The Best Ways to Fly to Australia With Points and Miles

BY 

Stephen Au

- UPDATED: May 8, 2021   |    15

1. Travel

15

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Australia is an undeniably far-flung destination for Americans. The great Outback is located at least 14 hours by nonstop flight from the contiguous U.S. (excluding Hawaii). The exotic nature of this country is what compels many travelers to head there in the first place.

Known for awe-inspiring nature and unique indigenous culture, Australia is absolutely one of the top tourist destinations out there. Flying to Australia can be a huge logistical undertaking, especially if you don’t know how to plan a trip.

Although using points and miles can reduce the cost of flights, you’ll definitely want to save up for business or first class if you can, simply due to the grueling nature of these ultra-long-haul flights.

Here are the top ways to fly to Australia with points and miles, especially in premium cabin redemptions. We’re going to also be integrating discussions on award availability and using this factor to rank our top booking methods.

After all, it doesn’t make any sense to rank a product at the top if the airlines don’t release any seats, right?

Best Programs to Use to Book Flights

Since Australia is one of the most difficult-to-access destinations, particularly from the U.S. and Europe, there are going to be fewer routes you can take.

There are a total of 8 airlines that operate nonstop flights from the U.S. (including Hawaii) to Australia. These are:

• Qantas
  • Chicago (ORD) – Brisbane (BNE) [Beginning on April 20, 2020]
  • Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) – Sydney (SYD)
  • Honolulu (HNL) – Sydney (SYD)
  • Los Angeles (LAX) – Brisbane (BNE)
  • Los Angeles (LAX) – Melbourne (MEL)
  • Los Angeles (LAX) – Sydney (SYD)
  • San Francisco (SFO) – Brisbane (BNE)
  • San Francisco (SFO) – Sydney (SYD) [Beginning on February 9, 2020]
• Virgin Australia Airlines
  • Los Angeles (LAX) – Brisbane (BNE)
  • Los Angeles (LAX) – Melbourne (MEL)
  • Los Angeles (LAX) – Sydney (SYD)
• Jetstar Airways
  • Honolulu (HNL) – Sydney (SYD)
• United Airlines
  • Houston (IAH) – Sydney (SYD)
  • Los Angeles (LAX) – Melbourne (MEL)
  • San Francisco (SFO) – Melbourne (MEL)
  • San Francisco (SFO) – Sydney (SYD)
• American Airlines
  • Los Angeles (LAX) – Sydney (SYD)
• Delta Air Lines
  • Los Angeles (LAX) – Sydney (SYD)
• Hawaiian Airlines
  • Honolulu (HNL) – Brisbane (BNE)
  • Honolulu (HNL) – Sydney (SYD)
• Air Canada
  • Vancouver (YVR) – Brisbane (BNE)
  • Vancouver (YVR) – Melbourne (MEL)
  • Vancouver (YVR) – Sydney (SYD)

In all, there are 21 routes with service to Australia in North America, with 2 future routes. Generally speaking, award availability, especially in business/first class is extremely difficult to get. More so than ever, the importance of flexibility and being open to positioning flights can’t be overstated.

If you are flexible, you should be able to book at least a solid business class, lie-flat seat to Australia using points and miles with minimal cash outlay.

Our guide will be focusing on the top ways to book nonstop flights from the U.S. to Australia.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Virgin Atlantic is airline partners with 3 important airlines:

• Delta Air Lines
• Hawaiian Airlines
• Virgin Australia

Virgin Atlantic’s frequent flyer program, known as Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, has a lot going for it. With great award rates, a straightforward booking process, and tons of transfer partners, using this method is an absolute no-brainer.

There are tons of ways to redeem Virgin Points for maximum value, and this redemption is no exception. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club prices out awards with different award charts for each partner. Therefore, the same flights on different carriers will inevitably cost different amounts of Virgin Points.

For Delta Air Lines redemptions, you can follow this award chart for one-way U.S. flights to Australia:

As it so happens, Delta Air Lines’ sole Australia route from Los Angeles (LAX) to Sydney (SYD) contains Delta One Suites, which are their newest, best business class product!

