Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

New Qatar Airways business class flight sale from £680 – from Helsinki

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Qatar Airways has launched some more exceptional fares in Business Class.

This latest sale focuses on Helsinki.  This is not a bad place to start a Qatar Airways flight, given that Finnair flies there from Dublin, Edinburgh, Manchester and London.  BA also flies from London.  All of these connections can be booked using Avios points and, on some Finnair services from Heathrow, you will get a brand new A350 with flat beds in Business.

Qatar Airways A350 Doha

Here are some headline prices:

Helsinki – Abu Dhabi – €809 (£679)

Helsinki – Adelaide – €2,109 (£1,770)

Helsinki – Bangkok – €1,289 (£1,082)

Helsinki – Cape Town – €1,859 (£1,560)

Helsinki – Delhi – €1,229 (£1,031)

Helsinki – Dubai – €819 (£687 – but see the PS below re a great Stockholm fare)

Helsinki – Maldives – €1,679  (£1,409)

Helsinki – Sydney – €2,169  (£1,821)

Other destinations are available – take a look at the Helsinki offers page.  Note that there are some typos on that page where Qatar has written the economy fare where the business fare should be, and vice versa!

You must book by 15th August for travel in a narrow window between 10th October and 10th December.

A quick caveat

Qatar Airways operates a short-haul A320 aircraft between Helsinki and Doha.

Business class usually looks like this:

Qatar A320

…. which is certainly not bad.  Beyond Doha you would be on a long haul plane if travelling outside the Middle East.

There is a small chance that you get one of the handful of A320 aircraft with older ‘recliner’ seating below although these are usually kept off European routes.  Feedback from people who have flown this also seems be OK for what is, after all, a day flight.

Qatar A320

Flying Manchester – Helsinki – Doha – Dubai is pretty darn convoluted, especially when Emirates will fly you direct.  If you treat the journey as a bit of fun, and you think of all the tier points and Avios you are earning as well as the money you are saving, you may consider it worth it.

On the Asia routes it makes more sense, especially when you think of the 560 BA tier points that Helsinki – Doha – Bangkok return would bring you.

Do check out Helsinki for half a day as well if you can.  If you need to stay over at the airport Hilton in Helsinki, my review is here.

Full details of the Qatar Airways Helsinki deals can be found here.

PS.  If you are heading to Dubai, there is an unadvertised Qatar Airways deal out of Stockholm at the moment.  This guarantees you a brand new Boeing 787 from Stockholm to Doha which beats the A320 hands down.  The fare is 9,136 SEK which is £816.  It can be booked via the standard Qatar booking page here.  You should also check Qatar Airways fares to Dubai from London which have been around £1,000 on selected dates recently.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 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

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

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

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 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 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 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

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.

American Express Business Platinum

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

American Express Business Gold

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 (24)

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

  • DS says:

    The lowest fare ARN to Dubai is actually 8461 SEK i.e. £749, I tried several dates in November.

  • James67 says:

    Hopefully this will stimulate AY to launch some of their better offers exUK. I’m in market for two revenue returns to seAsia next March but as usual I don’t find exEU via ME very appealling; overall journey times are too long and the transit hours often too unsociable.

    • Yuff says:

      James67

      The airport hotel is great for 8 hours. My wife doesn’t like overnight flights so going via Doha is extremely handy.

      • James67 says:

        Wouldn’t be my cup of tea Yuff, thanks. I prefer to get the journey over with as quick as possible and i like overnght flights as I almost always sleep most of the way.

  • JamesWag says:

    Will see if anything fits nicely into the Globetrotter promotion too.

  • John G says:

    The A320 business class usually looks a lot better than that! Most aircraft have the same seats as used by AA on the A321T in business class. If travelling with a partner I’d prefer the QR A320 to the QR 787.

  • Talay says:

    I need some UK (pref LHR) to BKK but are not seeing any discount fares at the moment (for my dates).

    Where are you seeing the ex UK decent prices ?

  • Arthur says:

    The BA tier point calculator can’t find the Qatar operating a Helsinki-Doha route, so how can I see how many tier points this offer would give?

  • Rob says:

    Thanks, swapped it

    • will says:

      According to the Qatar press release, it will be served specifically by the 132 seat A320 which is the lie flat version only. The recliner version is 144 seat.

  • will says:

    Would the DOHA to Dubai leg book into first or business (as its a 2 class aircraft)? ie would you get access to the posh first lounge at Doha?

    W

    • Fadi says:

      It’s always been F when I have done it but I haven’t passed through DOH since the new Flounge opened.

    • Rob says:

      Yes, books into F. That is 60 tier points.

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

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