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Lowest ever Qatar Airways UK Business prices (Perth £1,425) but you risk NO BA tier points

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The Qatar Airways UK sale which finished on Monday does not seem to have the impact they hoped.  That is great news for you because it has bounced back with pricing which is unprecedented for UK-departing business class flights.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first however.

Qatar Airways flights earn British Airways Avios and tier points. Fly with them to Asia in Business Class and you 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.

Qatar A380

Last month, Qatar brought in a new ticket ‘class’ for cheap business class seats, ‘R’.  These sale flights book into ‘R’ class.

British Airways has been slow to update its partner list.  If you click here and then click on the Qatar logo 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.

Now that I have got the warning out of the way, look at these prices:

The UK sale home page on the Qatar website is here.  There may be other deals which are not listed so feel free to play around with their website.

You can book for travel until 31st March 2017.  The problem with booking a long way out is that Qatar may have another sale after 1st May which would guarantee you Avios points and BA tier points.  If you book today there is a chance that you get nothing.

These routes are under £1,000 in Business Class – and remember that you can fly until 31st March 2017 in most cases:

Edinburgh to Dubai – £880

Birmingham to Phuket – £980

Qatar 787 350 business class

These routes are under £1,250:

Edinburgh to Maldives – £1,130

Edinburgh to Bangkok – £1,140

Edinburgh to Singapore – £1,200

Birmingham to Perth – £1,250 (the most astonishing price I have ever seen for a flight to Australasia from the UK – but, in practice, I couldn’t find it.  I did find seats at £1,425 return however.  Sydney is around £1,700.)

London to Dubai – £1,250

The other thing to check with Qatar is which aircraft you will be getting.  It is shown clearly during the booking process.  The new – and fantastic – business class seating shown above is on the A380 (London only, some flights only), Boeing 787 and A350 aircraft.  Try to prioritise flights with those aircraft.  The excellent food, drink and IFE will be the same irrespective of plane type.

My review of the Qatar A380 business class seating is here, the Boeing 787 business class seating here and the Boeing 777 seat here.

There are lots more deals where these came from.  I recommend taking a look at the Qatar sale page here.  The main booking page is here.  You have until Monday night to book.

It is just s…o…o…o frustrating that you cannot be certain of earning even a single Avios or tier point from these fares.  If you can buy a Perth ticket for £1,250 or £1,425 return, however, I doubt you care.

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Category

Qatar Airways and Privilege Club

Comments (119)

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

  • Martin says:
    20 Apr20 April 05:13

    How will BA know what date you booked?

    • Jovanna says:
      20 Apr20 April 07:40

      Didn’t BA promise full Tier Points / Avios on flights booked pre-devaluation but taken after 28 March last year, and then they credited at the post devaluation rate for AA flights because BA couldn’t work out when tickets were booked? Seems like BA won’t know.

  • ABC says:
    20 Apr20 April 05:16

    @HFP, what did you book?

    • Raffles says:
      20 Apr20 April 08:27

      I have a working wife and two little kids, I don’t get to go anywhere unless I can sell it as a ‘work’ trip 🙂

  • John says:
    20 Apr20 April 05:42

    Great to see “reasonable” ex-UK prices finally.

    That said, for us Londoners getting to EDI is just as “hard” as getting to TXL or CPH, though at least there is the train option if wanting to splash out rather than RFSing it.

    Not too worried about the Avios which are only about £100, as would still buy the flights if they cost £100 more. But TPs are important if trying to retain Gold, which has only become a possibility due to these Qatar flights in the first place

    • Tony says:
      20 Apr20 April 06:05

      Yes but Birmingham is as fast to get to as Stansted…

      Small price to pay for such a bargain fare.

    • Brian says:
      20 Apr20 April 07:43

      Absolutely – so typical that people in London are being screwed, as usual, while those in the regions get the best deals…. :))

      • harry says:
        20 Apr20 April 07:47

        heh heh

        shame there’s nothing from NQY

      • Matt says:
        20 Apr20 April 11:02

        Nice to see London getting screwed, for once …. 🙂

        All the regions need now is more than about 25% of the national museum budget !

