Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

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.

  • nick says:
    3 Nov3 November 08:33

    Amazing. The Aussie fare in particular is insanely good.

    Is anybody else running out of annual leave because they keep finding reasons to book holidays on these deals?!

    • Amo says:
      3 Nov3 November 09:07

      I just found myself thinking the same! Having recently booked a trip to Hawaii and Paris a few days ago, these fares are tempting but I think a lot of my 2016 leave is already used up. First world problems 🙂

    • JQ says:
      3 Nov3 November 11:50

      I don’t have any time left in the UK to do anything that requires a day off!

    • Simmo says:
      3 Nov3 November 11:56

      My 2016 allowance was used up 2/3 months ago! – i like to plan ahead!
      NYC, Atlantic City, Vienna, Alicante, Toulouse(Euros football), Thailand,

      I’ve just purchased another 10 days from the company for any more things that pop up!

    • harry says:
      3 Nov3 November 21:30

      Not really as I retired when I was 36 🙂

  • James67 says:
    3 Nov3 November 08:48

    It took me great will power to resist the temptation to cancel redemptions and book these. In the end i did so, to preserve the flexibility of reward flights, avoid longer journeys and middle of night changes in DOH, and because I booked the flights before devaluation so refund would no longer be worth what it once was. Qatar sales exEU are awesome but it’s best to temper the excitement and evaluate whether the cost in terms of flexibility and convenience is truely worth the saving. If I still stayed in London I’d be happy to pay 50% more for a direct flight than a three sector, two stop, two ticket itinerary. This is especially true in winter but as the fog shows at the moment you can easily come unstuck at any time of year; is it really worth the risk if it’s your main holiday of the year and it only lasts two weeks? However, where these offers really work is when you don’t need flexibility and are in a position to enjoy a stopover at the begining and/of end of your exEU journey.

    • Jason says:
      3 Nov3 November 09:22

      James

      I have the same problem but I’m not sure I can resist the temptation, luckily I have few days to think about it.i was hoping for a sale, like this for Oct 16, but the really good sales on Qatar seem to be in the first half of the year so thinking about that cancellation 🙁

      • James67 says:
        3 Nov3 November 10:17

        Sorry to make it worse Jason but you may not have a few days. There is very likely a limit to the number of seats available at sale fares so what you want may go at any time.

        • Jason says:
          3 Nov3 November 10:23

          Thanks James, 🙁
          You seem to have a lot of experience travelling to the Far East. Which, in your experience, is a better time to go to the Maldives – end of October or beginning of April.
          We have more flexibility at Easter, due to longer school holidays, so avios bookings work out better in October.

          • James67 says:
            3 Nov3 November 10:47

            I have no idea but I’m sure others will advise as some HfP readers are frequent visitors to Maldives. You could also just google best time to visit Maldives and see what you get. It seems like this is a family holiday and you already have premium cabins booked so before cancelling for a revenue fare you may want to factor in how likely you are to get number of seats you require on a future redemption as multiple seats are often problematic. Another trade off is how often you fly BA revenue and how far. The TPs you get if you take the QR flights may boost ir retain existing status allowing you to accrue miles faster on paid flights or UuA flights. I also don’t know how set you are on Maldives or how old your kids are but QR is excellent opportunity to change destination if you want to. If your kids are teenagers already then they might find se Asia much more exciting, e.g. Bangkok and Phuket but on other hand if they are still young and you want quiet relaxing beach holiday, Maldives is already a good choice.

          • Jason says:
            3 Nov3 November 13:55

            I was planning to go in October 16 anyway.
            The seats were available from Oslo last night, if I knew I could get this fare October 16 I’d leave it but £3k for all 4 of us to MLE is unreal. Economy flights to Mle from Middle East are £2k direct.
            Kids are too young for far east ATM.
            I would prefer from London but this saving pays, the sea plane, for all 4 of us.
            I suspect it rests on what the travel agent does with our hotel deposit 🙁

          • CV3V says:
            3 Nov3 November 15:20

            Worth a bit of research on monsoon season, October is at the tail end, although it can and does vary from year to year.

