Qantas Slashes Domestic Business Class Fares

This week I did something I haven’t done for a very long time. I bought a Qantas domestic Business Class ticket, and didn’t use points for it.

I like the Qantas Business Class service. But I usually fly this either on a Classic Reward booking, by upgrading with points or as a domestic connection on an international booking.

I honestly can’t remember the last time I actually bought a domestic Business Class ticket on Qantas because I just didn’t see the value. It’s a nice product, and I’m happy to redeem points for it – but Qantas’ domestic premium cabin airfares have traditionally been so much higher than Virgin Australia or Rex that it just wasn’t worth it to me. This has recently changed…

Qantas historically had much higher Business fares than its competitors

Virgin Australia significantly reduced its Business Class airfares in 2021, as the company emerged from voluntary administration and repositioned itself as a “value” airline. At the time, it offered Business Class on routes from as little as $199 one-way – or even less with a Virgin promo code.

This happened just a few months after Rex began operating Boeing 737 flights between Australian capital cities, with introductory Business Class fares also as low as $199.

Since then, Rex and Virgin have increased their Business airfares a bit – but not by huge amounts. You can still get good deals on Virgin Business Class when booking at least 45 days in advance, and Rex often still has cheap fares available up to a day before departure.

But Qantas’ Business Class pricing has often been double or even triple its competitors’ prices on domestic routes. I’ve always assumed that was because Qantas was more focused on corporate contracts and creaming the top of the market, rather than actually filling its Business cabins with customers paying the advertised prices.

Under this model, Qantas would make huge margins on some seats and fill the rest of the cabin with people upgrading, either using points or Bid Now.

This is a perfectly legitimate profit-maximisation strategy that a lot of full-service legacy carriers employ. The upshot is that most self-funded travellers just wouldn’t see the value in buying a Business Class ticket. Instead, they’ll buy Economy, redeem points or simply book with another airline.

Over the past few years, Virgin Australia has gotten a lot of my business because their Business airfares would often be priced similarly to Qantas Economy on the routes I fly.

But Qantas has recently slashed its Business Class prices – in some cases by around half – on selected domestic routes.

On which routes has Qantas reduced Business Class airfares?

Here are some examples of one-way Qantas Business Class fares that we’re currently seeing on Australian domestic routes:

These fares appear to have an advance purchase period of 28 days. So, you would need to book at least four weeks out to get the lower price.

Other than that, these don’t appear to be limited-time sale fares. They are standard “I” class prices. That said, these fares obviously aren’t available on every flight or date.

Many of these routes are ones where Qantas offers overlapping service with both Virgin Australia and Rex. On those routes, Virgin and Rex are generally still around $100+ cheaper. But the difference is no longer as gargantuan.

Qantas hasn’t dropped its Business fares on all routes, though. For example, a return Business ticket from Sydney to Perth will still cost you $5,591 (making this route an extremely good use of frequent flyer points!)

Where the cheaper Qantas Business fares are available to book

You can book these cheaper Business tickets on the Qantas website, including the Qantas Business Rewards portal.

They are also available through selected travel agents who’ve signed up to the Qantas Distribution Platform (utilising IATA’s New Distribution Capability or NDC technology). But they aren’t available via traditional Global Distribution Systems (GDS).

This means that not all travel agents have access to these prices. For example, Webjet has Qantas Business fares from Brisbane to Melbourne available for $504, which is $5 more than on the Qantas website. But the cheapest Business fare available on the same Qantas flight via Expedia costs $1,314.

Is Qantas Business Class good value?

When searching yesterday for a flight from Brisbane to Melbourne, I was pleasantly surprised to see the Qantas website showing a Business Class option for $499 one-way.

I wouldn’t normally consider the Business options when booking Qantas on this route as the price is normally at least double that. $499 is still a fair bit of money for a flight from Brisbane to Melbourne, and I don’t think I would pay this on a regular basis. But it’s low enough that I might consider paying it under the right circumstances.

With Qantas running a Double Status Credits offer, booking Business on this route would also earn me 120 status credits – up from the usual 60. That was enough to get me over the line on this occasion. (Note that the Double Status Credits offer ended on Tuesday.)

What do you think – are these Qantas Business fares low enough for you to consider booking them?

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & 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.