Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

How to get cheaper Avios flight redemptions to the Middle East by exploiting the 3,000 mile rule

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When you redeem Avios on a British Airways partner airline, the points cost of your flight is based off a separate pricing chart.

This is it, as from June 2019 (click to enlarge):

Reward flight prices on BA partner airlines (plus taxes, fees and carrier charges)
Zone Distance Economy Premium Economy Business Class First Class
1* 1—650 miles 6,000 9,000 12,500 24,000
2 651—1,150 miles 9,000 12,500 16,500 33,000
3 1,150—2,000 miles 11,000 16,500 22,000 44,000
4 2,001—3,000 miles 13,000 25,750 38,750 51,500
5 3,001—4,000 miles 20,750 41,250 61,000 82,500
6 4,001—5,500 miles 25,750 51,500 77,250 103,000
7 5,501—6,500 miles 31,000 62,000 92,750 123,750
8 6,501—7,000 miles 36,250 72,250 108,250 144,250
9 7,001+ miles 51,500 103,000 154,500 206,000
* zone 1 does not apply to internal flights in North America
North America 1—650miles 7,500 – 15,000 30,000

It is marginally, but only marginally, more expensive in terms of Avios than redeeming for a British Airways flight.

Because it is driven by distance, and because the gap between Avios pricing bands can be substantial, there are often good savings to be made if you leave the UK to start a redemption.  As an added bonus, you will save on long-haul premium cabin Air Passenger Duty too.

Before we go on, you should note that – as you won’t be flying British Airways if you start a redemption outside the UK – you hit two problems:

  • you will be charged peak Avios pricing every day, as off-peak pricing only applies to BA flights

If these are not problems for you, read on.

I thought I would focus on the Qatar Airways flights to Doha today as an example, in case you are thinking of slotting in a quick break before the weather in Europe improves.

However, even if you have no interest in a Qatar Airways trip to Doha, the same principles can be used with other Avios partners.  For example, Cathay Pacific redemptions to Hong Kong require fewer Avios from some European cities because it pushes you into the lower price band.

Going back to my Middle East example, the good news for Avios collectors is that:

  • Qatar Airways is a British Airways Avios earning and spending partner
  • Qatar Airways now flies to pretty much everywhere in Europe 
  • Qatar Airways has an excellent reputation for its premium cabins
  • Qatar Airways releases at least FOUR business class seats per flight

There is, of course, a big downside.  Due to the continuing blockade of Qatar by the UAE and others, it is not possible to (easily) connect from Doha to Dubai, Abu Dhabi etc.  If you follow the tips in this article, you will be holidaying in Doha.  It IS still possible to fly to Oman on Qatar Airways from Doha.

Heading to the Middle East, the key cut-off point is 3,000 miles:

  • 3,000 – 4,000 miles (which includes the UK), a Business Class return to Doha is 124,000 Avios return on a partner airline
  • below 3,000 miles, a Business Class return to Doha is 77,500 Avios return on a partner airline

Here is a map showing you a 3,000 mile radius from Doha:

Any Avios redemption on Qatar Airways booked from a city inside the red line to Doha will price at 77,500 Avios return instead of the 124,000 Avios it would cost from London.

Here are some Qatar Airways departure cities that are close to the red line and which are in most cases easily accessible from UK regional airports, as well as Heathrow:

  • Berlin
  • Budapest
  • Copenhagen
  • Frankfurt
  • Geneva
  • Gothenburg
  • Helsinki
  • Kiev
  • Milan
  • Munich
  • Nice
  • Pisa
  • Prague
  • Rome
  • Vienna
  • Warsaw
  • Zagreb
  • Zurich

Here is an example of business class pricing to Doha, return, using Avios:

  • Frankfurt to Doha, Business Class – 77,500 Avios + £448
  • Copenhagen to Doha, Business Class – 77,500 Avios + £442
  • Rome to Doha, Business Class – 77,500 Avios + £400

If you REALLY want to do it on the cheap, try starting in Turkey.  Istanbul to Doha is under 2,000 miles so the Avios pricing is:

  • Istanbul to Doha, Business Class – 44,000 Avios + £252

It is important to check the aircraft type.  Qatar Airways is using short-haul planes on some niche European routes, although most of them still have flat bed seats.  From the cities above you will get a long haul aircraft, except for Istanbul where one of the daily services seems to be an A320.

The taxes are not cheap, unfortunately.  Whilst you will be saving a lot of Avios, you won’t be saving much on the taxes once you’ve added in the cost of getting to your starting point.

