Best Ways to Book Qantas Business Class with Points and Miles

The national airline of Australia and the nation’s largest carrier by most metrics, Qantas is known to offer a high level of service and comfort on all of its flights. In fact, according to Skytrax, Qantas’s business-class product was one of the top 20 in the entire airline industry for 2024. So, if you’re fortunate enough to book a business-class seat on a Qantas flight, you can expect premium amenities, like a dedicated check-in desk, fine in-flight Australian dining, fully flat beds (on certain aircraft types), complimentary amenity kits, priority baggage handling, airport lounge access and more.

But, of course, this level of luxury comes with a high cash price. And, for many of us, paying the extra money for a business-class ticket just isn’t worth it. However, using points and miles, you can book a Qantas business-class flight at a very low out-of-pocket cost.

Since Qantas is a member of Oneworld Alliance, there are several frequent flyer programs through which you can book Qantas business-class award flights. And, each of these programs prices award flights differently.

So, in the following sections, we’re going to identify some of the best ways to book Qantas business-class award flights. We’ll also look at the different amenities you can expect from Qantas business class.

What to Expect in Qantas Business Class

The Qantas fleet consists of several different types of aircraft. And, the business-class product on each aircraft type is slightly different. Generally, the best business-class experiences are found on Boeing 787-9 and Airbus A380 aircraft. These aircraft are typically used for long-haul flights and offer the best amenities in business class.

On both the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787-9 aircraft, the business-class cabin includes an 80-inch seat that reclines into a fully flat bed (which you’re allowed to recline from takeoff to landing), a privacy screen, a 100% cotton duvet for maximum comfort, 16-inch personal in-flight entertainment monitor and several USB and AC charging ports. The only real difference between the seat configurations on these two aircraft types is the design aesthetic.

The next-best business-class product in the Qantas fleet is found on Airbus A330 aircraft. The business-class cabin on these aircraft also features 80-inch seats that extend into lie-flat beds. There’s a 16-inch personal entertainment monitor, USB and AC charging ports, a cocktail table and more. The business-class product on these aircraft is only a tiny step down from that offered on Boeing 787-9 and Airbus A380 aircraft.

Next in the pecking order are the Boeing 737 and Airbus A220 aircraft, which don’t have lie-flat beds in business class. However, seats in Boeing 737 business class do have a 37-inch pitch, ergonomic cushions and extendable leg rest with a fold-out footrest. And, seats in Airbus A220 business class are made of soft leather and feature a 37-inch pitch, six-way adjustable headrest and calf rest. These aircraft don’t have personal entertainment monitors, but you’ll have complimentary Wi-Fi and access to the Qantas Entertainment App, so you can stream media from your own personal device.

Finally, the Qantas fleet also includes Embraer 190 aircraft, which are used exclusively for short-haul flights. The business-class product on these aircraft isn’t very impressive and is similar to the economy cabin with a bit more legroom. However, if you’re flying on a Qantas Embraer 190, you probably won’t be airborne for very long.

Regardless of which type of aircraft you’re flying on, you’ll receive complimentary access to Qantas business-class lounges as well as Oneworld Alliance partner lounges wherever they’re available when you have a Qantas business-class ticket on a long-haul flight.

All business-class meals on Qantas long-haul flights are designed by Neil Perry, a renowned Australian chef and owner of several restaurants. These long-haul flights also have a “Sommelier in the Sky,” who can recommend the perfect complimentary wine to go with your meal.

And, on certain long-haul flights, you’ll receive a stylish amenity kit (designed in collaboration with lifestyle brand Koskela), containing terry cotton and jersey eyeshades, bamboo socks and skincare balms and creams. Plus, you can borrow a set of Qantas pajamas upon request.

Best Programs Through Which to Book Qantas Business Class

Since Qantas is a member of Oneworld Alliance, there are several Oneworld frequent flyer programs through which you can book Qantas business-class awards (including the Qantas Frequent Flyer program). However, these frequent flyer programs all have different ways of pricing award flights. So, you might be able to book a Qantas business-class award for significantly fewer miles through one program versus another.

Some frequent flyer programs allow you to transfer points from U.S. credit card rewards programs, which makes it much easier to earn miles with those programs.

With these differences in mind, let’s look at some of the best programs through which to book award flights in Qantas business class.

