Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Crazy Qatar Airways fares earning Avios and 560 BA tier points

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Qatar Airways has launched another of its slightly crazy sales.   This one has, frankly, some astonishing fares to Australia and New Zealand.

I will say up front that these are ‘two together’ fares, so if you’re looking for a deal for just one person then you’re out of luck this time.

As usual, Qatar Airways has launched a range of discounted fares from all of the major cities where it operates in Europe.

As usual, the best deals are not from the UK and will require you to start your trip elsewhere.  It’s worth it, I promise you!

Here are the booking and travel dates for this sale:

Book by 10th November

Travel before 30th October 2018, excluding 15 December – 10th January and 7th June – 10th September

Minimum stay 3 days

All fares earn Avios and British Airways tier points (560 return for Asia, 600 for Australasia, except for Athens routes)

Note that Easter is not restricted, which is handy if you have school age kids or want to minimise your time off work.

You can book on the Qatar Airways site here.

The best fares will not be found from the UK as you can see from the examples below.

Here are a few of the better headline prices. These deals are all for business class travel via Doha. They are per person, based on two travelling – single travellers will pay more in theory.  Do check though, as Qatar pricing can be all over the place at times.

These prices are NOT the full list of discounts – they are just random examples I found to be quite good. The prices are a return flight per person based on when two people travel.  You are looking for the red ‘Business Promo’ fares.

Here are some example fares:

Stockholm to Singapore – SEK 11,078 (£993) – click here for more Stockholm prices 

Stockholm to Sydney – SEK 14,840 (£1,331)

Stockholm to Auckland – SEK 15,074 (£1,351)

Stockholm to Krabi – SEK 10,289 (£924)

Athens to Johannesburg – €1,383 (£1,213) – click here for more Athens prices 

Athens to Hong Kong – €1,210 (£1,061)

Athens to Tokyo – €1,286 (£1,127)

Berlin to Tokyo – €1,706 (£1,496) – click here for more Berlin prices

Berlin to Johannesburg – €1,320 (£1,157)

Copenhagen to Hong Kong – DKK 12,587 (£1,478) – click here for more Copenhagen prices 

Sofia to Shanghai – BGN 1,903 (£850) – click here for more Sofia prices 

Sofia to Singapore – BGN 1,928 (£862)

Munich to Windhoek – €1,320 (£1,153) – click here for more Munich prices 

Budapest to Tokyo – HUF 425,000 (£1,191) – click here for more Budapest prices 

Helsinki to Bangkok – €1,093 (£955) – click here for more Helsinki prices 

Remember that these are only sample destinations.  You should, for example, find other Australian destinations available for the Sydney price quoted above.

You should also look at the Qatar Airways sale pages out of Brussels (click here) and Vienna (click here) as these can also have good pricing.

And for comparison:

Heathrow to Bangkok – £1,858

Heathrow to Sydney – £2,958

Heathrow to Singapore – £2,075

These routes would (almost) all – apart from Australasia – earn 560 British Airways Executive Club tier points return (140 + 140 + 140 + 140) due to the change of plane in Doha. That is more than 90% of what you need for a BA Silver card.  Australasia is 600 tier points for a return flight.

The only exception is Athens.  Athens to Doha is under 2,000 miles and only earns 40 tier points. That means 360 for a return trip (400 to Australasia).

How to pick a departure city

It isn’t all about the long-haul flight price. You need to add in the cost of getting to your starting point.

More importantly, you need to build in contingency. You need to arrive early enough to ensure that you won’t miss your connection if your inbound flight is late. If that means staying overnight, you need to factor in the cost of a hotel. You may also want to pick an airport with a hotel on the airport to avoid messing about with shuttle buses.

Remember that BA will no longer tag through bags to connecting flights when they are on separate tickets. If you are checking in a case, you will need to fly London to, say, Stockholm, wait for your case, clear immigration, go to Departures, check in your case and clear security again. This will take some time.

Pick your aircraft as well as your departure city

As ever with Qatar, you should keep an eye on the aircraft. The most modern seats are on the Boeing 787, Airbus A350 and Airbus A380 fleet. I think that the full A330 fleet has been refitted now too. The newer planes have a 1-2-1 herringbone layout where passengers faces away from each other.

The Boeing 777 aircraft are fully flat but have a different 2 x 2 x 2 layout, albeit they will be replaced by the amazing new Qsuite – but that is only on a handful of planes so far.  Qatar Airways also uses short-haul planes on some European routes but these are configured with ‘proper’ business class seats.

Here are my Qatar Airways seat and lounge reviews – you will see that I am very positive about them:

The Qatar website here if you want to have a look at the deals available.  The sale ends on 10th November.

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 (137)

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

  • Gill says:
    6 Nov6 November 09:46

    I’m not finding anything like these fares Berlin to Jihannesburg.
    Has anyone found any good JNB deals – from anywhere?

