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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 sale.  The 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.

Category

oneworld alliance partners, Qatar Airways and Privilege Club, Vueling and Vueling Club

Comments (119)

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

  • Tom H says:
    29 Dec29 December 05:22

    OT data point for something I mentioned previously, you can transfer in multiple SPG point into one account providing they share the same address, I just transferred in 80k from two other accounts (B and C to account A) as 2 x 30 and 2 x 10k all within 30 days and no probs

  • James says:
    29 Dec29 December 06:09

    How long do you have timewise after an insolvency to claim from your credit card company ?

    Cheers.

    • the_real_a says:
      29 Dec29 December 14:30

      There are 2 usual routes: Chargeback (Mastercard/visa/Amex(!) voluntary rules) and S75 protection. For a chargeback the claim must be made within 120 days or 180 if there is a foreign currency transaction. Its often quicker and easier to use the chargeback rules first. To my knowledge there is no minimum single item limit for chargeback. For S75 this would be £100, if your flight cost £99 then you would not be able to make a claim via S75. I cannot find any stipulated time limit for S75 claims!

  • Stu R says:
    29 Dec29 December 06:42

    Respectfully Rob, could HfP not manage an updated picture for QR to replace the lame simulated picture of an A321? There must be an abundance of pics of their prestigious A350 available, surely, which would be far more relevant given our collective long haul aspirations on Qatar?

  • Lewis King says:
    29 Dec29 December 07:21

    OT

    What do you guys think about making a slack room for HFP? The comments on here are so helpful but having to check the site periodically for OT deals means some time sensitive ones are missed. If we were all in a slack room sharing stuff/general chat I think it’d be nice!

    What do you guys think? I can make one if enough people think it’s a good idea!

    • S879 says:
      29 Dec29 December 07:41

      OT: A couple of days ago someone mentioned that you can now pay your student loan with a credit card without any fees. Is that true for all providers?My university loan is with Student Finance England. Will check if Amex accepted too as that would be great for the BA Amex to trigger 2 for 1.

      • Sapiens says:
        29 Dec29 December 08:38

        Tried this earlier this year on a voluntary overpayment to clear balance – call center person said 1.5% additional charge on credit cards (ex. amex, which they do not take).

        Was not worth it for me.

        • the real harry1 says:
          29 Dec29 December 14:43

          @Harv – it wouldn’t be 1.5%

          SLC are absorbing a much lower fee, about 0.3% for most credit cards

          tbh not sure it is in the taxpayers’ interest for them not to charge the same fee they will be paying to the credit card cos

      • Anna says:
        29 Dec29 December 08:40

        How does that work? (Might be relevant in a few years when my son goes to uni). I thought repayments were automatically deducted from salary, or do they let you pay by other means as well?

    • Boi says:
      29 Dec29 December 07:58

      I like the idea. Ps keep us posted

    • Graham Walsh says:
      29 Dec29 December 09:07

      Like the idea of this. Easy to read on mobile, web or desktop too.

    • Rashad says:
      29 Dec29 December 09:11

      if you are central London based then it’s easy. Plus there are few closed and very helpful FB forums.

    • Wivus says:
      29 Dec29 December 11:27

      Sounds like a good idea.

    • Lady London says:
      29 Dec29 December 14:10

      What’s a slack room?

      • Lewis says:
        29 Dec29 December 16:21

        Sorry, Slack is just a chatroom host with a nice iOS/Andriod/Web app. It’s the cool new version of something like IRC…

        Seems like a few are interested, Rob, any thoughts?

        • Rob says:
          29 Dec29 December 16:43

          It’s not happening, for the same reason there is no FB group. Everyone benefits when everyone is in the same place.

  • James says:
    29 Dec29 December 07:53

    O/T – anybody else Plat moved there stays away Crowne Plaza. Ever since spire I have had nothing but 600 points or a drink. I have had 14 stays in the last 12 months including UK Asia and Europe and never been in lounge. Iv now just started booking holiday inn because there’s no disappointment and I get breakfast. In Bangkok today they offered me lounge access for £40 which is a lot in Bangkok and that was a platinum discount.

