Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

More Avios-earning Qatar deals inc Tokyo £1031, Jo’burg £932, Seoul £1083, Delhi £875

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We ran a long article on Monday covering some of the great business class deals offered by Qatar Airways during their current sale.  Remember that these flights all earn Avios and BA tier points.

Some of the best deals involved flying from Stockholm.  Good fares included:

Stockholm to Cape Town – £1,173

Stockholm to Dubai – £763

Qatar A350

Stockholm to Hong Kong – £965

Stockholm to Melbourne – £1,835

Stockholm to Tokyo – £1,193

Stockholm to Auckland – £1,440

A few other good options have come to light since then.  This page of the Qatar website shows the good deals available from Italy.

I was particularly interested in:

Pisa to Delhi – €1,009 (£875)

Pisa to Kuala Lumpur – €1,465 (£1,270)

Pisa to Maldives – €1,480 (£1,283)

Pisa to Seoul – €1,249 (£1,083)

Pisa to Shanghai – €1,259 (£1,091)

Pisa to Tokyo – €1,432 (£1,241) (drops to €1,190 / £1,031 when two travel)

Venice to Bangkok – €1,185 (£1,027)

These prices are based on one person travelling.  A couple will pay less due to the discount offered for two tickets.  You may also get an extra discount by using promo code VISA during the booking process.

You are obviously building in quite a diversion to travel to Asia via Venice or Pisa, but if you are relatively time rich and cash poor, have a sense of adventure or are simpy desperate for a British Airways Silver card at very low cost, these deals are for you.

Or try Cairo …..

If you are REALLY adventurous there are also some jaw-dropping prices out of Cairo although people are finding them difficult to price up.  I found business class flights to Johannesburg for under £700 which did price.  Melbourne comes up very easily at E£29,000 which is £1,275.

Whatever your view on the security situation in Cairo, it is unlikely to trouble you.  There is a brand new terminal now open and, attached to it, a brand new Le Meridien hotel.  Even if you need to stay overnight you do not need to leave the airport, although personally I think it would be a huge shame not to visit the Pyramids and the Egyptian Museum.

Flights to Cairo for cash are not cheap so it would make more sense to pair it with an Avios redemption.

The Egyptian deals in the Qatar Airways sale are listed here.  There are 22 Egyptian Pounds to £1.

Or try Sofia …..

Bulgaria is another option for business class deals if you want to try something new.  How about:

Sofia to Bangkok – €990 (£858)

Sofia to Zanzibar – €1,030 (£893)

Sofia to Johannesburg – €1,075 (£932)

Sofia to Beijing – €1,065 (£923)

Sofia to Singapore – €1,115 (£966)

Some of the above are based on two people travelling.  The flight from Sofia is on a short-haul A320 but should have a ‘proper’ business class seat like this:

Qatar A320 business class

In summary ….

Read my sale article from Monday (click here) to see my thoughts on the different Qatar Airways aircraft and their business class seating.

All of these deals end on 16th January.  You must travel by mid December and blackout dates apply as detailed in Monday’s article.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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

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

25,000 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 – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a 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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

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

40,000 points sign-up bonus 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.

Category

Qatar Airways and Privilege Club

Comments (102)

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

  • Joe Bloggs says:
    12 Jan12 January 05:58

    The sickening thing is these deals would be even better if the € was still ~1.30 to the £ (pre Brexit vote).

  • Roger says:
    12 Jan12 January 05:59

    Shame pricing to many destination is not eligible for VISA promo for the date I want to travel.

    It seems Kids travel free is not available for UK departures. Any link for other departure points in EU?

  • Cheshire Pete says:
    12 Jan12 January 06:35

    Yes, the VISA discount seems to be related to the original price of the Promo fare being below a threshold. I’m already in Amsterdam on business and was waiting for the best way to get to Singapore for a cruise departing later in the month. Return to Singapore came in at €2700 for 2 or around £1,200 each. Not bad as basically 2 for 1 compared to regular pricing. But the VISA promo didn’t reduce that price. Now we also wanted to spend a few days in Bangkok, so I ended up with an Open Jaw flying out to BKK and returning from SIN. That priced up at near €4,000 but did qualify for the 15% so €3,400 or around £1,500 each. Again good for an open jaw I thought. Also better timing on the outgoing as Singapore outbound had a hideous 7 hour stop over in Doha at 01.50 in the morning! Then built in a nice Cathay business redemption BKK to SIN at £48 plus 30k avios. Worked out in the end and all with less than 2 hour connections in Doha! Another stress out the way departing a week tomorrow! Bit of a shame the AMS are 777 but we get an A380 onto BKK and A350 back from SIN.

  • ee says:
    12 Jan12 January 06:39

    Oslo-Auckland-Stockholm via Doha was pricing up at £1330/each so £100 less than ex Stockholm price quoted above.

  • Roger says:
    12 Jan12 January 06:46

    Just got an email with 10% off booking code too.
    But nothing tempting. Last Autumn’s promotion had far better prices.
    From LON to SEZ for around £400-£450 in economy.

  • Nick says:
    12 Jan12 January 06:59

    Rob OT – Avis avios posted to my account yesterday 18700 for a £40 rental thanks v much for the heads up on the easiest quirkiest route yet!! For s those that said it will never work tough luck

    • sprout7 says:
      12 Jan12 January 07:20

      Yep me also. 18,900 (including 200 Iberia plus welcome bonus) for £40. Many thanks to Rob and the reader that spotted it.

    • davef says:
      12 Jan12 January 12:47

      Mine too, and I also got Amex to refund their illegal fuel charge for only driving 11 miles.

    • Charlie says:
      12 Jan12 January 14:08

      Perfect, made me check and my 18,700 are there too!

    • Susan says:
      12 Jan12 January 14:23

      +1 Many thanks

      • Laineyling says:
        12 Jan12 January 23:15

        Is anyone missing these avios? Mine still haven’t posted and wondering if it’s an issue or just a time lag as they work through the (many) bookings.
        Thanks!

  • PGW says:
    12 Jan12 January 07:14

    Posting from the lounge in Pisa wating for my Doha flight at 0930. Very cheap overnight last night and an excellent dinner has set me up nicely for a week or so in Malaysia.

    Minor heads up on the Tier Points – some of the Indian destinations (Delhi for example) are under 2,000 from DOH so much reduced TP return.

  • Chris P says:
    12 Jan12 January 08:09

    OT follow up! My 18,700 all posted on the 9th also. Many thanks, Rob.

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