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Amazing Qatar Airways £750+ business class flights to Middle East, Asia, Maldives, Australia

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Qatar Airways is back with some more great business class fares out of Europe (and Scotland).

These deals represent exceptional value for business class travel, especially as Qatar Airways has an excellent reputation for the quality of its seats, food and service.

£775 to the Middle East is certainly good although admittedly diverting via Europe is hassle for a short route.  The upside is that, as your Doha to  Dubai / Abu Dhabi / Bahrain connection books into First, you should be able to access the new Qatar First Class lounge on the outbound.

Qatar 787 350 business class

£860 to Bangkok or Singapore is fantastic value, as is £816 to the Maldives over peak season.  £1,500 to Australia is laughably good value. 

Remember that Qatar Airways flights earn Avios and British Airways tier points if you add your BA Executive Club number.  Most of the Asian routes below will generate 560 tier points return (140 x 4).  The Middle Eastern routes, assuming you connect to Dubai or Abu Dhabi, would earn (140 + 60 x 2) 400 tier points return as the ‘domestic’ sectors book into First Class.

As with recent sales, Qatar is discounting heavily from selected cities in Europe.

The best deals appear to be out of Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm at the moment.   This is not surprising – Qatar has to fill TWO Boeing 787 aircraft from Copenhagen almost every day in Business Class.  Scandinavian cities are competing against the cheap long-haul pricing offered by Norwegian.no.  Amsterdam is also a small country with big planes to fill.

If you have a particular route in mind, you should also try out other starting points.  Brussels has had some good deals in the past, for example.

Here are the fare rules for the current offers:

Book by November 6th

Travel between January 15th and June 30th 2016

Minimum stay 7 days, maximum stay 1 month

Here are some sample prices – remember that these tickets start in Amsterdam (full list here):

Bangkok – €1,310 (£935)

Ho Chi Minh City – €1,875 (£1,339)

Hong Kong – €1,680 (£1,200)

Kuala Lumpur – €1,865 (£1,335)

Perth – €2,390 (£1,707)

Phuket – €1,490 (£1,064)

Singapore – €2,155 (£1,539)

Tokyo – €1,875 (£1,339)

Here are some prices from Copenhagen taken from this list:

Abu Dhabi – DKK 9,995 (£957)

Bahrain – DKK 8,745  (£837)

Bangkok – DKK 10,445 (£1,000)

Colombo – DKK 14,045  (£1,345)

Delhi – DKK 8,845 (£847)

Dubai – DKK 8,095 (£775)

Hong Kong – DKK 11,145  (£1,067)

Kuala Lumpur – DKK 14,045 (£1,345)

Maldives – DKK 14,045 (£1,345)

Melbourne – DKK 16,545 (£1,584)

Perth – DKK 16,495 (£1,579)

Phuket – DKK 12,145 (£1,163)

Singapore – DKK 11,845 (£1,134)

Here are some prices from Stockholm taken from this list:

Bangkok – SEK 11,295 (£858)

Delhi – SEK 12,295 (£934)

Dubai – SEK 10,695 (£812)

Hong Kong – SEK 10,395 (£790)

Kuala Lumpur – SEK 16,395 (£1,246)

Melbourne – SEK 20,445 (£1,553)

Perth – SEK 20,395 (£1,550)

Phuket – SEK 12,745 (£968)

Singapore – SEK 12,195 (£926)

Tokyo – SEK 16,795  (£1,276)

Here are some prices from Oslo taken from this list:

Abu Dhabi – NOK 12,645 (£965)

Bangkok – NOK 11,945 (£912)

Delhi – NOK 9,845 (£751)

Dubai – NOK 10,795 (£824)

Kuala Lumpur – NOK 14,845 (£1,133)

Maldives – NOK 10,695 (£816)

Melbourne – NOK 19,795  (£1,511)

Perth – NOK 19,795 (£1,511)

Singapore – NOK 11,345 (£866)

Qatar Airways A350 Doha

Finally, there are a couple of deals from Edinburgh.  Dubai is £1,150 if you fly to the new airport or £1,250 to the main airport.  Other routes are around £1,800+.  Weirdly, Manchester to Dubai is £1,860 so you save £610 by heading to Edinburgh first!

When booking with Qatar Airways, it is important to NOT just look at the headline price. It is also important to get the right aircraft. You want to be booking onto a Boeing 787 featuring the latest impressive 1-2-1 business class seating which I reviewed here. The A380 and A350 aircraft have the same seating.

The Boeing 777 seating I reviewed here is fully lie flat but is in a more traditional configuration.  The A330 aircraft have recently been converted into flat seats although I am not sure that they are like.  The final A340 aircraft are due to be fully flat by February according to the comments below.

The good news is that Copenhagen, Oslo, Amsterdam and Stockholm are usually operated by Boeing 787 aircraft so you should get the newest business class product.