    • Rob says:
      6 Nov6 November 09:52

      Your best bet will be into 2018 I think. Best options will have gone a couple of days ago.

  • Louie says:
    6 Nov6 November 09:50

    What do we think the likelihood of a similar Qatar offer which would enable us to fly to Oz in Jan and back in Dec for a similar price? I’m tempted to go for this, but that means canning an already booked return leg of a 2-4-1 in June….

    • TripRep says:
      6 Nov6 November 10:09

      Thats a hellva trip or do you Iive in Oz?

      • Louie says:
        6 Nov6 November 10:28

        Living an itinerant life in Oz at the moment, with summer and Christmas visits home to see elderly parents. Spent the last nearly two years travelling around the eastern states and heading west next year. Worked hard for many years and now enjoying an extended break before we settle down again.

        I had a look at the Qatar sale in January 2017. Started 9 January. We have CX avios flights booked 8 January. Probably too much of a risk to wait, though it will hurt losing 87.5k avios + cash. Still, not yet flown Qatar nor been to Stockholm and both sound good.

  • JamesB says:
    6 Nov6 November 10:29

    Qatar have now added Pattaya (Utapao) to their Thai destinations. Good for anybody interested in visiting Koh Samet or Koh Chang. Air Asia and Bangkok Airways offer flights from there to other destinations.

    • Polly says:
      6 Nov6 November 21:03

      Plus the north of Thailand James, saw an ad recently too…

      Louie, go,for,it Stockholm v pretty too make a city break one end of the trip.

      • Louie says:
        7 Nov7 November 06:56

        Done, Polly. Looking forward it.

      • JamesB says:
        7 Nov7 November 10:00

        Yes, Chiang Mai starting very soon. With this huge capacity premium fares to Thailand will lijely remain cheap. Thailand easily the best base to explire seAsia from fof anybody doing two or more countries.

  • Ruth Findlay says:
    6 Nov6 November 15:47

    I have a silly question…how do I check my Qatar booking on BA.com? I can’t use the booking ref in MMB but think there is a way to check the tier points and that the booking itself has the right exec club details using the ref or eticket number.

    • Polly says:
      6 Nov6 November 21:06

      Ruth, your QR ref must be used on the QR website. It owns the booking now. You can check your TPs etc on BA calculator. To make sure your correct exec no is in place log in and do to personal information and update which program you want to be credited. Or you can do this in the lounge,mornatbthe gate, as we had to one time. I noticed before boarding it was still on miles, useless.

  • Optimus Prime says:
    6 Nov6 November 17:31

    Are there any good beaches near BKK/SIN/KL or it’s better to take another flight to Phuket?

    • roberto says:
      6 Nov6 November 17:37

      Langwaki is pretty nice in places. A short hop from BKK or SIN , I quite liked the casa del mar hotel.

      • Optimus Prime says:
        6 Nov6 November 19:02

        Thanks, Roberto.

        I still need to work out the dates and see if it’s possible to leave London on a Friday evening and come back the Sunday after next one.

        Last time I checked the EU flight would depart on Saturday evening, so it’s pretty annoying to not get to East Asia before Sunday afternoon. Wife would not be happy with a 9-day vacation if we spend 4 days just flying…

      • TripRep says:
        6 Nov6 November 19:17

        +1 for Langkawi

        If you have time & can be bothered a 1 hour speed boat ferry from Langkawi onwards to the Thai island of Ko Lipe is well worth it.

        • Polly says:
          6 Nov6 November 21:11

          +1 also Langkawi, but also Sentosa island is nice off SIN….but HKt got so much choice. We go to a quiet place in the south called cape panwa hotel, v quiet, nice local family run places to eat,,plenty of £5 massages and pedi mani to keep anyone happy for ten days. Cheaper sister hotel called kantary bay too,,but you still use the cape panwa resort. We often only went for ten days due to elderly parent care…

        • Optimus Prime says:
          6 Nov6 November 21:57

          Thanks, I’ve added it to our to-go list 🙂

    • JamesB says:
      7 Nov7 November 10:05

      Cleanest beaches near BKK without taking another flight are Koh Samet and around Rayong, the latter has many resorts and is very auiet despite being just an hour along the coast from Pattaya. Beaches by Pattaya are not so clean and very busy.

  • Gail says:
    7 Nov7 November 03:13

    Going to Singapore in April 2018. Ideally want a direct flight from Manchester. Any advice on whether I should wait for the sales for economy tickets? Black Friday or when? Singapore Airlines or Virgin. Also I have 40,000 Virgin Atlantic points. And is there a more comfortable economy seat that anyone can advise on?