        • Barry cutters says:
          20 Apr20 April 13:23

          Try getting more than 25%of tourism first and we will consider it

          • Susan says:
            20 Apr20 April 13:42

            Depends whether you think a museum is primarily a tourist attraction or a guardian of the cultural heritage of your own nation. But perhaps this isn’t the place for that philosophical row 😉

    • zsalya says:
      20 Apr20 April 13:43

      Raffles,
      This Qatar sale looks to be ex-UK only.
      Do airlines do similar sales targetted at other European countries?
      Do you get to hear of them?
      They would not justify a full post, but a quick pointer would be useful for some of us in UK regions where a positioning flight is necessary anyway or with second homes in Europe.

      • Rob says:
        20 Apr20 April 13:56

        Qatar does similar – usually better – sales from Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Brussels on a regular basis. For some reason this one is UK only. I do cover them on HFP when they come it, in the same way I covered the Etihad sale last week which had some great deals starting in Germany.

  • Mouse says:
    20 Apr20 April 05:48

    A little OT- I’m trying to get return flights to Tokyo for the end of June but even economy is £900 on BA. Is is due to mostly business traffic that you never find good J prices to Tokyo?

    • Matt says:
      20 Apr20 April 06:18

      AF/KLM have had good sale prices to NRT in J in the past (around £1,100 ex-LHR), you’ll be very lucky to see one in time for June though!

      • Raffles says:
        20 Apr20 April 08:28

        Worth trying Finnair. They were doing some deals out of Oslo to Asia this week.

  • James says:
    20 Apr20 April 06:14

    VS/DL ex MAN USA £1057 fare extended until tonight by the way. Tampa, West Palm Beach and Key West included in Florida.

    Same price as economy high season!

  • Jermyn says:
    20 Apr20 April 06:32

    Fantastic deals but still not as good as the OSL-SYD for £1080 which booked into I class in the last sale.

  • James67 says:
    20 Apr20 April 06:33

    Not fussed about risking TP as they are of little value when flying J most of the time. Avios is a different matter though. Prices to SE Asia are comparable or a little lower than I would expect in an AY sale but then AY would guarantee the avios, arguably has a slightly better aircraft in a350 v 787, arguably a slightly better seat but much poorer IFE, shorter overall journey times, no unsociable hours transits. just about the easiest transit in the business and last, but not least, hopefully some reindeer for dinner. I need a flight for March, anyplace in SE Asia will do; should I take this when availble or wait on AY…decidions as you say.

    • Leo says:
      20 Apr20 April 07:27

      I asked the exact same question yesterday. I’m going with AY because I fancy a change!

      • James67 says:
        20 Apr20 April 07:41

        Hi Leo, I just realised that AY from EDI is seasonal and will likely resume again in April so it looks like QR for me this time. IIRC the connecting flight to BKK from EDI is a380 so I’ll probably just opt for BKK return.

        • Leo says:
          20 Apr20 April 08:23

          Having read Phillip’s response below I think I’ll stick with AY. I want SGN next March. As you say, AY will be a guaranteed a350 and a decent kip with no midnight change at Doha. It’s currently £175 more than QR but I will need the TPs at that point. Great sale prices though.

          • Raffles says:
            20 Apr20 April 08:29

            Nothing guaranteed about the A350, they only have a few and there are reports of equipment swaps due to maintenance issues. Qatar is worse at swapping equipment around though.

          • Leo says:
            20 Apr20 April 08:44

            I don’t mind the AY older product. QR swapped equipment 2x on me last month and screwed up our seats as a result. Not fun when you are on an a330 or 777.

          • James67 says:
            20 Apr20 April 10:04

            Like Leo, I like the old Swiss-style seat just fine too. I’m not sure exactly whjhst’s up with a350 but I heard production but not deliverh is good. Seems lie they are builfing them but need to fix something before delivery. Didn’thave time to read the artcle.

    • Yan says:
      20 Apr20 April 11:17

      A359 is a great plane but there are many issues with AY’s seat/cabin configuration, simply not comparable to QR A359. There is also the risk of massive delays/cancellation with tech issue (e.g. regular 8h+ delays of AY69).

      I’d actually prefer AY’s old J on 330/340

  • JamesWag says:
    20 Apr20 April 06:58

    Come on Raffles, you must have the BA board of directors on speed dial by now, can’t you badger them into a statement confirming TPs & Avios on the fares from…now ?!

    BHX-PER at the advertised rate of £1250 would be nice, shame no availability showing up at that price 🙁

    I have some OSL – BKK £597 I class booked for later in the year and so the HKT prices don’t seem very favourable even once you consider the faff, the positioning and even a couple of nights mini break in Oslo !!

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