Qantas has announced one of the biggest revamps of its Frequent Flyer program, adding over 20 million more reward seats and launching Classic Plus Flight Rewards, a new way for members to use their Qantas Points to book flights.

The move is part of the airline's attempt to reverse reputational damage after ongoing customer frustration since Covid.

The new Classic Plus reward seats will require more points than the existing Classic reward seats but will offer wider availability and eligibility for upgrades. The points required to book Classic Plus reward seats will vary, similar to normal airfares, being lower during off-peak periods or when booking early, and higher during peak periods.

Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson said: "The Qantas Frequent Flyer program is an integral part of Qantas and has always been about recognising our customers for their loyalty. We’ve spent a lot of time listening to members about how we can better reward them. We’re adding over 20 million new flight rewards with the launch of a new type of reward seat called Classic Plus. It’s one of the biggest expansions we’ve made to the Frequent Flyer program in its 35-year history."

Classic Plus reward seats can be booked from today on Qantas international flights departing Australia for travel from 1 July 2024 and will be rolled out across the airline’s international and domestic network by the end of the year. By the end of 2024, members will have had access to 20 million new reward seats for travel across the rolling 12-month booking window.

Qantas Loyalty CEO Andrew Glance added: "The widespread availability of Classic Plus means that frequent flyers have more options to fly where they want, when they want and more often, using their points. The new type of reward seat will usually require more points than the highly sought after existing Classic seats, and will be available to all destinations on the Qantas international and domestic network, across First, Business, Premium Economy and Economy cabins."

Qantas will continue to offer more than 5 million existing Classic rewards seats across Qantas, Jetstar and 45 partner airlines, with no change to the points required to book these seats since 2019. This financial year, Qantas will invest $60 million in more flight rewards for frequent flyers.

The program changes are expected to deliver a substantial improvement in member engagement and will help drive the long-term growth of Qantas Loyalty as it continues to target $800 million - $1 billion underlying EBIT by FY30.

The Classic Plus product represents approximately $120 million investment in FY25, excluding benefits from the program. Following the launch of the new product, Qantas Loyalty is now expected to deliver between $500 - $525 million Underlying EBIT in FY24 before returning to growth of ~10 per cent in Underlying EBIT in FY25.