Qantas launches triple points sale, $19 Sydney-Melbourne fares

Qantas will use bonus points and budget-friendly flights to tempt people out of isolation and back into the air for the next four months.

The aggressive campaign comes as states prepare to reopen their borders and ease travel restrictions ahead of the winter school holidays and, for many, the ski season.

"There is huge pent up demand for air travel, with people wanting to get away after months of being stuck at home," says Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce.

“We know that these low fares will encourage even more people to get on a flight to take a short holiday or visit family and friends. This is a great opportunity to go to the amazing places in our own backyard that you haven’t got around to seeing, like the Barossa Valley or the Great Barrier Reef."

“As the national carrier we have an important role to play in driving tourism and reviving the industry that has been devastated by COVID-19," Joyce adds. "There are one million people who work in tourism across Australia. The entire industry, from hotel providers to small tourism operators, are struggling to make a post pandemic comeback."

“We have a lot of aircraft on the ground with fixed costs attached to them, so if we can put some of them back in the air by offering special fares, it’s a positive for us, for our people, for tourism and for consumers."

Qantas Triple Points sale

All domestic Qantas flights booked from now through to June 24 2020, for travel from June 27 to October 31 2020 will earn a triple serve of Qantas Points.

This applies to all types of tickets and across all of Qantas' 92 domestic routes and 57 destinations.

A quick example of the yield: for a return Sydney-Melbourne trip, that's worth

• 4,800 Qantas Points (instead of the usual 1,600 Qantas Points) on a discount economy booking
• 7,200 Qantas Points (instead of the usual 2,400 Qantas Points) on a flexible economy booking
• 8,400 Qantas Points (instead of the usual 2,800 Qantas Points) on a business class booking
• 9,600 Qantas Points (instead of the usual 3,200 Qantas Points) on a flexible business class booking

Often when Qantas runs these types of offers, the multiplier – triple points in this case – applies only to the 'base' number of Qantas Points earned. In this case, it also applies to the 'minimum points guarantee'.

That's good news for frequent flyers, as the 'base' earning rate for Qantas Points on a Sydney-Melbourne discount economy flight is just 400 points, whereas with the minimum points guarantee, it's 800 all-in. Multiply that by 3, and double for a return trip, and you've got 4,800 Qantas Points.

However, Qantas has confirmed to Executive Traveller that status-based multipliers – which for example see Qantas Frequent Flyer Gold members earn a 75% bonus on eligible Qantas flights, with a points-doubling 100% bonus for Platinums – don't apply to those already-tripled points hauls.

(And before you ask: no, there's no extra status credits on offer here.)

If you haven't flown since before the pandemic set in, expect a very different travel experience – all Qantas lounges remain closed until sometime in July, in board you'll be served simple boxed snacks instead of meals, there are currently no drinks except water, and also no inflight movies or WiFi.

Review: Here's what it's like to fly with Qantas in the coronavirus era

Jetstar's $19 fares

Qantas' low-cost arm Jetstar is putting 10,000 fares on sale for $19 on 22 domestic routes, among them:

• Sydney to Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Ballina, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, Cairns, Townsville and Proserpine
• Melbourne to Sydney, Newcastle, Adelaide, Ballina, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, and Cairns
• Brisbane to Sydney, Melbourne, Townsville and Proserpine

There's also a slew of still-sharp fares ranging from $65 through to $99, such as:

• Sydney to Hamilton Island and Darwin
• Melbourne to Brisbane, Townsville, Proserpine and Darwin
• Melbourne to Brisbane, Townsville, Proserpine and Darwin
• Brisbane to Adelaide, Melbourne, Newcastle, Cairns, Mackay and Darwin
• Adelaide to Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Darwin

Bookings for all these open at 9am Friday June 19 and run through to 11.59pm on Monday June 22, 2020 unless of course they're sold out before – which is almost guaranteed to happen – although the fares are restricted to specific travel periods between July 14 and October 31, dates which mostly fall outside school holidays.

For example:

• $19 fares between Sydney and Melbourne are available for travel only between August 4 to September 17, and from October 6 to October 31
• $19 fares for Melbourne-Ballina, Melbourne-Gold Coast and Melbourne-Cairns are available for travel only between July 14 to September 17, and from October 6 to October 31
• $19 fares for Sydney-Brisbane, Sydney-Ballina, Sydney-Cairns and Brisbane-Townsville are available for travel only between July 21 to September 17, and from October 6 to October 31

Jetstar also intends to offer sale fares for Western Australia and Tasmania "following confirmation of the dates that borders will open up."

Those never-so-low fares make good on Qantas CEO Alan Joyce's promise in early May that once domestic flying restrictions were lifted "you could see Jetstar have $39 airfares, you could see $19 airfares, and we would still cover cash costs on those flights."

Also read: How to earn Qantas status credits on Jetstar flights

David Flynn

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.