Qantas has unveiled a new option for members of its frequent flyer program to redeem them for flights.
The airline said on Monday that Classic Plus Flight Rewards represented one of the biggest expansions of the Qantas Frequent Flyer program in its 35-year history.
The new type of reward seats represent a middle tier between its existing Classic program, where seats can be hard to find, and its contentious Points Plus Pay program, where seats are plentiful but do not represent good value.
"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," said Qantas Loyalty CEO Andrew Glance.
There will be 20 million Classic Plus reward seats available for booking each year, across all destinations that Qantas flies.
Points expert Steve Hui, the founder of iFLYflat, said the new program put a value on Qantas points: one cent per point for booking economy, and 1.5 cents for booking business class.
"Previously, they didn't really have a price on it for people collecting points. So people go and pay, say three per cent fees at a restaurant or whatever," he said.
The new program makes it clear that paying that much to collect points doesn't make sense, he said.
It's good that Qantas didn't "muck about" with its Classic rewards, added Mr Hui, who called the new program a net plus for Qantas Frequent Flyer members.
"I've always believed that more choices are better, so people can make their own decisions on how they want to spend their points or money," he said.
