Velocity Points are one of Australia’s most popular rewards currencies, giving travellers access to not just Virgin Australia flights but also those of partners like Singapore Airlines, United Airlines, ANA and Qatar Airways.

If you’re sitting on a stash of Velocity Points, you’re probably wondering what’s the best way to use them.

Our answer is always that you’ll get the best value by redeeming them for flights and upgrades. While these can be tricky to secure, if you figure out how the system works and are flexible with your travel plans, your Velocity Points can take you almost anywhere in the world.

Here are some tips to help you out.

Virgin Australia long-haul flights to Doha

Qatar Airways has taken a 25% stake in Virgin Australia. As part of the deal, Virgin will launch flights from Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth to Doha (Qatar Airways’ home base) later in 2025.

From Doha, travellers will be able to access Qatar Airways’ extensive global network.

These Virgin flights will be operated by Qatar Airways crew and aircraft. That means travellers will enjoy the excellent Qsuites in business class.

Qatar Airways Qsuite – soon to be on Virgin Australia flights to Doha

Virgin Australia has just begun releasing reward seats on this route. We saw a big batch become available on 21 Jan 2025, and now we’re going to monitor availability to see if there’s a pattern with releases. Stay tuned!

Reward seats to Doha now available

At the time of writing, Velocity Points can’t be used to upgrade on Doha flights.

Virgin Australia domestic business class

With Australia’s second largest domestic network at your disposal and good reward seat availability, travelling around the nation in business class is a fantastic use of points.

Virgin’s all-Boeing 737 domestic fleet features a small business class cabin at the front of the plane, with two rows of recliner seats arranged in a 2-2 layout.

The fleet is currently being refurbished with wider business class seats, which also feature leg rests with extendable footrests, storage compartments, tablet/device holders and water bottle holders.

New Virgin 737 business class seats

When you fly business class with Virgin Australia domestically, you also get lounge access when departing from Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney airports.

(Pro tip: if you want Virgin Australia lounge access every time you fly, it’s now complimentary with the fantastic American Express Velocity Platinum Card.)

You can also use points to upgrade from economy to business class on domestic and short-haul international flights. Availability is limited, of course – and status holders get first dibs. You can see how many points you’ll need on Velocity’s website here.

Business or first class with Singapore Airlines

One of our most popular articles is our guide for using Velocity Points to fly in style with Singapore Airlines.

Singapore Airlines’ business and first class products are among the best in the world. Passengers not only enjoy comfortable and spacious seats, but the airline is also renowned for its excellent dining and customer service.

Try a ‘once in a lifetime’ first class flight

There are two ways to use Velocity Points to fly with SQ: either by booking via Virgin Australia or transferring your points to SQ and booking direct. Read our guide for more info.

Flying with other partner airlines

Aside from Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines, Velocity Points can also be used to fly with a range of other partner airlines.

These include Air Canada, United Airlines and ANA, which can be booked on the Velocity website.

You can also use points to fly with Hawaiian Airlines, South African Airways and Virgin Atlantic, but these three can only be booked by calling Virgin.

Flying economy also provides solid value

While many people focus on using points for business and first class seats, flying economy is also a great option.

Sometimes, it’s the only option, given how rare premium reward seats are.

Rest assured, you are still getting good value from your points when redeeming them for economy seats. That’s especially the case since airfares remain relatively high following the pandemic.

This is a far better use of points than redeeming them for gift cards.

Tips for success

Book in advance: Award seats often sell out quickly, particularly during peak periods like school holidays. Plan as far ahead as possible to snag the best routes and dates.

Or … book last minute: If you’re in the fortunate position of being able to fly at relatively short notice (within the next 30 days), many airlines release reward seats late in order to help fill their planes. This is a great way to get sought-after business and first class seats.

Familiarise yourself with partner award charts: Each partner airline has its own redemption rates. Check the Velocity website to see how many points you’ll need for your chosen route.

Pool your family’s points: Got multiple family members collecting Velocity Points? Velocity’s Family Pooling feature allows family members to pool their points and status credits into one account, accelerating your ability to redeem for award flights.

