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The hidden jewel in the Qatar Airways sale? Helsinki

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I ran an introductory article on the new Qatar Airways sale yesterday.

Since then, it has become a little clearer where the good deals are to be found.

There are a few things you need to know about Qatar Airways sales:

The best deals get scattered around.  One city may have a great deal to Johannesburg but a bad price to Cape Town, whilst another city may have the reverse.

Qatar A350

All Qatar Airways flights are not created equal.  The A380, A350 and Boeing 787 aircraft are the most modern although you are guaranteed a flat bed in business class whatever you do.  Some shorter flights may be on short haul aircraft into Doha but those will also have flat beds in business unless the plane gets swapped at the last minute.  My review of Qatar Airways A380 business class is here, 777 business class here and 787 business class here.

Qatar Airways flights earn Avios and BA tier points.  A trip to Asia will earn at least 560 tier points return (140 points x 4 flights of over 2000 miles, due to the connection in Doha).

This current sale has, from some cities, got better pricing when two people travel together.  If you would be booking for two, search for two people to see accurate pricing.

In general, you must book on the Qatar Airways website by 6th September and travel between 15th September and 30th June.  No travel allowed between 15th December to 10th January.

Business class pickings from the UK are slim.

However, the £979 return fares from the UK to Dubai in Business Class are in theory still available to book until 31st August.  Full details are here.  I say ‘in theory’ but I was struggling to find them last night.  The ‘sale’ price to Dubai is £1,600 which is widely available.

The full UK sale list is here.  The prices don’t seem too special – £3,000 to Australia, £2,000 to Asia, £1,600 to the Middle East is the ‘new normal’ these days in business class.  I don’t get excited about anything at these levels.

Yesterday I mentioned that it is worth looking at the following pages on the Qatar website for pricing ideas:

Qatar Airways Stockholm deals

Qatar Airways Oslo deals

Qatar Airways Copenhagen deals

Qatar Airways Paris deals

Qatar Airways Amsterdam deals

Qatar Airways Brussels deals

In most cases you must book on the Qatar Airways website by 5th September and travel between 15th September and 30th June.  No travel 15th December to 10th January.

However, it seems I missed one.  This time around Helsinki seems to have the best deals.

This is positive news.  Finnair flies to Helsinki from Edinburgh, Manchester, Dublin and London and you can book Finnair flights using Avios points.  If you need to stay overnight, there is a good Hilton at the airport which I reviewed here and which is 30,000 Hilton points.

The Qatar Airways / Helsinki deals page is here.

Note that Helsinki flights do not start until 10th October.  The flight to Doha will be on a short-haul A320 aircraft but equipped with fully flat business class seats.

This is what you can get (prices are business class, return).  I have highlighted the ‘two together’ price where it was shown, there may also be ‘two together’ discounts for other cities.

Australia €2,009 (€1,910 if two travel)

Bangkok €1,229 (€1,150 if two travel)

Delhi €1,169

Dubai €789 (€750 if two travel)

Hong Kong €1,779

Kuala Lumpur €1,429

Maldives €1,559

Phuket €1,189 

Ras Al Khaimah €779

Tokyo €1,269

Helsinki is also a lovely city in its own right if you do decide to spend a day there.  The list of Helsinki deals is here.

Is it worth the trouble?  Well, clearly you need to see what you would be paying out of the UK and compare it to a Helsinki price.  If you need the BA tier points then these fares are definitely worth it.  If you have time to spare – especially if you do a day in Helsinki – it is worth it.  If you can use Avios for a Reward Flight Saver ticket to Helsinki then, again, it is worth it.

After all, the chance to go to Tokyo for a touch over £1,000 in Business Class doesn’t come along often – especially with 560 British Airways tier points.

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Category

Qatar Airways and Privilege Club

Comments (50)

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

  • Clive says:
    30 Aug30 August 06:28

    Sitting by the pool at the Grand Hyatt in Bangkok having been upgraded to a Suite with my Diamond status lapping up the last few hours of sun prior to our flight back to the UK in Qatar Business this evening. Now contemplating the next journey. Life doesn’t get better.

  • James67 says:
    30 Aug30 August 06:33

    Good to see you are qualifying the value of the deals based on TP and time. Comparable one-stop revenue fares (often with less onerous restrictions and less chance of missed departures) ex UK also need to be seriously explored before booking these deals. TQ, AY and KLM are options at the moment. For just over £1500 each we have booked rtn J EDI-BKK with great times, short connection times, overall low journey times, and will generate sufficient FB miles to yield decent value on future flights within Europe. Factoring this and the cost of getting to Helsinki with cash or miles I believe we are just as cheap, if not cheaper than QR. TK have lots of Asian J returns ex UK at the moment for around £1250.

    • Daz says:
      30 Aug30 August 09:24

      I wouldn’t put KLMs business class or on board service in the same league as Qatar and it frequently ends up being AF.

      I try to change EU departure points to add in a bit more exploration. But then again if you want to get somewhere quick then I can understand. I remember AF/KLM doing some really good deals to Japan and Hong Kong a couple of years back.