In fact, Delta One Suites is at the top of our list of best international business class products, so you know you’re in for a treat. 75,000 Virgin Points is a relative bargain for a top-notch business class product with sliding doors, excellent food, comfortable bedding, and fully lie-flat seats.

Best of all, taxes and fees are truly minimal, which will surely reduce your out-of-pocket cost.

Of all the 3 partners listed above, Delta Air Lines has the best award availability, in addition to offering a fantastic business class product. You’ll definitely need to be flexible, but your flexibility will pay off.

Award availability is best in advance but seats often open up after the holiday season or if there’s a lot less demand than expected.

You can also redeem Virgin Points for flights on Virgin Australia as follows (one-way):

The award pricing is not as good as booking Delta One Suites. You’ll pay 19,000 miles more each way, along with some $60 more in taxes and fees. Virgin Australia is an excellent business class product, though, as it ranks well in our rankings of international business class airlines.

However, the award redemption price is not as attractive as Delta One Suites. Furthermore, award availability is very difficult to find for Virgin Australia business class. One of the only ways you’ll be able to get a seat is if you book close to departure. To maximize your chances of booking, you’ll want to look either:

• 3 days prior to departure
• 325-330 days in advance

Unfortunately, there’s virtually no chance of securing Virgin Australia business class otherwise.

Lastly, Virgin Atlantic is partners with Hawaiian Airlines, which can be useful for those based in Honolulu. The award flights are priced out at:

This pricing is decent, especially if you’re already planning on flying out of Hawaii. All the seats are lie-flat, though not all of them have direct aisle access. Nonetheless, for a 9-11 hour flight, 65,000 miles in business is a decent deal.

Let’s put all of this together and show you some great example redemptions you can make:

• Honolulu (HNL) – Sydney (SYD)
  • One-way in Hawaiian Airlines business/first class for 65,000 Virgin Points + ~$65 in taxes and fees
• Los Angeles (LAX) – Brisbane (BNE)
  • One-way in Virgin Australia business class for 94,000 Virgin Points + ~$65 in taxes and fees
• Los Angeles (LAX) – Melbourne (MEL)
  • One-way in Virgin Australia business class for 94,000 Virgin Points + ~$65 in taxes and fees
• Los Angeles (LAX) – Sydney (SYD)
  • One-way in Delta One Suites for 75,000 Virgin Points + $5.60 in taxes and fees
• Los Angeles (LAX) – Sydney (SYD)
  • One-way in Virgin Australia business class for 94,000 Virgin Points + ~$65 in taxes and fees

Once you’ve decided on which flight you want to take, follow these steps to book your Virgin Atlantic Flying Club award flight online:

1. Visit Virgin Atlantic’s homepage.
2. Change the region by scrolling to the bottom of the page. Click the globe icon at the bottom of the page that says United States – English. Change it to United Kingdom – English. 
3. Once redirected to the new page, type in your flight details into the top banner of the homepage. Enter in your departure and destination cities, flight type, number of passengers, and travel dates.
4. Click the button that says Advanced Search towards the bottom-right of the banner. Click Miles and select Upper Class to search for business class award space.
5. Click the arrow to perform the search. If there’s no award availability, scroll down and select Show flights for Within 5 weeks. Redo the search.
6. You may need to play around with dates to find availability. Once located, click Next Step.
   • Although transferring points to Virgin Atlantic is normally instant, you can also request 5-day award holds by calling Virgin Atlantic at 800-365-9500.
7. Log into your Flying Club account.
8. Complete your booking by paying the miles and paying for taxes and fees.

Booking Delta awards is completely doable online. However, you may need to call for other partners if there’s no online award availability showing up.

Hot Tip: Want to monitor flight award availability without checking back every day? Read up on our ExpertFlyer guide to learn how to set up automatic flight alerts for your desired cabin and flight! 

Earning Virgin Points

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is transfer partners with Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy. As you can probably imagine, there are tons of ways to earn Virgin Points.

American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer instantaneously at a 1:1 ratio.

Marriott transfers at a 3:1 ratio, usually within 1 business day. Also, when you transfer 60,000 Marriott points, you’ll earn a 5,000-mile bonus to Virgin Atlantic, increasing your total miles from 20,000 to 25,000.

