If you've been on the Qantas website lately looking for direct Business Class reward seats to Shanghai, chances are you're very frustrated.
At the time of writing, there are zero direct Business Class reward seats from Australia to Shanghai. Not one, on any date.
But here's the thing... if you're a little flexible and open your search up to flights with one stop in places like Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, your chances go up massively. Here's how 👇
Why one stop changes everything
Cathay Pacific and Malaysia Airlines are both Qantas partners, so you can book them with your Qantas Points. They fly lots of flights from Australia to their home bases in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, and from there they have extra flights on to Shanghai.
That's far more seats to choose from than the direct flights alone, and it's all one booking with one stop on the way.
The proof: direct vs one stop
Here's what we found when we searched Australia to Shanghai in Business Class on the Qantas Flight Reward Finder:
❌ Direct only: "No Classic Flight Rewards were found."
✅ Direct or 1 stop via Hong Kong: 18 pages of results.
✅ Direct or 1 stop via Kuala Lumpur: 9+ pages of results.
A few examples of what came up:
Via Hong Kong (Cathay Pacific):
18/09/2027 - Perth to Shanghai - Cathay Pacific - 90,000 Qantas Points + AU$422 taxes - 2 seats
30/09/2027 - Perth to Shanghai - Cathay Pacific - 90,000 Qantas Points + AU$422 taxes - 2 seats
Via Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia Airlines):
07/11/2026 - Brisbane to Shanghai - Malaysia Airlines - 125,400 Qantas Points + AU$270 taxes - 1 seat
19/11/2026 - Sydney to Shanghai - Malaysia Airlines - 125,400 Qantas Points + AU$265 taxes - 1 seat
26/01/2027 - Brisbane to Shanghai - Malaysia Airlines - 125,400 Qantas Points + AU$270 taxes - 2 seats
01/05/2027 - Melbourne to Shanghai - Malaysia Airlines - 125,400 Qantas Points + AU$279 taxes - 1 seat
Seats found on 27 October 2026. Availability changes daily.
How to search for these yourself
1. Use the Flight Reward Finder on the Qantas website (not the normal booking search, which only shows one date at a time).
2. Set Departure to "Australia" and Arrival to Shanghai (Pudong).
3. Choose Business or First and Any date.
4. Change the stops filter from "Direct" to "Direct or 1 stop". This is the big one.
5. Under connecting airports, pick Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur.
6. Sort by the Business column and scroll through the dates. Click a flight to check it's still available, then book on qantas.com.
A few tips before you book
💡 Check the points. Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong was 90,000 points from Perth, while Malaysia Airlines via Kuala Lumpur was 125,400 from the east coast. It's worth comparing both.
💡 Check the stop time. Some connections are quick and some are overnight, so look at the total travel time before you lock it in.
💡 Travelling with someone? Many dates only have 1 seat. Look for the dates showing 2+ seats, or book one seat now and keep checking for a second.
💡 The same trick works elsewhere. When direct flights are sold out to anywhere in Asia, opening up one-stop options through partner airline hubs is often the difference between finding seats and giving up.
Want us to find the seats for you?
Inside The Points Hub, we search the Qantas site for the best Business Class reward seats every day and share them with members, along with the training and tools to book them. If you need help finding seats to China (or anywhere else) for your dates, that's exactly what we help members with.