Qantas Offering Show Tickets For Frequent Flyer Points

Don’t fancy spending your frequent flyer points on flights, or a new iPod? Qantas is now offering an unusual alternative option: tickets to live theatre and concerts.

Frequent flyers have long been able to book tickets to shows via the Qantas Box Office service, but to date that’s been a cash transaction. Now there’s also the option of buying tickets using points. That’s not likely to be helpful if you’re battling to get a ticket for the next U2 concert or whatever, but it could be a good way of adding some entertainment to an existing trip.

Right now there’s 10 shows on offer, ranging from comedy puppet musical Avenue Q in Melbourne (heartily recommended to Lifehacker readers, BTW) to the Paris Ballet Theatre in Melbourne. Points needed range from 16,000 to 35,000 — to put that in perspective, the latter would score you a return trip to Auckland.