Powered by MOMENTUM MEDIA
australian aviation logo

Qantas offers new map-based online search option

written by australianaviation.com.au | September 27, 2017

A supplied image of Qantas's "where can i go?" feature. (Qantas)
A supplied image of Qantas’s where can i go? feature. (Qantas)

Travellers wondering how far their dollar, or haul of Qantas frequent flyer points, will take them can have that question answered thanks to a new search function on the airline’s website.

Qantas has launched a “Where can I go?” feature that can search for flights based on budget, points, trip duration or class of travel, in addition to the traditional origin and destination.

The results will be displayed in an interactive map-based format.

As an example, Qantas said on Wednesday the map would show someone holding 70,000 Qantas points would be able to travel to 61 destinations from Sydney, subject to availability.

Meanwhile, someone planning a trip and wanting to spend no more than $1,500 for flights would see 128 potential international destinations, or 93 destinations using the points plus pay option that fall within the budget.

==
==

Qantas said the feature, which was aimed to give its customers more intuitive travel ideas and inspirational content via its online, digital and social media presence, would be expanded to its mobile users, as well as in the airline’s app, later in 2017.

There is a similar feature on Google’s flight search application, albeit without the Qantas points option, where potential destinations and prices are shown for a given set of travel dates.

You need to be a member to post comments. Become a member today!

Comments (9)

  • Roger

    says:

    So, according to https://www.qantas.com/fflyer/dyn/whereCouldIGo, 45,000 points are required one-way to Dubai, but 83,000 are required to Abu Dhabi. Am I reading it wrong, is it wrong, or does “What is going on?” have to be asked?

  • Roger

    says:

    It seems that this part of the Qantas website is in parts inaccessible to people with disabilities. Because Qantas operates flights to and from the United States, they are required to have an accessible website that is compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. I wonder what changes will be made to make it more accessible …

  • Trash Hauler

    says:

    Great idea. I wonder how long it will take for VA to copy them. QF are definitely killing them as of late when it comes to innovation

  • Scott

    says:

    Can’t really see how this is Aviaton news, better suited to an IT magazine.

  • Maxime

    says:

    Hello Roger,

    The Map is indeed not accessible but the sidebar and the result list is! I think it will be hard to make blind users have a nice experience with the map anyway.

    Nice feature anyway!

  • Nick

    says:

    Slow news day, least interesting article i have read

  • Roger

    says:

    Maxime, how does one navigate to the sidebar? I am blind and use assistive technology, and all I could see were the numbers of required points in economy for one-way flights. Is this part of the map or the sidebar? The very fact that I have to ask this question shows the inaccessibility of the feature.

    As to how the map could be made accessible, could they perhaps create a text version with a table of destinations listed by the number of points required.

    It’s still an interesting feature.

  • john

    says:

    Qantas’s website is hopeless. Crashes all the time. I wish my Qantas ff pts were with virgin. Stuff all cash reqd. on Virgin for flights to LAX, but with Qantas have to pay charges which are almost same as the cheapest fare.

    BNE/LAX/BNE is as low as $799 right now. What are Qantas’s charges ? $600 + 98,000 points.

    With the cash economy booming & getting bigger everyday, you’d have to be nuts to pay extra(most small businesses & traddies will give you 15-20% cash discount, if not using a credit card – who cares if they don’t pay the GST to useless govts who just waste it anyway)

  • Flying Tiger

    says:

    Roger says

    September 27, 2017 at 9:06 pm

    So, according to https://www.qantas.com/fflyer/dyn/whereCouldIGo, 45,000 points are required one-way to Dubai, but 83,000 are required to Abu Dhabi. Am I reading it wrong, is it wrong, or does “What is going on?” have to be asked?

    Presumably as Qantas actually FLY to Dubai (at least until early next year) the points required to Dubai are less. Getting to Abu Dhabi would require flying with a partner airline, and would also require at least one transfer (ie. at least two flights). Can I suggest flying into Dubai and then catching the 20 minute bus to Abu Dhabi????

Comments are closed.

You don't have credit card details available. You will be redirected to update payment method page. Click OK to continue.