5 fifth freedom flights you can fly on Points

Rohit

General |

12/05/2023

I love fifth freedom flights. The airlines operating these flights often fly to far-flung destinations from their home base on routes which either cannot be operated non-stop due to the distance or are not commercially viable enough to warrant a direct flight.

The thing I love most about them is that they can be quite reasonably priced (in cash) and are generally operated by one of the long-haul planes in the airlines’ fleet, meaning you can expect things like lie-flat seats, gourmet food and premium drinks etc in Business and First Class.

What is a Fifth Freedom Flight

Fifth freedom flights are those which start and end in one’s own country, but along the way also fly and transport passengers between two foreign countries. One of the simplest examples of a fifth freedom flight is Emirates’ Dubai – Sydney – Christchurch service. The flight originates in Dubai and flies to Christchurch via Sydney. It then flies home from Christchurch following the same route, crucially it has the right to fly passengers exclusively between Sydney and Christchurch.

If an airline simply stops in a foreign country to set down passengers or for some other reason but does not have the rights to pick up new passengers before flying out to a third country, then that flight is NOT considered to be a fifth freedom flight. A good example of this kind of flight was Qatar Airways Doha – Canberra – Sydney service in the pre-Covid times, where it did not have the rights to fly passengers between Canberra and Sydney exclusively.

Now let’s take a look at half a dozen fifth-freedom service that foreign carriers operate to Australia. Along the way, I will also talk about how you can redeem points to fly Business or First Class on these flights.

Emirates

Emirates is the carrier with most fifth-freedom flights to and from Australia. Besides the Sydney – Christchurch route I mentioned earlier, it also operates a single daily service between Melbourne and Singapore.

Sydney – Christchurch

Emirates’ Sydney – Christchurch route is operated by its Airbus-380 (A380) offering Australian’s a chance to experience Business and First Class both. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Emirates offers by far the best First Class product in the world.

Emirates A-380 First Class

The cabin features 14 private suites with locking doors, 2 onboard showers and a bar that it shares with Business Class passengers. In terms of drinks and dining, passengers can dig into the Arabic mezze and caviar amongst many other dishes. All washed down with the venerable Dom Perignon or Veuve Clicquot.

The easiest way to fly this route is by redeeming Qantas points, though you can also redeem Emirates’ own Skyward Miles and Aeroplan points.

You can fly Emirates Business Class between Sydney and Christchurch for 41,500 Qantas points.
You can fly Emirates First Class between Sydney and Christchurch for 64,500 Qantas points.

Melbourne – Singapore

The Melbourne – Singapore route is operated with Emirates’ older Boeing-777 (B777) with 8 First Class suites. While the B-777 does not come with the fancy showers or the bar that you find onboard the A-380, the smaller size of the cabin means there is a greater sense of privacy and more personalised service.

The First Class seats are almost identical to A-380, but the Business Class cabin features angled-flat seats in 2-2-2 configuration which is substantially inferior to the A-380 Business Class fitted with lie-flat seats in 1-2-1 configuration.

You can fly Emirates Business Class between Melbourne and Singapore for 68,400 Qantas points.
You can fly Emirates First Class between Melbourne and Singapore for 107,700 Qantas points.

Note that Emirates will slug you close to $1,200 in fees, taxes and carrier-charges if you fly First Class from Melbourne to Singapore. For this reason, I suggest you fly this route in the opposite direction (Singapore – Melbourne) where the cash outlay is a miserly $84

China Airlines (Brisbane – Auckland)

China Airlines, often mixed-up with Air China is a Taiwanese carrier that operates several long-haul flights from its home base of Taipei to major destinations in Asia, Europe and North America. It also offers :

5x weekly service between Taipei and Sydney
5x weekly service between Taipei and Brisbane

The Brisbane flight, after spending roughly 2 hours on the ground continues to its final destination of Auckland. Both Sydney and Brisbane routes are operated by China Airlines’ Airbus 350 (A350) featuring reverse herringbone seats in Business Class.

China Airlines A-350 Business Class

The best way for Australians to fly China Airways is by redeeming Virgin points. Both China Airlines and Virgin Atlantic are members of SkyTeam which makes this redemption really easy.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is a transfer partner with American Express Membership Rewards Program, you can transfer points from Amex to Flying Club in the ratio of 2:1 (2 MR Points = 1 Virgin Point). You need 21,500 Virgin Points to fly Business Class between Brisbane and Auckland, meaning you will need to transfer 43,000 Membership Rewards Points into your Flying Club account. Transfers are generally instant but allow up to 1 Business Day to account for any delay.

To check availability, head to Delta SkyMiles website. While Delta’s own pricing can be atrocious, it’s a great source for checking availability on SkyTeam carriers.

A minor irritant with this is the inability to book this flight online. So once you have confirmed availability and transferred points, call Virgin Atlantic on their UK number 0344 209 2722 or U.S. number 1800 862 8621 to make the booking over the phone.

China Airlines is also a long-term partner of Qantas, so you could redeem Qantas points to fly China Airlines on this route. Pricing though is higher at 43,800 Qantas points for a one-way flight in Business Class.