Accelerate your points earn on everyday spend: Consider holding a Velocity-branded credit card. For example, you can earn 1.25 Velocity Points per $1 on everyday spend plus get a complimentary domestic flight each year, complimentary lounge membership, and other benefits, with our favourite Velocity card: the Amex Velocity Platinum Card.

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Many people dream about flying round-the-world in business class, but dismiss it as a fantasy that’ll forever be out of reach.

In fact, this ‘bucket list’ experience is more attainable than you may think, thanks to a unique and highly rewarding way of using Qantas Points.

The ‘oneworld award’ is a special type of booking that allows you to fly with oneworld member airlines up to 35,000 miles. That’s enough for a round-the-world journey (though you don’t have to fly RTW if you don’t want to – more on that later).

This booking costs a relatively modest 132,400 points in economy, 249,600 points in premium economy, 318,000 points in business class or 455,000 points in first class, plus taxes and fees.

Business class is the sweet spot, as it’s a higher-value use of points than economy.

Premium economy isn’t available on many airlines, so it’s quite difficult putting together a full itinerary in this class of travel.

As for first class, that’s also very hard to book because the number of routes with this cabin is small.

Since you can spend up to 318,000 Qantas Points on a return business class fare from Australia to Europe or the USA, flying 35,000 miles with 5 stopovers for a similar price is superb value.

The main ‘catch’ is that it can be time consuming and difficult to research and book flights, so here are some tips to make the job easier.

Want more Qantas Points? Get 50,000 bonus points + an annual $450 Qantas Travel Credit with the ultimate card for Qantas Points, rewards and benefits: the Qantas American Express Ultimate Card – ends soon!

The rules

Here are the specific rules you must follow for a valid booking:

• maximum total distance of 35,000 miles
• maximum of 5 stopovers (a stopover is when you have 24+ hours between flights; if you land in one city and depart from another, it counts as just one stopover)
• a maximum of 16 individual segments – a segment is each individual flight AND any journey you make over land yourself. These land segments are also counted towards the 35,000 mile maximum
• no more than one stopover and two transits through a single aiport
• you must fly with at least two oneworld airlines that are not Qantas (in fact, you don’t have to fly Qantas at all – just two or more other oneworld airlines – see below for the list)
• you have 12 months to complete the travel
• once you return to your country of origin you can’t leave it again
• you must finish booking all flights in the itinerary before the first flight takes off.

The oneworld member airlines are:

• Alaska Airlines
• American Airlines
• British Airways
• Cathay Pacific
• Fiji Airways
• Finnair
• Iberia
• Japan Airlines
• Malaysia Airlines
• Oman Air (joining soon)
• Qantas
• Qatar Airways
• Royal Air Maroc
• Royal Jordanian
• S7 Airlines (currently suspended)
• SriLankan Airlines

Possible itineraries

You can fly anywhere and in any direction you want, so long as you comply with the above rules.

There are no restrictions on how many continents you can visit or regarding backtracking (which are limitations in most paid round-the-world fares).

If you make some land segments on your own, you can actually visit more than five destinations. That’s because when you land in one city and take off on your next flight from another city, it doesn’t count as two stopovers – just one. The land segment is counted towards the 16 maximum and the distance towards the 35,000 mile maximum.

To illustrate: here’s an example where you fly from Sydney to Tokyo (first stop), make your own way to Hong Kong, fly to Helsinki (second stop), make your own way to Paris, fly to Marrakesh (third stop), make your own way to Casablanca, fly to New York City (fourth stop), make your own way to Montreal, fly to Lima (fifth stop) make your own way to Santiago, and fly home.

Also, there’s no requirement to fly round-the-world, though that’s how most people use this award. You could do a loop around a specific region or criss-cross between continents – it’s totally up to you.

For example, here’s one of my past itineraries, which started in Singapore and took me to the USA, followed by Australia, Japan and back to Australia.

How to book

Now, here’s the catch: it can be very time consuming to book this award because finding business class seats on popular routes is often tricky and the booking process usually requires several phone calls to Qantas.

