Qantas frequent flyer points auction results: Millions spent on A380 seats, private flight

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This was published 2 years ago

Qantas frequent flyer points auction results: Millions spent on A380 seats, private flight

By Craig Platt
Updated
Two former Qantas A380 Skybed business class seats were sold for 2 million frequent flyer points.

Two former Qantas A380 Skybed business class seats were sold for 2 million frequent flyer points.

Qantas frequent flyers have forked out millions in points to snap up items sold in the airline's first points auction.

The auction featured a different item each day for five days. They included a private charter flight, a luxury New Zealand holiday, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner simulator session, a soccer coaching clinic and two A380 business class seats.

The two A380 "Skybeds'', sold as a pair, were among those that attracted the most attention, with the opening bid of 350,000 points surging to a winning bid of 2 million points three seconds before the auction finished. Qantas said there were six bids in the final 60 seconds of the auction as aviation geeks battled it out to try and secure the items.

Danny Wallis successfully bid on a Dreamliner simulator experience for 1.2 million points. The session will be with Qantas' chief technical pilot, Alex Passerini, or fleet operations manager Lisa Norman (pictured).

Danny Wallis successfully bid on a Dreamliner simulator experience for 1.2 million points. The session will be with Qantas' chief technical pilot, Alex Passerini, or fleet operations manager Lisa Norman (pictured).

The Skybeds have been progressively phased out as Qantas refits its superjumbos with its Business Suite, which allows direct aisle access for all seats in a 1-2-1 layout in business class. The Skybeds 2-2-2 layout meant window seat passengers had to step over their neighbours to access the aisle.

Qantas' move to continue to refit its grounded A380 fleet has been taken as an indication that the superjumbos will fly again for the airline once international air travel recovers from the havoc wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The highest winning bid was for a private charter flight to Byron Bay, Hamilton Island or Devonport, which attracted a winning bid of more than 4.8 million points.

The bid was made by Danny Wallis, who also successfully bid on the Dreamliner simulator experience for 1.2 million points.

Wallis, a Melbourne-based IT entrepreneur, is known for his bidding on properties from Nine's renovation TV show The Block. In 2020 he successfully bid on three of the show's five properties, splurging $12 million.

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He said he would likely take the charter flight, on board a Qantas Dash-8 turboprop, to Tasmania and invite 30 friends along. Wallis said he normally used his points to upgrade his family to first class on their annual trip to Europe, but with international travel unavailable he had opted to use his points in the auction instead.

With Qantas frequent flyers continuing to rack up points through credit cards and other loyalty schemes, but having limited options to spend them due to the pandemic, the auction has been an effective way to encourage some members to spend their points. The airline has indicated it will do more auctions in the future.

Last year the airline sold off 1000 fully stocked drinks carts from its retired Boeing 747 jumbo jets. The entire stock sold out in a few hours, generating about $1 million in revenue for the airline.

See also: ​Qantas confirms rollout of digital 'health pass' for international flights

See also: For sale on LinkedIn: Six slightly used A380 superjumbos

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