Excellent UK Qatar Airways business class sale launched (Perth £1425, Dubai £880)

Qatar Airways has just launched a new ex-UK sale.  This features some fantastic prices given that you are departing from the UK and not somewhere else in Europe.

The headline fare is Birmingham to Perth for £1,250 return in Business Class.  This would be an astonishing fare – except that I couldn’t find one.  There IS plenty at £1,425 return though.

There is LOADS of availability for Edinburgh to Dubai at £880 return.

The full list of deals is here.  You must book by Monday but can travel up to 31st March 2017.

I will write more tomorrow.

But …..

Before you book, I should warn you about one BIG potential snag.

Qatar Airways flights earn British Airways Avios and tier points.  A trip to Asia would get you 560 tier points (4 flights x 140 each) which is 90% of a BA Executive Club Silver card.  It is a great opportunity.

Last month, Qatar brought in a new ticket ‘class’ for cheap business class seats, ‘R’.  I would expect these flights to book into ‘R’ class.

British Airways has been slow to update its partner list.  If you click here you will see that ‘R’ class tickets will only earn Avios and tier points if BOOKED after 1st May.

I am not 100% convinced by this – I get a feeling that it will actually apply to anything FLOWN after 1st May.  However, the rule as it is written on ba.com is that you would need to BOOK after 1st May and, of course, that isn’t possible as this sale ends on Monday.

If you book one of these deals, you are taking a risk that you will get nothing in British Airways Executive Club.  The best you could do is credit the flights to Qatar Privilege Club but you would be nowhere near earning equivalent status.

Of course, for these prices, you probably shouldn’t care.

---

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 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:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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.

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.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.