How – and WHEN – to use Avios for Australian domestic flights

Booking Australian domestic flights with Avios can be a little fiddly, but it is one of the best possible uses of Avios. Check the Avios price with British Airways before booking a Qantas flight, and you could get an absolute bargain.

What are Avios?

Avios is the frequent flyer point currency used primarily by British Airways, but also by Aer Lingus, Qatar Airways and Iberia.

Avios can be earned on flights with British Airways and partner airlines, but also through credit card spend and online shopping. They can be spent on various things too, but most will redeem Avios for flights, significantly reducing the cash cost.

Can I book Australian domestic flights with Avios?

It is possible to book Australian domestic flights with Avios as Qantas is a partner airline of British Airways in the Oneworld alliance.

However, if you want to use Avios, you cannot book Australian domestic flights with Qantas directly. You have to do it through one of the airlines that uses Avios as its currency. For most people reading this, that means British Airways.

The process is a little fiddly.

How to book Qantas flights with Avios

To book Australian domestic flights with Avios, follow these steps:

Go to ba.com.
Log in to your BA Executive Club account. (Top right of the screen on desktop).
Click on ‘Book’, then ‘Book a flight with Avios’ from the drop-down menu.
On the Book With Avios section, enter your destination and arrival cities, travel dates, travel class and number of passengers.

Next will come a screen saying “Sorry, there are no direct British Airways flights available on this route. Flights with partners are shown below.”

However, it’s usually the case that there are plenty of seats available on Qantas flights, which are bookable.

Perth to Brisbane using Avios

For example, searching for Perth to Brisbane flights in October 2023, several options with Qantas came up. Clicking through, the quoted cost per person for a one way economy ticket from Perth to Brisbane is 13,000 Avios plus £24.

Booking with Qantas, the same flight would cost $461. Using the exchange rate at the time of writing, that’s £244.

Best possible use of Avios?

Expert frequent flyer points site Head For Points tends to regard one Avios as being worth £0.01. You can quibble with this either way, depending on how you use your Avios, but this certainly isn’t far wrong.

As you can see from the Perth to Brisbane example, using Avios for this flight is excellent value. Roughly £154 using Avios vs £244 in cash is a no-brainer.

This is something that tends to hold true for Australian flights on any route that isn’t driven cheap by fierce competition. For Sydney to Melbourne, you can probably get a better value cash fare. But for most other routes, using Avios will usually be an absolute bargain. Especially given that the taxes and charges are usually minimal with Qantas.

It’s a little secret that British Airways would probably prefer you not to know about – booking Australian domestic flights is one of the best possible uses of Avios.