Qantas Frequent Flyers will have access to over 20 million more reward seats with the launch of Classic Plus Flight Rewards, a new way for members to use their Qantas Points to book flights.

This change is one of the biggest ever expansions of the Qantas Frequent Flyer program in its 35-year history and will make it easier to travel to places like London, Tokyo, New York and Singapore with Qantas Points, even during peak times.

While usually requiring more points than the existing Classic reward seats, Classic Plus will represent some of the best value across the frequent flyer program with much wider availability and are also eligible for upgrades, according to Qantas.

The points required to book Classic Plus reward seats will vary like normal airfares, which means they’ll be lower during off-peak periods or when booking early, and higher during peak periods.

During sales and promotions, Classic Plus reward seats may drop below a Classic reward seat on the same route.

Classic Plus reward seats can now be booked on Qantas international flights departing Australia for travel from 1 July 2024 and will be rolled out across the rest of the airline’s international and domestic network on Qantas-operated flights by the end of the year.

By the end of calendar year 2024, when Classic Plus has fully launched across the international and domestic network, members will have had access to 20 million new reward seats for travel across the rolling 12-month booking window. There will be a similar level of availability on an ongoing basis.

Qantas Group CEO, Vanessa Hudson, said frequent flyers have more ways than ever to earn points and a new flight reward option would open up more value for frequent flyers wanting to use their growing points balances on travel.

“The Qantas Frequent Flyer program is an integral part of Qantas and has always been about recognising our customers for their loyalty. We’ve spent a lot of time listening to members about how we can better reward them,” she said.

“We’re adding over 20 million new flight rewards with the launch of a new type of reward seat called Classic Plus. It’s one of the biggest expansions we’ve made to the Frequent Flyer program in its 35-year history.

“The growth and success of Qantas Loyalty is driven by engaged members who earn and redeem points across the frequent flyer program, including with our partners, and that’s why we’re investing in making more seats available to book with points,” Hudson said.

Qantas Loyalty CEO, Andrew Glance, added: “The widespread availability of Classic Plus means that frequent flyers have more options to fly where they want, when they want and more often, using their points.

“The new type of reward seat will usually require more points than the highly sought after existing Classic seats, and will be available to all destinations on the Qantas international and domestic network, across First, Business, Premium Economy and Economy cabins.

“We know how much our members love the existing reward seats and have been booking them in record numbers, so the new Classic Plus product we’re announcing today is over and above our commitment to 5 million Classic reward seats.”

Qantas says it will continue to offer more than 5 million existing Classic rewards seats across Qantas, Jetstar and 45 partner airlines, with no change to the points required to book these seats since 2019.

This financial year, Qantas will invest $60 million in more flight rewards for frequent flyers, which included adding 6,000 new premium Classic reward seats to Europe during peak travel times last October.