Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Qatar Airways raises Avios surcharges substantially

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Qatar Airways Privilege Club has raised taxes and charges on Avios redemptions sharply last night in a ‘no notice’ move.

In general, around £125 per sector has been added to Business Class tickets.

This means a return flight with an aircraft change in Doha has risen by around £500 per person on longer routes.

EDIT: Qatar Airways has now rolled back some of the increase – click here to read

Qatar Airways raises Avios surcharges substantially

I haven’t had time to do a deep dive yet but here is one example.

This is Heathrow to Brisbane, priced a few months ago for an earlier HfP article:

Qatar Airways Avios surcharges

As you can see, you were paying £613 plus 180,000 Avios for a return flight in Business Class.

Here is the same route priced last night:

Qatar Airways Avios surcharges

Taxes and charges are now £563 per person, return, higher at £1,176.

If you nominally value an Avios at 1p, the overall implied cost has jumped from (£613 + £1,800) £2,413 to (£1,176 + £1,800) £2,976 which is an increase of 23%.

Suddenly those £1,900 return China Eastern cash tickets in Business Class between Amsterdam and Sydney look more appealing ….

Here is more pricing. Bangkok is now £899 return in Business Class (not sure what it used to be):

Qatar Airways Avios surcharges

Return flights to Doha, because they are only one segment each way, remain cheaper at £499 return in Business Class:

Qatar Airways Avios surcharges

If you’ve recently booked a Qatar Airways redemption and can compare old and new, please post in the comments.

ba.com is showing identical taxes and charges figures if you book through BA.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

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 (219)

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

  • KyaCat says:
    15 Sep15 September 06:48

    I did LHR > HKT (via DOH) last year, it was 150000 Avios + 547.06 GBP. So comparing to your new BKK of £899, that’s a whopping 64% increase.

  • NicktheGreek says:
    15 Sep15 September 06:52

    Pretty rude to drop this a week after selling avios with a 50% bonus…

    Poor form Qatar.

    • BJ says:
      15 Sep15 September 09:32

      I think it was Alaska that ended up in hot water for doing the same and ended up accepting miles returns for a full refund on request. I cannot see Qatar doing this even if the feel some heat.

  • S Malik says:
    15 Sep15 September 06:53

    Booked a one way DXB-MEL 2 weeks ago. 75000 Avios + AED 875 (£182). It’s now pricing at AED 2055 (£428)!
    Absolutely terrible, but they’re well known for this.

  • Phillip says:
    15 Sep15 September 06:59

    I wonder if these will be passed onto partner programmes such as AA – might result in better availability for those willing to pay! As always, too much of a good thing…

  • BJ says:
    15 Sep15 September 07:00

    I was hoping this would wait just another month 🙂 Time to move to Plan B: visit friends in Copenhagen and redeem AY from there.

    For those flying to BKK an avios redemption in Qatar business is now a little more expensive than a typical Finnair Basic revenue tick. Thus IMO it is still not a bad deal at all as we get flexibility, seat selection, lounge access and possibly the F for J perk on some sectors.

    I am increasingly seeing a problem with reward flights: in many schemes for many destinations the costs ( when factoring in value if miles used) is now very close to or higher than revenuee fares to the same destination. Arguably they are no longer rewards at all. However many other destinations still offer massive savings booked as rewards as do pretty much all destinations at peak times. So while news like this takes the shine off a little there is still much with playing for.

    • Sean says:
      15 Sep15 September 07:58

      I made this point a while back. Award flights can cost a comparable sum to a revenue flight but get no Tier Points. One of the reasons my Nectar account is still intact.

      • Sean says:
        15 Sep15 September 08:02

        https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/advice/how-frequent-flier-schemes-lost-their-way-air-miles/
        “ Last week, the Biden administration wrote to airline bosses warning them that it would be keeping a close eye on whether points programmes represent a fair deal for customers. US regulators are particularly concerned that airlines can effectively change the value of their points overnight, making it harder for customers to claim reward flights or upgrades.”

      • BJ says:
        15 Sep15 September 08:47

        It has been tbe case for years that miles-earning revenue flights made more sense to some destinations at some time, particularly for those who didn’t need flexibility. What is changing is that this is becoming increasingly common but rewards will always win out for those tied to school holidays or travelling over the festive period.

  • Hugo says:
    15 Sep15 September 07:00

    It seems to vary quite a bit as the surcharge from DOH to LHR has gone up by £40 whereas others have done more. When you compare to BA prices for Doha it is still a bargain!

  • Gordon says:
    15 Sep15 September 07:07

    “Suddenly those £1,900 return China Eastern cash tickets in Business Class between Amsterdam and Sydney look more appealing”

    Exactly this Rob! It’s getting to the stage (or maybe it’s there already) where the cheapest cash fares are the way to go.

    • Kwab says:
      15 Sep15 September 07:20

      Or use your FC miles on Skyteam!

    • Tom says:
      15 Sep15 September 09:24

      In a world where air miles are easier than ever to acquire, the cheapest cash fare being cheaper than redemption tickets does make some sense. It’s so easy to acquire miles in the US etc that offering cheap / saver level redemption tickets now is almost like selling cheap refundable cash tickets for a particular flight – it doesn’t totally make economic sense any longer (at least in the US). This is now gradually spreading elsewhere too.

      • Gordon says:
        15 Sep15 September 12:02

        You appear to be missing the point! The increase was the cash element, not the points! So my point was a valid one!

  • Kwab says:
    15 Sep15 September 07:17

    BRU-DOH in J booked last week 104 EUR now 150 EUR
    I guess if you book via BA taxes have gone up too?
    Alternative I guess is to book shorter legs and hope for the best in DOH when you change!

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 80,000 bonus points (worth 80,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card (Offer ends 27th May)

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 30,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold (ends 27th May)

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!