A new cheaper way to fly Qatar Airways First Class with Avios – from Frankfurt

Qatar Airways has announced that it will switch one of its two daily Frankfurt flights to an A380 from 31st March 2019.

This may, in itself, not sound very exciting.  Don’t be fooled.  It opens up some very interesting possibilities for anyone wanting to tick Qatar Airways First Class off their bucket list, especially for anyone who wants to try out the amazing First Class Lounge in Doha. 

This is why:

Qatar Airways only offers First Class on its 10 A380 aircraft

Flights from London are blocked for First Class redemptions and even if bookable are expensive, at 160,000 Avios return plus charges

Flights from Paris now seem to be blocked for First Class redemptions (they didn’t used to be) and even if bookable are expensive, at 160,000 Avios return plus charges

The new flights from Frankfurt are NOT blocked for First Class redemptions and are NOT expensive, because Frankfurt is nearer to Doha than Paris or London.  You will only pay 100,000 Avios return, plus charges.

As usual in the wacky world of BA, the taxes and charges don’t make any sense:

One-way Frankfurt to Doha in Qatar First is 50,000 Avios + £227

One-way Doha to Frankfurt in Qatar First is 50,000 Avios + £99

Return Frankfurt to Doha in Qatar First is 100,000 Avios + £412 (so save yourself £86 by booking as 2 x one-ways)

Here is my review of Qatar Airways First Class (I flew it from Paris when you could still get First Class redemptions from there) and here is my review of the Al Safwa First Class lounge in Doha.

At present, there are 2 First Class seats and 4 Business Class seats showing for Avios on virtually every Frankfurt to Doha A380 flight from 31st March.

Business Class is also a good deal from Frankfurt, of course, as you are paying 75,000 Avios return compared with 120,000 Avios return from the UK.  If you wanted to try Qatar’s Business Class then you will save a lot by flying from Frankfurt and booking a separate connecting flight from London – although you’ll miss out on the excellent Qatar Airways lounge at Heathrow.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 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. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 30,000 Avios) with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. You receive 25,000 points if you spend £3,000 in three months and a further 5,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive a huge 100,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 100,000 Avios) with The Platinum Card. You receive 75,000 points if you spend £10,000 in six months and a further 25,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can 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.

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.