To entice frequent flyers residing in Australia's major cities, Qantas is promoting another significant incentive as an opportunity to get out of town and explore the country's rural areas.

From June 1 to November 30, 2022, booking a seat on a number of domestic flight options will result in a 30 per cent reduction in the number of frequent flyer points required.

A total of more than 20 regional destinations will be serviced by the new airline, including Uluru, Coffs Harbour, Broken Hill, Merimbula, Mildura (New South Wales), Orange (New South Wales), Tamworth (New South Wales), Mount Gambier (South Australia), Burnie (South Australia), Sunshine Coast (Queensland), and Townsville (Queensland).

From 12:01 a.m. on Monday, May 9 until 12:00 a.m. on Friday, May 15, frequent travellers can use their points to reserve economy Classic Flight Reward seats.

This is a first for the Australian airline, which will allow customers to use their points to reserve any seat on more than 1700 flights during the month of August, in a promo known as 'Points Planes'.

In a first for the Aussie carrier, points can be used to book any seat on more than 1,700 flights during the month of August. Credit: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw.
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Olivia Wirth, the chief executive of Qantas Loyalty, expressed optimism that the agreement will enhance tourism to remote regions during the upcoming winter season.

"We've seen a huge increase in demand for regional travel since the start of the pandemic and these Points Planes will help tens of thousands of frequent flyers discover regional Australia this winter," said Ms Wirth.

"These Points Planes will help boost tourism right across the country during August and make it easier for residents in these regional towns to get away for a city escape."

"Qantas' regional network plays an important role in supporting local economies and this investment in domestic Points Planes will continue to drive visitation and support travel demand."

In the past, Qantas has operated point plane promotions to entice frequent flyer members with large point balances – and this has been a huge hit among customers.

But during the pandemic, Qantas discovered the merits of short-haul regional flying.

With this programme, they're encouraging their frequent flyers to use part of their points rather than stockpile them. They're also shifting parts of their focus to regular flyers with lower point balances.

Even though most Qantas frequent flyer members don't have enough points to fly first class to LAX, they can usually scrape together the 12,000 or so points necessary to fly from Sydney to Hobart and back.

Here are the steps on how to book a reward seat on a Points Plane:

1. Log in to your Qantas Frequent Flyer account
2. Select your route and search for your desired travel dates, making sure they’re within the limited period for the Points Plane promotion, and ensure the checkbox option to ‘Use points’ is selected
3. When your flight options appear on the next screen, look for Classic Reward seat availability
4. Once you see the flight you want, these Classic Reward seats can go fast, so don’t delay. Forget about choosing your specific seat or even nominating a special meal – that can be done later through the Manage Your Booking screen – just dive straight into making your payment to reserve those seats.

Source: Executive Traveller.​

In light of the fact that many regional trips can be outrageously costly even in economy class, the ability to get seats at these reduced rates is a rare and welcome opportunity.

This is good news for our members who are looking to get out of the city for a while this winter! Do you already have any destinations in mind?

 

[Ricci]

I don't think I've got any frequent flyer points but there again, I'm not looking to fly anywhere anytime soon!!

 

[Pommyoz]

I dont have any relatives in Australia to fly domestically! They are all in the U.K.!!!