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Hello
My wife and I are travelling Asia this year, we are looking to return to the UK mid January 2026 from most likely Thailand, we have nearly 400k avios and two premium plus companion vouchers.
We are very flexible in our route home / dates/ any other countries along the route.
I don’t believe I will get business class redemptions using BA from Bangkok due to its popular route.
I was thinking of using just avios and booking Qatar business class for 75k avios and £190pp from Bangkok to LHR via Doha. Is this probably my best option in flying business home?
I’m not desperate to use the vouchers yet as we might travel South America next year, I will book Iberia from Madrid as it’s so much better value.
Are you seeing those QR prices for next January? If so, I’d say definitely book it as they often charge double avios at peak times. I think it would be a good idea to save the voucher for a trip where you’re more restricted to BA/IB routes.
BKK seats on BA in CW (and PE) are all gone already for next Jan, unless you want to wait and see if a 241 opens up more availability in the coming months (or a cancellation appears).
Bangkok is difficult but Kuala Lumpur and Singapore have more flights with Ba to use your companion voucher and go into LHR instead of LGW and chance of club suite too.
The night trains are fab from that neck of the woods too so if your last place was Koh Samui / Tao etc then Surathani is where the train goes from to KL.
We are considering it with the kids next year.
Are you seeing those QR prices for next January? If so, I’d say definitely book it as they often charge double avios at peak times. I think it would be a good idea to save the voucher for a trip where you’re more restricted to BA/IB routes.
BKK seats on BA in CW (and PE) are all gone already for next Jan, unless you want to wait and see if a 241 opens up more availability in the coming months (or a cancellation appears).
Yeh I found the Qatar Avios reward flights on their app for next January. I thought it was a pretty good deal for 75k avios each and 15hr of business? Maybe even get Q suites? If you have any advice to bank them?
Or obviously you can get a cheapish economy flight to Kuala Lumpur or Singapore
I’d suggest setting up SeatSpy alerts in case BA redemption seats do pop up
Also, Finnair’s a possible option as well – they generally seem to have more redemption availability than the likes of BA/CX on Asian routes. Finnair flies to both Bangkok and Phuket.
If you can see Qatar flights at the standard rates for the route and date that works for you then book first, ask questions later!
BA would be 90000 avios plus £178 per person, so while it would be cheaper if you could use your companion voucher, for 60000 extra avios in total you get a much better seat, much better service, much better food and you get to save your voucher for another day when you should save much more than 60000 avios.
If you can see Qatar flights at the standard rates for the route and date that works for you then book first, ask questions later!
BA would be 90000 avios plus £178 per person, so while it would be cheaper if you could use your companion voucher, for 60000 extra avios in total you get a much better seat, much better service, much better food and you get to save your voucher for another day when you should save much more than 60000 avios.
Thanks Matt, makes sense. I think I’ll go with Qatar, I will still have enough Avios to use with the two companion vouchers next year.
If for some reason, am I able to cancel the flight and get a refund? Obviously minus the small fee.
Next question will be how do I secure two seats in Q suites 🙂
Yes QR redemptions are cancellable, I think for £25 or so pp.
Once you’ve made your booking you should be able to select seats. Unfortunately QR has a reputation for changes and equipment swaps. You can’t do anything about that so just bask in the satisfaction of getting J seats at that price!
If you can see Qatar flights at the standard rates for the route and date that works for you then book first, ask questions later!
BA would be 90000 avios plus £178 per person, so while it would be cheaper if you could use your companion voucher, for 60000 extra avios in total you get a much better seat, much better service, much better food and you get to save your voucher for another day when you should save much more than 60000 avios.
Thanks Matt, makes sense. I think I’ll go with Qatar, I will still have enough Avios to use with the two companion vouchers next year.
If for some reason, am I able to cancel the flight and get a refund? Obviously minus the small fee.
Next question will be how do I secure two seats in Q suites 🙂
Have you checked BA for the same QR flights? If available and same points/price, I personally would book via BA as I find their customer services better and quicker to return points/fees than QR if things go wrong for a slightly higher cancellation fee.
For Q-suites, QR’s booking process will tell you if any of your sectors are planning to run Q-Suites when picking your flights. Be prepared though for potential aircraft swap to non q-suite product with your trip being 11 months away. There is an HfP article publicising a so called Q-Suite Guarantee whereby QR allow you to change flights for no fee within certain rules. I personally have not availed of this service.
Have you checked BA for the same QR flights? If available and same points/price, I personally would book via BA as I find their customer services better and quicker to return points/fees than QR if things go wrong for a slightly higher cancellation fee.
I would do the opposite.
I (and others) have had poor experiences trying to make changes to Qatar flights booked via BAEC.
I’ve had Qatar return points for a cancellation very quickly – far quicker than BA.
Book directly with Qatar. The cancellation fee is 25 USD (around £20?). Their live chat (use the app) is excellent and they actually get stuff done very quickly.Have you checked BA for the same QR flights? If available and same points/price, I personally would book via BA as I find their customer services better and quicker to return points/fees than QR if things go wrong for a slightly higher cancellation fee.
I would do the opposite.
I (and others) have had poor experiences trying to make changes to Qatar flights booked via BAEC.
I’ve had Qatar return points for a cancellation very quickly – far quicker than BA.
Book directly with Qatar. The cancellation fee is 25 USD (around £20?). Their live chat (use the app) is excellent and they actually get stuff done very quickly.Having fallen foul of this myself in the past, I would agree: book QR flights via QR. They cancelled our flight and moved us to an earlier one, and BA couldn’t/wouldn’t change us to the later flight the same day. I think QR should be better when you’ve booked through them, but they certainly wouldn’t be worse.
Could always take advantage of Norse’s new Bangkok route… £473 each premium, a day flight, so I’d be happy not to have the flat bed for that price.
Thanks for everyone’s input. I booked on QATAR flying QR business class from Phuket – LHR for 75k avios and £190 per person which I thought was a great deal.
Q suites and managed to get the double bed honeymoon seats for half the flight all being well.The lay over was 6hrs in Doha but I’m sure I’ll be just fine in one of Dohas lounges.
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