Qatar Airways reverses the bulk of its Avios fee increase
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Qatar Airways has swiftly reversed the bulk of the sharp increase in Avios taxes and charges added on Saturday night.
There always was a plan to increase taxes and charges, but somewhere down the line it appears that a mistake was made and the fees raised far higher than was intended.
This is not the first time that Qatar Airways has suffered IT issues of this nature.
On Sunday afternoon, Qatar Airways told us:
Qatar Airways Privilege Club sincerely apologises for any inconvenience our valued members may have faced during the rollout of our revised reward fees policy earlier today. The reward fees that were displayed for booking Qatar Airways award flights were higher than intended. The issue has since been resolved and the correct reward fees, as per the revised policy, are now being reflected and applied for all Qatar Airways award flight bookings.
Qatar Airways Privilege Club has transitioned our reward fees policy for redeeming Qatar Airways award flights from a sector-based model to a distance-based structure, effective today. Reward fees have decreased up to 15% or remained unchanged for several of our most popular short and medium-haul routes while others have increased representative of the distance travelled.
What does this mean in practice?
Let’s go back to our examples from Sunday morning.
This is Heathrow to Brisbane, priced a few months ago for an earlier HfP article:
As you can see, you were paying £613 plus 180,000 Avios for a return flight in Business Class.
Here is the same route price on Satuday night:
Taxes and charges were £563 per person, return, higher at £1,176.
Here is the revised position as of Sunday afternoon:
Taxes and charges are down to £793, which is ‘just’ £180 return higher than it was.
Here is more pricing. Bangkok was £899 return in Business Class on Sunday morning:
This is now down to £623 (we don’t know what the cost was last week for comparison):
If you start your trip in Dublin and not Heathrow this comes down to €429 (£361).
A return Business Class trip to Doha which was £479 on Sunday morning in Business Class:
…. is unchanged. You will still pay £479, although you can cut this to €267 (£224) if you start in Dublin.
So …. in conclusion …. things are worse than they were last week, but nowhere near as bad as they were yesterday morning.
More importantly, the bulk of routes are still cheaper (ignoring Amex voucher redemptions) on Qatar Airways than on British Airways, and availability and route network is far better.
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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 Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
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.
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