Qatar Airways raises Avios surcharges substantially

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• numpty says:

  15 Sep15 September 09:16

  a one way, 2 pax, EDI to KUL was 150,000 and £728

  now, same costs 180,000 and £1097

  This changes things in regards to using the BAPP 241 voucher, it had lost a bit of its value when compared to using avios on QR. This change seems to rebalance things relative to BA unfortunately.

  • Londonsteve says:

    15 Sep15 September 09:27

    I’m not sure how this tilts things back to BA considering you can hardly fly them to any of the destinations served by QR. It might tilt things in favour of AY or CX, however.

    • numpty says:

      15 Sep15 September 09:38

      I can fly EDI to KUL with BA or QR – as per the example provided.

    • BJ says:

      15 Sep15 September 14:11

      Probably just a matter of tine before AY and CX attemlt some convergence with Qatar and BA. AY just recey moved to avios a reworked their charts and fees so hopefully that buys us some time. Nit using avios, CX will likely just do their own thing regardless.

• Phillip says:

  15 Sep15 September 09:27

  I would say this makes Cathay’s FFP for those with Membership Rewards Points even more attractive!

  • meta says:

    15 Sep15 September 09:44

    And AA Advantage even more.

    • Phillip says:

      15 Sep15 September 12:03

      Agreed but from a U.K. card perspective, there are more transferable options to CX than AA. Otherwise AA’s programme is good value for QR.

      • BJ says:

        15 Sep15 September 14:15

        I’d have difciculty collecting appreciable miles in either. Presumably buying in sales can make sense or am I missing something?

        • meta says:

          15 Sep15 September 14:47

          You can use Amex MR and HSBC premier points to transfer to Asia Miles. AA Advantage you have Marriott Bonvoy, but not extra 5k. However if the hiked prices stick then yes, it makes sense to also buy in sales. It’s 75k miles + up to $50 for anywhere in Asia (more on the outbound from UK). Asia Miles it’s 80k+ low taxes to Asian destinations if I remember correctly.

        • BJ says:

          15 Sep15 September 16:52

          Vreat @meta. I’ll run the numbers in a sale and see how it works out. Apart from travel we have auite a quiet life so spend-based miles are not a big thing for us. I thought I saw grumbling about changes to AAdvantage lately though.

• Meike Hokkenbaals says:

  15 Sep15 September 09:43

  Feels like a scam. Is QR now being run by Alex, Paul and Jess?

  • JDB says:

    15 Sep15 September 10:09

    Not sure it’s really a “scam”. I’m not saying it’s a good thing, but everyone has been shouting from the rooftops how increasingly cheap these QR redemptions are so they have upped the price knowing there will be lots of protestations but that ultimately QR operates small premium cabins with high load factors and people will pay the increased cash element. It seems common industry practice not to announce these changes in advance.

    • meta says:

      15 Sep15 September 10:25

      Not announcing changes is a recent practice. It used to be that changes were announced months in advance. There would then be a scramble on redemptions, but at least it was more ethical.

  • numpty says:

    15 Sep15 September 11:17

    a week ago QR were doing a 50% bonus on avios purchase, this week they have increased their fees with no notice. Whether you want to call that a scam or dishonest up to you to decide, I’ll summarise it as ‘they are at it’.

    • will says:

      15 Sep15 September 12:06

      I think that’s a massive issue, selling something with a notional value for a cash price then changing the notional value significantly.
      At very least I think there should be some right to refund if there is a change in value clause on the cash sale of miles/points from a consumer protection point of view.

• Andrew says:

  15 Sep15 September 09:57

  LHR-SYD return for 2 people on QR is now £2351 in fees alone.

  Plus the 360,000 Avios that’s just shy of £6000 total cost – Qatar is living in cloud cuckoo land if they think that’s good redemption value for spending most if not all of the journey in business class seats that are over TWO DECADES old!

  BA now costs both less Avios and cash with a companion voucher, at 290,000 + £1550 = £4450 for Club Suites in peak season.