British Airways (Sydney – Singapore)

British Airways operate a daily fifth freedom service between Sydney and Singapore, with the plane then flying onwards to its home base of London (Heathrow). The route is operated by a Boeing-787 (B787) sporting the older but comfortable Club World (Business Class) as well as the First Class cabin.

British Airways B-787 First Class, Image credit : ba.com

The easiest way to fly this route is by redeeming Qantas points. You can :

Fly British Airways Business Class between Sydney and Singapore for 75,000 Qantas points.
Fly British Airways First Class between Sydney and Singapore for 107,700 Qantas points.

Redeem Qantas Points to fly British Airways First Class

The pricing (as you see above) is higher, compared to what Qantas charges when you fly this route on Qantas’ own metal, although not by much. And availability can be hard to come by on Qantas, so IMO it is ok to pay the small premium to fly British Airways.

However, if you are looking for best value redemption on this route, you need to look at American Airline AAdvantage program. With AAdvantage :

You can fly British Airways Business Class between Sydney and Singapore for 40,000 American Miles.
You can fly British Airways First Class between Sydney and Singapore for 50,000 American Miles.

As you can see, American charges up to less than half of what Qantas charges on this route, that said, American Miles are incredibly difficult to accumulate in Australia. Outside of buying miles during the AAdvantage promotion, the only other practical way is to transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to AAdvantage program via Marriott Bonvoy.

At the time of writing this post, there is a transfer bonus promotion from Amex to Marriott. If you take advantage of this promotion and transfer points, you could :

Fly British Airways Business Class between Sydney and Singapore for the equivalent of 120,000 American Express Membership Rewards Points.
Fly British Airways First Class between Sydney and Singapore for the equivalent of 150,000 American Express Membership Rewards Points.

If you want to learn more about how to transfer points from Amex-to-Marriott-to-AAdvantage program, check out one of my earlier posts over here.

Qatar Airways (Adelaide – Auckland)

Qatar Airways offers one of the best Business Class Experience in the world and this fifth-freedom flight is a fantastic opportunity to experience it without having to fly half-way across the world.

Flights to Adelaide are mostly operated by Qatar’s Airbus-350 (A350) fitted with the gorgeous Qsuites in Business Class.

Qatar Airways A-350 Qsuites

The effortless way to fly this route is by redeeming Velocity points. You can fly Qatar Airways Business Class between Adelaide and Auckland for just 38,000 Velocity points. That is a great price for experiencing what some call the pinnacle in luxury flying. Expect abundance of food and free flowing champagne.

Qatar Airways Business Class Champagne

In theory, you should also be able to redeem Qantas points to fly this route given that both Qatar and Qantas are members of oneworld alliance. In reality though, Qatar seemed to have greatly restricted access to Qantas Frequent Flyers ever since it forged partnership with Virgin Australia.

Also be mindful that you will be on the hook for $400+ in taxes and carrier charges.

You could also redeem 25,000 American Miles to fly this route. Unlike Velocity, the cash outlay should be minimal.

LATAM (Sydney – Auckland)

LATAM is the national carrier of Chile. As the biggest airline in South America, it is a great way for Australians to access almost every country in the continent via its Santiago hub.

LATAM’s Australia schedule is all over the place. At present :

LATAM offers anywhere from 3x weekly to 7x weekly service between Sydney and Santiago via Auckland.
Starting September 1, LATAM will also fly 3x weekly between Melbourne and Santiago non-stop.

LATAM deploys its Boeing-787 (B787) Dreamliner on flights to Australia. In Business Class, that means passengers can look forward to lie-flat seats spread out in the 2-2-2 configuration.

LATAM B-787 Business Class

Crucially, it has fifth freedom rights on the Sydney – Auckland sector meaning for Sydneysiders it is yet another option to cross the Tasman in style. When it comes to redeeming points, you have a few different options.

You can fly LATAM Business Class between Sydney and Auckland for 43,800 Qantas points.
You can fly LATAM Business Class between Sydney and Auckland for 30,000 Asia Miles.
You can fly LATAM Business Class between Sydney and Auckland for 22,000 British Airways Avios.

Clearly, Avios is the winner here charging about half of what you will pay with Qantas to fly LATAM on this route.

Redeem Avios to fly LATAM Business Class

With the current transfer bonus promotion, that amounts to transferring 60,000 Membership Rewards Points to your British Airways Executive Club account via Marriott Bonvoy. That will give you 25,000 Avios meaning you will still be left with 3,000 Avios after making the redemption.

Asia Miles comes close second, and with the added advantage that you can directly transfer Membership Rewards Points to your Asia Miles at 2:1 (2 Membership Rewards Points = 1 Asia Mile).

Redeem Asia Miles to fly LATAM Business Class

In Conclusion

So there you have it, 5 fifth freedom routes on some of the best known airlines in the world. I think for a small country we are lucky to have so many fifth freedom flights operating in Australia.

For once, our geography and being located so far away from most of the rest of the world works in our favour.

Business or First Class on some of these routes routinely sell for several thousand dollars, luckily, armed with a decent haul of points and by taking advantage of the current Amex to Marriott transfer bonus promotion you can experience it for a fraction of the price.