More updates on the Qatar Airways / Avios / oneworld partnership
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I ran a piece recently about the Qatar Airways / British Airways partnership, which is now in place for earning miles on each others planes. Qatar Privilege Club members can also redeem for BA flights from 1st October.
Some more Qatar / oneworld / BA information has dripped out over recent days, so it is worth summarising:
October 30th is the confirmed date for Qatar joining oneworld
As per this news release, you will be able to earn miles on all oneworld airlines (and use their miles on Qatar) from October 30th
No confirmation that you can use Avios on Qatar from October 1st
Whilst we know that Qatar members can redeem on BA early, from the 1st, we don’t know if this will be reciprocal or not. Hopefully it will.
Qatar has dropped fuel surcharges on award tickets via its own programme
This is interesting. Qatar announced in an email last week that it was dropping surcharges on tickets booked on Qatar flights via Qatar Privilege Club. The question now is whether BA will impose surcharges or not for Qatar redemptions.
Qatar has added an extra tier to its programme – Platinum level
This is presumably very annoying to existing Gold members. Qatar Gold members presumably expected to become equal to a BA Gold (ie oneworld Emerald). However, with Qatar sneaking in a new top tier, a Qatar Gold member will only get the benefits of a BA Silver member. I would be very annoyed if this happened to me ….
Qatar routes flying the new Boeing 787
The current cities running the new B787 with the new business class pictured above are (ex-Europe) Copenhagen, London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Munich, Oslo, Stockholm and Zurich. If you can’t get a seat from London, you may want to try a redemption from one of the other cities. Non-European routes with 787’s are Bangalore, Delhi, Jeddah and Riyadh. Fly Qatar on other routes, including from Manchester, and you will get older equipment with older seats.
You can use American Airlines miles on Qatar from September 23rd
Both AA and Qatar have confirmed that reciprocal booking will be available from September 23rd. Annoyingly, though, it is highly unlikely that they will be bookable on the AA website and it is not possible to check availability on the Qatar website unless you have enough Qatar miles to actually book. This is therefore likely to involve painful phone calls to AA, where the staff will try to persuade you that Qatar is not an AA partner and then tell you that seats are not available even though they probably are ….
I am personally keen to see Qatar tickets become available to BA members from October 1st, as there is a ticket I would like to book for someone to use during October! Let’s see.
You can learn more about all the points raised above on the Qatar website here.
How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (March 2024)
As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!
In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.
You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:
Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:
British Airways American Express Premium Plus
25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review
British Airways American Express
5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £12,000 Read our full review
You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express
40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review
Run your own business?
We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.
Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa
Get a 10,000 points bonus plus an extra 500 points for our readers Read our full review
You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.
British Airways Accelerating Business American Express
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review
There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.
SPECIAL OFFER: You receive a huge 120,000 Membership Rewards points if you apply for American Express Business Platinum by 9th April 2024. You receive 80,000 points for spending £12,000 within 90 days and a further 40,000 points if you retain the card for 14 months. Click here to apply.
SPECIAL OFFER: You receive 60,000 Membership Rewards points if you apply for American Express Business Gold by 9th April 2024. Remember that the card is FREE for the first year. You receive 40,000 points for spending £6,000 within 90 days and a further 20,000 points if you retain the card for 14 months. Click here to apply.
American Express Business Platinum
Crazy 120,000 points bonus (to 9th April) and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
American Express Business Gold
Huge 60,000 points sign-up bonus (until 9th April) and free for a year Read our full review
Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.
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