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A good Qatar Airways Bangkok flight deal which earns 560 British Airways tier points

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Qatar Airways has launched a decent deal from Stockholm to Bangkok, with a return Business Class seat coming in at SEK 15,700 (£1,300).

This isn’t the greatest fare we’ve ever seen.  However:

it is available for all of 2019 and early 2020, except for Christmas week, as long as you fly out on Mon-Thu

you would earn 560 British Airways tier points due to the change of plane in Doha (140 points x 4 flights)

With multiple daily flights on each leg between Stockholm-Doha and Doha-Bangkok, you can pick from various seating options:

Boeing 777-300ER – you would either get the older 2-2-2 seating I reviewed here or a refurbished one with the amazing new Qsuite (reviewed here).

A350-900 –  the herringbone seat which I reviewed here, albeit in its 787 incarnation, which is very impressive.  Qatar has a special website showing off this seat which you’ll find here.

A330-200 – these are now refitted with flat seats, usually in a 2-2-2 configuration, so ignore any reports you see talking about sloping seats

A340-600 – as for the A330-200

Boeing 787-9 – see here for details of the seat there, which is also good.   I reviewed the 787-8 seat here.

The Qatar Airways booking site is here.  You need to book by 4th April and a five day minimum stay is required although it is possible that the fare is pulled earlier.

If you don’t have a credit card with 0% foreign exchange fees, your best option for paying is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold which offers triple points – 3 per £1 – when you book flight tickets in a foreign currency.  This is because the transaction triggers the ‘double points for airline spend’ and the ‘double points for foreign spend’ bonuses.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 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 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

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 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.

Category

Qatar Airways and Privilege Club

Comments (125)

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

  • Jules says:
    30 Mar30 March 07:04

    How long have people found that Iberia takes to post the Groupon points?

    • Mr. AC says:
      30 Mar30 March 07:11

      Depends. I took this offer 3 times, and the 1st and the 3rd time they took less than a week. On the second time though I had to chase them – they took up to the last day of the period of the groupon validity and a couple attempts.

    • flyforfun says:
      30 Mar30 March 12:49

      What’s the best way to transfer points to BA? I had problems before as I have a HH a/c. Rob told me to set up a flybe Avios account which did the trick, but that option will be gone very soon!!

      • Rob says:
        30 Mar30 March 13:12

        Open an Aer Lingus or Vueling account and do the same thing as you do with Flybe.

        • A270 says:
          30 Mar30 March 15:29

          I still had a lot of issue transferring from Aer Club to BA household. Had to make a few calls for the transfer.

  • Mr. AC says:
    30 Mar30 March 07:15

    O/T:
    – what’s the best way currently to check oneworld availability? Are there any tools that make it easy? I’ve vaguely heard something about Award Nexus, I think.
    – if two separate carrier websites (AA and Qantas) show that there’s Business class availability on LHR – Colombo route on Sri Lankan on a given date, yet BA’s website doesn’t agree – will the BA agent be able to book it if I call? If they can’t, is there any use complaining and to whom (since it’s an intra-onewrold issue)?

    • Alex W says:
      30 Mar30 March 10:08

      The Qantas website is good. Try calling BA to book – of they say no, HUACA.

  • Alex Sm says:
    30 Mar30 March 08:25

    O/T for bits: it looks like that Amex Curve top-ups earlier this year didn’t earn ANY Avios on BA Amex credit card. True?

    • Doug M says:
      30 Mar30 March 08:52

      Were they treated as cash or purchase?

      • Alex Sm says:
        30 Mar30 March 09:05

        Not clear to be honest… doesn’t say explicitly on the statement it was a cash advance

    • John says:
      30 Mar30 March 11:44

      They certainly earned me MR points, so it would have been only a BA Amex thing if others report the same.

    • stevenhp1987 says:
      30 Mar30 March 12:16

      My topups earned Avios on my BAPP and MR on my Amex Gold. Earned a chunk paying a dealership for a brand new car via Curve!

      All topups done during the beta though.

    • Alan says:
      31 Mar31 March 15:35

      Not true in my case – triggered my 241 voucher (actually without meaning to!) with Curve top-up

  • thehornets says:
    30 Mar30 March 08:27

    Thanks for the Hertz information. I’ve got quite a few points I never seem to be able to use, so have hopes that this new scheme grows.

    • Bagoly says:
      30 Mar30 March 15:08

      If you ever pay for rentals from Hertz, you can use points for part of the booking.
      If you have rented for Fri and Sat you can choose which day for which to use points (weekend is fewer points)
      Until I tried that I thought mine were useless.

  • SammyJ says:
    30 Mar30 March 08:29

    O/T – Intercontinental Ambassador
    Am I right that under the new system, there is no voucher? It said there would be a ‘digital voucher’ so I’ve been waiting for an email but it looks like I just book the rate and the hotel sort it when I get there? Thanks!

    • TGLoyalty says:
      30 Mar30 March 10:06

      If you joined or renewed after March 1st it will be digital

      • SammyJ says:
        31 Mar31 March 07:03

        Yes, it should be digital, but it mentioned a digital voucher – not seen one of those, just wondering if I actually need some sort of emailed voucher equivelant of the old paper one, or if the voucher no longer exists and it’s just done based on my membership status.

  • AndyR says:
    30 Mar30 March 08:59

    OT – does anyone know how to link 2 Membership Reward earning Amex cards please? I have the Platinum and the free Amex Rewards card but the points are in separate balances. I want to cancel the Platinum and move the MR’s to the free Amex Rewards balance but in the T&C’s it mentions that they must be linked.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      30 Mar30 March 10:06

      Phone AMEX CS

    • Rob says:
      30 Mar30 March 11:32

      Need to call Amex. This should never have happened in the first place.

    • AndyR says:
      30 Mar30 March 12:52

      Thanks. Gave them a call and they’ve raised a request to the back office. Can take up to 10 days – hope it’s sooner though.

  • Fola Akingboye says:
    30 Mar30 March 09:32

    OT- Could someone help with queries below:
    I canceled my Preferred Amex Gold card before the new Amex rule and transferred all my MR points to the free Amex Rewards Card. Now with the new Amex rule, I am planning to cancel the free Amex Rewards Card, will it be possible to move all my MR points to the BAPP? Also, I am not sure if I should cancel my BAPP though I still have 6k spend to put on the card in order to activate the companion voucher. Is the companion voucher worth? because if I don’ t cancel my BAPP now it will only extend my waiting period to apply for a new card as per the new rule.

    • Dave R says:
      30 Mar30 March 09:37

      No.. the BA cards use Avios not MR points

    • Shoestring says:
      30 Mar30 March 09:50

      Worth it? Good question & depends on what you’ll use the 2-4-1 voucher for. I’ve never bothered to go for it as we only fly in Europe and it’s a big waste of money chasing it to get a free companion ticket saving £150 (Economy return) or £300 (Business return – but I wouldn’t normally fly Business on a short European flight so upgrading Ticket #1 to Business is an extra cost as well, meaning net saving is lower, about £150, though you can factor in the Business fare advantages x2 (free lounge/ drinks & snack on board/ 2x 32kg) so not too bad.

      Whereas the 2-4-1 saving on a LH Business/ First return flight can be counted in the £000s.

  • Cat says:
    30 Mar30 March 09:53

    It’s probably worth mentioning that Dinner (Heston Blumenthal’s slightly less famous restaurant – the one with the meat fruit and 2 Michelin stars) is in the Mandarin Oriental. Is it possible to use the Hertz / Mandarin Oriental gift card there? It is a fantastic restaurant, and they currently do a business lunch deal for £45 pp…

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

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