Best of all, American Express and Citi are both known for offering generous transfer bonuses ranging from 15%-35%. What this means is that you could get a huge bonus by timing your transfers properly. A 35% transfer bonus means you could get 75,000 Virgin Points for only 55,556 points!

Recommended Chase Cards (Personal)

Recommended Chase Cards (Business)

Bottom Line: Using Virgin Points to book flights to Australia is one of the top ways to fly with points. Award availability tends to be pretty good, award prices are great for the most part, and there are minimal taxes and fees. 

All Nippon Airways Mileage Club

Another top choice for flying to Australia is using All Nippon Airways’s loyalty program, ANA Mileage Club. ANA Mileage Club consistently gets raving reviews, whether it’s the amazing redemption prices or its slew of partners.

Although it’s a relatively complex program, there is still so much value to be had when redeeming ANA miles for flights to Australia. ANA offers excellent redemption rates with tons of sweet spots and an awesome stopover/open jaw allowance. Lastly, there are loads of ways to earn ANA miles, which rounds out the reasons why you want to consider redeeming ANA miles for flights to Australia.

ANA has 2 main award charts:

• ANA-operated flights, which are subject to low, regular, and high season prices
• Partner-operated flights, which do not have seasonality pricing

With All Nippon Airways, you can only redeem for round-trip tickets — one-way tickets are not allowed. If you can avoid booking one-way tickets, ANA offers some excellent business class pricing. Here’s the partner award chart for round-trip tickets:

The 2 main carriers offering nonstop flights that you’ll want to book to Australia using ANA miles are:

• United Airlines
  • Houston (IAH) – Sydney (SYD)
  • Los Angeles (LAX) – Melbourne (MEL)
  • San Francisco (SFO) – Melbourne (MEL)
  • San Francisco (SFO) – Sydney (SYD)
• Air Canada
  • Vancouver (YVR) – Brisbane (BNE)
  • Vancouver (YVR) – Melbourne (MEL)
  • Vancouver (YVR) – Sydney (SYD)

In general, Air Canada has a reputation for offering the superior premium cabin product. However, several other factors can drive your decision, such as proximity to the departing airport, willingness to connect in Canada, and more.

Total taxes and fees will usually run you at around $10-$50 for United Airlines and Air Canada, which is amazing.

The seats are arranged in a 2-2-2 configuration. Although all the seats are 100% lie-flat, not all of them have direct aisle access, and the seats aren’t as private as the true Polaris business class. Currently, there are no United Airlines routes that feature the true Polaris business class.

Air Canada’s product consists of reverse herringbone seats in a clean, airy cabin. When you can, it would be best to enjoy Air Canada’s business class product over United Airlines’ “faux-laris” business class.

Here are some great example redemptions you can make:

• Houston (IAH) – Sydney (SYD)
  • Round-trip on United Airlines business class for 120,000 ANA miles + $40 in taxes and fees
• Los Angeles (LAX) – Melbourne (MEL)
  • Round-trip on United Airlines economy for 75,000 ANA miles + $40 in taxes and fees
• San Francisco (SFO) – Melbourne (MEL), Sydney (SYD) – San Francisco (SFO)
  • With an open jaw in Melbourne on United Airlines business class for 120,000 ANA miles + $40 in taxes and fees
• Vancouver (YVR) – Melbourne (MEL), Brisbane (BNE) – Vancouver (YVR)
  • With an open jaw in Melbourne on Air Canada business class for 120,000 ANA miles + $40 in taxes and fees

To book any of these itineraries, you simply need to visit the ANA website as follows:

1. Go to ANA’s homepage.
2. Click ANA Mileage Club on the top-right side of the homepage.
3. Find the Flight Awards section on the left side of the page, click International, and then Award Reservation.
4. Log in using your ANA Mileage Club account number and password.
5. Type in your route pairing, travel dates, number of passengers, cabin class, and then click Search.
6. Transfer your points to ANA miles. You might have luck holding awards when calling 800-235-9262, but this is the exception rather than the norm.
7. After the points are deposited into your account, confirm your reservation by paying for taxes and fees.