    • JamesB says:
      29 Dec29 December 08:13

      Which hotel is that?

    • Genghis says:
      29 Dec29 December 08:13

      You get breakfast at HI as Plat??

      • Rupert S says:
        29 Dec29 December 08:22

        Nope – probably mixed up with HIX.

        (Also a Spire member – waste of time for recognition but IHG makes it easy to accumulate points for free nights).

        Hilton Gold carries a lot more weight for recognition.

        • Genghis says:
          29 Dec29 December 08:46

          I seem to do alright out of SE AMB but the trouble is lack of consistency. Obvs better recognition generally at Hilton Group as Diamond but IHG points are so easy to collect

    • Ian says:
      29 Dec29 December 08:22

      Crowne plaza is rubbish most you get is a drinks voucher (arrive late and bar is shut) and a welcome letter. Maybe your own “member floor”

      Hilton diamond is the best and I got that with BA GGL. Spire elite I earned from 110 stays in 12 months and other than the points, waste of time

      • Genghis says:
        29 Dec29 December 08:48

        Only one stay in 2017 at a CP and given lounge access (negotiated in advance of making a booking) (Jerusalem).

    • Roger C says:
      29 Dec29 December 10:58

      In a CP two night ago on a booking made by my wife (who is Club only). Flashed my SE card and instantly upgraded to club floor with club access ‘as your booking wouldn’t get you breakfast and now you can have it in the lounge. It wasn’t bad, either…..

  • Mark says:
    29 Dec29 December 07:56

    I bought a priority pass with ten visits last month. On 3 occasions on different days and different times in the last 4 weeks I couldn’t get access to Gatwick and instead was offered the lounge next door for an extra £12.50 I feel Gatwick is a con so not only have I lost 3 visits I also paid out £37.50. I’m hoping when I’m in Europe next month I actually get access to somewhere for my money.

    • Lewis King says:
      29 Dec29 December 08:20

      The no1 lounges are notorious for this. I’ve got in once there before but every other time they ask me to pay. You can go on their site and pay a reservation supliment of £5 to reserve your lounge pass space, which I am going to do from now on.

      • the real harry1 says:
        29 Dec29 December 09:21

        yep – though I don’t get the impression they are trying it on, merely that they are popular and certain airlines block book access for their Business/ status passengers

        £5 extra to get a good lounge sounds better than £12.50 to get a rubbish one

    • the_real_a says:
      29 Dec29 December 14:34

      Not sure about Gatwick, but the PP lounges i have visited that have capacity restrictions all run a wait list so you can put your name down and return in 20 / 30 minutes.

  • Boi says:
    29 Dec29 December 08:03

    We would like to emigrate to Australia eventually…… to prepare for this we want to visit to have a look. What’s the best “hip” way to get there?
    Ex-EU, points etc?
    We have over 600K avios and 200k virgin miles. 4x 241 vouchers and Lloyd’s upgrade voucher if that’s of any use.

    Thanks in advance.
    If we go with kids we are tied to school hols but we are open to just the 2 of us going to see what’s out there.

    • Boi says:
      29 Dec29 December 08:04

      “Hip” meant to be hfp

      • Rupert S says:
        29 Dec29 December 08:24

        QR sale makes avois pointless – and any way getting availability is almost impossible. Use your points for positioning flights and pay QR.

        • Rob says:
          29 Dec29 December 08:35

          Cash. All miles deals to Oz are bad value, eg BA CW is over £700 of tax plus 300,000 Avios. If you can seats, which you can’t.

          Or pay Qatar £1365, earn tens of thousands of Avios back, get BA Silver status with the tier points and fly a far superior product.

          Uo to you though ……!