      • James67 says:
        30 Aug30 August 10:24

        Horses for courses. For me, the most important factor is overall journey time at an acceptable price on a flat seat so exEDI, AY and KLM are first choice in this respect. It will be KLM not AF and it will be a first for us both on the airline so it remains to be seen how it goes. IMO though the difference between airline products and services is all too often overstated, I’ve flown all ME3 carriers premium class and experienced nothing that makes me want to go many hours out my way and suffer middle of the night transits, even for meaningful, let alone marginal, savings. Usually I sleep most of the way anyway and can do so just fine even in BA CW so I have a preference for nonstop overnight flights. To date my worst ever longhaul premium flight by a considerable margin has been Etihad business and my best ever Thai first on one of their old-style 744s. Other big plus is that the fare rules on my KLM flight cause me no worries, I cannot say the same about QR fare sales. Agree on competitiveness of KLM, IIRC they had Japan in J exUK last year for about £1100 rtn. Where the ME3 really work IMO is if you want to go region-region.

        • Leo says:
          30 Aug30 August 11:36

          As always I find myself agreeing with you James. I’m not that fussed about QR – I don’t actively dislike them either – but Doha in the middle of the night is a real turn-off. Still if the deal was amazing obviously I’d use again. Thing is I’m a planner and waiting for sales doesn’t float my boat either.

        • harry says:
          30 Aug30 August 12:52

          must say there’s a lot of logic in there

          however – for many families, a few hours for a £300-400 saving per pax would be worthwhile

          my wife is exactly like you, J67

          so when we were offered 5x £275 or similar to miss our BA flight out & take the next one (overbooked – we were early arrivals at airport) – I was thinking, hmm, nice, you can do a lot with £1375, it’s only a few hours

          she was like: you moron, we’re getting on OUR flight, it’s Christmas

          • James67 says:
            30 Aug30 August 13:15

            I know where you are coming from and agree to an extent, particularly in respect of overbooked flights . In my student days I got more discounted and upgraded travel than I ever imagined was possible thanks to UA and AA persistently overbooking flights and no pressure on my long summer holidays 🙂 However, within the context of exEU sales I doubt for most families they will realise a saving as great as you suggest unless they have the quantity of miles and points necessary to civer flights and hotels and experience like yourself to get the best out of them. Also, I imagine most people using these sales in premium cabins to be solos and couples. My regards to the long suffering Mrs Harry, please get her home in time to get the turkey in the oven this year.

    • Alex says:
      30 Aug30 August 09:26

      Agree. Air China have had Tokyo from London at around £1,400 for a while now, doesn’t make the time and faff of positioning to Helsinki and then having to schlep via Doha worth it for a measly £400 savings before positioning costs.

      • James67 says:
        30 Aug30 August 10:26

        Also, reports on Air China seem to be fine these days, and they will soon have their a350s.

      • James R says:
        30 Aug30 August 22:31

        That 400 is a weeks net wages to some of us!

  • Sasha says:
    30 Aug30 August 07:54

    For Dubai, the ARN-DOH-DWC is the best option with £601 pp (if 2 travel)

    • Matt Lee says:
      30 Aug30 August 08:10

      Where are you seeing those fares I can’t find them for less than £750 each ?

  • Gabriel says:
    30 Aug30 August 08:33

    The problem with the Qatar Airways sales is that you never find the advertised fares when you start looking for them. Like Helsinki – Tokio for 469 EUR in 2017.

  • Tina says:
    30 Aug30 August 08:37

    Flying from HEL gives 80 TPs each way, rather than the 40 from CPH ARN etc 🙂

    • Damboy says:
      30 Aug30 August 09:26

      I purchased two business (R) flights from Helsinki to Kuala Lumpur in late October, early November for €2638, £ equivalent £1125 per person. Less than shown in article. 560 tier points. Pretty happy with that price (will now retain BA gold card. Planes used aren’t great (777, 2xA320 and 787) but still all lie flat seats. Will use Avios 26000 + £70 for positioning flights to and from Helsinki. It’s a bit of hassle, fair enough, but saves a tonne of money over ex UK flights.

      • ee says:
        31 Aug31 August 07:29

        We booked Rome-KL for just over £900 in the previous sale. Planes were a mixture of A330 A340 and B777. In the last few days both of the FCO legs have changed to B787 so I’m happy!

    • John says:
      30 Aug30 August 17:19

      But paying for CE (or AY J) to HEL gets rid of all the savings.

  • Rachel says:
    30 Aug30 August 09:46

    I’ve been looking at the sale and came across this an R fare from Sofia (Bulgaria) to Auckland for 1069 Euros on the sale page but when I search for it the prices are not in Euros and not nearly so low as this – anyone else had luck finding it for so little? Seems too good to be true! I was SO disappointed when I couldn’t find any, seems to be a typo perhaps? Snapshot of the offer: https://gyazo.com/28f0c9cabd2a9551b85876d005a9051c

  • Matt Lee says:
    30 Aug30 August 11:12

    How many BA Tp’s will the HEL-DOH sector earn you ?

  • Eshaq Choudhury says:
    30 Aug30 August 11:38

    I saw that. Tempting fare even for economy.

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