Qantas Frequent Flyer

While it is possible to find Qantas business-class availability through other frequent flyer programs, it’s much more difficult to find Qantas business-class awards through partner programs than it is through Qantas’s own Frequent Flyer program.

So, if you want to save yourself a headache, the easiest way to book Qantas business-class awards with points or miles is through the Qantas Frequent Flyer program.

Plus, Qantas Frequent Flyer is a transfer partner of several of the major U.S. credit card rewards programs, including American Express Membership Rewards, Brex, Capital One Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards. This makes it very easy for U.S. citizens to earn points with the Qantas Frequent Flyer program.

Unfortunately, Qantas Frequent Flyer prices most Qantas-operated award flights using a dynamic pricing model, meaning you probably won’t be able to find outsized value on these award flight redemptions. However, if you’re able to find a Classic Flight Reward through this program, these awards are priced according to a fixed award chart, meaning that it’s possible to find outsized value.

Here are the rates for Qantas Classic Reward Flights in business class according to their distance in miles:

These rates are for one-way award flights in Qantas business class. To get the round-trip price for Classic Reward Flights, just double the applicable rate listed above.

Luckily, the Qantas website makes it fairly easy to find Classic Flight Rewards when searching for award availability. When entering your award flight information into the search tool, make sure to turn on the “Flexible with dates” toggle button. Then, when you conduct your search, you’ll be brought to a calendar view where all dates on which Classic Flight Rewards are available will be denoted by a red icon.

Unfortunately, finding Classic Flight Rewards for Qantas business-class routes between Australia and North America is very difficult. In almost every case, business-class seats on these routes will be Classic Plus Flight Rewards (which are priced dynamically, meaning that you won’t get very high value per point).

For example, when we searched for a Qantas business-class award flight between Brisbane (BNE) and Los Angeles (LAX), we could only find Classic Plus Flight Rewards at the whopping round-trip price of 810,000 points and 1,191 Australian Dollars (about $715). This was the cheapest rate for one of these Classic Plus Flight Rewards we found on any date.

If you were to book the same flights on the same dates with cash instead of Qantas points, it would cost you 11,311 Australian Dollars (about $6,794).

Thus, factoring in the taxes and fees that you’d have to use to book the Classic Plus Flight Reward, this redemption would give you a value of about 0.8 cents per point, which is very poor. So, in general, we don’t recommend redeeming Qantas points for Classic Plus Flight Rewards.

However, Classic Flight Rewards on Qantas business-class flights between Australia and North America aren’t impossible to find. We found a round-trip Qantas business-class Classic Flight Reward between Brisbane (BNE) and Los Angeles (LAX) for 216,800 Qantas points and 620 Australian Dollars (about $386) in taxes and fees.

The same flights on the same dates booked with cash instead of points through the Qantas website would have cost a total of 11,808 Australian Dollars (about $7,350).

So, this redemption would yield a value of about 3.2 cents per point, which is good. However, this availability took us hours to find. Once again, it seems that Qantas business-class award availability on these routes between Australia and the U.S. does exist through Qantas Frequent Flyer, but is very hard to find

You can often find Classic Flight Rewards (which, once again, are priced according to a fixed award chart) in Qantas business class on short-haul routes, such as domestic routes within Australia or trans-Tasman routes.

For example, we found a Classic Flight Reward for a round-trip Qantas business-class flight between Melbourne (MEL) and Sydney (SYD) for 36,800 points and 112 Australian Dollars (about $67) in taxes and fees.

If you were to book the same flights on the same dates with cash instead of Qantas points, it would cost you 1,108 Australian Dollars (about $665).

Considering the taxes and fees you’d have to pay to book this Class Flight Reward, this redemption would give you a value of about 1.6 cents per point, which is decent.

So, If you want to redeem points or miles for a Qantas business-class award and get good value out of those points or miles, you’ll probably need to book a short-haul flight rather than a long-haul flight.

Luckily, it’s fairly easy to earn Qantas points, as the Qantas Frequent Flyer program is a transfer partner of several major U.S. credit card rewards programs, including American Express Membership Rewards, Brex, Capital One Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards.

Thus, you can transfer lots of different kinds of credit card points to the Qantas Frequent Flyer program and redeem them for business-class flights. However, if you want to get good value out of those points, you’ll want to stick to redeeming them for Classic Flight Rewards, which are typically only available on short-haul Qantas routes.

