Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Book an astonishing Manchester – Auckland £1360 deal in the Qatar Airways flash sale!

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Adjusting for inflation, this is the cheapest fare I think I have ever seen from the UK to Australasia in Business Class.

Last January we had Malaysia Airlines offering London to Sydney in Business Class for £1500 but even that is beaten by this deal.  (The comments below mention a £1100 Garuda deal last year which I missed.)

Until tomorrow (14th), Qatar Airways is selling Manchester to Auckland in Business Class for £1360 return.

You won’t get this deal over the Summer school holidays in July and August but apart from that it is fairly open from April onwards until the pre-Christmas period kicks in.    

As usual with Qatar Airways, the deal is one route and one route only.  Birmingham,  Dublin and Cardiff are nowhere close on pricing.  Edinburgh and London departures are about an extra £400.  There are no deals to Sydney, Canberra, Perth etc.  It is Manchester to Auckland or nothing.

These flights will earn 600 British Airways Executive Club tier points return.  That is enough for a BA Silver card although you should remember that you need to have flown 4 one-way cash BA flights in your current membership year before you are promoted.

The aircraft

Manchester to Doha is on a new Boeing 787.  This has the herringbone seat which I reviewed here and is very impressive.  Qatar has a special website showing off this seat which you’ll find here.

Doha to Auckland is on a Boeing 777.  You might get the new Qsuite but it is more likely that you get the older 2 x 2 x 2 layout which I reviewed here.  It isn’t great for a solo traveller but good for a couple.  And if you are complaining at £1363 then really ….

How to book

You can find out more about the flash sale here.  It ends at midnight on Wednesday.

The UK Qatar Airways booking site is here.

Your best option to maximise your miles when paying is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold.  This offers double points – 2 per £1 – when you when you book flight tickets directly with an airline.  Our review of Amex Gold is here.

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

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Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

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British Airways American Express

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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American Express Business Gold

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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 (52)

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

  • Brandon says:
    13 Mar13 March 14:04

    Shame the amazing pricing is only until the end of November 🙁

    • Rob says:
      13 Mar13 March 14:06

      You will rarely see a deal like this over Christmas from Qatar.

      • Morgan says:
        13 Mar13 March 14:43

        Out of the UK that’s true. For 2016, 2017 and now Xmas 2018 my family are averaging around £1750 per ticket out of ARN or OSL.

  • John Waters says:
    13 Mar13 March 14:17

    Hi Rob, following your article last year we did the Stockholm to Auckland trip with Qatar in October – fantastic. So we are interested in doing it again this year. However we are not getting the fares anywhere as low as you are indicating. Is there a promo code and a minimum stay requirement, as last time?

    • KevMc says:
      13 Mar13 March 15:11

      Use google flights – it’s pretty easy to find dates on there. Then you can click through to Qatar’s website to confirm the prices.

    • Adrian says:
      13 Mar13 March 15:12

      Just put the dates in google flights and you can see the prices by day, there appears to be good availability through LGW. MAN is cheaper as Rob says.

    • Rob says:
      13 Mar13 March 16:08

      Might be a 7 day or Sun night stay. Try a few more options, Sep is wide open.

  • Morgan says:
    13 Mar13 March 14:22

    Thanks for the heads up. I had been looking at LHR to HKG which is showing at £1400pp.

    i’ve now booked to go home via LHR-AKL for £1700pp for mid/end Nov.

  • phil says:
    13 Mar13 March 15:21

    Weird travel plan, but is it possible to book it and then can the rtn segment whilst in NZ (rather than simply no show)? Going by the Business Promo fare, it looks like it would be possible to do that and thus pay £680 for the outbound leg and forfeit £380 (cane fee is in USD) thus travelling in Biz class o/w (which suits me at present) for £1100 approx?

  • Dwadda says:
    13 Mar13 March 15:24

    The Doha to Aukland leg is currently the longest flight in the world… Soon to be eclipsed…

  • Alistair Horne says:
    13 Mar13 March 15:46

    Ive just said to the wife that I need to go to Auckland for work for a day. We have 3 children under 3 and I would be quite happy to fly there and turn around and come straight back again. I’d see it as 2 days sleep.

    It didn’t work.

    • John says:
      13 Mar13 March 17:51

      3 under 3. And you’re looking for someone to blame?

      (should have kept it in your trousers!)

      • HAM76 says:
        14 Mar14 March 21:32

        It sounds like you consider a one year difference in average as too short (which should be none of your business). You might want to consider other possibilities including twins, triplets, foster children, adoption, divorce and death of a partner.

  • David says:
    13 Mar13 March 15:54

    Excellent deal! Some other good ones too. I got Sofia-Singapore for £1200 in Feb/March 2019

  • Doug M says:
    13 Mar13 March 15:58

    Is that a little dig at Qatar. They’ll pay for a party but won’t tip you off in advance for an offer like this 🙂

    • Rob says:
      13 Mar13 March 16:05

      No, the Qatar people are delighted that you all fly them but would be happier if a few more flights originated in the U.K.!

      • Morgan says:
        13 Mar13 March 17:12

        If they kept their R class pricing at these levels they would get 100% of my Asia and Australasia business out of London!

      • JamesR says:
        13 Mar13 March 18:48

        I wonder if the Qatar UK people would be prepared to pay an extra grand or two for the UK departure privilege when they go on their holidays.

        I dont blame them for the prices though… Im sure they would make it as low as Europe if they could…

        • Rob says:
          13 Mar13 March 20:31

          I am not sure how these prices got past the rules of the BA JV to be honest!

      • Hingeless says:
        13 Mar13 March 20:42

        I wish they had some offers in the other direction

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