Earning ANA Mileage Club Miles

As we mentioned above, earning ANA miles is super easy. ANA is transfer partners with Amex Membership Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy, so there are many options to earn credit card points and then transfer to ANA.

Amex transfers at a 1:1 ratio, whereas Marriott transfers at a 3:1 ratio with a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 points transferred.

There can be a bit of a delay when transferring to ANA. Amex usually takes around 3 business days to process transfers, while Marriott takes around 7 business days.

Recommended American Express Cards (Personal)

Recommended American Express Cards (Business)

Bottom Line: ANA offers access to 2 carriers that operate nonstop flights to Australia: United Airlines and Air Canada. The Star Alliance airline offers attractive redemption rates, particularly in business class. 

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

One of the best ways to book nonstop flights to Australia is by redeeming Alaska Airlines miles. Although Alaska Airlines doesn’t operate flights to Australia, it has some great partnerships that can be instrumental in economically getting you to Australia in style.

In fact, Alaska Airlines has partnerships with 2 useful airlines for nonstop flights to Australia:

• Qantas
  • Chicago (ORD) – Brisbane (BNE) {beginning on April 20, 2020}
  • Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) – Sydney (SYD)
  • Honolulu (HNL) – Sydney (SYD)
  • Los Angeles (LAX) – Brisbane (BNE)
  • Los Angeles (LAX) – Melbourne (MEL)
  • Los Angeles (LAX) – Sydney (SYD)
  • San Francisco (SFO) – Brisbane (BNE)
  • San Francisco (SFO) – Sydney (SYD) {beginning on February 9, 2020}
• American Airlines {award redemptions are ending on March 1, 2020}
  • Los Angeles (LAX) – Sydney (SYD)

Qantas is the flag carrier of Australia. Since this is a booking guide to fly to Australia, it makes sense that Qantas is thoroughly discussed. We’ll be the first to mention that travelers usually have a love-hate relationship with Qantas.

Qantas first class is one of the most aspirational products out there. With such a tight grip on award inventory, booking Qantas first class is ever-so elusive, which actually plays into the mystique and luxury of the airline product.

Here’s the award chart for the 2 airlines for flights between the U.S. and Australia:

As you can see, Alaska Airlines redemptions for Qantas business or first class are incredibly lucrative. If you couple this with the stopover allowance on one-way flights, there’s simply too much value to pass up.

There is a catch; Qantas is extremely stingy with award availability. It has gotten to a point where most of the time, you won’t see award space on any of the nonstop routes for the entire year. It’s almost as if booking Qantas is impossible.

You wouldn’t be wrong in most cases. Periodically, Qantas will dump an obscene amount of inventory in business/first class into the system. This is typically done for flights in January through March.

Other than that, you’re going to have an extremely difficult time nabbing these flights. If you do, however, you’ll savor some of the top luxuries in the world. Qantas is on our rankings of the best international first class airlines in the world, so you’re definitely in for a treat.

Here are some great example redemptions you can make:

• Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) – Sydney (SYD) – Perth (PER)
  • One-way on Qantas first class for 70,000 Alaska miles + ~$26 in taxes and fees
• Los Angeles (LAX) – Brisbane (BNE) – Darwin (DRW)
  • One-way on Qantas business class for 55,000 Alaska miles + ~$26 in taxes and fees
• Los Angeles (LAX) – Melbourne (MEL) – Alice Springs (ASP)
  • One-way on Qantas first class for 70,000 Alaska miles + ~$26 in taxes and fees
• Los Angeles (LAX) – Sydney (SYD) – Hobart (HBA)
  • One-way on Qantas first class for 70,000 Alaska miles + ~$26 in taxes and fees
• San Francisco (SFO) – Brisbane (BNE) – Cairns (CNS)
  • One-way on Qantas business class for 55,000 Alaska miles + ~$26 in taxes and fees

The process for booking Qantas and American Airlines flights using Alaska miles is easy:

1. Go to Alaska Airlines’ website.
2. Sign in using your Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Number and Password.
3. Search for your route pairing, dates, and number of passengers on the homepage (check off the box that says Use Miles).
4. Select your flight and click Add To Cart.
5. Complete your booking by paying with miles and for any taxes and fees using a credit card.

