The Best Way to Fly to Australia on Points

Many U.S.-based travelers write off Australia as an almost impossible destination to get to. If you’re on the East Coast, you can get to countries in Europe in as little as six hours, while it might take a full day (and thousands of dollars) to reach Australia. Fortunately, if you’re savvy with travel rewards, a flight to Australia can be one of the best ways to use your credit card points.

Here’s everything to know about getting to Australia using points and miles. 

Which airlines and alliances offer flights to Australia from the U.S.? 

All three major alliances, Oneworld, Star Alliance, and SkyTeam, offer direct routes from the U.S. to Australia. Note that some routes are seasonal, so you might have fewer options during the off-season. 

Oneworld Alliance

American Airlines 

• Los Angeles (LAX) and Sydney (SYD)
• Dallas (DFW) and Brisbane (BNE) (seasonal)

Qantas Airways

• Honolulu (HNL), Los Angeles, and Dallas to Melbourne
• San Francisco (SFO), Los Angeles, Honolulu, and Dallas to Sydney
• Los Angeles to Brisbane

Star Alliance 

United Airlines 

• San Francisco and Los Angeles to Melbourne
• San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Houston (IAH) to Sydney (seasonal from IAH)
• San Francisco to Brisbane

Sky Team 

Delta Air Lines

• Los Angeles to Sydney and Brisbane

Non-alliance airlines

Jetstar Airways is a low-cost subsidiary of Qantas. It operates flights from Honolulu to Melbourne and Sydney. Hawaiian Airlines also operates a flight from Honolulu to Sydney. 

How many miles or points do I need to fly to Australia?

The number of points and miles you’ll need to book an award ticket to Australia will vary byloyalty program, time of year, fare class, departure and arrival airports, and more. 

However, you can fly round trip in basic economy for as little as 60,000 miles or spend as much as 800,000 miles on a first class ticket. Premium economy tickets typically cost around 88,000-130,000 miles round trip, and business class will cost 130,000 or more. 

When should I book flights to Australia?

The earlier you book, the more award availability there will be. Most airlines release award space anywhere from 328 to 362 days prior to departure, so it would be easier to book within that window. 

Fortunately, award availability isn’t typically subject to last-minute surcharges. This means you can book a spontaneous trip to Australia for virtually the same price as if you were to book it months in advance. At the time of writing, I could book a round-trip flight from Los Angeles to Sydney with a next-day departure for just 56,100 Delta SkyMiles. However, you can’t rely on this, as you run the risk of no available seats. 

What are the best frequent flyer programs for travel to Australia with points and miles? 

Since each of the major airline alliances offers direct flights from the U.S. to Australia, you have a lot of flexibility in terms of point currencies. 

American AAdvantage

If you want to fly first class from the U.S. to Australia, American Airlines might be your best option. You can fly round trip from Los Angeles to Sydney in first class starting at 110,000 miles. However, award pricing is variable, so you may see some fares for 432,500 miles one way, plus $106.61 in taxes and fees. A premium economy ticket can also provide great value at 130,000 miles round-trip if you want a little extra comfort without spending all of your miles on one trip. 

The main cabin fares are a bit more expensive than some other carriers, but they are still reasonable, starting at 35,000 miles each way. If you prefer American Airlines to other carriers, like Delta or United, spending a few extra miles on your flight could make sense. 

Qantas

Qantas is Australia’s flagship carrier, so it makes sense that it operates the most routes. Plus, if you don’t have miles ready to go, you’ll need to leverage credit card points. Qantas makes it easy thanks to 1:1 transfer partnerships with the Citi Thankyou, Capital One, or American Express Membership Reward. 

Comparatively, no major U.S. credit card points transfes to American AAdvantage, and only American Express points can transfer to Delta SkyMiles. Not only does Qantas offer the most routes, but it’s also the most accessible to someone who has plenty of credit card points but very few frequent flyer miles. 

Since Qantas is a member of the Oneworld Alliance, you can also use your points on flights operated by American Airlines. Taxes and fees are a bit higher when booking an American-operated flight through Qantas, so it might not be worth it. 

Qantas uses a distance-based award chart, so the number of miles needed for a flight depends on how far you’re flying. For example, a flight between Los Angeles (LAX) and Sydney (SYD) is just under 7500 miles, so you’d need 41,900 miles each way in economy class. A premium economy seat costs 81,300 miles, while business class costs 108,400 each way. First class is pricey at 162,800 miles each way.

Delta SkyMiles

Although Delta only offers a nonstop from Los Angeles to Sydney and Brisbane, SkyMiles can be a viable way to reach Australia. Delta has one of the easiest ways to search for award redemptions of any major airline — when you select “shop with miles,” you are automatically taken to the flexible date calendar, which allows you to see which dates are the cheapest to fly. 

You can score a round-trip, nonstop flight from Los Angeles to Sydney for as low as 66,000 SkyMiles, plus $131 in taxes and fees. If you’re a cardholder of a Delta credit card, you can take advantage of a 15% discount, bringing the total to just 56,100 miles round trip in basic economy. 

That said, you might not be thrilled about the prospect of spending 15 hours in the air in basic economy. Potentially spending half a day in a middle seat at the back of the plane isn’t a great way to start a vacation, so it could be worth the extra miles to upgrade to a higher fare class. Comfort+ could be a worthy upgrade, coming in at just 142,800 miles with a Delta credit card. 