Apart from Oslo, which is further and uglier (!), all of these departure points are easy to reach from the UK and a pleasant place to stay for the night if a stopover is required.  I would have a serious look at these deals for your long-haul travel plans over the next six months.  Have a play around at qatarairways.com and see what you can find.

You should also do the maths and consider whether it is worth cancelling any Avios redemptions in order to rebook on a Qatar cash ticket.

The list of Copenhagen deals is here, the list of Stockholm deals is here, the Amsterdam deals are here and the Oslo deals are here.  Other destinations apart from those listed may well be available at sale prices if you search.

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Category

Qatar Airways and Privilege Club

Comments (165)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Polly says:
    3 Nov3 November 06:02

    Can totally recommend the 787 out of .CPH, and don’t worry about the over 8 hr transfer, hotels are 5 star and you get limo to and from airport fast tracked etc..great lounge and food etc. If anyone is thinking about cancelling a 241 F on BA, go for it! Got us an extra trip to HKT from CPH that way on QR. Will now use our 241 on BA F to SEA in march.

    • Simmo says:
      3 Nov3 November 06:54

      Is a hotel included on the transfers over 8 hours?
      The wording on the website put me off saying down to their discression.

      Seems most Europe- Phuket has either a 1h transfer over over 8h!

      Really liked the idea of using the airport hotel and using the lounge for dinner/drinks, but prices seem steep for the overnight.

      • Jason says:
        3 Nov3 November 07:33

        It’s about a £100, overnight, if the hotel isn’t included.its very convenient. Seriously thinking of changing a LHR doh, avios booking, on the a380 in J at the old rate and going to the Maldives, only problem is I’ve paid a deposit on the hotel in Dubai 🙁

      • Rob says:
        3 Nov3 November 07:54

        They have tightened up on the rules for getting stopovers for free – not sure what they are but it makes it tricky for most to qualify.

      • Adam says:
        3 Nov3 November 10:39

        The hotel situation is a little complicated. Basically you only get it included if there is no possible way that you could fly between the two cities (connecting through doh) without an over 8 hour layover. For example. (Please note I use the below times as an example and I know they are not correct)

        Flights from cph to doh

        Dep12.00 – arr 19.00
        Dep16.00 – arr 23.00

        Doh – hkt

        Dep- 06.00 – arr 14.00

        You won’t get the hotel even if you take the earlier cph-doh flight (even though there’s a 9h layover) as they sell a flight that means you could have had a sub 8hour layover. This is the still the case if the early flight was sold out.

        Essentially it means that if your start or end point is London, you would never get a hotel on any route as there would always be a flight at some point within 8 hours of landing in doh.

        Hope this makes sense.

        • Adam says:
          3 Nov3 November 10:41

          * damn maths. 11 hour layover, not 9.

        • Simmo says:
          3 Nov3 November 11:44

          Thanks Adam! – Very helpful.

          So basically you are looking for a starting point with only one departure a day, and when the onward flight is 8+ hours.

        • pointscollector says:
          4 Nov4 November 17:16

          Just been playing around on the qatar website to combine one of these promo J fares with a free hotel night & limo transfer in DOH, but couldn’t find any. Has anyone else had more luck? (I’m interested in flights to the far east, ideally BKK).

    • Dannyrado says:
      3 Nov3 November 07:11

      You get a limo on QR??

      • Rob says:
        3 Nov3 November 07:52

        No

        • Pierre says:
          3 Nov3 November 11:42

          you only get a limo transfer between hotel and airport in the case of the free stopover.
          last time I used it it was an S350 I think

          • jovana says:
            3 Nov3 November 18:09

            No limo for us on our free stopover. It was a minibus (think executive minibus).

  • Will says:
    3 Nov3 November 06:37

    The issue with Amsterdam isn’t that it’s a “small country” it’s that the majority of passengers who use it are sky team members.

    As such the agressive fares are to lure people away from sky team and onto one world. The size of the country has very little to do with the fares especially as most people connect onto flights at AMS.

    • JQ says:
      3 Nov3 November 06:59

      Yes the fares would lure people away from direct flights on Skyteam to connections in DOH, but these prices are for traffic originating in Amsterdam, not traffic connecting there. Nobody except FT/HFPers would normally connect to a QR flight in AMS, but with these fares it makes sense to go there from the UK. QR flies to BRU, LUX and FRA, so unless there is a major price difference it doesn’t make sense for residents of that area of Europe to specifically choose AMS

    • Andrew says:
      3 Nov3 November 07:09

      I’m not sure Amsterdam is a country at all!

  • Simmo says:
    3 Nov3 November 06:50

    Great prices. Shane I need flights for Aug16.

    Going to cross my fingers for a companion business class sale again!

  • James says:
    3 Nov3 November 07:02

    How many Avios would one receive flying ARN-HKG-ARN please? Thanks in advance.

