Organizing a trip with an entire sports team, a school class, a group of coworkers, or a large family always raises the same initial question: How do you book airline tickets together, at the same fare, without half the group ending up on a different flight? At Qantas, the answer lies in a specific service, separate from the standard online booking process: the Qantas Group Travel service. Here’s everything you need to know before getting started.
What is a group booking with Qantas?
Unlike an individual booking made on qantas.com, a group booking is handled by a dedicated team, outside the standard booking engine. At Qantas, this service is intended for groups of at least 10 passengers traveling to the same destination, on the same flights, and on the same dates. Below this threshold, there is no “Group” booking channel per se: travelers must book individually, even if that means making several separate reservations if not everyone can secure a seat on the same flight through the public website.
This approach differs from that of some airlines that accept groups as small as 6 or 8 people: at Qantas, the 10-passenger threshold is the official gateway to negotiated fares and conditions.
Who is eligible?
The service is not limited to travel agencies or tour operators. It is intended for any organization or group planning a joint trip:
– sports teams and clubs traveling with bulky equipment
– schools and universities organizing educational trips
– individuals carrying oversized objects
– companies organizing seminars, incentive trips, or business travel
– extended families or groups of friends going on a honeymoon, birthday trip, or pilgrimage; religious associations and groups.
Each category may have specific needs, and that is precisely one of the benefits of this service: baggage allowances, group check-in, or adjacent seats can be tailored to the group’s profile, provided this is specified when requesting a quote.
The practical benefits of a group booking
The first thing that often comes to mind is a “discount,” and that is indeed one of the benefits: groups have access to negotiated fares, available in Economy, Premium Economy, Business, and sometimes First Class, with more flexible terms than individual tickets.
– Other benefits:
A flexible deposit: You don’t need to know the final list of participants at the time of booking. A deposit is paid to reserve spots, and if the final headcount varies by less than 20% from the initial number, the excess portion of the deposit is simply applied to the balance due, with no penalty.
Extended deadlines for payment and passenger names: For a company that hasn’t yet named all its delegates, a school awaiting final registrations, or a team that hasn’t yet drawn the winners of an incentive program, Qantas offers flexible deadlines to finalize passenger names and payment without losing the fare lock.
Customized itineraries: A group isn’t necessarily homogeneous, some participants may wish to arrive earlier, depart later, add a personal excursion, or depart from a different airport than the rest of the group. These types of individual adjustments are possible within the same group reservation.
Dedicated services: Depending on the group’s eligibility, assisted check-in, pre-assigned seats, or a special baggage allowance may be granted, particularly useful for sports equipment or other oversized equipment.
How to request a quote from Qantas:
This process must be completed exclusively through Qantas’ official channels; never through unaffiliated intermediaries:
– Gather the essential information: number of passengers, desired dates, departure and arrival airports, intended travel class and any specific needs (sports equipment, reduced mobility, etc).
– Complete the group quote request form directly on the Qantas website.
– Upon receiving the fare proposal from the Qantas Groups team, pay the required deposit to confirm your booking.
– Complete the passenger list before the name submission deadline.
– For urgent requests or complex cases (multi-destination flights, mixed classes, international connections), you can still contact the service directly by phone.
Very large groups and charter flights
Once the number of passengers exceeds a certain threshold, the approach changes again. For trips involving several dozen passengers (conferences, tours, large incentive groups), it is generally recommended to spread travelers across multiple bookings rather than concentrating too many on a single reservation, in order to streamline seat management and connections, especially when partner airlines are involved on certain segments.
For even more specific needs, such as access to underserved destinations, exclusive use of the aircraft, or strict schedule constraints, Qantas also offers a charter service, with a fleet ranging from small regional turboprops to the Airbus A380. This option is arranged directly with the dedicated charter team and not through the standard group booking form.
Fees applied:
Qantas charges a service fee per passenger and per booking, applicable only to bookings made directly with Group Travel.
- Domestic flights (within Australia): $33 (including GST)
- International flights: $66.
Check-in for a group traveling on Qantas
Departure day is often the moment most dreaded by the group organizer: managing the check-in of ten, twenty, or fifty people at the same time as other passengers can quickly become a headache, especially when dealing with bulky luggage. That’s why eligible groups benefit, at most domestic airports served by Qantas, from a pre-arranged, dedicated check-in process designed to process the entire group in the shortest possible time, rather than handling passengers one by one at the standard counter.
A few things to plan for before the big day:
– Notify Qantas Groups, when requesting a quote, of any special baggage requirements (sports equipment & others) so that an appropriate baggage allowance can be confirmed in advance,
– Check with your dedicated consultant to see if advance seat assignments are possible, to prevent the group from being scattered throughout the cabin,
– Plan to arrive at the airport a little earlier than you would for an individual flight, to allow time for the entire group to complete check-in and security screening,
– Notify the airline well in advance of any group members who require assistance due to limited mobility, so that the appropriate services can be arranged.
These provisions do not apply automatically to all reservations: they depend on the group’s eligibility and, in most cases, must be explicitly requested when the booking is made.
How to contact Qantas Group Travel?
For any questions, quote requests, or urgent inquiries, several official channels are available:
– Online form: the recommended method for an initial quote request, accessible from the “Group Travel” section of the official qantas.com website.
– Phone (Australia): 13 26 24, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (Sydney time/AEST). This is the preferred method for urgent or complex requests (multi-destination flights, mixed classes, international connections), where a direct conversation often speeds up the process compared to a form.
– Groups departing from outside Australia: Requests must be submitted through the local Qantas office in the country of departure via the official “Contact Us” page on the website.
– Charter flights: Charter flight requests are handled separately via email by Qantas’s dedicated charter team.