Qantas will start flying to New York again after three-year pause due to COVID.

Starting from June 14, 2023, the new service will take Aussie travellers to New York via Auckland. The route will operate three days a week at first, using Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

Before COVID, Qantas used to fly to New York via Los Angeles, but now they’re changing it up and making it easier for passengers (since transiting at LAX can be painful) by going through Auckland instead. And they’re upgrading the lounge in Auckland too.

The airline will be in direct competition with Air New Zealand on this route. Qantas also plans to fly non-stop to New York as part of Project Sunrise from 2025.

You can book flights from Sydney to Auckland to New York starting today.

Qantas already operates six daily services to Auckland from Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne, and that’ll increase to 11 when the new New York flight starts.

In the first week, Qantas is flying two Points Planes, which means every seat in every cabin is available for Classic Reward flight on QF3 and QF4 on June 16. If you’re a Frequent Flyer based in Brisbane or Melbourne, you can also use Classic Rewards for your trans-Tasman flights. So, what are you waiting for? Book your flight now!

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Virgin Australia business class customers and top-tier frequent flyers can once again enjoy priority security screening in Brisbane and Melbourne, but only during the weekday morning peak travel period.

The airline has reopened Premium Entry in Brisbane and a Priority Screening lane at Melbourne Airport.

These are reserved for Velocity gold status holders and above, business class guests, and eligible high-tier guests of the airline’s international partners.

The lanes are open between 5.00am and 10.00am weekdays, allowing guests to swiftly move through both airports during those times.

Virgin Australia used to provide priority screening for eligible customers at all hours of the day, and it’s unclear if the airline hopes to return to that in the future or if weekday mornings are the ‘new normal’.

In the meantime, fast-track security remains shut at Sydney Airport.

Commenting on the situation, the airline spokesperson said that “Virgin Australia is continuing to work through options with Sydney Airport Corporation.”

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Have you been affected by months of chaos at airports around the country?

If so, get ready for an official “sorry” from Qantas.

Frequent flyers will start receiving an email and video message from CEO Alan Joyce from Monday.

Mr Joyce will acknowledge the recent challenges and blame a labour shortage and high levels of sick leave in its workforce.

The airline says it is rolling out a range of initiatives to improve mishandled bags and on time performance.

As well as saying sorry, Qantas is offering customers flight discounts and other benefits. These include:

• a $50 off a flight promo code
• 12 months status extension for Silver members and above
• more reward seats being released
• lounge pass invites for silver and gold members
• a special gift for platinum and above members.

Check your inbox next week with more info about these offers.

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Qantas and the hotel group Accor are building on their existing partnership by giving eligible Qantas Frequent Flyer members free Accor elite status, opening up a range of perks when staying at Accor hotels.

Under the promo, Qantas silver and gold frequent flyers, as well as bronze members who are in Points Club Plus, can receive complimentary Accor gold status when they link their accounts and register by 12 August 2022.

This will deliver perks such as:

• earning 1 ALL Reward point per $10 spent on Qantas flights, on top of the Qantas Points you’d normally earn
• earning up to 12 more Reward points per €10 spent on stays with Accor, on top of the 3 Qantas Points per $1 spent you earn on eligible bookings (i.e. bookings made directly with Accor)
• room upgrades if available at the time of check-in
• early check-in or late check-out on request, subject to availability.

Accor’s hotel brands include Sofitel, Fairmont, Pullman, Swissotel, Mercure and many others. However, only Accor properties in Asia-Pacific fall within the Qantas/Accor partnership.

Gold status will be reflected in your ALL account within four weeks of the offer end date (i.e. by mid September) and will last until 31 December 2023.

Qantas Frequent Flyers with Platinum or Platinum One status should look for a special invite to receive Accor Platinum status, with perks like access to Executive Lounges, free breakfasts and suite upgrades.

For more info about this promotion, visit Qantas here.

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The ability to transfer points between Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer program and Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer program has returned, more than two years after the feature was switched off in the early days of the pandemic.

Members of both programs can now link their accounts and transfer points between them at will (subject to a 5,000 point minimum). The transfer rate continues to be 1.55 : 1 (e.g. 15,500 Velocity Points converts to 10,000 KrisFlyer miles, and vice versa).

Of course, you can continue to use Velocity Points to book reward seats with Singapore Airlines via the Velocity website or call centre, and vice versa.

When booking SIA seats via Velocity, you can access economy, premium economy and business class, and it’s likely first class award availability will return in the future. This will cost fewer points than sending the required amount to KrisFlyer.

Similarly, KrisFlyer members can book Virgin Australia reward seats via their own program.

The main advantage of sending points from Velocity to Krisflyer is that Singapore Airlines makes more seats available to its own program members, so that could be your only way to secure seats. In addition, you can use KrisFlyer miles to upgrade paid fares or access reward seats with Star Alliance and other partner airlines.

Before making any decisions, your first step should be to compare prices and availability on the Velocity and KrisFlyer websites.

A reminder that Virgin Australia will impose a new “carrier charge” for Singapore Airlines reward tickets issued from 5 October onwards, as per the table below (with a fee charged for each segment flown).

Australia-Singapore flights all fall into the 0-4200 mile range.

This is going to particularly hurt on multi-segment flights. For example, a return business class trip from Australia to Europe with a layover in Singapore will incur US$480 in additional charges. Ouch!

If you want to book Singapore Airlines seats via Velocity, it would be wise to get your tickets issued before 5 October to avoid these charges.

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Jetstar’s flights between Tokyo and Cairns take off today after a nearly two and a half year hiatus. This key milestone will be followed by the resumption of services between Cairns and Osaka (Kansai) on 26 July.

The Cairns-Tokyo route is operated five times a week with a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. Flight JQ25 departs Cairns at 11:10, landing at Narita at 17:40. The return flight JQ26 takes off from Narita at 20:15, arriving in Cairns at 04:35.

The Cairns-Osaka route is operated four times a week, also with a Dreamliner. Flight JQ15 departs Cairns at 12:25, arriving in Osaka at 18:25. The return flight JQ16 takes off from Osaka at 21:05, landing in Cairns at 05:15.

Jetstar is also planning to restart Gold Coast-Tokyo services three times per week from 2 August. JQ11 will depart the Gold Coast at 10:35 every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday, landing in Narita at 18:45. The return flight JQ12 will depart at 21:00, landing at the Gold Coast at 06:40.

Jetstar’s parent Qantas hasn’t yet resumed its services to Japan, no doubt because of the ongoing border restrictions. Qantas is planning to resume Sydney-Tokyo flights from 12 September, but this is probably based on the assumption that Australians will be allowed to visit by then. There’s a solid chance this date will be delayed.