          • Jason says:
            3 Nov3 November 20:37

            I’ve done a bit of research but like you say it varies from year to year. October is the tail end and April is the beginning of the rainy season 🙁

        • Leo says:
          3 Nov3 November 10:28

          I have to say I agree with you James67 about these ex-EU fares. I was starting to feel a bit “guilty” to have paid the normal QR J fare for my holiday in March but to be honest, I’m pleased about using the QR lounge at LHR and I would not really want to take 3 planes to get to BKK and then another 3 to get back from Phuket. Obviously it depends on what you can/want to pay – how much time you have for your main holiday etc. I’m not denying the financial saving but as you say you do have to factor in the extra stress, and I would add whether or not you have a partner who is also willing to participate in the game of points/miles and savings – I don’t! Doing my first ex-Dub to JFK in a few weeks….that’s a long weekend and I’m stressing already due to connections.

          • James67 says:
            3 Nov3 November 11:26

            Much the same fir me, my partner likes direct to/from LHR and a few days in London between our connecging EDI flights. As good as ME3 are, at the end kf the day I would orefer to get 8 or 9 hours sleep on BA, CX etc than mess aroud DOH in middle of the night, and flexibility of rewards is huge for me personally.

          • Polly says:
            3 Nov3 November 21:26

            James 67, Leo et al, lots to discuss here. We personally have cancelled our BA 241 F to KUL as discussed here adinfinitum at the last sale. And bought a QR J to HKT. It was such a success, but had to change our return which gave us more insight into a long layover. It was fun to do 3 stops ie a day or so in CPH either end. But as we we had to change our return for a funeral we had to rush right on home from VPH. The local BA CPH staff were fantastic, as opposed to the BA staff we phoned from HKT to ask for our changes. No sympathy at all form London, boy do we love the scandi attitude. Just great. Great debates here, these sales are the best.

            Def recommend this option , as we will be silver after our dub flight next week. Takes a bit of planning tho. We are doing HKG F 241 next year then on to Bali on Cx avios. Local cheap,hotel,which we love, so a bargain trip.. Lots of,options. Lots of fun this planning. Asia is our first choice every time for long haul. So much choice.

          • James67 says:
            3 Nov3 November 22:11

            Hi Polly, the key thing is that there are no right or wrong answers, we all have different means, priorities, perspectives, free time etc etc and just have to do what is right for us and realise that this too may vary from trip to trip (and even within couples as Leo points out: HFP will be cited in some divorce petition one day I’m sure!). Just sharing my own perspective, but not really advocating or pushing it as such, but rather hoping it might throw up issues that some others may overlook and therefore it might be of some help. Certainly, I’ve learned much from HFP myself that has not only helped me reap benefits but also avoid pitfalls and make more informed decisions about our travels. Like others I was caught up in the excitement of these offers and the potential they offer but in such cases it is best to take a step back and try to evaluate them fully. I’m sorry to hear of your loss and the circumstances. I find BA cs to be a real mixed bag these days, you can contact them sometimes and they are awsome yet at other times they are so unbelievably bad. Thatthey do not even have a formal complaints proceduretells you everything you need to know about the direction they are headed; sadly, it is not unusual.

          • James67 says:
            3 Nov3 November 22:12

            Hi Polly, the key thing is that there are no right or wrong answers, we all have different means, priorities, perspectives, free time etc etc and just have to do what is right for us and realise that this too may vary from trip to trip (and even within couples as Leo points out: HFP will be cited in some divorce petition one day I’m sure!). Just sharing my own perspective, but not really advocating or pushing it as such, but rather hoping it might throw up issues that some others may overlook and therefore it might be of some help. Certainly, I’ve learned much from HFP myself that has not only helped me reap benefits but also avoid pitfalls and make more informed decisions about our travels. Like others I was caught up in the excitement of these offers and the potential they offer but in such cases it is best to take a step back and try to evaluate them fully. I’m sorry to hear of your loss and the circumstances. I find BA cs to be a real mixed bag these days, you can contact them sometimes and they are awsome yet at other times they are so unbelievably bad. That they do not even have a formal complaints proceduretells you everything you need to know about the direction they are headed; sadly, it is not unusual.