If you are interested in this idea, I suggest doing an open-jaw trip.  Fly out of one European city and back to a different one.  Tack on a bit of sightseeing in both.  This gives you two mini-breaks either side of your Middle East holiday, as well as saving you a lot of Avios.

You can learn more about redeeming Avios on airline partners in our beginner’s guide to spending Avios points 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.

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.

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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.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Qatar Airways and Privilege Club

Comments (204)

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

  • Tony says:
    25 Feb25 February 08:12

    OT:

    What is the best way to top up a small amount (~3k) to Miles & More? IIRC Marriott and Heathrow Rewards transfers are still dead, is my option to take out their credit card?

    TIA
    Tony

    • stevenhp1987 says:
      25 Feb25 February 08:19

      Heathrow Rewards is listing M&M again…

      • memesweeper says:
        25 Feb25 February 08:41

        Good spot — so it is! Would anyone care to speculate if a transfer would prevent a M&M balance expiring?

        • Rob says:
          25 Feb25 February 09:00

          Nothing stops M&M expiry except status or getting and using the credit card.

          • Lady London says:
            25 Feb25 February 10:46

            They used to extend validity if Miles&More returned them after you cancelled an award booking. Then they gave only a very limited availability on returning them – as they did in my case when several months after booking award flight on UA, UA then bumped me onto an earlier flight which my BA flight incoming from the UK couldn’t reach. UA did this without consultation and refused to rebook me on the flight I’d been booked on for months. There wasn’t availability on any other flight to move the miles booking to, not on UA or any other airline on any day near, and so Miles&More said they couldn’t help and refunded my miles with a very short date. I had to cancel my trip as cash prices had by then gone through the roof. No other award seats of any sort to book them on. So that was another chunk of Miles&More miles that I lost.

            This was not the only incident where Lufthansa or another airline ‘broke’ an existing Miles&More award ticket I had booked many months before and Miles&More wouldn’t help.

            I think if you’re a German fat cat Miles&More might, just might, step up to their responsibilities and provide what you booked when Lufthansa or another airline changes their plans and abandons you but basically I would advise to avoid them unless you come from an influential source related to Germany. I can think of 3 incidents without even trying when Miles&More failed me and I was glad to get rid of them last year.

        • guesswho2000 says:
          25 Feb25 February 09:01

          No it won’t, M&M balances are hard expiring, unless you hold and use their credit cards.

        • Lady London says:
          25 Feb25 February 10:26

          @memesweeper when I met you at the HfP party you seemed eminently sensible. Puzzled that you are now admitting collecting Miles&More points… Have you discovered a secret to making Miles&More a fair and useful program in the UK?

          • Rob says:
            25 Feb25 February 12:28

            1. Good for Middle East
            2. Good if you like the OTT Lufty First Class experience inc First Class Terminal
            3. Good for redemptions during UK school holidays
            4. The new UK M&M credit card is accepted by HMRC! I admit I was a bit late to working this out, but I am now paying my income tax in weekly chunks in advance in order to get it all through the card

          • memesweeper says:
            25 Feb25 February 17:12

            I have a merge and orphaned balance… if chipping a few HR across would keep them alive I’d make the effort, otherwise they can die. They are useless!

  • Chas says:
    25 Feb25 February 08:29

    OT for PaulC (no bits) (no bits) – last week you asked for advice on spending NYE in Dubai, but I read it too late to respond on the original thread. In terms of your hotel choice, beware many of them have compulsory Gala Dinner fees for NYE which can easily stretch to several hundred dollars per person, on top of the room rate.

    We didn’t do the fireworks around the Burj Khalifa as were similarly worried about chaos and crowds (backed up by views of some friends that used to live in Dubai). We hadn’t booked our holiday until October by which time hotel availability / price was an issue, so stayed slightly further away (Jumeriah Creekside) on a fantastic BA holiday deal.

    For NYE fireworks, we instead booked one of the hotel restaurants in the Jumeriah area (a Lebanese restaurant in the Jumeriah Al Q’asr hotel called “Khaymat al Bahar”) which was a perfect location. Just before midnight we wandered 10 metres from our table onto the hotel’s private beach and had amazing views of the fireworks around the Burj al Arab in what was a very peaceful and uncrowded environment – it was a special moment. We could also see the fireworks on the Palm in the distance. We made a quick get away after that, and had a relatively smooth journey back to our hotel before the roads got completely jammed. Hope that helps.

