Get up to 5,000 bonus Qatar Airways Qmiles and a status fast track when you join Privilege Club

If you have Qatar Airways flights coming up, the airline is currently running an interesting promotion to encourage you to sign up for its Privilege Club loyalty scheme.  

Whilst most Head for Points readers will be British Airways Executive Club members – and as both airlines are members of the oneworld alliance you can credit Qatar Airways flights to BA if you want – the extra perks with this deal mean that you still may want to take a look.

If you sign up as a new member of Qatar Airways Privilege Club before 31st January you will earn up to 5,000 bonus Qmiles on your first Qatar Airways flight taken before 28th February.

Your exact bonus depends on your class of travel:

2,500 bonus Qmiles for travel in economy

5,000 bonus Qmiles for any business or first class ticket

To qualify for the sign up bonus you MUST use the promotional code NSWEUR18 when you sign up to Privilege Club.  The sign-up link for this promotion is here.

And a fast track to status ….

There’s more. In addition to your bonus miles, Qatar Airways has made it easier for new sign-ups using the above code to gain elite status.

If you earn 100 QPoints between now and 28th February 2019 you will be upgraded to Silver tier by 15th March.  Earning 200 QPoints in the same time frame will get you Gold.  This is significantly fewer Qpoints than normal, when you need 150 and 300 for Silver or Gold respectively.

Is it worth it?

Remember during this article that Qatar Airways Privilege Club Silver tier is the equivalent to British Airways Bronze and Qatar Gold matches to British Airways Silver.

Looking at the Qmiles calculator it looks like Qatar Airways Privilege Club Silver would be very easy to achieve with just one return trip to Asia in economy. Privilege Club Gold is a little harder. Here are some example routes:

London-Doha-Bangkok return gets you between 170 and 120 Qpoints in business depending on your fare class

London-Doha-Sydney return gets you between 272 and 170 Qpoints – enough to reach Gold

Of course, you could credit the same flights to British Airways Executive Club since Qatar Airways is a oneworld partner. For the same sectors, flying via Doha, you would get:

560 tier points London-Doha-Bangkok return – just 40 tier points away from Silver (equivalent to Privilege Club Gold)

600 tier points London-Doha-Sydney return – qualifying exactly for British Airways Silver (equivalent to Privilege Club Gold) as long as also have four British Airways cash flights under your belt in the same membership year

If you are flying Qatar Airways in the near future and are interested in this offer, this is what you should do:

Use this calculator on the Qatar Airways website to work out how many miles it costs for a specific redemption you are targeting using Qatar Airways Qmiles

Use this calculator on the British Airways website to work out how many miles it costs for a specific redemption you are targeting using Avios

Don’t forget to factor in the extra 2,500 to 5,000 Qmiles you’d receive under this offer.  You will then be able to make a sensible decision based on your earning and redemption plans about whether this offer works well for you.

If it does, you can sign up to Privilege Club here where you will also find full details of the offer.  The deadline for registering is 31st January with flights to be taken by 28th February.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (January 2025)

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 Mastercard

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

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 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

30,000 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

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

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

50,000 points when you sign-up 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.