Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

London-Hong Kong £1420, Manchester-Cape Town £1350 in Qatar Airways business class

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I dropped in an extra article yesterday to cover the amazing £1360 return Manchester to Auckland deal launched by Qatar AirwaysYou can read about that fare here but you must book today.

There are two other great deals which also need to be booked today.

Manchester to Cape Town is available for £1350 return in Business Class.

London Heathrow or Gatwick to Hong Kong is available for £1420 return in Business Class.

These must be booked today, assuming it is part of the 48-hour flash sale.

As with the Auckland deal, you won’t get this price over the Summer school holidays in July and August but apart from that it is fairly open from April until late November.  Availability had already started to tighten up last night but you should be able to find something if you are flexible.  There are only a small number of seats at these prices so the larger your group, the tougher it will be, although I saw up to EIGHT seats to Cape Town at this price on some days in September.

These flights will earn 560 British Airways Executive Club tier points return.  That is almost enough for a BA Silver card although you should remember that you need to have flown four one-way cash BA flights in your current membership year before you are promoted.

The aircraft

For Cape Town, both legs will be on a new Boeing 787This 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.  You won’t go wrong here.

For Hong Kong, from London you can pick either the amazing new Qsuite on an A350 or 777 (reviewed here) or the A380 (reviewed here, not Qsuite but has a great bar).  From Doha to Hong Kong you will be on a Boeing 777 which may have Qsuite but you should assume has the older 2-2-2 seating I reviewed here.

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.  Make sure you tick ‘Premium Only’ to make searching easier.

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

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

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

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

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.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

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

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

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

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

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

Comments (79)

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

  • Ally says:

    You will not find a sale fare return in Oct or Nov for at least a 2 week trip – either they’ve all gone or Qatar pulled the fare…

  • Andy S says:

    An amazing deal but a 19hr+ layover in Doha doesn’t appeal on the way to Cape Town!

    • Ben says:

      Hi Andy,
      its a 19hr total journey – the lay over is only 1hr 50mins in Doha

      • John says:

        Um, except when it’s a 19-hour layover and 36-hour total journey.

  • Steve says:

    No idea why people are struggling: eg 5/11 to 16/11 MAN-AKL £2,718 for 2 people. Discounted flight outbound on 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 , 14 NOT 15 November. Returning 13 – 19 November. Fares are still there.

  • Hugh says:

    I booked the Man -Akl flight for myself and my wife last night and then my daughter and OH did the same an hour later – different dates.

    Quick question. We have a 9 hour wait in Doha . I don’t think this qualifies for the free hotel offer as it looks like there is a minimum transit time of 12 hours. Can anyone confirm?

    • Polly says:

      Minimum transit time to qualify is 8 hrs. But only if tbete wasnt a shorter connection at a higher price. We got caught out that way one time.

      • Rob says:

        May be easier to qualify out of MAN though because there are fewer flights. Virtually impossible to qualify out of London now.

        • Hugh says:

          T&Cs state 12 hour minimum so maybe it has changed and used to be 8. There was a flight with smaller stopover at a much more expensive cost so I assume based on Pollys feedback we won’t qualify!

    • AndyR says:

      There are 2 different schemes for getting a free hotel.

      The Stopover Package is for 8+ layovers where there is no shorter connection on that route on the same day. This offers hotel, transport and food vouchers.

      The +Qatar offer is for transits of 12+ hours regardless of any shorter connections. This gives you a free hotel night but nothing else.

      • Hugh says:

        Andy

        Thanks for clarification. Sadly there was an expensive option with a shorter connection so sounds like we won’t qualify. We will just have to make do with the lounge, which for someone used to mostly flying economy does look absolutely amazing so hopefully won’t be too much of a hardship.

        • BlueHorizonUK says:

          Worst thing they can do is say no. Apply and see what happens.

        • AndyR says:

          Yeah maybe worth applying and see what happens?

          I’ve done 8-9 hours in the lounge a few times, it’s not too bad if you can get a cubicle in the quiet room.

          Another option is to pay for a hotel. Hotels are cheap in Doha at the moment because of the crisis.

          Also Hilton offer day use which may work out cheaper too. The Doubletree is only 15mins from the airport.

          Have a great trip! I’m very jealous!

    • Polly says:

      Hugh…its not so bad 9 hrs. Btt you get to the lounge..shower eat etc..find the black bendy beds in the quiet area. V nice attendees there get you blankets etc. We actually mananged several hours sleep on them. Then its time for a coffee and board…and more nice food! Very enjoyable experience either way. Or your OH can chose full make up and nails service at duty free…it goes on and on…
      When we had the hotel option another time we only got about 5 hrs sleep time wise due to transport back and forth. They can use the ORYX hotel downtown as its cheaper for them.

      • Hugh says:

        Polly.

        Thanks for the update! I suggested the possibility of a hotel to my wife last night and her initial reaction was that the lounge looks so good why would we want to do anything else and that was before she knew about nails and makeup service!!!

        So think we will stick with the lounge option. The only problem now is that November seems like such a long time to wait!

  • Zooropa says:

    Hi All,
    Just booked MAN- CPT for October half term for the both of us and our 9 Month old daughter. £1355 each.
    This means I will have to cancel our week in the Seychelles in August (booked with BA 2-4-1) Going out on the 1st August returning on the 9th. 2 seats in Club.
    I will cancel at 10.00 am today, so if anyone wants the seats, it may be that they show as free and you can have them. (I am sure it is perhaps not as simple as that, but one lives in hope) 🙂
    Thanks Rob for the heads up on the Fare !!

  • James67 says:

    I can’t see these fares in ITA matrix, or am I doing something wrong?

    Is there anyway for me to combine the London to Hong Kong outbound with the Auckland to Manchester Return?

    • Rob says:

      Possibly not loaded into the GDS and only on the Qatar site? You can try pricing an open jaw and see what happens.

    • David S says:

      None of the sale fares from UK are appearing on ITA matrix but are available on Google flights and on QR website.

  • Nate says:

    OT quick question. I have Amex platinum. Can I refer myself for BA Amex card, thereby getting 18k MR points?

    • Gary L says:

      I have just done this last week and it worked. The points came through three days after being accepted.

    • Pauk says:

      Does this work the other way around?

      • Polly says:

        Yes but you get 9k not 18k on referral l mean. All cards cross refer now.

  • Chris says:

    OT: Do people still think it’s worth cancelling the AMEX charge cards in an attempt to get another in 6 months and rinse the spend incentive? I’ve got a plat charge card currently and so I can get 18k points for referrals but am currently struggling to find people to refer so not sure whether to just cancel to start the 6 month wait! I heard the rumors that AMEX were changing the rules on the offers, anyone know any further on that?

    • Alex Sm says:

      Same question about OT as above

    • John says:

      If you are going to do it, do it sooner rather than later. I doubt the referral bonus will go away whereas they could begin to restrict churning at any time.

    • Polly says:

      We are in exact same position as you so are cancelling our Plat today before new fee appears on next statement. Then l will upgrade my PRG to plat and re refer my OH after 6 or 7 mths. And hope there will still be a bonus to work towards.

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

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