£818 business class sale bargains to Asia on Qatar Airways (£566 Dubai, £979 Cape Town)

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• James PG says:

  30 May30 May 16:10

  I’ve found the flights I want in Feb/March (return to Cape Town from Copenhagen).

  They’re priced up almost identically at Amex Travel as against Qatar’s own site – what is the advantage of buying through Amex? I’ve seen it mentioned as a positive above but from searching here I can’t see anything too obvious?

  Cheers,

  James

  • James PG says:

    30 May30 May 16:15

    I should also say that I don’t have the Lloyds Everyday Offer appearing.

    I’ve got the choice between using my Lloyds Amex, BA Amex or Gold Amex.

    • John says:

      31 May31 May 04:08

      If you use Gold Amex then you’ll get 3MR per pound plus pay in GBP with Amex Travel. If you use the Gold or BA Amex to buy from QR you’ll pay 3% extra as it will be charged in DKK.

      If you want to buy direct from QR you should use the Lloyds Amex unless you want to reach a spending target on BA or Gold Amex and it would be impossible to reach if you didn’t use that card for this specific purchase.

      The price is not “almost” identical. Amex Travel uses the IATA exchange rates which are only updated in the early morning UK time, versus whatever you are using to convert the DKK price to pounds. As the GBP is rising quite fast, you will see the GBP price on Amex travel drop if you recheck every morning – though obviously today is the last day so you’ll have to take the plunge.

  • Rob says:

    30 May30 May 19:18

    You’d get 2 MR points per £1. Downside is potentially less flexibility if Qatar starts to mess about with their scheduling – they may refuse to deal with you and will insist you go through Amex.

• Ryan says:

  30 May30 May 18:55

  I’m finding flights just as cheap to Sydney/Melbourne from Birmingham. Much more convenient than hopping to Scandinavia

• Rachel says:

  31 May31 May 01:25

  Thank you so much for sharing this! I’ve just booked my boyfriend and I a trip to see my family in September from Copenhagen to Sydney for £1600 each returning in October. Was going to go with Oslo but the system glitched and the booking progress was lost and then the price on outward was twice the amount! But happy to go this way too!

  Am so thrilled though as I was so close to booking Oslo-sydney via LHR for £1850 with BA CW which I understand to be poor compared to the new QR product.

  As to the 16 hour layover on the outward journey I understand QR might provide a hotel? I can see why some might be put off, especially traveling alone. But compared to going direct from LHR I can’t say our time is worth the £2000 difference in total. And hey, it shall be an interesting experience!

  Am very grateful for the tip, thank you again!

  • Rob says:

    31 May31 May 07:54

    You get a hotel if there was no routing which would have created a sub 8 hour connection.

    If there were other (more expensive) flights which would have created a sub 8hr connection then you won’t get it.

    • Rachel says:

      31 May31 May 12:41

      Hi Raffles, thanks for your reply! You’re quite right, I just called this morning to make sure and there are of course FAR more expensive flights with quicker connections (Though on older planes!). Still, am very very happy with this deal even with the layover cost and time. That it’s smooth flying all the way back is more important – we’re flying for leisure so naturally the way there is more fun and relaxed anyway and travelling in comfort is more important to me than being a sardine and getting there quickly – which economy certainly is but even the BA CW looks quite tight!

      I have to say my parents are quite jealous, the exact same flights but leaving from the other end in Sydney cost over 2x the price.

      I managed to find a £1300 flight with BA CE & Virgin UP from Milan via LHR to San Fran last year by just using sky scanner on my own, and I was thrilled with that. (I haven’t seen any similar fares recently, alas) I said I’d never travel economy again after experiencing the long haul business standard. Naturally later that year I ended up on a long haul economy flight to Vancouver, ugh!

      I’m not that convinced of the merit of sky miles as they seem to hold such little value if you’re prepared to be flexible with dates/routing and get deals like these. I find myself inclined to pay more for European BA flights with the notion of being “rewarded” but when you work it out, it seems like it’s just a great tactic to trick people into loyalty. I’m only speaking as a self indulgent leisure traveller though, I know of course it’s very different if one flies all the time for business.

      Anyway, if anyone has tips for the layover in Doha I’d love to hear them.