Earning Alaska Airlines Miles

Although Alaska Airlines is only transfer partners with Marriott Bonvoy. The transfer ratio is 3:1 with a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 Marriott points transferred. Transfers usually take around 2 business days to complete.

There are also several different ways to earn Alaska miles. Some other ways include opening the Alaska Airlines Visa credit card or buying Alaska Airlines miles when there’s a big sale.

The biggest sales have been a 50% bonus on all purchased miles, which is a big deal. This can effectively get you a Qantas first class flight, which retails for $15,000+, for only $1,000-$2,000!

Recommended Marriott Cards

Bottom Line: Redeeming Alaska Airlines miles for Qantas or American Airlines flights is a great way to fly to Australia, as long as you can find award availability. 

United Airlines MileagePlus

United Airlines MileagePlus is an award program that has gone through a ton of changes. As of November 15, 2019, United’s award chart is no longer exist. Instead, all award flights will be subject to a dynamic award pricing scheme, thereby devaluing the whole program.

Until then, however, here’s the award chart for flights between North America and Australia:

Using United miles rarely represents the absolute best value for your points. However, using MileagePlus to book your awards has these benefits:

• Easy to earn United miles, particularly for Chase loyalists
• Easy booking process
• No fuel surcharges on most flights
• Star Alliance network of routes

There are 3 airlines on which you can book nonstop flights to Australia:

• Air Canada
  • Vancouver (YVR) – Brisbane (BNE)
  • Vancouver (YVR) – Melbourne (MEL)
  • Vancouver (YVR) – Sydney (SYD)
• Hawaiian Airlines
  • Honolulu (HNL) – Brisbane (BNE)
  • Honolulu (HNL) – Sydney (SYD)
• United Airlines
  • Houston (IAH) – Sydney (SYD)
  • Los Angeles (LAX) – Melbourne (MEL)
  • San Francisco (SFO) – Melbourne (MEL)
  • San Francisco (SFO) – Sydney (SYD)

Here are some great example redemptions you can make:

• Honolulu (HNL) – Brisbane (BNE)
  • One-way on Hawaiian Airlines first/business class for 60,000 United miles + ~$6 in taxes and fees
• Honolulu (HNL) – Sydney (SYD)
  • One-way on Hawaiian Airlines economy class for 35,000 United miles + ~$6 in taxes and fees
• Houston (IAH) – Sydney (SYD)
  • One-way on United Airlines business class for 80,000 United miles (saver award) + ~$6 in taxes and fees
• Vancouver (YVR) – Melbourne (MEL)
  • One-way on Air Canada business class for 90,000 United miles + ~$6 in taxes and fees

To book using United miles, follow these simple steps:

1. Visit United Airlines’s homepage.
2. On the homepage, there’s a search box. Type in the city pairs, travel dates, number of travelers, and cabin class you’re booking.
3. Click Find flights.
4. Log in using your MileagePlus Number and Password.
5. Locate your flights, and pay with miles. Pay for taxes and fees using any credit card to finish confirming your reservation.

Earning United MileagePlus Miles

There are so many different ways to earn United miles. The primary way is going to be transferring from Chase Ultimate Rewards or Marriott Bonvoy.

Chase Ultimate Rewards transfers at a 1:1 ratio instantly, while Marriott transfers within 2 business days at a 3:1.1 ratio with a 5,500-mile bonus for every 60,000 Marriott points transferred.

You can also use Chase’s co-branded United credit cards to earn United miles directly. Using United MileagePlus is an excellent way for Chase cardholders to fly to Australia using points and miles.

Hot Tip: Want to earn loads of Chase points fast? Check out our in-depth guide now! 

Avianca LifeMiles

If you’re a Citi loyalist and you’re unable to use the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club method above, there’s another option: Avianca LifeMiles.

Avianca LifeMiles is a Star Alliance airline with plenty of transfer partners. Using LifeMiles is attractive due to the reasonable redemption rates and the number of ways to earn LifeMiles.

