 will apply to movements onto Norfolk Island, and biosecurity import conditions will apply to all goods arriving onto Norfolk Island.

You must declare certain food, plant material (including wooden articles) and animal products on your incoming passenger card.

This extract from the current page, was also on the old page I published. Clearly these “experience” and “biosecurity” conditions still apply and are pertinent to the traveller today. In addition to this information, that was on both pages, the previous version, also included the specific change that occurred in 2016 that the Norfolk Island status had changed to domestic travel. As noted above, this has obviously been dropped, but that, I assume is just because it is no longer noteworthy since the status of the island as “self-governing” was removed in that year (2016)…. Much to the objection of the residents.
….. and also noting that travelling interstate (eg WA) has many similar biosecurity stuff as per these international rules, just the “experience” is different. Not sure you have convinced me yet that “international traveler” “experience” is a good definition of the an “international route”…… and I assume we all acknowledge that the word “international” means “between nations”…. So in my view, a completely inappropriate word for the travel to Norfolk. (With or without experiences and benefits akin to international travel)

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M MEL_Traveller May 15, 2025 #6

You are right. Technically, by definition, the flight is domestic as it is between two points in Australia.

Operationally however, it is treated as an international flight for the purposes of customs control. Passengers are required to complete an incoming passenger declaration.

Perhaps more importantly, for SC earning, Qantas ‘says’ it is international because it carries a flight number within the 1-399 range.

Unlike the domestic tag flights, all passengers on the NLK flights are subject to customs control. Pax on the QF9/10 and others could be a mix, some subject to immigration and customs control, and others not.

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TheInsider May 15, 2025 #7

Someone in MNL/CPT isn't really to give you a suitable answer. How are you corresponding with Qantas, and what are you trying to achieve by speaking to the airline?

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GrahamBRI May 15, 2025 #8

Someone in MNL/CPT isn't really to give you a suitable answer. How are you corresponding with Qantas, and what are you trying to achieve by speaking to the airline?

As indicated, I have undertaken heaps of trips to Norfolk and mainly via Classic Rewards (points club member), but never noticed the anomaly before, So when I noticed I just asked the question, why 4 status credits less than I expected….. I made one phone call (guessing I got a MNL agent) and got the reason of closeness to New Caledonia. I requested escalation of the call (as the flight was between two domestic locations) could not escalate on the day, but gave me a reference number. Few days later I got an email from Frequent_Flyer@…. and I got the same response in an email, of proximity to New Caledonia. I sent a response to this email and tried as best as I could to explain that proximity to another country was not something that should make a flight considered international or not…… but after another week or so, got the same answer back in an email……
What was I trying to achieve - I assumed it was some coding error (due to flight number being of international designation) that could/should be fixed so others get the correct (as advertised) status points for a domestic flight…… and if by acknowledgment of the error they gave some or even one of my flights missing status points (4 per sector), I might walk away as a happier customer.
I acknowledge there will be many different views on this topic, and I assumed I would get some half reasonable explanation from Qantas, but was very surprised with what they had to offer.
Listening to the views placed above, I think there exists some very reasonable counter arguments for all of them. I am still interested in finding that overwhelming reason for why international (preferably from Qantas). But at the end of the day if the airline can just operationally consider it as international (for some better reason than New Caledonia), then that is that. I did not notice on all my other flights, so clearly not the end of the world for me…..

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h hutch May 15, 2025 #9

I'm curious as to why it really matters?

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justinbrett May 15, 2025 #10

Acknowledged, that is the latest version of what I posted. The one I posted, clearly stated the Federal Governments change in position in respect to Norfolk. It stated “From 1 July 2016, travel to Norfolk Island from mainland Australia will be classed as domestic travel”. The updated version you have posted, no longer states this change - I assume since the change in status is now well established (was made back in 2016).

This extract from the current page, was also on the old page I published. Clearly these “experience” and “biosecurity” conditions still apply and are pertinent to the traveller today. In addition to this information, that was on both pages, the previous version, also included the specific change that occurred in 2016 that the Norfolk Island status had changed to domestic travel. As noted above, this has obviously been dropped, but that, I assume is just because it is no longer noteworthy since the status of the island as “self-governing” was removed in that year (2016)…. Much to the objection of the residents.
….. and also noting that travelling interstate (eg WA) has many similar biosecurity stuff as per these international rules, just the “experience” is different. Not sure you have convinced me yet that “international traveler” “experience” is a good definition of the an “international route”…… and I assume we all acknowledge that the word “international” means “between nations”…. So in my view, a completely inappropriate word for the travel to Norfolk. (With or without experiences and benefits akin to international travel)

You can’t buy duty free going to WA and you don’t have to fill out an arrivals card. It’s completely different. You’re also entitled to use the TRS going into NLK.

The most generous interpretation is that it’s somewhere between a domestic and an international flight. It’s unusual. To be fair, the table heading says “domestic travel within Australia”. Norfolk Island is in New Zealand airspace and ATC comes from Auckland. So the flight does leave Australia and re-enters it at NLK.

QF does treat it as an international flight. You can see this even when booking, the fares available and associated rules. So it’s not just a coding error, QF has made the decision to sell it as an international flight. I assume that means you should get champagne onboard which is probably worth the 4SCs.

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