  • Metty says:
    7 Nov7 November 03:29

    An appropriate time to say thank you to Rob/Raffles for getting me into this malarky a few years ago. Wife and I ending our ex-VCE-BKK trip in what feels like deserted HKT where the beach outside the Slate (was Indigo Pearl) and the hotel itself are almost empty. Used the £££ saved on the ex-VCE fare to fund a 10 night trip in Bhutan – which was absolutely brilliant…..I implore everyone to go!! – whether you like the QR service, at least it’s consistent and the lounge in VCE is fine, with an outdoor area that has views of the city across the runway. Only thing I’d say to those worrying about re-checking bags at ex-EU point is that if positioning home on Oneworld, QR will through check your bags to home on the different PNR.

    • Optimus Prime says:
      7 Nov7 November 06:14

      Thanks for the tip, Metty. Now this ex-EU sale looks more attractive to us. Is this something you can just ask at the QR check-in desk in BKK? Do you just give them your VCE-LHR boarding pass and they take care of it?

      • Andrew says:
        7 Nov7 November 07:53

        You will need to provide the QR check-in agent with your BA booking ref (PRN) and they will issue you with a boarding pass for the final leg of your journey and through-check luggage to London. I usually just confirm the bag is on board the BA flight with the dispatcher when I’m boarding (but it always is).

        • Optimus Prime says:
          7 Nov7 November 08:13

          Great, thanks!

        • Metty says:
          7 Nov7 November 11:23

          I’ve had 100% success with QR through checking the bags to London. BKK especially smooth, ‘is ARN/OSL/VCE your final destination?’ but that’s been the same guy 3 times (Chayiot?) who is very helpful.

          Even MH at Phnom Penh, when travelling MH in Y to connect at KUL with BA J to Heathrow were fine, although I did overhear another guy at an adjacent desk asking for something similar. When I asked why it was ok for me and not for him the check in person said ‘because you are travelling in a premium class on the next sector, he isn’t, plus you asked nicely and he didn’t’.

  • Louie says:
    7 Nov7 November 08:10

    We’ve gone for this. Could do with some advice as to who to credit. I dislike what BA has become and actively avoid them except for using avios. We fly to and from Oz twice a year and now we’ve used all our 2-4-1s are highly unlikely to fly BA long haul again given we have plenty of other options on this route, within and outside OneWorld. We’d get 580 tier points if we credited to BA but to get silver we’d need the four qualifying flights and the cost of flights to Stockholm are much higher than Norwegian and our only other planned European trip in this tier point earning year is to a destination not served by BA. As far as I can see, silver wouldn’t really get us anything of use if we don’t intend flying much on BA. Or am I missing something? We have Priority Pass cards with Amex Platinum and usually fly Virgin Australia internally.

    If not BA, then who? Never flown Qatar before but if they keep doing deals like the current one, we probably will again. I have a stash of AA miles and their redemptions from Europe to Oz are a fraction of the cost of BA ones. Could we get OneWorld status through either of them (I haven’t done my research I admit!)? Or just not bother with status if we don’t expect not to be flying business class?

    • Rob says:
      7 Nov7 November 08:36

      Silver status is good for up to 27 months, depending on when your year end (rest of current year, all next year, four month grace period) and you’d be getting free seat selection and lounge access across all of oneworld.

      I woukd strongly recommend two economy BA weekends away to get the extra 5 tier points x 4 plus the four segments. Total cost would be less than one way seat selection cost in CW ….

      • Ruth Findlay says:
        7 Nov7 November 16:46

        What’s the four month grace period? My year runs out early July and I won’t make silver again until next October after my Qatar trip (which will give me silver for 20 months). I’m assuming I won’t be able to use the BA lounge though in Singapore as will be bumped down to Bronze at that point?

        • Rob says:
          7 Nov7 November 17:00

          The gap between the end of your tier point year (8th of the month) and the expiry date of your card (31st of a future month). Actually 3 months, I think?

          • Alan says:
            7 Nov7 November 17:51

            Under two months, no? For example TP reset 8th Nov will mean grace status runs out 31st Dec, so about 7 weeks…

        • Polly says:
          8 Nov8 November 01:09

          Yes, the most it can be is two months grace. Like ours ends Aug 1st but our card is then valid until end of sept.
          Ruth, if you get your 4 cheap HBO BA sectors done or whatever no of TPs you still need, before your SIN trip, you will be silver foll that trip. Sadly as bronze you won’t get in unless you get a couple of lounge passes with a gold Amex in the meantime.

          Louie, yes you can get silver or sapphire with either QR or AA. But l think BA holds more sway with lounges across the us. AA sapphire doesn’t get you into lounges on internal flights, but do check that. AA also have those late fee charges, where as we can book an avios flight to dub a couple of hours before departure. Whatever suits you,minutes check them all out.
          With Rob on that one…
          We left QR silver to be BA silver as QR cs are atrocious. Usually only one J seat available for upgrades etc. But that could be better now. Currently on a Hel HKT on QR J now.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

NEW: Sign-up bonuses boosted to 3,000 and 18,000 points

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? SPECIAL OFFER TO 12TH MAY EARN POINTS WORTH 30,000 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!