Avianca LifeMiles is one of the simplest methods to book flights using points. You’ll enjoy instant mileage transfers, lots of transfer partners, no fuel surcharges, and an easy online booking process.

There are several great ways to redeem Avianca LifeMiles for maximum value, and this is definitely one of them. Here’s the award flight for one-way flights from North America to Australia:

The 2 airlines you’ll want to book flights on are:

• United Airlines
  • Houston (IAH) – Sydney (SYD)
  • Los Angeles (LAX) – Melbourne (MEL)
  • San Francisco (SFO) – Melbourne (MEL)
  • San Francisco (SFO) – Sydney (SYD)
• Air Canada
  • Vancouver (YVR) – Brisbane (BNE)
  • Vancouver (YVR) – Melbourne (MEL)
  • Vancouver (YVR) – Sydney (SYD)

Here are some great example routes you can take:

• Los Angeles (LAX) – Melbourne (MEL)
  • One-way in United business class for 80,000 LifeMiles + ~$31 in taxes and fees
• San Francisco (SFO) – Melbourne (MEL)
  • One-way in United economy for 40,000 LifeMiles + $31 in taxes and fees
• Vancouver (YVR) – Melbourne (MEL), Sydney (SYD), or Brisbane (BNE)
  • One-way in Air Canada business class for 80,000 LifeMiles + $31 in taxes and fees

Once you’ve solidified your travel plans, here’s how you can book your flight using Avianca LifeMiles:

1. Go to the LifeMiles website.
2. Click the flag icon in the top-right corner and choose English.
3. Click Log in at the top-right side of the page.
4. Enter your LifeMiles number and password.
5. Click Fly at the top banner to search flights.
6. Enter your route pairing, number of passengers, and cabin class. Click Find Flights.
7. Click your flight date(s).
8. Find your award availability and pay with LifeMiles and for any taxes and fees using a credit card.

Earning Avianca LifeMiles

As we mentioned above, LifeMiles is transfer partners with lots of flexible currencies: American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, Capital One Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy.

Amex and Citi transfer at a 1:1 ratio instantly, while Capital One transfers at a 2:1.5 ratio instantly. Marriott transfers in around 1-2 business days at a 3:1 ratio with a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 Marriott points transferred.

Amex and Citi have both offered transfer bonuses of up to 35% in the past, so be sure to hold out for transfers until you see one of these, if possible.

You can also earn LifeMiles by applying for the co-branded Banco Popular Avianca Vuela credit cards. Avianca is known to offer giant sales of up to 150% bonus miles, so you’ll absolutely want to wait for the right time to buy LifeMiles.

Qantas Frequent Flyer

If the number of points you pay is no object and you just want the highest probability of landing Qantas’ first or business class, then the best way to accomplish this is by using Qantas’ own frequent flyer program: Qantas Frequent Flyer.

Qantas first class is arguably the greatest unicorn in points travel. In our guide on when airlines release award seats, we outline why booking Qantas first class is much more probable using Qantas Frequent Flyer.

Chiefly, Qantas first and business class is easier to book for 2 reasons:

• Qantas releases award seats exclusive to Qantas Frequent Flyer members redeeming Qantas Frequent Flyer points
• Qantas’ schedule opens up 353 days in advance, compared to Alaska’s 330 days and AAdvantage’s 331 days, effectively giving you a 22-23 day head-start

If you’re wondering why Alaska miles are so hard to redeem for Qantas first class, it’s because all of the availability is gobbled up by Qantas members, 22-23 days in advance. By the time Alaska or American Airlines have access to this award space, all of the very few seats are already taken.

