How To Fly Round-The-World On Qantas Points With Oneworld

A dream redemption for many is using Qantas Points to fly a full lap of the world in Business Class. Booking a round-the-world trip is one of the best ways to extract maximum value from your Qantas Points, and is all possible thanks to the Oneworld Classic Reward.

You can take up to 15 flights across 35,000 miles with Qantas and Oneworld partner airlines, in the travel class of your choice. But the best value Oneworld Classic Reward will come from Business Class, where you’ll need 318,000 Qantas Points plus taxes.

Naturally, this type of itinerary can become confusing. In this comprehensive guide, we run through the Oneworld Classic Reward in detail, exploring common questions including how many Qantas Points you need for a round-the-world trip, which airlines you can fly, and how to make a booking. We’ll also discover some of the best stopover cities and sample itineraries.

What Is The Qantas Oneworld Classic Reward?

Qantas Frequent Flyer offers five different reward products, each with its own pricing table and set of rules. Those are;

• Qantas Classic Flight Reward for Qantas and preferred airline partners Fiji Airways and American Airlines.
• Qantas Classic Plus Flight Reward for Qantas, but with more availability at a higher cost.
• Jetstar Classic Flight Reward for Jetstar only.
• Partner Classic Flight Reward for flights with a single airline partner.
• Oneworld Classic Flight Reward for itineraries with two or more Oneworld airlines.

The Oneworld Classic Flight Reward is our focus for this guide, as it is the product that offers the best value and flexibility for a round-the-world redemption. This award applies to bookings that contain two or more Oneworld carriers other than Qantas, and zero non-Oneworld airlines. While it doesn’t need to be used for a lap of the world, this ends up being a popular option thanks to return-based pricing and up to 35,000 miles of travel allowed.

You can see from the comparative table below that the required Qantas Points to travel up to five cities and 35,000 miles on Oneworld airlines is the same as return flights to New York or London with the same airlines. The Oneworld Classic Reward is also competitive against Qantas return flights to New York or London.

Airlines You Can Book On The Oneworld Award

It should come as no surprise that the Oneworld Classic Reward is used for travel with Oneworld airlines only. While Qantas is partnered with a number of non-Oneworld airlines, like Jetstar, Emirates and Air France, those can’t be booked on this reward.

In case you weren’t already aware, Oneworld is an alliance of 15 partnered airlines, with a network connecting over 900 destinations in more than 170 territories. As well as enhanced connectivity, elite frequent flyer perks are passed on between member airlines.

The current Oneworld airlines are;

• Alaska Airlines
• American Airlines
• British Airways
• Cathay Pacific
• Fiji Airways (from 2025)
• Finnair
• Iberia
• Japan Airlines
• Malaysia Airlines
• Oman Air (from 2025)
• Qantas
• Qatar
• Royal Air Maroc
• Royal Jordanian
• SriLankan Airlines

Note that Oman Air will officially join Oneworld on 30 June 2025, and Fiji Airways will become a full Oneworld member in early 2025. Until then, these airlines can not be included when booking a Qantas Oneworld Classic Reward.

Redemption Rules For The Qantas Oneworld Classic Reward

Like any frequent flyer reward product, the Oneworld Classic Reward comes with a set of redemption rules. To ensure your trip qualifies and prices correctly, your booking must meet certain criteria.

Here are the basic routing rules;

• Include at least two Oneworld airlines other than or in addition to Qantas.
• Not include any non-Oneworld airlines.
• Up to 35,000 miles of travel.
• Up to five stopover cities, where you spend more than 24 hours.
• Up to 16 segments, including transits (stops under 24h) and surface sectors.

There are a few other rules to keep in mind;

• Surface sectors (taking a flight/train/car outside your redemption) are permitted, with the distance between the two cities added into mileage calculations.
• One stopover (over 24h) and two transits (under 24h) are permitted in a single city.
• Mileage is calculated based on a return itinerary. If your travel ends in a different city from which you originally departed, the distance between those two cities will count as a surface sector.
• Pricing is calculated on the highest travel class on your itinerary. So if you have just one flight in First and the rest in Business, the booking will be repriced as if you flew First all the way.
• The trip will end once you return to the first country of departure.
• Bookings must be completed within 12 months of your first departure.

Fees & Taxes On Oneworld Classic Reward Bookings

Just like a regular Qantas redemption, you will need to pay a cash component on a round-the-world booking to cover the taxes, fees and carrier charges. The amount you pay will depend on the airlines and routes you fly, as well as the airports selected. In our sample itinerary below, the taxes come to $1,125.10 AUD, for example.

If you want to avoid a high cash component on your booking, try to skip airlines that add fuel surcharges on top of the government and airport taxes that are applied to all carriers. British Airways, Qantas, Malaysia Airlines, Royal Jordanian and Qatar Airways are known for adding high fuel surcharges, while Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, SriLankan Airlines, Iberia, Japan Airlines and Finnair are known for charging low or zero fuel surcharges.

Some countries are also known for higher fees and taxes, especially the United Kingdom, Germany, and France in Europe. Travellers departing the UK are charged the Air Passenger Duty (APD), which can be rather expensive. You can avoid the APD by flying into a UK airport instead of departing, making an international connection through the UK, or transiting within a 2,000 mile radius.

To estimate the fees for each leg of your booking, try searching with ITA Matrix.

