The Qatar Airways January flight sale ends today

Here is a quick reminder that the Qatar Airways January sale ends today – see here for the UK site.  It was due to end on the 16th but was extended for another 72 hours.

On the face of it, Business Class discounts are lower than we have seen in previous years.  Most of June, all of July, August and early September are excluded from the list of possible travel dates, which is another negative for anyone with kids in school. The dates are:

• Sale period: 9th to 19th January 2018
• Travel period:  9th January to 10th December 2018. All travel must be completed by 10th December 2018.
• Blackout dates: 9th June to 10th September 2018

From the UK, promo code UKGTBAFFILIATE gets you an extra 5% off the base fare on some but not all destinations.  Outside the UK, try code PCGTBGIFT for a further ‘up to’ 5% off the base fare, but it only works on some routes and we don’t have a list.

As a member of the oneworld alliance alongside British Airways, you can earn Avios and British Airways Executive Club tier points when you fly on Qatar Airways and credit the flight to BA.  Not only do you earn tier points …. you earn substantially more tier points than you would by flying British Airways!

The reason for this is that, because you will be changing planes in Doha, your return trip is treated as four long haul flights.  As long as each individual flight is over 2,000 miles long – which it is in all the examples except one below – you will earn 560 British Airways tier points per return flight.  This is calculated as four flights over 2,000 miles in Business Class x 140 tier points per flight.  Flights to Australia, except Perth, and New Zealand will earn 600 BA tier points (140 + 160 + 160 + 140).

Here are a few of the better headline prices. These deals are all for business class travel via Doha.  If two passengers are travelling together, fares may drop a little more.

These prices are NOT the full list of discounts – they are just random examples I found to be quite good. These are the departure cities you should be trying out if you want a good deal to somewhere not listed. The prices are a return flight per person.  You are looking for the red ‘Business Promo’ fares on the Qatar Airways site.

Athens to Hong Kong €1,467 (£1,293) – Greece sale page (IMPORTANT: Athens to Doha is only 40 tier points)

Frankfurt to Johannesburg €1,702 (£1,500) – Germany sale page 

Helsinki to Tokyo €1,442 (£1,271) – Finland sale page (EDIT: this may have been pulled or sold out)

Helsinki to Bangkok €1,145 (£1,009) – Finland sale page 

Helsinki to Chiang Mai €1,186 (£1,045) – Finland sale page 

Helsinki to Ho Chi Minh City €1,452 (£1,280) – Finland sale page 

Oslo to Melbourne NOK 16,170 in November (£1,474)  (Sydney, Perth etc similar) – Norway sale page 

Sofia to Johannesburg BGN 2,715 (£1,228) – Sofia sale page

Sofia to Shanghai BGN 2,270 (£1,023) – Bulgaria sale page 

Stockholm to Singapore SEK 13,391 (£1,200) – Sweden sale page 

Stockholm to Kuala Lumpur SEK 13,237 (£1,186) – Sweden sale page 

Stockholm to Cape Town SEK 15,060 (£1,350) – Sweden sale page 

If you are interested, I strongly recommend that you read my original article on the 2018 Qatar sale which is here.  This explains the different aircraft types flown by Qatar Airways, together with links to my flight reviews, to help you decide which routes to pick.

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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:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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.

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.

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.

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.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.