Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

More £1,000 Qatar Airways business class fares to Asia launched

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Qatar Airways has launched another one-week-only promotion on economy and business class seats from London. Some of the fares are not bad, such as Dubai from £345.  Business class fares start around £1730 and you can get as far as Bangkok for that price.

You can see full details here. You need to book by June 21st and fly before March 16th 2016.

The real action, though, is taking place elsewhere in Europe.

As with previous sales, Qatar Airways is discounting very heavily indeed from selected cities in Europe. It can’t be easy, to be honest, to fill TWO Boeing 787 aircraft from Copenhagen every day in Business Class.

With prices like these, it is tempting to cancel any outstanding Avios redemptions and rebook for cash on Qatar.  You won’t be paying much more than £500 above the Avios taxes and charges figure – use your Avios points to redeem for a hotel when you get there instead!

Here are some sample prices to Bangkok in Business Class:

ex Amsterdam – €1,665 – £1,203

ex Copenhagen – DKK 10,495 – £1,017

ex Stockholm – SEK 13,195 – £1,034

ex Oslo – NOK 12,545 – £1,035

ex Frankfurt –1,835 – £1,326

Here are some prices to Singapore in Business Class:

ex Amsterdam – €2,230 – £1,611

ex Copenhagen – DKK 13,795 – £1,337

ex Stockholm – SEK 15,095 – £1,183

ex Oslo – NOK 13,945 – £1,151

ex Frankfurt – €1,905 – £1,377

Many more destinations are available.  There is a €1,205 business class fare from Brussels to Dubai for example, as well as fares from Sofia to some Chinese destinations for €1,500.

Don’t 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 and A340 aircraft have sloping business class seats so are not the best first choice.

Remember that these fares earn Avios and BA tier points. Most of the Asian routes will generate 560 tier points return (140 x 4)! Don’t forget that you need to book via the Qatar Airways website here to get these fares.

As with the UK deals, all of the above fares must be booked by June 21st for travel by March 16th 2016.

PS.  The amazing £750 return Business Class tickets to Bangkok are still bookable!  This is a Turkish Airlines service from Stockholm.  You must book at the Turkish website by June 21st for travel until December 15th.  Full details are in this article.

Turkish is a Star Alliance member so you will be earning miles in a Star Alliance programme such as Miles & More.  The airline is very well regarded these days and aims to be on a par with the Middle East ‘big three’.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (June 2025)

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 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 card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 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 Card

30,000 Avios and the famous annual Companion Voucher voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express Credit Card

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 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 Credit Card

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

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn points worth 0.8 Avios per £1 on the FREE standard card and 1 Avios per £1 on the Pro card. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 0.8 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Card

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.

The American Express Business Platinum Card

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

The American Express Business Gold Card

20,000 points sign-up bonus 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.

Comments (64)

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

  • Idrive says:

    Good Morning All! Mmm do i need to get into action now? I need to travel in January but i reckon there will be more from now till autumn?It seems like tonight i am going to be busy!

  • Phillip says:

    One thing I have struggled to find, is information on which A330-200s carry the upgraded business class with flat beds. Other than the fact that they operate to Barcelona, Osaka, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Phuket, even QR’s own seat maps still show only 165 degree recline. Nothing on qatarsource either, yet I know 7 of them have been refurbished!

  • Macca says:

    You say to check the aircraft you’ll be flying on but how do you do this? Is it just a case of getting the flight number and putting it into a flight checker for the aircraft type?

    I booked reward tickets to Larnaca recently thinking they were full business class seats on BA after checking the flight number on Seat Guru, but it turns out the plane is a short haul variation of their long haul aircraft.

    Perhaps a post showing us tips for checking this sort of thing would be good when news is slow one day? Like you did with the ITA Matrix.

    • Phillip says:

      With BA, when you book a flight, during the booking process, you can click on the flight number to retrieve the aircraft type. Where an aircraft is used for both short and longhaul operations, with few exceptions, if you are booking Club Europe (which is what Larnaca is) it’s a shorthaul configuration, if you’re booking Club World it’s a longhaul configuration (if all goes to plan and BA doesn’t make a last minute substitution).

      FT Dashboard is a good source of historic information that can further clarify what you are likely to get.

      With Qatar, you aircraft type is clearly shown during the booking process. For 787s, 777s, A350s and A380s, it is fairly straight forward as they have a uniform product within the type group (787s, 350s and A380s have a fairly uniform business class product altogether). The A330s and A320s however are a mixed bag.

  • bob says:

    Don’t forget that you need to book via the Qatar Airways website here to get these fares.

  • neil says:

    Malaysian also have a business promo fare from Amsterdam to Bankgkok via KUL for 1051 pounds. Its valid over the christmas and new year period as well, unlike the Turkish and Qatar fares..

    • CV3V says:

      Just to advise (having done this trip) that it uses an old 777 with angled lie flat seat, not a great experience when you want some sleep.

      MAS often have some really good business class deals for trips that start/end in BKK, you can then build in stopover in KUL before continuing onwards (ie. multi city). Priced up a very cheap business class flight BKK – KUL – HKG in the past.

      • Polly says:

        We experienced the same, not great on a 12/13 hr flight, not flat beds. And I don’t think they plan on upgrading them either, unless someone knows more on that. Def would chose QR every time over MAS, even if I don’t agree with their employment ethics as reported in the times today!

        • James67 says:

          They have announced retofit of remaining longhaul fleet with full flat as part of restructuring. Also reported they are going to offer competitive prices for just the seat in both J and F, with baggage, miles etc being add ons. That could work for me if price is right.

  • Clive says:

    Andy you will need to put in separate sectors ie LHR to DOH and then DOH to say BKK. It will then show the data

  • Danny says:

    You need to enter each sector/flight separately.

  • James67 says:

    Not quite as good as we have seen from Qatar, probably because we are moving into summer high season. Those booking far out might be better hedging their bets on an autumn winter sale.in hope of more £800ish sales.

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