It was told to us in a press release early this year that you could expect a Qantas redemption option with WestJet Rewards by the end of 2017. Well it’s here now! As of today you are now be able to redeem WestJet
Rewards dollars for flights on Qantas! This marks the fourth major airline that WestJet has added to their roster for redemption. First we had Delta, then Air France and KLM and now Qantas. You are able to redeem for flights on Qantas to Australia, New Zealand and beyond.
Qantas does only serve one city in Canada, Vancouver, but when you go to redeem for flights on Qantas many routes will take you on WestJet to one of Qantas’ U.S. gateways for the flights across the Pacific. The primary connecting points are Dallas (DFW), Honolulu (HNL), Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO) and Vancouver (YVR) to Sydney (SYD), Brisbane (BNE) and Melbourne (MEL). Be aware that there is a limit of three segments per itinerary; therefore, you may notice in your searches that availability for itineraries past SYD, BNE or MEL will only be available for those origin cities that have a direct WS flight to one of QF’s North American connection cities. For example, Calgary to Cairns with connections in LAX and SYD (ie. YYC-LAX-SYD-CNS).
Unlike your standard redemption on Econo, Flex or Plus fares, where
WestJet dollars act like cash towards the base fare; WestJet dollar
redemption for travel on Qantas are a flat rate known as
Member Exclusive fares, which require you to redeem the full amount
(100%) in WestJet dollars. And, similar to Delta, Air France and KLM you will only be able
to redeem WestJet dollars for economy class at this time.
Here are the WestJet dollar requirements for flights on Qantas to areas they fly to:
- Canada to Australia & New Zealand: from 629 WestJet dollars each way (1258 round trip)
All the above do not include taxes or fees
Above rates are subject to change when this new redemption feature is fully rolled out
The above rates are valid from any Canadian city that WestJet serves
which can make this very valuable in those cities where fares tend to be
high like Whitehorse or Deer Lake!
Here is are some examples of Qantas redemption options we found on WestJet’s site:
And just a small list of the cities now available that you book with Qantas
Availability looks pretty good!
Once again great news for WestJet Rewards members! What a year of growth it has been for this program as now you have
even more options to use your WestJet dollars with. As we said before all that remains is redemption for Business or
First Class (which we hope will come when WestJet adds their own
Business Class), more non-airline partners likes hotels and car rental
companies and this program will be a full fledged frequent flyer program!
Click here to check out Qantas and other WestJet Rewards Member Exclusive Fares
Let us know what you think about this latest addition to the WestJet
Rewards program! Will you make use of it? Does it make you want to
consider the program more so now then ever? Simply comment below!