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Bits: £1365 Business to Canberra, Qatar Airways 15% off code, IAG to buy NIKI?

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News in brief:

£1,365 Business Class tickets to Canberra on Qatar Airways

Via Flyertalk, Qatar Airways seems to have slipped out some more exceptional fares to Australia.  This is not part of the January sale which won’t launch for another couple of weeks in my experience.

This deal is both a) very cheap and b) very obscure and c) only good for a couple.

You are looking at Oslo to Canberra, booked pretty much any time next year between April and November.  It is not available every day but it seems to be there at least once a week.

Using promo code PCSPECIAL on the Qatar Airways Norwegian website here, you should be able to find a fare of NOK 30,310 for TWO people in Business Class between Oslo and Canberra.  This works out at £1365 each!

The fare is also bookable from Stockholm, which is more convenient from the UK but costs more.  Remember to look for 2 seats and use the PCSPECIAL code.  You should see prices of SEK 35,750 for two which comes out at £1615 per person.

Whilst the plane stops in Sydney, you must carry on to Canberra.  You cannot get off in Sydney or your return flight will be cancelled.  Prices are higher for Oslo / Stockholm to Sydney on its own.  Prices are also higher if you are travelling alone.

There are reports of a slightly cheaper deal coming up if you can get a multi-city booking of Oslo – Canberra, Canberra – Stockholm to price up on the right dates, but I couldn’t make it work.

Remember that Qatar Airways flights earn Avios and BA tier points.  Details, plus links to my reviews of the different Qatar Airways business class configurations, are in this HFP article on the last Qatar Airways saleThe Norway deals are here and the Stockholm deals are here.

Qatar Airways sale

Qatar Airways 15% discount code

If you don’t want to travel to Norway for a flight, Qatar Airways has also launched a 15% off discount code for flights from London.

Code FLYMOREQR gets you 15% off the base fare (ie the amount before taxes) on flights from London Heathrow to: Bali, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo, Bangkok, Perth, Sydney, Kathmandu, Male (Maldives), Auckland, Phuket, Goa, Canberra, Penang, Utapao (Pattaya) and Chiang Mai.

You need to book by 15th January for travel between 15th January and 31st March 2018.  It is valid for both Economy and Business Class flights.  However, if you book today you will benefit from the 48 hour flash sale currently running.

You can see full terms and conditions of the 15% discount code on this special page of the Qatar Airways website.

IAG given exclusivity to buy NIKI

According to reports in the German press, IAG – parent of British Airways – has been granted exclusivity in the race to buy Austrian airline NIKI.

Part of airberlin, NIKI had followed its parent into administration after Lufthansa’s attempt to purchase it fell foul of the European Commission.

The rumoured price is €40m.  It isn’t clear what IAG will get for that apart from landing slots, as the aircraft may already have been returned to their owners.  Passengers booked to travel on NIKI will presumably have already been refunded by their credit card companies.

It is expected that NIKI will be merged into Vueling, IAG’s existing Barcelona-based low cost carrier.  Whether it continues to fly NIKI’s existing routes is another question – if it did, we would still be able to redeem Avios on those routes as we did when they were flown by airberlin.  We may get more information today or over the weekend.

Comments (119)

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

  • Relaxo says:

    OT – Do we get any referral bonus for Amex gold/platinum charge cards if you hold a SPG card? Im guessing the answer is no, only SPG to SPG but just wanted to check since amex have increased their referal bonuses

  • W says:

    Interesting experience at the lounge in Stansted before Xmas. They had a sign out at the entrance – ‘Experiencing high traffic, not accepting lounge club etc, only pre-booked customers permitted’ – decided to walk up to the counter and asked nicely about the sign – accepted in without problems (2 people) on lounge club, but the place was indeed rather busy.

    • Andy says:

      I’ve had that at Luton. Sign at bottom of stairs saying full but walked up anyway and got admitted x2 using lounge club.place was only a third full

  • the real harry1 says:

    Groupon deal to buy Avios is back @ 1p/ Avios if you go through IB Plustore

    4.000 Avios Iberia Plus 59 €
    8.000 Avios Iberia Plus 164 €
    15.000 Avios Iberia Plus 189
    20000 293 €
    34.000 Avios Iberia Plus 429 €

  • John says:

    This has been around since July, already did it twice

  • New Card says:

    OT – Is it possible to redeem Avios for domestic flights on Malaysian Airlines e.g. KL to Langkawi? In the comments a few days ago it was mentioned that you can book over the phone for “secret” redemptions on MASWings and Cinnamon Air, but no normal Malaysian internal flights are showing up for me on BA.com either…

    • Rob says:

      It seems the call centre can book these. A reader got a Cinnamon water plane booked.

    • the_real_a says:

      I have booked Malaysian via ba.com as recently as a few weeks ago. However on that route, i found it pointless as Air Asia flies KUL to LGK for about £25 including luggage.

      • CV3V says:

        I’d always pick Air Asia over MAS, and add on all the extras (hot seats, meal) as such good value.

  • Cate says:

    OT and if anyone else was wondering what the bonus offer was after completing two Marriott stays for a free night – it’s the same offer everyone’s got (1000 point Megabonus). 🙂

  • Samantha says:

    Hmm – just booked via Qatar. Tried to use the discount code online but it wasn’t discounting. I went ahead and booked whilst there was decent pricing and emailed customer service within the 24 hour period you have to cancel for free requesting they adjust the fare to include the discount. Customer service responded OUTSIDE the 24 hour window and declined to adjust my fare. Too late to cancel for free and call Customer Service to see if they could get the discount code to work. Pointed this out to them and they just said, sorry, tough, no discount. Not impressed…

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

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