    • the real harry1 says:
      29 Dec29 December 09:28

      @Boi check out http://britishexpats.com/forum/ if you haven’t found it already

      don’t get caught out on current points/ entry requirements – I missed out on age way back then (& I was only about 37!)

      • Boi says:
        29 Dec29 December 13:49

        Thanks to all for the suggestions. I shall be on the lookout for cash fares then.
        @TRH1, thanks for link. I will have a look. Out of interest why were you caught out on age? Anything up to 45yrs seem to get some points….when I checked I was getting about 70 points which will do for visa 189.

        • the real harry1 says:
          29 Dec29 December 14:26

          they change Immigration rules all the time, I just remember that if I had been 18 months earlier/ younger we’d have qualified

          unfortunately not a chippie or a hairdresser

          ‘migrated’ to NZ instead & there was a backdoor to Aus PR at the time, ie get NZ citizenship after 2 years then go work in Aus for 3 yrs istr would get you Aus PR status then citizenship (since made more difficult, I believe)

          we loved NZ but my wife missed her family too much plus I guess I missed good old Europe too much (best continent in the world!) so we came back with NZ IRRV status – which means we or our kids can go live/ study/ work there permanently whenever we/ they want

          another story: how we got NZ Immigration to bend the rules & give us IRRV lol

        • John says:
          29 Dec29 December 18:33

          The thing with NZ and Australian PR is that although Kiwis have freedom of movement, if they want to become citizens they need to qualify in their own right.

          If the UK had a similar setup, then Polish builders etc. could come and stay indefinitely, but they would not be able to get permanent residence after working in the UK country for 5 years. EU citizens would only qualify for permanent residence if they could meet the same criteria that e.g. an American or Canadian would have to meet.

    • Chris A says:
      29 Dec29 December 10:36

      Might be worth looking at cash prices to somewhere in SE Asia, and then using miles to fly on to Aus. Avios redemptions on Cathay and Qantas, for example, are low in tax.
      I’m on the verge of doing something similar for a trip to NZ at the end of March as can’t justify the (nevertheless excellent) Qatar business prices.
      I’ve even found myself being tempted by the £130 Norwegian SIN to LHR fare…what’s happening to me?!

    • Chris A says:
      29 Dec29 December 10:38

      Meant to say, if you don’t mind going via Madrid, you could do an Iberia redemption from there to Shanghai-low tax makes it very good value for business class.

  • Leonid Klimov says:
    29 Dec29 December 08:24

    Why would credit card companies pay for failed airline? Do they also pay for, say, cancelled BA flight (due to weather), which BA refuses to refund?

    • Rob says:
      29 Dec29 December 08:36

      Standard Section 75 coverage – business has gone bust so you will not get what you paid for.

      • the real harry1 says:
        29 Dec29 December 09:30

        not just S75 – Amex, Visa, MC, Curve all also offer chargeback for allowable situations where S75 does not apply

        • MikeL says:
          29 Dec29 December 10:25

          Just done it with Royal Caribbean as I paid with Amex Gold rewards, so they’ve applied a chargeback for me

      • RussellH says:
        29 Dec29 December 10:40

        AFAIK, Section 75 is a feature unique to the UK.

        And if you have Airline Failure cover on a travel Insurance policy, and you claim on that, the insurers will be chasing your credit card co. for their money.

        Worth remembering that the credit card payment must be >£100 and <£30 000 – and you do not have to have paid the whole bill by credit card.

        • Genghis says:
          29 Dec29 December 11:25

          Or rather the item cost >£100. You can pay £1 by cc and still get S75 protection.

        • RussellH says:
          29 Dec29 December 15:06

          Genghis, thanks for that clarification – I was under the impression that you had to have paid at least £100, but checking the Barclaycard site, as well as Which? and Citizen’s Advice I was wrong. Barclaycard seem particularly clear on the matter – good for them.

          However, something else I did not know; Section 75 only applies to the main cardholder’s card, though Barclaycard do say “however purchases made on behalf of the main cardholder may be covered”.

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