Qantas and Emirates unveiled on February 12th details of benefits that will be available to frequent flyers through their proposed partnership.
SYDNEY/DUBAI- Qantas/Emirates Airlines partnership, which remains subject to regulatory approval, is designed to offer customers a seamless travel experience across one of the world’s largest networks.
Some of the key benefits that Qantas Frequent Flyer and Emirates Skywards members will be able to access for travel from 31 March 2013 are:
- Earn Qantas Frequent Flyer points or Emirates Skywards Miles on Emirates and Qantas flights (with some exceptions for Emirates Skywards members on the Qantas domestic network).
- An expanded network for members of each program to earn Qantas Status credits and Status bonus or Skywards Tier Miles and Tier bonus.
- Redeem points/Miles on any part of the Qantas or Emirates network – a combined total of more than 175 destinations worldwide.
- Access to both Qantas and Emirates lounges for Gold members (or above) of either program in Australia, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.
- Have their tier status in either program recognised with both airlines when flying on the joint Qantas-Emirates network (where available).
- Chief Executive of Qantas Loyalty, Lesley Grant, said the benefits announced today would give frequent flyers of either airline the opportunity to earn and redeem points or Miles across a massive network.
“Our shared goal has been to offer Qantas and Emirates customers the best global network, flying the largest combined A380 fleet and supported by the best rewards for our frequent flyers,” said Ms Grant.
“Both airlines already offer some of the highest quality travel experiences, including our lounges and loyalty benefits, so this is about bringing together the best of both worlds,” she added.
Thierry Antinori, Emirates’ Executive Vice President, Passenger Sales Worldwide said: ”It is an exciting time to be an Emirates Skywards member, yesterday we announced Platinum – our new tier, which has been developed to enhance the travel experience for frequent travellers and to offer additional benefits to Emirates Skywards members who have earned over 150,000 Tier Miles in a year.
“Now today we are unveiling the wide range of benefits that our members can enjoy as part of the Emirates and Qantas partnership,” added Mr Antinori.
Emirates and Qantas have also announced their shared baggage policy on certain routes for travel from 31 March 2013. To enable a more seamless experience as customers travel on the joint network, Qantas will move from a piece and weight system, to a weight system, for all international flights – excluding those to/from the Americas. As part of this alignment, Emirates will increase its pre-purchase excess baggage discount to 30 per cent.
Eligible Qantas Frequent Flyers, Qantas Club members and Skywards members will enjoy additional allowances when travelling across the joint network.
Among the new advantages are the access to both Emirates and Qantas lounges as well as the possibility for Qantas passengers to use Dubai Connect. The Emirates’ long stop over service in Dubai, provides customers with complimentary hotel accommodation, transfers, meals and visa costs where their connection time is greater than six hours and less than 24 hours for First and Business passengers or greater than eight hours and less than 24 hours for Premium Economy and Economy passengers, and where there is no earlier scheduled connection available. More information, including eligibility requirements, will be available shortly from qantas.com.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
