- Qantas wraps up double points promo and announces route changes for 2025.
- Qantas also boasts new destinations, WiFi rollout, and expanded reward options for frequent flyers.
- Virgin Australia shakes up its Velocity program as Qatar stake looms large.
October has proved a cracker of a month for Australian flyers, with Qantas now wrapping up a double points/status promotion, announcing network changes, and tweaking their frequent flyer scheme again.
Qantas Route Changes: Dallas, Los Angeles, and JFK
Earlier this month, Qantas announced changes to its international network in 2025, including putting the A380 back on Sydney – Dallas flights and the B787 on some Brisbane – LAX flights. The airline has scheduled both to happen next August.
The airline is trimming Sydney – JFK flights from six to five per week from February and handing the Seoul run over to Jetstar in June. The Seoul flights only started in late 2022 but failed to attract the premium traffic that Qantas needs to make the route worthwhile.
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Qantas has also picked up a government-supported route to Palau. The once-weekly roundtrips out of Brisbane using B737-800s might prove a sleeper holiday hit if the flight timings and prices are right. Flights are expected to start “in the coming months.”
Qantas rolls out Classic Plus redemptions on domestic and regional flights
Sticking with Qantas, the airline is opening up its controversial Classic Plus reward seat redemptions across the domestic and regional network from December 12, 2024. Not everyone is a fan of these redemptions, which are dynamically priced and align with cash fares.
However, Qantas says over 25 billion points have been redeemed on international flight redemptions since Classic Plus debuted in July, and it gives passengers more options to fly where they want when they want. Occasionally, but not very often, Classic Plus redemptions are cheaper than the often elusive Classic Reward redemptions.
Qantas frequent flyers will soon be able to redeem reward seats on Oman Airlines, an interesting airline with a tidy fleet, including B787-9 Dreamliners, that is run by Melbourne boy-made-good Con Korfiatis. It has a strong European network and links with Qantas services in Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta, Bangalore, and Delhi. Qantas hasn’t said when reward seats will open up, but they are beating the publicity drums, so it should be soon-ish.
Qantas also says it has started rolling out WiFi onboard its international A330 fleet, and that it should be available on A330 flights to Asia by the end of the year. The airline says passengers flying on “activated” A330s can already access fast and free while over Australia.
The final bit of Qantas news concerns flights to Lord Howe Island. Qantas will soon stop flying the only aircraft type they have that can land there, raising the prospect of services ending. Instead, they’ve done a deal with Cairns-based SkyTrans who have the right-sized aircraft and will start flying Sydney – Lord Howe Island on a codeshare basis with Qantas. Redemptions, point accruals, and lounge access will continue uninterrupted for Qantas passengers. Qantas aircraft will transition out, and SkyTrans aircraft transition in through March 2026.
Delta to refresh cabins on Australia-bound aircraft
Delta Air Lines, which goes daily into Sydney and is about to start thrice weekly flights to Brisbane, will introduce new interiors across all cabins on its A350-900 fleet from early 2025. By happy circumstance, this is the aircraft type Delta sends to Australia. Granted, it’s more a refresh than a major overhaul, but passengers across all cabin classes can expect better lighting, memory foam cushions, tarted-up toilets with an “accent wall,” and a “softer, warmer and more modern colour palette.” I strongly suspect most passengers would prefer to ditch the accent wall for more legroom, but that’s just me.
Batik Air drops Canberra after four months and one close encounter
Batik Air started flights between Denpasar and Canberra in June. Did you know? No? Well, it doesn’t matter because they axed them this month with Canberra Airport CEO Michael Thomson citing “operational and commercial factors” and working out that most Canberrans why fly international scoot up to Sydney to do so.
The most memorable thing about Batik’s short-lived Canberra flights was the inaugural service, which came with 924 feet of mountainous terrain south of city and sparked an ATSB incident review. That might be one reason why the good people of Canberra didn’t rush online to book cheap seats to Bali.
Qatar’s play with Virgin Australia
Virgin Australia set the cat among the pigeons in October when it announced a big overhaul to its Velocity frequent flyer programme starting next year. Virgin’s PR people are spinning it hard, but the upshot is you’ll have to spend more to gain or retain status. It’s a commercial decision by the airline that will at least thin out the overcrowded lounges.
Far more interesting is VA’s proposed play with Qatar Airways. They already cooperate closely, but the AUD750 million plus bid by Qatar to buy a 25% stake in Virgin Australia has some super interesting medium and long-term ramifications. Aside from more Qatar metal masquerading as VA metal on the ground at Australian airports and Qantas having to work harder for their money, expect to see downgrades of the close relationship between Virgin Australia and Singapore Airlines and the end of Velocity redemptions on SQ services west of India.
Additionally, the agreement with Etihad and South African Airways will get torn up. Virgin Australia will also get to work funnelling traffic to their new part owner. This show has a way to go, and it’s worth watching how it plays out.
