Qantas introduces Classic Plus Rewards
Qantas Frequent Flyer members who routinely earn serious chunks of points are undoubtedly the target of the loyalty program’s new redemption strategy, Classic Plus Rewards.
Bookings are now live on Qantas.com for flights from 1 July 2024 onwards. But will it appeal to the general audience who might usually wait several years to save up points for a big trip?
Positioned between the popular Classic Flight Rewards and the contentious Points Plus Pay – both of which remain unchanged at this time – Classic Plus will offer more reward seat availability but at a fixed redemption rate.
How do Classic Plus redemptions work?
Classic Plus redemptions are dynamically priced. The number of points needed is based on Qantas’ lowest available cash fares in each cabin class at the time of searching.
Because Qantas fares are generally cheaper with a return journey rather than one-way, Classic Plus Rewards are also usually cheaper when booked as a return, rather than one-way.
The value you’ll get with Classic Plus is higher than Points Plus Pay (currently around 0.6 cents per point). But it’ll also usually be lower than a Classic Flight Reward, which can easily exceed 3 cents per point with Business and First Class rewards.
Here are the rates at which you can redeem a Classic Plus reward:
- Classic Plus redemptions in Economy: 1.0 cents per point*
- Classic Plus redemptions in Premium Economy, Business and First: 1.5 cents per point*
* Value per point including fees and taxes.
Classic Plus redemptions are also subject to the same fees and taxes as Classic Flight Rewards. However, these costs are factored into the overall points cost to give you the published value of 1.0 or 1.5 cents per point.
Classic Plus bookings don’t earn points or Status Credits (unless the passenger is a member of Qantas Points Club). The change and cancellation fees also remain pegged at 5,000 or 6,000 points per passenger, respectively.
Comparison between Classic Reward, Classic Plus and Points Plus Pay
| Classic Reward | Classic Plus | Points Plus Pay | |
| Pricing method | Fixed based on distance, cabin class and airline.
Same points cost per sector one-way or return. |
Variable based on equivalent cash fare.
Return fares better than one-way for international. |
Variable based on equivalent cash fare.
Return fares better than one-way for international. |
| Value per point | Variable (depends on the cash fare). Generally best value. | Economy: 1 cent per point.
Premium Economy + Business + First: 1.5 cents per point. |
Approximately 0.6 cents per point. Generally worst value. |
| Fees and taxes | Payable on top. | Payable on top, but factored into the value per point. | Included in the cost. |
| Points and Status Credits | No points earned. Only Points Club members earn Status Credits. | No points earned. Only Points Club members earn Status Credits. | Points and Status Credits earned based on fare type and membership. |
| Change and cancellations | Changes: 5,000 pts Cancellations: 6,000 pts |
Changes: 5,000 pts Cancellations: 6,000 pts |
Based on the rules of the fare selected. |
| Availability | Limited availability. | More availability. | Availability down to the last seat. |
Case Study: Classic Plus reward pricing example
Say that there’s a Qantas Sydney-Singapore one-way fare for A$3,226 in Business Class. An equivalent Classic Plus reward will cost 194,400 Qantas Points + $311 in fees and taxes, one-way and per person.
To check the value per point in this Business Class example, we subtract the taxes of $311 from the fare of $3,226, then divide by the number of points (194,400) to arrive at a value of 1.5 cents per point.
But what if the fare drops to A$2,500 during a sale? Then that Classic Plus reward would drop to approximately 146,000 Qantas Points + fees and taxes, instead.
If a Classic Flight Reward seat is also available on the same flight, you’d book it for the regular price of 68,400 Qantas Points + $311, as before. Evidently, you should still look out for these reward seats, where possible.
To book a Classic Plus redemption, search on the Qantas website as usual and tick ‘Rewards’.
Both reward types will show up on the same screen, so don’t get them mixed up. Classic Plus rewards will display with a blue ribbon. The lower-priced Classic Flight Rewards will remain with a red ribbon.
There’s currently no way to exclude Classic Plus Rewards from search results if you’re solely looking for Classic Flight Rewards.
Summing up
Qantas tells us that it won’t decrease the availability of Classic Flight Rewards. This is crucial to maintaining the goodwill of frequent flyers, as it makes Classic Plus an additional redemption avenue rather than a replacement.
Our advice remains the same as always. Classic Flight Rewards will still always offer the best value-for-money with your Qantas Points, and that’s what we recommend you strive for.
Classic Plus rewards aren’t aimed at the ‘point hacker’ crowd in general. They’re more for those who can earn points at very fast rates, such as business owners, and simply want more availability over anything else. That said, if there is a particularly attractive cash fare sale going on, Classic Plus rewards may appeal to a wider crowd.
Economy Classic Plus pricing also doesn’t seem to be too much off the Classic Reward rate when sale fares are available. In the Sydney-Singapore example above, the lowest Classic Plus seat is 31,000 points + fees and taxes. A standard Economy Flight Reward is usually 25,200 points + fees and taxes.
Classic Plus Rewards echoes Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer’s higher tier of award seat – Advantage – which coexists with the cheaper Saver awards. But unlike Qantas’ Classic Plus, KrisFlyer’s Advantage awards are fixed price by region and are also cheaper to change or cancel. That’s a small and meaningful change we’d love to see in a future iteration of Classic Plus.
Finally, it’s worth noting that Classic Plus only applies to Qantas flights. Partner airline availability at the Classic Flight Reward level continues to be controlled by the respective operating airlines.
The author has travelled to Sydney at Point Hacks’ expense and will attend a media briefing as a guest of Qantas.
