Qantas readies entire superjumbos for flights paid with air points

Qantas plans to make every seat on some of its Airbus A380 superjumbos purchasable with air miles to help customers burn through a mountain of loyalty points built up during the pandemic. Airlines rarely reserve entire planes in this way, let alone the world’s biggest passenger jet. The move reflects strong pent-up demand -- loyalty members have accumulated air miles from everyday credit-card spending while stuck on the ground for months on end, and they want to use them to fly. Qantas plans to make every seat on some of its Airbus A380 superjumbos purchasable with air miles to help customers burn through a mountain of loyalty points built up during the pandemic. Airlines rarely reserve entire planes in this way, let alone the world’s biggest passenger jet. The move reflects strong pent-up demand -- loyalty members have accumulated air miles from everyday credit-card spending while stuck on the ground for months on end, and they want to use them to fly. <br/>Australia began reopening its international border at the start of November, triggering a deluge of ticket purchases. In four weeks, Qantas frequent fliers burned through more than 7 billion points on bookings, according to Wirth. A return flight from Sydney to Los Angeles costs 83,800 points in economy class and 216,800 points in business, the airline’s website shows.<br/>