However, Premium Select and Delta One won’t yield the best valuation of your miles — a Delta One flight costs upwards of 800,000 miles if you don’t have a credit card. 

If you want to fly Delta One but don’t want to shell out that many miles, you can book through a SkyTeam partner like Virgin Atlantic, which tends to offer better rates. 

Virgin publishes an award chart based on distance for Delta-operated flights: 

Flight distance	Delta Main Cabin	Delta One
0-500	7,500	21,000
501-1,000	11,000	41,500
1,001-1,500	16,500	59,500
1,501-2,000	18,500	66,500
2,001-3,000	22,000	70,000
3,001-4,000	35,000	80,000
4,001-5,000	44,000	105,000
5,001-6,000	49,500	130,000
6,001+	65,500	165,000

So, for a flight longer than 6,000 miles, you’ll pay about the same in Virgin points as SkyMiles for a main cabin ticket, but you’ll spend just a fraction of the points for a Delta One ticket. 

United Airlines MileagePlan

If United is your preferred carrier, you’ll be happy to see pretty wide-open award availability for flights from San Francisco to Australia. However, the prices you see in the screenshot below are one way. Compared to Delta, you’ll spend about double the miles for an economy-class ticket. 

Fortunately, you’re not out of luck if you don’t have hundreds of thousands of miles to redeem a flight. United is a member of the Star Alliance network, so you can book United-operated flights through partner airlines. All Nippon Airways (ANA) is a popular partner with more reasonable award redemption rates. 

ANA publishes an award chart to help you plan your next adventure. Rates are based on departure/arrival zones and fare class: 

• Y: Economy
• PY: Premium Economy
• C: Business
• F: First class

The U.S., Mexico, and Canada make up Zone 6 in ANA’s partner award chart, while Oceania and Micronesia represent Zone 10. Routes between North America and Australia (Zone 10) will cost the following: 

• Economy (Y): 75,000 miles round trip
• Business (C): 145,000 miles round trip
• First (F): 246,000 miles round trip

ANA has a separate award chart for its own flights, which can work out cheaper. On this award chart, the cost of award flights between North America and Australia will vary depending on whether you’re traveling during low, regular or high season:

• Economy (Y): 60,000 miles (low), 70,000 miles (regular), 75,000 miles (high)
• Premium economy (PY): 88,000 miles (low), 98,000 miles (regular), 103,000 miles (high)
• Business (C): 130,000 miles (low), 137,000 miles (regular), 140,000 miles (high)
• First (F): 210,000 miles (low), 230,000 (regular), 260,000 (high)

You can transfer Membership Rewards from an American Express card at a 1:1 ratio to ANA Mileage Club. 

HawaiianMiles

If you’re traveling from the mainland U.S. and want to go on the trip of a lifetime, you could fly to Hawaii, spend some time on the beach, and then fly nonstop from Hawaii to Australia using Hawaiian Miles. 

A one-way flight from Honolulu to Sydney starts at 40,000 miles in the main cabin or from 65,000 miles in business with a lie-flat seat. This is a great option for those already based in Hawaii or those open to a two-part vacation. 

You can transfer points from Amex Membership Rewards to HawaiianMiles at a 1:1 ratio. 

Which Australian destinations are best to fly to with points?

If you want to fly direct from the U.S. to Australia using points, you can fly into one of three cities:

• Melbourne (MEL)
• Sydney (SYD)
• Brisbane (BNE) 

Fortunately, these cities have plenty to offer and serve as excellent starting points for your adventure. 

What are the best stopover destinations on the way to Australia?

If you’re visiting from East Coast cities like New York or Boston, you’ll make at least one stop on your way to Australia. You could elect to fly to a U.S. airport like San Francisco (SFO), Los Angeles (LAX), or Dallas (DFW) that offers direct flights to Australia. 

Or, you could opt to have a stopover in another international city, which can also open the door to additional airlines and award redemptions. 

Popular international stopover destinations include the following:

• Middle East: Dubai (Emirates), Doha (Qatar Airways)
• Asia: Singapore (Singapore Airlines), Hong Kong (Cathay Pacific) 
• Americas: Vancouver (Air Canada)

When booking an award ticket, some airlines allow you to add a stopover in a city for no additional cost. I took advantage of this when I flew from Istanbul, Turkey, to Melbourne on Singapore Airlines. Since I booked with miles, I added a stopover in Singapore on my return without paying anything extra. I spent a few days exploring a new country for the same cost as a round trip. 

Booking an award flight to Australia with point.me

If you don’t have the time, energy, or patience to log into each of your loyalty accounts to compare fares and routes, you can simplify your search by using point.me.

You’ll see a variety of results across different airlines and using different point currencies. For a more personalized result, you can filter by programs you have points and miles with.

One of the best features is that you can mix and match loyalty programs for your outbound and inbound flights. Using this example, I’d fly American Airlines from Los Angeles to Sydney and Delta Air Lines from Sydney back to Los Angeles. 

point.me even walks you through the process of transferring your points and booking your flight. It really is as simple as that.

Frequently asked questions about flying to Australia on points