Excellent Qatar Airways business class deals to Asia from £1000 – earning 560 BA tier points

Qatar Airways has launched a batch of very attractive business class flight deals from certain European cities to Asia.

These deals requires 2+ people to travel together.  Solo travellers will usually pay a few hundred Euros more.

They are primariy for travel from mid-November to until late December.

If you read my recent series of Qatar Airways flight reviews (the series starts here with the Heathrow lounge) then you will be keen to give them a try.

If you won’t take my word for it, Qatar Airways won Best Airline, Best Long-Haul Airline, Best Business Class and Best Middle Eastern Airline in the 2019 Business Traveller Awards.

How to earn Avios and BA tier points with Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways has an excellent business class product, which we’ll return to in a minute.  However, a key reason for Head for Points readers to fly them is that you earn British Airways Avios and tier points from your flight.

In fact, you earn MORE tier points than you would earn from flying BA on the same route.  The change of aircraft in Doha means that you get two lots of tier points each-way, instead of one lot.

The Budapest and Warsaw deals below earn 140 tier points per leg, so 560 tier points for a return trip.  This is 90% of what you need for a British Airways Executive Club Silver card, which requires 600 tier points – although remember that you need to have flown four one-way BA cash flights in the same membership year too.

The cut-off point for earning 140 tier points per leg is 2,000 miles.  Unfortunately, Athens to Doha is under 2,000 miles.  If you book the Athens fares below, you will only earn 40 + 140 + 140 + 40 = 360 tier points for your return trip.

The current Qatar Airways business class deals

The best deals at the moment appear to be from Athens, Budapest and Warsaw.  Here is some sample pricing but you may find other destinations are also available:

From Athens

Remember that you only get 360 BA tier points return on these fares.

Deals include (all prices could be found on Saturday evening):

• Ho Chi Minh  c £1,100
• Hong Kong c £1,150
• Male / Maldives c £1,150
• Seoul c £1,350
• Tokyo c £1,150

These are companion fares and 2+ people must travel.  Solo travellers cannot get this price.

You must book by 29th October (ie Tuesday), start your trip after 12th November but before 10th December and end your trip by 31st December.

From Budapest

Deals include (all earn 560 BA tier points return):

• Hong Kong c £1,100
• Kuala Lumpur c £1,200
• Seoul c £1,000
• Shanghai c £1,000
• Singapore c £1,150
• Phuket c £1,150

These are also companion fares so 2+ people must travel.  The same travel dates apply as for Athens.

From Warsaw

Deals include (all earn 560 BA tier points return):

• Bangkok c £1,150
• Hong Kong c £1,200
• Shanghai c £1,150

These are also companion fares, with the same travel dates as Athens.

Check out our Qatar Airways flight reviews – links below – before you book

What is Qatar Airways business class like?

Qatar Airways has an excellent Business Class product.  Whilst individual seats can vary from aircraft to aircraft the exceptional soft-product is uniform across the fleet.

Here are the main aircraft options:

Boeing 787-8 – the seat you are most likely to get is the 1-2-1 herringbone configuration I reviewed here. This is based on the same Super Diamond seat that the new British Airways Club Suite is based upon, albeit without a door and a slightly different tray table and sculpted seat surrounds.

A350-900 – whilst some of the A350-900s are fitted with Qsuite, others have the reverse herringbone seat that is also on Qatar’s 787 (review) and A380 aircraft.

A350-1000 – between Doha and a variety of busier destinations in Asia including Singapore you get the fantastic Qsuite which I reviewed recently, which is installed on all of Qatar’s A350-1000 aircraft.

Boeing 777-300ER – some 777 routes still get the older 2-2-2 seating I reviewed here. Qatar is in the process of refitting its entire Boeing 777 fleet with Qsuite and is about 50% completed on the 777-300ER, so you may get lucky with refurbished one with Qsuite (reviewed here).

A380 – on some flights Qatar flies an A380, which features its reverse herringbone seat reviewed here – it is not Qsuite but it has a great bar.

If you are particularly unlucky you may also get an A330.  These are fitted with a 2-2-2 business class seat – I would normally not recommend these but, as these are all companion fares, you will be travelling with other people so your neighbour will be know to you!

It has to be said that Qatar Airways has a habit of changing its aircraft allocations at short notice, so I wouldn’t get too hung up on which one you choose because it may change.

Which credit card should I use?

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.  Our review of Amex Gold is here.

To find out more ….

You can book via the Qatar Airways website here.  YOU MUST SEARCH FOR 2 PEOPLE – don’t use just one person when looking up prices.

To learn more about Qsuite, take a look at this special page of the website.

To learn more about the herringbone seat on the A380 and Boeing 787, take a look at this special page of the website.

To learn more about the Al Mourjan business class lounge in Doha, take a look at this page of the Qatar Airways website and read my Al Mourjan lounge review here.

Remember that these deals end on 29th October.  This is local time, so it will be 11pm in the UK.

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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:

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.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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.