American Airlines and Qantas will roll out improved frequent flyer benefits and new codeshare destinations in the US, following the approval of their joint venture partnership by the US Department of Transportation in July.
Frequent flyer benefits
There will be an increase in mileage accrual for members of both airlines’ frequent flyer programmes.
Members of AAdvantage, American Airlines’ frequent flyer programme, may earn up to two times more elite qualifying miles (EQMs) and elite qualifying dollars (EQDs) for most cabin classes on all eligible Qantas flights systemwide.
Please refer to the picture below (a screenshot from American Airlines website) for revised miles earning details for Qantas marketed flights between Australia or New Zealand and North America (not including Hawaii):
Below is a table indicating the changes in different fare classes:
| Cabin | Purchased fares booked in | Base miles | Cabin bonus (New) | Cabin bonus (Old) | EQMs per mile flown (New) | EQMs per mile flown (Old) | EQDs per mile flown (New) | EQDs per mile flown (Old) | EQSs |
| First | F | 100% | 200% | 50% | 3.00 | 1.50 | 60% | 30% | 1.00 |
| A | 100% | 200% | 50% | 2.00 | 1.50 | 60% | 30% | 1.00 | |
| Business | J | 100% | 125% | 25% | 3.00 | 1.50 | 45% | 25% | 1.00 |
| C | 100% | 125% | 25% | 2.00 | 1.50 | 45% | 25% | 1.00 | |
| D | 100% | 50% | 25% | 2.00 | 1.50 | 30% | 25% | 1.00 | |
| I | 100% | 25% | 25% | 2.00 | 1.50 | 25% | 25% | 1.00 | |
| Premium economy | W | 100% | 10% | 10% | 1.50 | 1.50 | 22% | 22% | 1.00 |
| R, T | 100% | – | – | 1.50 | 1.50 | 20% | 20% | 1.00 | |
| Economy | Y, B | 100% | – | – | 1.00 | 1.00 | 20% | 20% | 1.00 |
| H, K, L, M, V, S | 50% | – | – | 1.00 | 0.50 | 10% | 10% | 1.00 | |
| N, G, O, Q | 25% | – | – | 1.00 | 0.50 | 5% | 5% | 1.00 |
At the same time, Qantas Frequent Flyer members can also now earn more Qantas Points and Status Credits on American Airlines’ flights.
According to Qantas, for flights between Australia, New Zealand and North America, they can earn:
- up to 3.5 times more Qantas Points on American Airlines flights between Australia and the United States;
- up to 4.5 times more Status Credits on American Airlines flights between Australia and the United States;
- and up to 4 times more Status Credits on American Airlines flights for travel within the United States/Canada.
What’s more, Qantas also says their frequent flyers can use Qantas Points for Classic Flights Rewards on American Airlines flights in Premium Economy for the first time, in addition to Economy, Business and First Class.
Please refer to the picture below (screenshot from Qantas website):
New codeshare connections
American Airlines has also expanded its codeshare on new routes operated by Qantas recently, for a total of 32 codeshare markets.
Customers flying with American Airlines will benefit from five additional codeshare routes with Qantas, while Qantas passengers will enjoy access to over 50 new routes and 30 destinations.
The new Qantas flights with expanded American codeshare include:
- Los Angeles-Sydney (LAX-SYD)
- Dallas-Fort Worth-Sydney (DFW-SYD)
- San Francisco-Melbourne (SFO-MEL)
- San Francisco-Brisbane (SFO-BNE)
- Chicago-Brisbane (ORD-BNE)
Business Traveller Asia-Pacific previously reported that Qantas will launch the two new routes from between Brisbane and San Francisco and Chicago by the end of April, 2020; while the San Francisco-Melbourne service was launched in late 2018.
Qantas has also expanded its codeshare partnership with American Airlines. This expansion adds more than 50 new codeshare city pairs from Dallas-Fort Worth and Chicago, as well as 28 new codeshare destinations to Qantas’ network in the US.
According to American Airlines, with these new destinations, Qantas will place its code on American Airlines’ services to over 100 destinations and almost 200 domestic city pairs.
The new codeshare destinations from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) include:
- Spokane, Washington (GEG)
- Charleston, South Carolina (CHS)
- Dayton, Ohio (DAY)
- Savannah, Georgia (SAV)
- Vail/Eagle, Colorado (EGE)
The new codeshare routes from Chicago (ORD) include:
- New York’s La Guardia and Newark airports (LGA and EWR)
- Boston, Massachusetts (BOS)
- Miami, Florida (MIA)
- Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington D.C. (DCA)
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (PHL)
- Charlotte, North Carolina (CLT)
“Our customers are captivated by the natural beauty and cultural richness Australia and New Zealand offer, so we’re excited to bring them even more frequent flyer benefits and expanded codeshare opportunities for their adventures,” said Bridget Blaise-Shamai, president of the AAdvantage program and vice president of Customer Loyalty and Insights for American Airlines.
Tino La Spina, Qantas International CEO, said: “Our joint business with American Airlines has allowed us to offer new routes, better flight connections and more benefits for our frequent flyers.
“Qantas Frequent Flyers will now earn as many points when they travel to the US with American Airlines as they do when they travel with Qantas.
“The US remains one of the most popular destinations on our international network and next year we’ll connect Australia and Chicago with direct flights for the first time, as well as launch flights from Brisbane to San Francisco. The new codeshare routes will provide even greater access for our frequent flyers to onward destinations across American Airlines’ extensive network which will benefit customers travelling for business or holidays.”
In other news, American Airlines has confirmed to launch non-stop flights from Dallas Fort-Worth to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport in late March next year, while Qantas is also competing with Virgin Australia for slots at Haneda Airport.
