1,284 American Airlines Routes That You Can Book for Just 8,000 Points

Qantas Frequent Flyer doesn't get a lot of love. It's neither the most rewarding loyalty program nor the biggest. And unless you live in Australia or routinely fly the airline, there are even fewer reasons why it would be on your radar.

But it should be — especially if you want to score cheap American Airlines award flights. American operates over 1,200 routes under 600 miles, and each of these is bookable for just 8,000 Qantas points. Plus, you can mint Qantas points by transferring Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One miles, Citi ThankYou^® Points, and several other transferrable point programs (detailed below).

Here's everything you need to know about this award chart sweet spot.

Qantas Award Chart for American Airlines Flights

In the world of points and miles, few things are better than a distance-based award chart with reasonable pricing. And thankfully, Qantas' chart for American Airlines-operated flights falls into this category.

Credit: Qantas

Of particular interest in the award chart is the 8,000-point rate that applies to itineraries less than 600 miles in total distance flown. While you can't get across the country in 600 miles, these excellent rates are ones you'll want to remember when cash rates on short-haul American Airlines are more expensive than they should be.

List of American Routes Available for 8,000 Qantas Points

AwardWallet searches found that American Airlines operates at least 1,284 routes you can book for just 8,000 Qantas points each way. And American likes to grow its domestic route map, so this number will likely only increase over time.

As of the time of writing, here are all of the routes where we found this award pricing:

A portion of the routes shown in the table feature a connection. But for simplicity's sake, we chose to show solely the origin and the destination since America routinely offers numerous connection options between points A and B.

Unlike British Airways and Iberia, Qantas doesn't charge extra for connecting flights. As long as your total itinerary is under 600 miles, you should find the 8,000-point pricing.

This list is likely incomplete. If you want to fly a route served by AA and under 600 miles in total distance that's not on this list, that doesn't mean you can't book it for 8,000 points. It's always worth checking to confirm.

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The most interesting routes you can book for 8,000 Qantas points

Admittedly, 1,200+ rows in a table is a lot to read, so we'll save you the time of scrolling through the table in its entirety. Let's take a look at the greatest hits bookable for 8,000 Qantas points:

• Cancun (CUN)
  • Originate from: Miami (MIA)
• Cozumel (CZM)
  • Originate from: Miami (MIA)
• Grand Cayman (GCM)
  • Originate from: Miami (MIA)
• Key West (EYW)
  • Originate from: Miami (MIA), Orlando (MCO), Tallahassee (TLH), or Tampa (TPA)
• Kingston (KIN)
  • Originate from: Miami (MIA)
• Montego Bay (MBJ)
  • Originate from: Miami (MIA)
• Nassau (NAS)
  • Originate from: Jacksonville (JAX), Miami (MIA), or Orlando (MCO)
• Providenciales (PLS)
  • Originate from: Miami (MIA)

Next time you plan a trip to Mexico or the Caribbean, remember that a handful of destinations are accessible from Florida — at great value. Since flights to these tropical destinations are sometimes expensive, using points might be the most cost-effective option.

Finding American Award Availability

The no-frills approach to finding award availability involves heading over to American Airlines' website, entering in your itinerary details, and opening the carrier's award calendar. If you spot one-way rates between 7,500 and 12,500 American Airlines miles for your trip, there's a good chance that Qantas will show availability as well.

As an example, here's the calendar for award flights bookable through American Airlines AAdvantage^® between Miami (MIA) and Montego Bay (MBJ). On this route, you can't throw a rock without hitting low-priced availability.

Credit: American Airlines

After finding a date that works for you, the next step is logging into your Qantas Frequent Flyer account and looking for that same itinerary.

Credit: Qantas

Another way to look for availability is by using a third-party tool — such as Seats.aero — to look for awards priced at 8,000 points. From there, follow the steps to plug those details into Qantas, transfer points if necessary, and then book your flight.

Credit: Seats.aero

Related: How To Find Airline Partner Award Flight Availability

How To Get Qantas Points

Unless you routinely fly Qantas and credit flights to the airline's frequent flyer program, transferring credit card points to Qantas Frequent Flyer is the easiest way to build a balance of points. At present, the following currencies transfer to Qantas:

Related: Do Qantas Frequent Flyer Points Expire?

Final Thoughts

Qantas offers an epic 8,000-point price for American Airlines itineraries under 600 miles. These routes are short, but there's value to using Qantas points for these redemptions — especially when the award rate is friendlier than the cash rate.

While we limited our research to sub-600-mile routes, remember that you can also book AA award flights between 601 and 1,200 miles for just 12,000 Qantas points — or 1,201–2,400-mile flights for 18,000 points. These deals are also great and can prove clutch in the right circumstances.

There's great value to be had by using Qantas' award chart for American Airlines flights, and you can travel more than 1,200 routes for a reasonable amount of miles.

AwardWallet Tip of The Day

Did you know that you have a personal referral link in your AwardWallet profile? If you invite people to AwardWallet using your referral link, you will receive an AwardWallet upgrade coupon for every five members you invite. Also, if these users upgrade to AwardWallet Plus, we will credit your AwardWallet account with AwardWallet Bonus points, which can be redeemed for points and miles in your program of choice. We spend roughly 50% of the revenue we receive from those referrals to purchase those miles for you. All of this can be tracked via the Invite to AwardWallet widget in the left navigation bar on your Accounts page.
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