    • fivebobbill says:
      25 Feb25 February 09:51

      Stayed at the Sheraton Grand Dubai on NYE, north end of Sheikh Zayed Road 200 metres from the Conrad. Beautiful hotel, excellent service, only opened 5 years ago, rooftop pool etc. WTC metro station right across the street. A one bedroom suite with lounge access cost me 38,000 Marriott points per night, no taxes/fees (room cash price was in excess of £500).
      Had food and a few celebratory bevvies in the lounge, then a leisurely 25/30 minute walk (or take the metro) along Sheikh Zayed to just short of the Burj for the firework display. Lots of viewing options once you get close enough, you really don’t need to go anywhere near the crowds in the fountain area. Plenty of fast food options on the way back.
      Would do it again in a heartbeat!

      • DB2020 says:
        25 Feb25 February 10:41

        My recent stay at the Sheraton Grand Hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road wasn’t as pleasant, in terms of the state of the room. Lots of stains on the carpet and sofa. Although the bathroom had glitzy marble tiled floors and walls, there were stains on them too. I was only there for a night, arriving late night on the BA day flight, then off to another hotel for three nights, for a conference being held there. Checked out in a rush to get to the conference and didn’t have the chance to comment.

        A full refurbishment should sort it out. Until then, I have dropped the Sheraton Grand from my list of hotels to stay in during my next few trips to Dubai.

        • fivebobbill says:
          25 Feb25 February 11:00

          Really shocked and surprised to read this DB2020, so far away from my experience! I found the hotel absolutely spotless, and service impeccable, I even emailed the manager after departure to say as much! We arrived on the 08.30 BA flight, and as I’d emailed the hotel to tell them I would be arriving early they even had a full breakfast set up in our suite to welcome us!
          Only Marriott Gold by the way, and never stayed at the hotel before in my life.
          I guess sometimes with a one-night stay it can be just a throw of the dice.
          Sorry you were disappointed.

  • Shoestring says:
    25 Feb25 February 08:47

    O/T is it correct Ryanair never cancel your return/ homeward flight on a return ticket if you never flew the outward flight?

    • marcw says:
      25 Feb25 February 08:51

      Yes. The same with easyJet.

      • Charlieface says:
        25 Feb25 February 09:03

        It’s not because they are nice. They only sell one way tickets, even if you buy them together.

        • Bagoly says:
          25 Feb25 February 09:15

          How separate are the two legs?
          Can one change the date of the “return” to be before the “outbound” so swapping the journey?
          Is there any cost saving from booking a return over two one-ways?

          • Bagoly says:
            25 Feb25 February 09:16

            (I’m only thinking about Easyjet)

          • Lady London says:
            25 Feb25 February 10:06

            You can change anything to anything on easyJet. Watch out for massive change fees though, same as Ryanair these increase to ‘unreal’ amounts at intervals of, say, 60 or 90 days before departure.

          • Lady London says:
            25 Feb25 February 10:11

            No such thing as a return, really, on these airlines. Some better increase in ability to apply EU261 benefits if booked as a return (seen that for Ryanair when an open jaw disqualified me from compo etc) and some better policies from easyJet – not just easyJet plus paid membership, which lets you switch only your return leg to space available earlier flight same day, also slightly better help on irrops.

          • Mj says:
            25 Feb25 February 10:18

            Only thing to keep an eye on is the return would in different currency if travelling out of UK. Not sure how they manage the xrate, also extra cost if not using a fee free card.

          • Lady London says:
            25 Feb25 February 10:58

            You can select currency you want to pay in by just clicking the word currency near the top left of the shopping basket box. Be aware that rates don’t seem exactly marked to market on a daily basis even though they say they are and this can be a positive thing.

          • Lady London says:
            25 Feb25 February 11:09

            *above for Easyjet. Can’t speak for Ryanair as I avoid them like the plague. Annoyingly though, Ryanair is pretty much leaving on time on the last flight of the day on my route. Whereas EasyJet is so consistently almost exactly 1 hour late departing on same route, I swear they know the flight will always not be leaving till at least 10.50pm or 11.00pm or so, but they timetable it at 9.50pm or so because otherwise no one would book that flight.

            It’s not funny when you land at Gatwick 1 hour late on a Sunday night after midnight as that guarantees you will land in the constant train problems from Gatwick on a Sunday night that get even worse after midnight quite often, when landing at 11pm as per the schedule you’d escape some of them. This is set to get a lot worse from May this year when 3 years of rail works start at Gatwick.