          • Rob says:
            3 Nov3 November 23:32

            “(and even within couples as Leo points out: HFP will be cited in some divorce petition one day I’m sure!)”

            It might get cited in mine if I don’t get my workload under control soon!

          • Polly says:
            3 Nov3 November 22:46

            Hii James67, agree all the way with you… Personal choice is no one. But this site has def opens our eyes to,ops that didn’t exist before, and thus it’s a lot of fun. ESP as we love Asia and it’s a LH dream. So long live the avios earning ops and the J sales. Maybe BA will wake up and hold some decent sales ex LHR finally.

        • PGW says:
          3 Nov3 November 10:38

          I was looking at AMS-BKK in January an hour ago and was lots of options but now – nothing on my dates!!

          • James67 says:
            3 Nov3 November 11:35

            If you want flight to BKK best sit tight for sub £1100 on AY exUK I think.

          • Brian says:
            3 Nov3 November 15:03

            Has that ever happened? There was 1350 recently, but sub 1100??

          • Bob says:
            3 Nov3 November 11:58

            Matrix Airfare Search shows for AMS-BKK plenty availability in January when you use the calendar option for 15-20 days period (1333 euros).
            Shame I bought my ticket way too early I think..

          • Bob says:
            3 Nov3 November 11:59

            On Qatar Airways I mean:-)

    • nick says:
      3 Nov3 November 12:23

      I’m off to Australia soon on a 241 (CW, not First). When I first found HfP, a CW return on a 241 was my personal holy grail. I honestly thought that there could be nothing better than a lie-flat seat and free champagne. (I didn’t even dream of First, and to be honest I can’t even remember if I knew it existed).

      In just 2 years of following this site, I am in a position where I am almost reluctantly using the 241 for my Aussie flights (I’ve flown QR Biz, and BA CW and First off the back of what Raffles has taught me). I did consider cancelling the redemption flights to Oz, re-booking with Qatar and using the 241 for something else…. but I’ve done that once already and I’m fed up of giving BA money for nothing. The main reason I’m keeping my redemption flights this time is just to use the voucher up! I’ve got about £500 more to spend to earn the next one, but I think that will be it. We cancelled my wife’s BAPP recently and I think I’ll cancel mine soon too – long-haul Avios redemptions, even in premium cabins with 241 vouchers, just aren’t worth the hassle in a world where you can get more luxury with QR for prices like these. Long may it continue!

      • Liz says:
        3 Nov3 November 20:16

        Wha route are you taking to Australia with your 2-41. We want to do visit family in 2018 with a stop in Singapore for a few days. Would love to do Qatar on the way to Singapore but the miles start getting too much. How did you work out using your voucher with return flights?

        • JQ says:
          4 Nov4 November 06:08

          There’s only one way to Australia with the 241, you have to start in the UK and fly BA all the way

          • Liz says:
            4 Nov4 November 09:41

            But can you stop on the way out at Singapore for a few days and pick up BA flight to Sydney with the voucher?

          • nick says:
            4 Nov4 November 15:17

            …. which is what we are doing. Not sure if you can break the trip in Singapore – I suspect you can. Although I booked mine when BA released a lot of availability following announcement of the devaluation – I’ve no idea what availability is like now.

          • Jerry says:
            5 Nov5 November 08:11

            Liz – We’re doing 241 LHR to Sydney CW out F back no stopover in SIngapore in January. Booked during the extra availability which coincided with devaluation. Would have liked a stopover in one direction but have never found availability despite frequent checks (daily for a long time). There may be availability closer to departure but I can’t see anything but T355 now. We had to buy 50,000 avios in the Iberia 50% bonus sale to upgrade to the F return so with taxes, avios and change fees it has cost £1k each. The flexibility of the redemption has been worth it (just) because when we booked we weren’t sure we could actually go. Sale cash fares like this change the economics of these ‘rewards’.