There are 3 airlines on which you can redeem Qantas points for nonstop flights to Australia:

• American Airlines
• Jetstar 
• Qantas

Here’s the award chart for flights between Australia and the U.S.:

Here’s the award chart for flights on Jetstar:

Here are some great example redemptions you can make:

• Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) – Sydney (SYD)
  • One-way in Qantas first class for 189,800 Qantas points + ~$60 in taxes and fees
• Honolulu (HNL) – Sydney (SYD)
  • One-way in Qantas business class for 82,000 Qantas points + ~$60 in taxes and fees
• Honolulu (HNL) – Sydney (SYD)
  • One-way in Jetstar economy for 26,000 Qantas points + ~$60 in taxes and fees
• Los Angeles (LAX) – Melbourne (MEL)
  • One-way in Qantas first class for 162,800 Qantas points + ~$60 in taxes and fees

Again, you’d really only want to use Qantas points if you desperately need award availability to show up, at the expense of paying more points. Follow these steps to book your flight online:

1. Visit Qantas’ website.
2. In the top-right corner, log into your account using your Qantas Frequent Flyer number, last name, and PIN number.
3. In the flight search box, enter your city and date pairings, number of passengers, and click the button that says Use points.
4. Click Search flights.
5. Click the date(s) that works for you.
6. Select your flights and click Continue.
7. Pay using points and for any taxes/fees using a credit card.

Earning Qantas Frequent Flyer Points

Qantas is transfer partners with American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, Capital One Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy. There are also lots of ways to earn Qantas points.

Amex and Citi transfer at a 1:1 ratio, while Capital One transfers at a 2:1.5 ratio. By transferring to Marriott, you’ll earn points at a 3:1 ratio with a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 Marriott points transferred.

Amex transfers almost instantly to Qantas, Citi takes around 2 business days, and Capital One takes around 36 hours. Lastly, Marriott takes the longest at around 6 business days.

Bottom Line: Qantas Frequent Flyer offers 1 advantage: more award availability. Using this method can dramatically increase your chances of booking Qantas first/business class. However, you’re going to pay more points, so just watch out for that. 

American Airlines AAdvantage

Our last method to book nonstop flights to Australia is by using American Airlines AAdvantage. American miles are great for booking flights on these airlines:

• American Airlines
• Hawaiian Airlines
• Qantas

Here’s the award chart for flights from the U.S. to Australia:

Here are some great example routes you can take:

• Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) – Sydney (SYD)
  • One-way on Qantas first class for 110,000 AAdvantage miles + ~$40 in taxes and fees
• Honolulu (HNL) – Sydney (SYD)
  • One-way on Hawaiian Airlines business/first class for 65,000 AAdvantage miles + ~$20 in taxes and fees
• Los Angeles (LAX) – Brisbane (BNE)
  • One-way on Qantas business class for 80,000 AAdvantage miles + ~$40 in taxes and fees
• Los Angeles (LAX) – Sydney (SYD)
  • One-way on American Airlines business class for 80,000 AAdvantage miles (saver availability) + ~$11 in taxes and fees

To book your AAdvantage award, follow these steps:

1. Perform an award search using Alaska Airlines’ search engine (method outlined in the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan section). For Hawaiian Airlines, you may need to use a search tool such as ExpertFlyer.
2. Call AAdvantage at 800-433-7300 and tell them your flight numbers, dates, number of passengers, and class of service.
3. Pay using AAdvantage miles and taxes and fees to ticket your reservation.

Earning American Airlines AAdvantage Miles

Earning American Airlines AAdvantage miles is easy. Whether it’s using the Citi or Barclays co-branded AAdvantage credit cards or transferring from Marriott Bonvoy, there are plenty of ways to earn AA miles quickly.

There are also some fantastic ways to redeem American Airlines AAdvantage miles for tons of value. Marriott is a 3:1 transfer partner with a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 Marriott points transferred. Transfers take around 2 business days to complete.

Bottom Line: Using AAdvantage miles is an excellent way to book nonstop flights to Australia. Whether it’s American Airlines, Qantas, or Hawaiian Airlines, you’ll definitely find a great way to use AA miles. 

Final Thoughts

There are so many different ways to fly to Australia using points and miles. This piece focused primarily on the best ways to book nonstop flights. With a number of nonstop routes offering great in-flight products, there’s no reason to book a connecting flight!

When you book nonstop flights, you can arrive well-rested and ready to hit the ground running exploring Australia. We covered all the 3 major alliances, along with some quirky options such as Jetstar, so now you’re equipped with all the information you need to book flights to Australia with points and miles.

Happy traveling!

For rates and fees of the Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of American Express® Gold Card , click here.
For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Business Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of the American Express® Business Gold Card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express, click here.