Here are some tips:

• start planning early – ideally more than a year in advance – and research which specific flights you want to book, and when you can expect the seats to become available for the dates you want (more on that below)
• be flexible with your dates
• explore the different flight and route options at the oneworld alliance route map here
• use Qantas’ website to search for award seats for each individual leg. Use the multi-city tool (yes, it’s designed for multiple flight searches, but it works for single flight searches as well and has the advantage of giving you results in a handy monthly calendar view unlike the default search tool on Qantas’ homepage.) Make sure to select “Use points – Classic Flight Rewards only” and “Flexible with dates for all flights”.
• be flexible with cities in Australia for departures and arrivals – ie. if you can’t find a long-haul flight ex-Adelaide, try Perth or Sydney. Don’t assume that the search results on Qantas’ site will have considered this option along with a domestic connection from your home city
• book the initial flight(s) online yourself on the Qantas site. Use the multi-city tool if you can book multiple flights. It’s very unlikely all the flights in your itinerary will be available to book at the same time, since airlines release reward seats at different times. Also, Qantas’ site isn’t capable of handling complicated itineraries, and you may get an error message.
• once you’ve booked what you can online, to add more flights, you’ll have to call Qantas on 131313
• you cannot make a series of individual bookings online with different reference numbers and then ask for them to be “stitched” together
• you’ll be charged 5000 points per person each time you make a change via the Qantas call centre, like adding flights – this is an extra cost to factor into your planning
• if you call Qantas to make a change, make sure you receive a new e-ticket within 24 hours. If it’s not in your inbox by then, it’s essential to call Qantas to get the ticket issued properly otherwise you may lose your seats.
• to calculate the total miles flown to make sure you don’t exceed the 35,000 mile limit, use this mapping tool. Just type in the airport codes separated by hyphens (for example, MEL-LAX-JFK-LHR-HKG-MEL). You can search for the codes on the site or use google.
• you don’t have to finish in the city you started, but the booking system will calculate the distance back to the original departure airport in determining whether you’re within the 35,000 mile limit
• book seats as soon as they become available, otherwise someone else may snap them up. Airlines release award seats at different times, usually 330-360 days ahead. They also sometimes release them in batches. You’ll need to keep your eye out.
• you can only fly with oneworld member airlines, which does not include some Qantas partners like Emirates – so be careful when looking at search results on Qantas’ site
• airlines have varying taxes and charges they levy on reward fares, which must be paid with money, not points. Airlines with lower charges include Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, SriLankan Airlines and Japan Airlines. On the other hand, high charges are most often found with British Airways, Qatar Airways and Royal Jordanian.
• if you mix different classes, the highest class will be used to calculate the cost – i.e. just one first class flight in an otherwise all-business class itinerary will make the cost jump to the first class level. You can include lower classes if you wish with no price change
• you cannot use Qantas’ new Classic Plus reward seats – it must be a regular Classic reward seat
• if you decide to cancel your itinerary, you can get a full refund of points and money paid less the cancellation fee of 6,000 points per person.

Summing Up

The oneworld award is easily one of the best uses of Qantas Points. While booking it is complex, it’s definitely worth the effort given what you get to experience: flying in style, visiting a range of destinations and having bragging rights for years!

Remember to plan carefully, be patient, and familiarise yourself with all the rules. That way, the booking process will go as smoothly as possible.

Want more Qantas Points? Get 50,000 bonus points + an annual $450 Qantas Travel Credit with the ultimate card for Qantas Points, rewards and benefits: the Qantas American Express Ultimate Card – ends soon!

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Qantas Points are so popular in Australia that they’re often referred to as the nation’s “second currency”.

With more than 15 million Qantas Frequent Flyer members and hundreds of billions of points in circulation, it’s easy to see why. 

But the harder question is: how should all these points collectors use their points to get the most value?

It remains the case in 2025 that redeeming Qantas Points on flight reward seats and upgrades gives you the most ‘bang’ for your points ‘buck’.

Qantas tempts members with a growing list of other redemption options: gift vouchers, hotel stays, car hire, wine, household goods … the list goes on. But these almost always provide less value that spending the equivalent number of points on flights.

If you’re sitting on a stash of Qantas Points, here are some tips for putting them to use.

Want more Qantas Points? Get 50,000 bonus points + an annual $450 Qantas Travel Credit with the ultimate card for Qantas Points, rewards and benefits: the Qantas American Express Ultimate Card – ends soon!

Qantas and partner ‘Classic’ reward seats

Classic reward seats have been around for many years and are well known to frequent flyers. They have a fixed points price based on distance and cabin class, and are generally the highest value use of points.