  • Lee Thornton says:
    3 Nov3 November 08:53

    Off topic, but the British Airways Executive Club is offering bonus Avios on flights this winter:
    http://pointsandoffers.com/airlines/up-to-6000-bonus-avios-on-winter-flights/

    • CV3V says:
      3 Nov3 November 09:21

      The offer ends on 13 December, wonder if they will replace it with a business class sale on 14 December!

    • Sussex Bantam says:
      3 Nov3 November 10:14

      Can anyone actually see this on BA.com ? The link from pointsandoffer.com just takes me to an expired AA offer.

  • Joe Chapman says:
    3 Nov3 November 09:07

    Rob – there are no A340’s with sloping seats anymore, they all have the J seat AA use on their A321T on the JFK to LAX/SFO route.

    Only 5 of the A330’s have sloping seats now. 2 are about to leave the fleet and the remaining 3 should be done by Feb.

    Check the fleet guide thread in the FLyerTalk Qatar forum

  • Sebastian says:
    3 Nov3 November 09:14

    Are there any deals to Bali?

    • Waribai says:
      3 Nov3 November 09:33

      Fly to Singapore. Plenty of flights from there to Bali!

    • CV3V says:
      3 Nov3 November 09:41

      Or go to Phuket instead (QR fly direct), apart from Phuket other places such as Phi Phi islands and Krabi aren’t too far away.

      • James67 says:
        3 Nov3 November 10:18

        Did you get a replacement for your 241 CW to KL?

        • CV3V says:
          3 Nov3 November 10:36

          For now I am keeping it, pre devaluation redemption and no faffing about with connecting flights/overnight stays in EU. Also have some friends coming along who will be booking EK economy from GLA and their arrival time into KUL is almost the same as the BA arrival time. Tempted though I am by this QR sale I will hold off for now. Annoyingly I will be in BKK on this trip, but have to time it with when other family members in KL can make it up.

          btw, EK are doing a status match for residents in France….

          • James67 says:
            3 Nov3 November 11:32

            Missed that France part, I thought status match was open to all. I also see this morning that MH retrofitting their a330s with full flat beds next spring but not 777s as they are being replaced by a350s from 2017.

          • CV3V says:
            3 Nov3 November 15:34

            I did a redemption in Dec 2014 with MAS, AMS – KUL on an old 777 and it was truly the worst business class flight I have done. The seat, IFE, food (!) and service (‘potential’ turbulence for the full flight duration meant no hot drinks and stay seated!), EK economy was/is better.

            That said the regional business class product (new cabin, not old) is very good.

          • James67 says:
            3 Nov3 November 16:31

            I avoided this route because of the 777, prefering instead to pay the extra for a380 to LHR. Really enjoyed it but sadly, being a partner, no longer worth it since devaluation.Remains a great deal on AA though.

    • Rob says:
      3 Nov3 November 12:58

      Yes, check the links I gave for the Amsterdam etc prices. Some, not all, also have a Bali deal. I didn’t mention it due to space constraints and because it wasn’t as amazing as some of the others.

  • rich says:
    3 Nov3 November 10:18

    If you are unlucky enough to live near Newcastle, hull or Harwich, why not combine with a ferry cruise to Amsterdam.

  • Kaasboertje says:
    3 Nov3 November 10:49

    Amsterdam is not a country my good sir!

  • Richard says:
    3 Nov3 November 12:42

    I’m not surprised they have to try hard to fill the business class cabin from Scandinavia. The companies here ( I live in Finland) are notorious for economy class for all travel policies. The head of Ikea has even said how he flies economy everywhere.
    Thai even have “premium economy” on nordic routes to BKK ,but it’s actually their business class cabin sold as “premium economy” because most companies will not entertain the purchase of “business class” tickets.

    • James67 says:
      3 Nov3 November 15:01

      Interesting to hear they are still doing that. They used to sell old First as business on those routes too I believe. I really liked TG old First, remains most comfortableflat bed I ever slep on in a plane but people would laugh at it now.

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