Qatar Airways service from Edinburgh goes daily – more lower tax Avios options

Back in May, Qatar Airways launched a ‘five time a week’ service between Edinburgh and Doha.  It was the first service from Edinburgh to any of the Middle Eastern airports.

Qatar put a brand new Boeing 787 aircraft on the route.  I reviewed my recent business class flight on a Qatar 787 in this article and it was very impressive, especially for solo travellers.  Qatar has a special webpage on the benefits of its Boeing 787 service which can be found here.

From 1st May 2015, Qatar is increasing the Edinburgh service to daily.

This has been a great route for Avios redemptions if you live in Edinburgh catchment area.  The airline tends to offer four business class seats per flight for Avios redemptions, which is 20% of the cabin.

Taxes are also lower than flying to Doha via Heathrow on British Airways.   Edinburgh to Doha in business class is currently 80,000 Avios plus £338 of taxes and charges.  British Airways, via Heathrow, would cost you 80,000 Avios plus £568 – an extra £230 per person.  If you are flying beyond Doha then the maths will change because you will need to factor the additional Avios required for the second leg.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (September 2023)

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.

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.

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.

EDIT: Applications for this card are temporarily suspended due to IT issues with the British Airways On Business SME loyalty scheme.

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.