Classic reward seats are available on flights operated by both Qantas and partner airlines such as Emirates, Cathay Pacific and American Airlines.

The ‘holy grail’ is securing a seat in business or first class, but these are in short supply.

Economy can also represent good value, especially when cash fares are high.

One factor impacting Qantas right now is that partner airlines are releasing fewer and fewer reward seats – especially in premium cabins.

This trend has been in place for a while, and we’re seeing it with carriers all around the world.

With increasing demand for reward seats globally, airlines are favouring their own loyalty program members by giving them preferential access to reward seats while restricting access by partners.

That means it’s now much harder to use Qantas Points to book seats with partners.

Classic rewards on Qantas flights have also become more difficult to secure over the last two years. That’s partly due to increasing demand, but also reduced supply by the airline.

To improve your chances of finding a seat, plan as far ahead as possible and be flexible with your departure date and route.

Look at routes outside Australia (eg. Asia-Europe), as there tend be a lot more seats available there.

If you’re in the fortunate position of being able to fly at relatively short notice (within the next 30 days), many airlines release reward seats late in order to help fill their planes. This is a great way to get sought-after business and first class seats.

Qantas ‘Classic Plus’ reward seats

In 2024, Qantas launched a new type of reward seat, Classic Plus, to address the increased demand for using points to travel.

Classic Plus seats are only available on Qantas flights, not partners.

These seats are widely available, but come at a cost: they are generally much more expensive than Classic reward seats.

“Classic Plus” seats have a flexible points price that changes based on the underlying cash fare.

Therefore, the best time to book Classic Plus seats is when cash fares go on sale, as the number of points required will also drop.

Significant price difference for Classic and Classic Plus seats

Despite their higher cost, Classic Plus rewards provide more value than non-flight points redemption options, like using points for gift vouchers.

100 Qantas Points will cover $1 of a Classic Plus economy fare, $1.25 of a domestic business class fare, or $1.50 of an international premium economy, business or first class fare. (For gift vouchers, you usually only get 50 cents per 100 points.)

Upgrading on Qantas flights

Qantas Points can be used to upgrade from one class to another on Qantas flights, and this is an excellent use of points.

Be aware that Qantas Points cannot be used to upgrade on partner airline flights – only Qantas operated flights.

On domestic flights, you can upgrade from any economy fare to business class.

However, on international tickets, restrictions are in place, meaning not all economy fares are upgradeable. You can only upgrade economy reward seats and paid fare classes G, K, L, M, S and V (“Economy”) and B, H and Y (“Flexible Economy”). The cheapest economy sale fares are not eligible.

Eligible economy tickets can be upgraded to premium economy or business class.

All premium economy fares are upgradeable to business class.

Upgrades to first class are restricted to passengers flying on paid business class fares (not reward seats).

When there are multiple upgrade requests on a flight, the upgrades are processed close to departure based on the passengers’ status and original fare class booked. Your chances of scoring the upgrade depend on how many empty seats there are and how many people are ahead of you in the queue.

The cost of upgrades can be viewed on Qantas’ website here.

Booking a tour or holiday package with Qantas Holidays

If you don’t want to (or can’t) use Qantas Points for reward seats or upgrades, the best option is to book a holiday with Qantas Holidays.

Qantas has partnered with TripAdeal to sell holiday packages (which combine airfares and accommodation) as well as premium small group tours.

All of these ready-made holidays can be booked using Qantas Points.

For tours, it appears you get around $1 of value per 100 points used (e.g. 100,000 points covers $1000) while for holiday packages, you get around 85 cents of value per 100 points (e.g. 100,000 points covers $850).

Summing up

The best uses of Qantas Points are reward seats (especially in premium cabins) and upgrades.

The value you get from spending Qantas Points this way is much higher than with any other redemption.

While reward seats and upgrades can be tricky to secure, with a little planning and effort you can make it work.

And if none of that works for you, the holiday packages and tours Qantas offers with Qantas Holidays are worth considering.

Want more Qantas Points? Get 50,000 bonus points + an annual $450 Qantas Travel Credit with the ultimate card for Qantas Points, rewards and benefits: the Qantas American Express Ultimate Card – ends soon!

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