  It’s game over for Avios on Qatar unless they pull companion voucher access out of the ashes.

  • JDB says:

    15 Sep15 September 10:18

    290k is BA off peak, it would be 340k peak return and in your calculation you aren’t attributing any value to the companion voucher which is what skews your conclusion.

    One person no voucher BA peak out/off peak back = 315k Avios + £775 cash = £3,925 and on QR 180k Avios + £1,175 (? haven’t checked this but taken half your sum for two) = £2,975 which presents a rather different picture.

    • Andrew says:

      15 Sep15 September 13:24

      Not sure what you mean about off-peak – that’s the same date of travel priced on BA vs QR flights.

• Earthman says:

  15 Sep15 September 10:16

  I’m flying DUB DOH ICN in business class return on 2 one way avios redemptions next month that were booked on BA last march for stg£ 305 approx and 160,000 avios which seems like an absolute bargain now

• KG says:

  15 Sep15 September 10:20

  Is this a blanket change, also affecting low volume departure points (eg Stockholm)? Can anyone compare before and after there? It was a really attractive product, but I won’t fly or redeem Qatar at these price points.

  • Voldemort says:

    15 Sep15 September 12:01

    It’s a blanket change. E.g DUB was like £160 in taxes for a lkng haul redemption via DOH now it’s £360+.

• davedent says:

  15 Sep15 September 10:25

  On the plus side ( this wont be popular) it may reduce the number of people with kids in business.
  Lets keep this rise in perspective a cash return from manchester to sydney in biz costs approx 6k so still a good deal.

  • Rob says:

    15 Sep15 September 10:33

    Oddly it may increase it. Main reason you don’t see more kids is the ‘2 seats per flight’ cap. The fees are partly designed to encourage RevMan to release more seats to QAPC and so in theory you are more likely to see 3-4+ seats available. Cash is not the restricting factor in keeping kids out of business on Avios, its seats.

    • davedent says:

      15 Sep15 September 10:39

      Thats disappointing – I travel a lot on Qatar mostly paid and I have noticed a lot more kids in biz. Recently a child opened the doors on my Q-suite and slapped me on the head ( I actually had to laugh ) but not ideal.

      • SamG says:

        15 Sep15 September 10:44

        Highly likely a child who behaves like that has parents paying cash to be honest !!

      • BJ says:

        15 Sep15 September 14:26

        Lol. In 45 years if flying most trouble I’ve seen has been caused by adults, rarely by kids.

      • BSI1978 says:

        15 Sep15 September 15:38

        Did the parents apologise? Child or not, I would have given the little tyke a clip round the ear…..

    • SamG says:

      15 Sep15 September 10:43

      This makes sense. I fly East for work a lot and QR flights are very busy in J and often not in policy for me as the fares are chunky. There is no way at the moment that they want to release more Avios seats as the loss of yield would be too high.

      Most QR planes are surprisingly light up front vs airlines like BA. I am somewhat surprised they do not reconfigure some aircraft though they’re also busy down the back in the main so likely it works for them overall

    • BJ says:

      15 Sep15 September 14:23

      Always found getting reward seats on Qatar Airways easier than any other airline but that’s probably because tvey’re multiple daily to most key Asian destinations.

  • Voldemort says:

    15 Sep15 September 10:47

    In my 80+ flights on QR, I don’t think I’ve ever had any issues with kids. Plenty of insufferable adults though!

    • davedent says:

      15 Sep15 September 10:58

      Its nearly every Qatar flight I’m on but Yes adults too often their parents – had one flight delayed recently whist two adults argued about not being allowed both buggies in the overhead lockers with one of them demanding to see the written policy on this. Once they had binned off the Nanny to economy they were unable to control their own kids.

• John Maycock says:

  15 Sep15 September 10:26

  I booked in February 24…
  Dublin to Perth, and return Melbourne to London…
  2 x passengers….
  180,000 Avios each
  £377.42 taxes outward leg in total
  £377.60 taxes inward leg in total

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