Qantas Frequent Flyer has added Philippine Airlines as a new redemption partner to its fold, allowing members to book Classic Reward seats across the entire PAL network.
For Asia-based members, this is a meaningful addition to the award network, especially if you are planning your next Filipino holiday.
What’s new
Frequent Flyers can now use their points to reach 15 island destinations across the Philippines, including Boracay, Cebu, Palawan and more. Beyond the Philippines itself, you can also redeem your Qantas points for Philippine Airlines-operated flights to USA, Canada, Australia and even the Middle East.
The arrangement is two-way, so Mabuhay Miles members can also now redeem miles on Qantas domestic and international flights, including regional Australian destinations such as Adelaide, Hobart, Byron Bay, and Cairns. Outside of Philippines, I imagine there wouldn’t be many Mabuhay members anyway, so this may not be of interest.
Notably, this new partnership marks Mabuhay Miles’ fourth airline collaboration as PAL continues to expand its global loyalty footprint. Philippine Airlines most recently signed a similar tie-up with Qatar Airways, allowing members of both programmes to redeem miles for flights on both airlines.
A redemption-only arrangement for now
Before you get too excited: the partnership only allows you to redeem for flights on Philippine Airlines. You will not be able to earn Qantas points, nor can you receive lounge access (even Qantas lounges!) if you are travelling on Philippine Airlines.
How much does it cost?
Redemptions on Philippine Airlines will fall under Qantas’ partner classic rewards chart.
From Singapore, you are looking at 23,000 points and $177 in fees for a one-way economy class ticket to Manila, and business class will cost you 46,000 points plus $187 in fees.
Most domestic destinations in the Philippines will unfortunately require a one-stop journey via Manila.
For a journey to Davao, this will jack up the cost of redemption to 26,500 points and $205 in fees in economy, and for business, this goes up to 52,900 points and $215.
You can even go beyond Manila, to anywhere on Philippine Airlines’ network from Japan, Australia and even the US. I’ve outlined some of the redemption costs below for ease of reference.
| Destination from Singapore | Economy (one-way points + fees in S$) | Premium Economy (one-way points + fees in S$) | Business (one-way points + fees in S$) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo, Japan | 28,200 + $218 | – | 73,400 + $227 |
| Beijing, China | 28,200 + $205 | – | 73,400 + $214 |
| Sydney, Australia | 50,100 + $298 | 97,800 + $298 | 124,000 + $298 |
| Honolulu, USA | 51,800 + $374 | 98,200 + $384 | 125,400 + $384 |
| San Francisco, USA | 70,700 + $374 | 167,000 + $384 | |
| Toronto, Canada | 76,100 + $320 | 182,900 + $330 |
One important thing to note is that Qantas calculates a mixed cabin itinerary as the sum of redeeming two individual sectors. Given that Philippine Airlines only offer premium economy on some routes, please be careful if you are booking — sometimes the premium economy option is more expensive than the business class option!
Final Thoughts
While Philippine Airlines is not exactly a world-class 5-star airline, this new partnership is a welcome addition that unlocks redemptions to new destinations.
With Philippine Airlines signing two new partnerships with oneworld carriers, one can only wonder if this is a sign of the airline considering to join the alliance. If so, this is definitely a boon for oneworld to further entrench its Asian network.
Nonetheless, given that Philippine Airlines does not belong to any alliance at the time of writing, their award availability should be fairly high since only a small number of partner programmes have access to the inventory. I’d imagine that Philippine Airlines will be a viable option to fly to some destinations out of Asia, such as domestic destinations within the Philippines, as well as some further destinations such as Honolulu, USA, Vancouver and Toronto, Canada.
