Student? Get BA Bronze equivalent status (Qatar Silver) on graduation with Qatar Student Club

Qatar Airways has its own Student Club, aimed at people aged 18-30 who are currently in higher education.

We looked at this briefly when it launched but November 2020 wasn’t the best time to highlight it properly. From what I am told, however, it is proving very successful with its target market which is primarily international students.

That said, you can join yourself if you are under 30 and in higher education. There is no need to be studying outside your home country.

Membership of Qatar Student Club is free so there is no downside in joining.

The benefits are surprisingly good and well chosen given the target market:

• Special fares on flights
• Excess baggage allowance
• Date change flexibility
• Companion Pass to allow a non-member friend to save alongside you
• Privilege Club tier upgrade as a graduation gift
• Complimentary Super Wi-Fi (a decent deal given the cost of inflight wi-fi)

The ‘tier upgrade’ is an interesting one. If you take one return cash flight on Qatar Airways in EACH year of your membership of Qatar Student Club, you will receive a one level tier upgrade when you graduate.

Assuming that you have no Qatar Airways status at that point, you would be upgraded to Silver. This is equivalent to British Airways Executive Club Bronze status and gets you the same benefits, including free selection on British Airways within seven days of departure. There are no lounge access benefits.

There is, of course, a reverse incentive at play here. Since you need to manage one flight per membership year to get the status upgrade, you may want to NOT join Qatar Student Club until your final year of study, at which point you join and take one cash flight. This would meet the requirement to be upgraded to Silver status (BA Bronze equivalent) a year later when you graduate.

You can find out more, and register for Student Club, on this page of the Qatar Airways website.

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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.