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

Another frequent flyer program through which it’s possible to find Qantas business-class flights is Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. However, we were unable to find any Qantas business-class award availability on routes between Australia and North America, despite thoroughly searching on the Alaska Airlines website and using third-party award search tools such as AwardTool and PointsYeah.

We were, however, able to find Qantas business-class award availability on a round-trip flight between Sydney (SYD) and Auckland (AKL). And, despite the fact that Mileage Plan’s partner award charts now list minimum award prices, and awards are actually priced dynamically, we were able to find this award at the minimum price.

For this Qantas business-class award in June 2025, you’d have paid a total of 30,000 miles and $180 in taxes and fees.

If you were to book the same flight on the same dates with cash instead of Alaska Airlines miles, it would cost you 1,376 Australian Dollars (about $826).

So, factoring in the $180 in taxes and fees you’d pay for the award flight, this redemption would yield a value of about 2.3 cents per mile, which is fairly good for a short-haul international business-class flight.

In terms of earning miles with Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, the only credit card rewards program that transfers at a 1:1 ratio directly to this program is Bilt Rewards, which is an increasingly popular program that allows you to earn points for paying your rent.

So, although it’s difficult to find long-haul Qantas business-class award availability through the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program, Alaska Airlines miles are fairly easy to earn and can be used to purchase short-haul Qantas business-class flights. And, you’ll typically get solid value per mile when doing so.

American Airlines AAdvantage

Similar to the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program, American Airlines AAdvantage is another partner frequent flyer program through which you can book Qantas business-class awards, but usually only short-haul domestic or trans-Tasman flights.

For example, we found a round-trip Qantas business-class flight between Auckland (AKL) and Sydney (SYD) for 50,000 AAdvantage miles and about $164 in taxes and fees.

If you were to book the same flights on the same dates using cash through the Qantas website instead of AAdvantage miles, it would cost you 1,426 New Zealand Dollars (about $794).

So, factoring in the $164 in taxes and fees you’d need to pay for the award flight, this redemption would yield a value of about 1.3 cents per mile, which is decent.

In many cases, you may be able to find a lower rate for the same flight through either the Qantas Frequent Flyer program or Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program. However, since many U.S. travelers are loyal to American Airlines and may have large balances of AAdvantage miles saved up, the AAdvantage program can be a good option for booking a Qantas business-class award flight with miles.

The AAdvantage program isn’t a transfer partner of any of the major credit card rewards programs. So, the best ways to earn AAdvantage miles are crediting Oneworld Alliance flights to the program or spending on an American Airlines co-branded credit card. Here are some of the best AAdvantage credit cards to look into:

• AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® ($99 annual fee)
• AAdvantage® Aviator® World Elite Business Mastercard® ($95 annual fee)
• American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Card ($0 annual fee)
• Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® ($595 annual fee)

With one of these cards, you could quickly earn enough AAdvantage miles to book a Qantas business-class award. However, you should probably only sign up if you fly with American Airlines often.

The Bottom Line

Australia’s flag carrier and largest airline, Qantas ranked in the top 20 best business-class products in 2024. So, when flying in Qantas business class, you can expect the finest comforts and customer service. In its top-tier business-class product, Qantas includes amenities such as an 80-inch lie-flat bed, 16-inch personal television monitor, a “Sommelier in the Sky” to recommend wine that pairs with your meal, an amenity kit containing complimentary socks and skincare products, a dedicated check-in desk at the airport, Qantas or Oneworld airport lounge access and much more.

However, this level of luxury comes at a price. And, for many of us, the only way to afford a Qantas business-class ticket is by booking with points or miles. Unfortunately, if you’re looking to book a long-haul Qantas business-class award, the only way to reliably do so is by spending a ton of miles through the Qantas Frequent Flyer program. These long-haul business awards are nearly impossible to find through partner frequent flyer programs and, through the Qantas Frequent Flyer program, they’re typically only available at very high rates.

If you’re interested in booking a short-haul Qantas business-class flight (such as a domestic flight within Australia or a trans-Tasman flight), you can often find these at low rates that offer high value per point through several frequent flyer programs, including Qantas Frequent Flyer, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and American Airline AAdvantage. This may be a great option for those who are planning an extended trip to Australia spanning multiple cities.