Qantas Expands China Airlines Redemptions Beyond Taipei

Qantas Frequent Flyer members can now redeem their points across the entire China Airlines network, rather than just on flights between Australia and Taipei.

This is great news for people wishing to use their Qantas points to travel to northern Asia, Europe or North America. As China Airlines has quite good award availability, it opens up significantly more options at a time when long-haul award availability on Qantas and its other partner airlines has been very limited.

China Airlines’ route network

Based in Taiwan, China Airlines offers Economy, Premium Economy and Business Class seating on its long-haul flights. (Note that China Airlines is a completely different airline to Air China, which is based in mainland China.)

On flights to and from Australia, China Airlines uses modern Airbus A350 jets with fully lie-flat Business Class seating.

It has already been possible for some time to redeem Qantas points to fly with China Airlines on direct flights between Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane and Taipei. But this change now makes it possible to also book onward connections from Taipei. This includes to destinations across Asia, Europe and North America. This includes flights to Tokyo, Sapporo, Koror, London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Vienna, New York and Honolulu.

Due to China Airlines’ schedules, a long layover in Taipei is often required when connecting from Australia to Europe or North America, and vice versa. But there are combinations of flights available with shorter connection times, such as most flights from Australia to London.

China Airlines also operates a fifth-freedom route between Brisbane and Auckland. But we couldn’t find any China Airlines award availability on this route at the time of writing.

Low carrier charges

Apart from the good award availability, another benefit of redeeming Qantas points on China Airlines is the low carrier charges. On a one-way Business Class redemption from Sydney to London, for example, you’d pay 159,000 Qantas points and just $191 in taxes & carrier charges. That comprises of $90 in carrier charges, with the rest owing to unavoidable third-party taxes.

As China Airlines is a member of the SkyTeam alliance, it’s not possible to use China Airlines sectors as part of a Oneworld Classic Flight Reward booking.

Although you can redeem Qantas points for China Airlines flights, you can’t earn Qantas points on China Airlines unless booked on a “QF” codeshare between Australia and Taipei. There are also no status tier benefits for Qantas Frequent Flyer members when flying on a “CI” flight number. But passengers booked in Business Class can still benefit from all the usual perks that come with a Business ticket, including lounge access.

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.