Making Changes To A Qantas RTW Booking

There is no requirement to make your entire booking at once, but you’ll need to have the booking finalised before your first flight. Sometimes it is easier to book in stages with whatever reward flights are available, but keep in mind that every time you make a change it will cost 5,000 Qantas Points.

Unfortunately, changes for these bookings can only be made via the Qantas Call Centre (13 13 13).

Where can I fly on a Qantas Oneworld Classic Reward?

With access to over 900 destinations through the Oneworld alliance, your round-the-world trip can be as adventurous or as relaxed as you like. The possibilities are literally endless, but here is the example we will book later in this guide;

1. Melbourne to Los Angeles with Qantas
2. Los Angeles to Montreal with American Airlines
3. Montreal to Helsinki with British Airways and Finnair
4. Helsinki to Bangkok with Finnair
5. Bangkok to Hong Kong with Malaysian Airlines
6. Hong Kong to Melbourne with Cathay Pacific

Sample Qantas Oneworld round-the-world booking.

How To Book A Oneworld RTW With Qantas Points

Planning and booking a round-the-world trip using the Oneworld Classic Reward can end up becoming quite the challenge, especially for peak travel periods in Business or First Class. To keep things as simplistic as possible, we will break the process into five steps;

1. Pick your destinations
2. Keep track of your mileage
3. Check your route options
4. Locate Reward Availability
5. Book the flights

1. Pick Your Destinations

A good place to start is by selecting the general regions you want to visit, keeping flexible with specific cities where possible. Europe is a perfect example of this, because it’s generally affordable and easy to book a separate flight or train into the city you actually want to visit.

Let's say you wanted to see Amsterdam but can’t find any reward seats around the dates you are searching. It might be easier to fly into London or Helsinki on your reward, and then book a cash ticket into Amsterdam. You could then return on another cash ticket to pick up the Oneworld award, or use a surface sector to continue out of Amsterdam.

For our sample itinerary, we will depart Melbourne and stop in Los Angeles, Montreal, Helsinki, Bangkok and Hong Kong.

2. Keep Track Of Your Mileage

To make sure you don’t exceed the 35,000 mile limit, use the Great Circle Mapper tool to calculate miles as you go. Simply plug in the 3 letter IATA airport codes separated by hyphens (for example MEL-LAX) and click “Map”.

Use Great Circle Mapper to calculate miles as you go.

Be sure to enter any surface sectors in Great Circle Mapper while building your itinerary, as these are included within the 35,000 mile limit. So if you flew into New York and then caught the train to Boston, before continuing to Seattle on the Oneworld award, you would need to add JFK-BOS to the calculation.InI

It’s a similar story for trips that end in a different city from which you originally departed, with the distance between your final destination and your port of origin counted towards the total mileage limit. If you start your trip in Melbourne but end in Sydney, you will need to count the distance between Melbourne and Sydney in your mileage calculation.

3. Check Your Route Options

A tool like Flight Connections can provide useful information on the routes currently operated by Oneworld airlines, as well as data on the aircraft type and days a specific flight operates. Select “Oneworld” under the “Alliances” tab to view the full Oneworld network, and get a better picture of the airlines and flights you could consider.

4. Locate Reward Availability

No doubt the hardest part of your booking will be finding Classic Reward availability. The key is to remain flexible and use a tool like Seats Aero to locate award space.

Finding reward flights with the Seats Aero feels like a cheat code.

We’d also suggest that you search and confirm each leg separately on the Qantas website, to avoid confusion and tech issues. Take note of the date, route and flight numbers as you go for when it comes time to book.,

5. Book The Fights

Once you have found availability online for most or all of your RTW flights, it is advisable to lock in the booking straight away as availability may change unexpectedly.

If the Qantas website is feeling friendly, book online using the multi-city booking tool. The system automatically prices according to the Oneworld Classic Reward Table once you meet all requirements. If your booking does not meet every rule, it will not price correctly as a Oneworld Classic Reward.

Step 1: Navigate to the Qantas multi-city booking page, and ensure that “Book with Rewards” is selected.

Step 2: Enter the route and dates for each leg of your booking, check the passenger count is correct, and then click “Search Flights”.

Enter each leg into the Qantas multi-city booking tool.

Step 3: You will need to select each leg of your journey one by one, then progress to selecting the following leg by clicking “Continue” at the bottom of the page. Ensure you’re only including Oneworld carriers.

You will need to select the flights for each leg individually.

Step 4: After selecting all flights, you should be on the Check page, which lists the entire itinerary as well as the points cost and cash component. If your RTW booking meets the Oneworld Classic Reward rules, the number of Qantas points payable will max out at the top zone of the award chart. For this Business Class booking, that’s 318,000 points per passenger.

Check your selected flights are correct.

Step 5: To see a breakdown of the taxes, click on “Flight amount breakdown”.

The check page displays the taxes and fees for your redemption.

Step 6: Agree to the terms and click “Continue” to pay for and book your flights.

If you end up having issues with pricing or reward seats not showing as part of your booking, even when they are visible as a one-way search, the only option would be to book over the phone via the Qantas Call Centre (13 13 13). There is a Reward Assistance Booking Fee of 7,700 Qantas Points or $77 per passenger, but this is usually waived by the agent if you mention the Qantas website isn’t working properly.

Qantas RTW Booking FAQs

Planning a round-the-world trip with Qantas Points can be complex, so we’ve answered the most common questions below, to help you navigate the Oneworld Classic Reward with ease.