Qantas is kicking off the second week of May with a promotion sure to appeal to its 13 million frequent flyers. Passengers with a stash of frequent flyer points will be able to use those points to book any seat on any flight for travel in August across more than 30 domestic routes, while bookings made on the same routes for travel between June 1 and November 30, 2022, will require 30% fewer points than usual.

Lots of reasons why this Qantas promotion is a good idea

Qantas is selling the deal as a chance for their frequent flyer members living in Australia's larger capital cities to get out of town and into the regions for a while. After the pandemic clipped Qantas' long-haul wings, the airline rediscovered the virtues of short-haul regional flying. The promotion also encourages their frequent flyers to spend some points, rather than continue hoarding them - as many are wont to do.

In the past, Qantas has made a splash running points plane promotions that appeal to frequent flyer members with big points balances. Qantas gets some kudos here for targeting its frequent flyers with more modest points balances. Most Qantas frequent flyer members don't have enough points to fly first class to LAX, but scratching up 12,000 odd points to jet down to Tasmania and back is often well within range.

"We’ve seen a huge increase in demand for regional travel since the start of the pandemic and these points planes will help tens of thousands of frequent flyers discover regional Australia this winter,” said the boss of Qantas Loyalty, Ms Olivia Wirth. "Qantas’ regional network plays an important role in supporting local economies and this investment in domestic Points Planes will continue to drive visitation and support travel demand.”

More than 30 routes made the grade, but some highly sought after regional routes are absent

Most of the nominated routes (a list is available here) link regional centers with Australia's state capitals, with the number of points needed ranging from 5,600 points (plus AU$44 in fees) to fly one-way on the Sydney (SYD) - Launceston (LST) sector, up to 12,600 points (plus AU$44 in fees) to jet between Perth (PER) and Hobart (HBA). The deal is only available for economy class seats and some highly sought after (from a points burn perspective) routes such as Sydney - Lord Howe Island (LDH) are not included in the promotion.

Regional Qantas routes that do make the cut include most of their routes launched during the last couple of years. Sydney - Broken Hill (BHQ) is a relative bargain at just 5,600 points (plus the fee) each way. Recently, Simple Flying covered the launch of the Adelaide (ADL) - Albury (ABX) route - that's also on the list. Most of the available routes are operated by Qantas regional subsidiary QantasLink. That airline uses a mix of Dash 8 turboprops, Embraer E190, and Boeing 717-200 aircraft.

Travelers with a yen to do so can put together some interesting multi-trip jaunts for a relatively small point and dollar spend. With Qantas also a fully-fledged oneworld member, international travelers to Australia with points available in partner airline frequent flyer programs can also tap into the promotion and take the opportunity to get off the beaten track while in the country.