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.
About Head for Points
Especially on 2 leg rtns flights ie Bom – Doh- Edi, the tax is so much lower than BAs that you can use the cash+ Avios option to reduce the number of Avios reqd to the same as BA . Ie drop from 60k to 50k
Why are flight to Doha with Qatar so expensive as opposed to flying to Dubai via Doha?
Because passengers will pay a premium for the nonstop flight.
What’s the best way to book this? I have an Avios account and BAEC one. Do they take Amex 2-4-1 on this route or are they only for BA flights? I couldn’t find availability on BA.com
The 2-4-1 is only for BA flights. You can only book oneworld partners on BAEC I believe, but availability is poor whenever I have checked.
I am fairly sure I’ve seen comments on here before that say it’s only for “BA metal”.
correct, 2-4-1 can only be spent on BA metal originating out of the UK
For far eat it is not so great; cheaper tax and fees offset by extra 20k avios required each way compared to BA. Also, it is difficult to get connections to far east with the shott layover in Doha. For exsmplr, BKK and KUL usually require 8 hours unless you get lucky with availability on the ca90mon connections. For these reasons I continue to favour BA. Comments on 787 may apply yo QR J but economy passengers should be wary; this aircraft has received awful reviews on every carrier operating it. Main complaints are avod boxes under every aise and window seat, narrow seats, even where only 9 across, and seat anchor supports being where people are inclined to want to put their feet.
Bit OT but did any other Cathay Gold card holders get an email invitation from Cathay Pacific to their Christmas champagne reception at the Ritz in London next month?
No – they did this a couple of years ago and I did get invited, but couldn’t make it.