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

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.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (June 2023)

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 13th June, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card is doubled to 60,000 Membership Rewards points – and you get £200 to spend at Amex Travel too! Apply here.

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.

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.

EDIT: Applications for this card are temporarily suspended due to IT issues with the British Airways On Business SME loyalty scheme.

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.