      • Shoestring says:
        25 Feb25 February 09:21

        thanks

    • Lady London says:
      25 Feb25 February 10:13

      Yes. Ryanair sounded surprised I even needed to ask this a while back.

  • William Portlock says:
    25 Feb25 February 08:57

    You can of course fly out BA to Rome for example and return Doha to London using companion -voucher open jaw and simply do Rome to Doha one way on Qatar

    • Bagoly says:
      25 Feb25 February 09:11

      But does’t distance between the two jaws need to be less than the closest one is to London?

      • Stu_N says:
        25 Feb25 February 12:21

        Correct – the “open jaw” has to be the shortest leg of the trip. As Doha to Rome is further than Rome to London, that isn’t going to work.

        • Erico1875 says:
          25 Feb25 February 13:55

          Interesting.
          I have LHR to Bangalore. I then tried to book Kuwait back to LHR. Was told it couldn’t be done as the sectors are different. BLR to Kuwait is less than Kuwait to LHR I’m sure.
          Should II be able to do this on a 2 4 1 after all?

  • John Caribbean says:
    25 Feb25 February 09:08

    OT, no bits
    I’m sure this has been mentioned (a lot) recently, but I’ve missed the conclusions of the conversations.
    I’ve been charged £50 on my Virgin Credit Card for a Revolut top up. Have others successfully appealed this?

    • Grant says:
      25 Feb25 February 09:13

      Yes. Virgin have been refunding people. Revolut have also been refunding cash advance charges if customers submitted a complaint.

      • John Caribbean says:
        25 Feb25 February 09:15

        Thanks Grant, appreciated

        • Paul says:
          25 Feb25 February 14:24

          I just spotted this too and never received the letter Virgin claim was emailed on 17 Jan as obviously I would not have done the 2 top ups if I had. Virgin say speak to Revolut and Revolut say speak to Virgin! Regarding and refund. Any tips on who to contact as fees charged are £150 and £60 respectively?

          • Grant says:
            25 Feb25 February 14:30

            My suggestion would be a secure message to Virgin via your online account and a complaint to Revolut. Ask a live chat agent for a link to the complaint form.

    • Secret Squirrel says:
      25 Feb25 February 12:09

      Pain in the a**e to have to keep asking for a refund each time, then wait. Better off not doing it & choose a card that doesn’t charge fees.

      • John Caribbean says:
        25 Feb25 February 12:18

        This was the first time it got me.
        Change of method in the future.

      • Grant says:
        25 Feb25 February 13:53

        Its a one time offer as a gesture of goodwill because Revolut flipped the MCC without advance warning. Virgin won’t keep paying you back the cash advance fees for every Revolut top up going forward.

        • Paul says:
          25 Feb25 February 16:52

          Thanks guys – online complaint to both now submitted. I have checked deleted emails and definitely no sign of the email Virgin say announced this on 17 Jan. Thought so as obviously would not have done top ups if thought there would be a fee!

          • Grant says:
            25 Feb25 February 17:42

            I received the email on 28 Jan and it references the 17 Jan as being the date when the MCC changed (they don’t use those terms). The email is worded in a way which reads as if only those customers who topped up Revolut previously would have been sent it. It is possible that you wouldn’t have been sent it if you hadn’t topped up with Virgin before the cut off date.

        • Lady London says:
          26 Feb26 February 09:53

          …. But Revolut is probably legally obliged to pay you back such fees (theirs and the other card’s) if they didn’t officially notify you, with due notice, and you received due notice. As it was Revolut that changed the MCC code and detrimental result caused to their customers.

          Practically though those that find Rev useful on here may moderate their challenge to Rev if Rev still has any use for them

  • iazzaman says:
    25 Feb25 February 09:23

    Add Venice (VCE) on your list, always cheap to fly BA to Heathrow or Gatwick

  • Freddy says:
    25 Feb25 February 09:36

    Approaching the last day to triple dip virgin shop away points (ends 26th Feb), morrisons more points and amex 5/10% credit at morrisons!

  • Krass says:
    25 Feb25 February 09:39

    In my experience this didn’t work as BA was stating that they do not operate a flight from set cities therefore it’s not a code share… Pretty awkward 😂. The route I was looking into was Sofia-Doha as qatar has a direct flight and then DOH- DPS. BA however was routing me through London so that the flight to Doha had a codeshare FN.
    Maybe I was unlucky, if there is a way around this pls share

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