    • Rob says:
      3 Nov3 November 07:53

      There is a link to the Avios Calculator in the right hand HFP margin under ‘Key BA Links’. You must search ARN-DOH and DOH-HKG separately.

    • bsuije says:
      3 Nov3 November 07:58

      James,

      You can use the calculator here to work that out – http://www.britishairways.com/travel/flight-calculator/public/en_gb .

      You will need to put in each leg separately and then add up the avios & tier points, e.g. ARN-DOH and then DOH-HKG (and back again). Make sure you select the right travel class & the correct tier (I’ve always taken that to be your BA status).

  • james says:
    3 Nov3 November 07:24

    As the middle eastern flights are marketed as first you actually get 60tp for them, so 140 + 60 x 2 = 400 total.

    • Rob says:
      3 Nov3 November 07:52

      I was wondering about that last night – I was going to ask if anyone knew.

      • James says:
        3 Nov3 November 08:14

        You know you have become a proper collector when you can help Raffles out with something 🙂

    • idrive says:
      3 Nov3 November 11:29

      Ba Avios calc says 140+140×2 for COP-DOH-HKG, am I missing anything?

      • Brian says:
        3 Nov3 November 12:52

        I assume you won’t be going to Hong Kong to live there and never come back… :))

    • Macca says:
      3 Nov3 November 11:50

      I’m confused. If I use the BA calculator to check CPH-DOH in First it is saying 210TP’s. You say they’re “marketed” as First but you state 140TP’s (Business class level). What am I missing?

      • james says:
        3 Nov3 November 12:03

        CPH – DOH is business (140tp), DOH – XXX (middle east) is first (60tp).

        Think of the QR middle east flights as you would AA domestic flights, it’s the same principle.

        • idrive says:
          3 Nov3 November 12:56

          ok fine, I am checking HKG-SIN-KUL not Middle East.
          sorry about the confusion

        • Macca says:
          3 Nov3 November 13:36

          Oh I see, just the flights within ME are First. I assumed you meant flights TO the ME (which Doha is in) were first.

          Thanks for clearing that up!

  • Brian says:
    3 Nov3 November 07:52

    The cancellations for fog yesterday highlight the danger of getting an ex-EU flight with positioning flights from the UK on the same day.

    • Sebastian says:
      3 Nov3 November 09:10

      I know some people do it, but I’ve always thought same day connections are insane, as like yesterday proves, one unforeseen inconvienace and your holiday goes up in smoke. Now I do ex-EU but I always go the day before.

      • Brian says:
        3 Nov3 November 10:39

        Indeed – yes, it costs more, but the ex-EU cities (Copenhagen, Dublin, Amsterdam…) are all well worth visiting in their own right, so it’s much better just to view it as a mini city break.

  • aliks says:
    3 Nov3 November 08:02

    Great timing for this QR sale since I was looking out for a good deal to Oman next Easter.
    Before the sale, AMS-DOH-MCT was the best I class offer at around £1350, now I have bagged 2 seats at £955.

    And one last question – for many trips connecting in DOH, you have to land or takeoff in the middle of night. We have a choice of onward flight to MCT taking off at either 03:45am or 7:45. I opted for the 7:45 – are we likely to be able to get some sleep in the quiet section of the lounge? The reserved area sounds OK but has anybody got direct experience?

    • aliks says:
      3 Nov3 November 08:03

      2 seats at £955 from Paris to MCT that is

      • matt says:
        3 Nov3 November 08:57

        2 seats at £995 each I presume?

        • aliks says:
          3 Nov3 November 10:28

          Yes 2 seats at £955 each.
          Interestingly enough, I was checking on ITAMatrix quite a bit last night and the quotes for these flights were hopping around a small anount. £937 at one point, £1036 a little bit later.

          Its standing at £952 at the moment.

    • Fadi says:
      3 Nov3 November 13:27

      There is no where good to sleep in the lounge at DOH.

      • Polly says:
        3 Nov3 November 21:14

        Fadi, why don’t you book a long connection, then you get to be in a top hotel, and limo back and forth to hotel, pure bliss. We ended up on a 10 hr layover by accident on our way home from HKT for a funeral, sadly, and it was such a good service. I know James 67 we have this notion to get to your destination ASAP, but this was a fab experience, that worked out ok. We only had a short layover on the way out tho. So I say don’t worry about a long layover. You will still age a great experience flying J on QR. It’s a win win.. We too have now run out of annual leave for 2016! So busy cancelling and re booking.. Too exciting for words, this is!!!

        • JQ says:
          4 Nov4 November 06:06

          You only get a hotel if your connection is the shortest possible and is still over 8 hours.

  • Me says:
    3 Nov3 November 08:17

    Please can someone remind me of the current penalties for cancelling BAEC redemptions?

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