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There are hundreds of daily flights between Europe and North America. So, what are your best options when redeeming Qantas points for trans-Atlantic flights?
During peak periods, it’s often a case of taking what you can get. On trans-Atlantic routes, the peak season is the northern summer from June to August. But Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving are also busy travel periods.
Thankfully there are many, many flight choices. There are four Qantas partner airlines in the Oneworld alliance that fly trans-Atlantic routes; British Airways, American Airlines, Iberia and Finnair. There is also a range of non-Oneworld partner airlines to choose from when redeeming Qantas points for trans-Atlantic flights.
Redeem Qantas Points with British Airways
British Airways operates the following trans-Atlantic flights from its hubs in London (Heathrow and Gatwick Airports) to destinations across the United States and Canada:
Of the Oneworld airlines flying across the Atlantic Ocean, British Airways generally has the best award availability in all four classes of travel. However, high fuel surcharges are payable when redeeming points for British Airways flights. Of course, if you’re travelling to/from somewhere in Europe outside London, you can fly British Airways via a London stopover.
Redeem Qantas Points with American Airlines
American Airlines also has a solid trans-Atlantic network. Award availability is a little harder to find, especially in premium cabins. But there are no fuel surcharges payable for American Airlines redemptions and the number of Qantas points required is also slightly lower. In addition to Los Angeles-London (which didn’t fit on the map), American Airlines operates the following trans-Atlantic routes:
Other Airlines
But that’s not all! As well as Iberia and Finnair, there are a range of non-Oneworld Qantas partner airlines with which you can redeem Qantas points for trans-Atlantic flights. You can redeem Qantas points to fly Aer Lingus, based in Dublin. You can also redeem Qantas points with Canada’s WestJet, although WestJet award seats are only available in Economy class. There are no fuel surcharges payable for WestJet redemptions and they’re very low on Aer Lingus awards.
There are also a few fifth-freedom routes of interest. Emirates flies non-stop from Milan to New York and from Athens to Newark. Jet Airways also operates a daily Amsterdam-Toronto flight that you can use Qantas points to book.
Here’s a map of available routes with Finnair (shown in grey), Iberia (yellow), Aer Lingus (green), WestJet (blue), Emirates (red) and Jet Airways (purple):
If you still haven’t found any award flights, don’t forget that you can also redeem Qantas points to fly El Al to/from Tel Aviv and Oneworld’s Royal Jordanian Airlines to/from Amman!
Trans-Atlantic Stopovers
Finally, there are a couple of interesting stopover possibilities on Qantas trans-Atlantic redemptions. American Airlines will soon begin non-stop Dallas-Reykjavik flights. If you wanted to stop over in Iceland en-route to Europe, you could then fly onwards to London with British Airways, Madrid with Iberia, Helsinki with Finnair or Moscow with S7 Airlines.
Bermuda is another interesting trans-Atlantic stopover possibility. British Airways flies from London-Gatwick to Bermuda, and American Airlines flies from Bermuda to New York, Philadelphia and Miami. Interestingly, a Business class award flying British Airways from London to Miami costs 65,000 Qantas points. Flying Business from London to Bermuda, stopping over in Bermuda and then continuing to Miami in American Airlines Economy class also costs 65,000 Qantas points.
Would you like help using your frequent flyer points?
Frequent Flyer Concierge is a personalised service designed to take the hard work out of redeeming your frequent flyer points!
The Concierge team can help you to find the perfect flights using your points. Just let them know how many points you have and where you would like to go, and they’ll find a great itinerary that meets your needs.