      • harry says:

        31 May31 May 19:10

        try & make it as short a possible as Doha is a hole

        • Rachel says:

          31 May31 May 22:27

          haha! Yes, I have been reading up on Qatar in general and I have to say I am pretty keen to NOT leave the airport!

      • lucinda says:

        31 May31 May 22:16

        Hire a brass for your boyf rach

        • Rachel says:

          31 May31 May 22:28

          What do you mean by a brass? (Sorry if I am missing something obvious hah!)

• Chris says:

  31 May31 May 13:02

  Well that sorted out my decision for next year – back to SE Asia – was going to use Lloyds upgrade voucher and go to S America on new Santiago route but would have still been about 30,000 miles short and by the time I’d got them wouldn’t have been able to guarantee availability/dates. And it wouldn’t have been too much difference for price paid compared to taxes on redemption. And this way I have quite a few miles to play with for travelling around Asia.

  So it’s Stockholm to Hong Kong and then back from Bangkok to Copenhagen – reasonable transfer times about 2 hours both times in Doha – outward is late flight about 11.45pm so should be able to take the risk of travelling in the morning from London to Stockholm but on way back will have to do overnight in Copenhagen.

  Came to £871 – was going to do cheaper Helsinki – Krabi but was won over by the planes I’ll hopefully get – as solo traveller wanted the 1-2-1 aisle access and going into HKG means I can go to either Hanoi, Phillipines or Bali with Cathay and then spend my birthday in Bangkok…. Very pleased with this but now to decide what to do with my Lloyds upgrade voucher before expires in October

  was going to do Helsinki to Krabi

  • Polly says:

    31 May31 May 15:15

    It’s a no brainer really. We are now booked OSL to Ho Chi Minh one sector 787, and back from KUL again one sector 787. 1 hr layovers in Doha, so that’s good too. Bit more pricey than from HEL, but that was all A330 sectors, so prepared to pay bit extra for the nicer plane part of the way. We will use our cancelled 241 to fly CE RFS to HEL, as a treat. First time in Nam, so much history to take in. Will use avios on CX to fly from HO to KUL. Plan on a few days in Malaysia up country. James67, we will be picking your brains on that bit, if you don’t mind please.
    Tnx again Raffles for the tips as usual. When will QR issue shares to us hfpters? They get so much biz from us lot.

• infant prices says:

  31 May31 May 17:06

  Hmmm tried to book online , from HEL to MEL (return), but they are charging mega ££££ for an infants fare.. been onhold for 15 minutes trying to sort it out.

  2 x ADULT Fare 2680.00
  1 x INFANT Fare 1340.00

  Anybody else have experience with Qatar and infant fares? There Website says 10% of Adult.. but it didnt work out like that!

  • Polly says:

    31 May31 May 19:00

    Usually, Infant fares only apply to regular scheduled prices, never on promo fares like these ones. I had to phone their technical line today, very nice chap from Poland helped out, we needed an open jaw return. He even went ahead and booked it over the phone. And called me back when I asked him to. So maybe try calling that number.

• infant prices says:

  31 May31 May 17:12

  Hmmm if i book more expensive (eg non-promo fares) then the infant price drops to 10% of the adult fare….

  Still on hold to Qatar… they havent answered the phone in 30 minutes…

• infant prices says:

  31 May31 May 17:37

  Well they answered the phone, but they are next to useless.

  QATAR “Yes this is a restrictive fare – and for this fare we have a different calculation for charging infants”
  ME “But your website says you charge 10% of an adult fare for infants”
  QATAR “Yes this is a restrictive fare – and for this fare we have a different calculation for charging infants”
  ME “Thanks for repeating that – can you please point me to where that is published”
  QATAR “Restrictive fares use different calculation for charging infants”
  ME “OK great – can you share that info with your customers”
  QATAR “Restrictive fares use different calculation for charging infants – we don’t share this info, but I can work out the percentage for you”
  ME “OK thanks – that’s 40 mins of my life I wont ever get back”

• Steve says:

  31 May31 May 18:26

  Thanks again for the heads up here. Decided to change our honeymoon plans – flying Rome to Bangkok for 3 weeks in August, for 2,500 euros (2 of us obviously) in R class.

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