You know the saying — if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Well, one airline has just significantly lowered the cost of partner award redemptions, which I think is an exception to that rule.
Continue reading: Amazing: British Airways Lowers Qatar Airways Award Costs
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Couldn’t you just transfer the BA Avios to Qatar and book for less, specifically for the connecting routes?
Does BA have the disAAdvantage of draconian routing rules? From Eastern North America to Asia, one can't use AAdvantage miles to fly QR, because all Asia redemptions must fly Trans-Pacific. Maybe this unlocks QR for award flights YYZ/JFK/ORD-BKK/SGN etc
There is actually a devaluation for some European flights, albeit not that bad since surcharges have been lowered. Few examples:
Doha - Frankfurt in J was 38.750 miles now 43.000
Doha - Istanbul in J was around 25K now 35.000
Longer European routes dropped from 63K to 43K so that is a welcoming change.
This is overall good, I redeemed 42.5K AAdvantage miles for BCN-DOH so seeing more Europe-Doha awards at this level makes BA a more compelling program
Ben, do you know what type of business product you get when booking with Avios. QR has infamously "unbundled" their business class product, for cheaper paid fares you no longer get lounge access and advanced seat reservation. What "bundle" do you get when booking with Avios?
Reyyan is correct. I was looking to book Doha - Zurich in J. It has now increased from 38,750 to 43,000 Avios. This is actually a devaluation for many.
I just linked my BA Avios account to my QR Privilege Club account. Doing so gives you access to all your Avios points.
I'm just not sure if that's the same as transferring them. I can't see why it wouldn't be, but simply don't know.
There is also a devaluation on the Qatar side. Flights from to/from Doha to European destinations on Qatar metal have increased their fuel surcharges. I previously booked ZRH-DOH-SLL in J for 45k qatar miles and CHF 65 in taxes. Now the taxes are CHF 199!!!
According to Ben, booking with miles means you get the full J experience. Assume it's still true with Avios
https://onemileatatime.com/qatar-airways-basic-business-class/#this_doesnt_apply_to_award_tickets
I think it might be gone. I saw many options for June and was working out my repositioning plan and now they are all gone. Anyone else have any luck?
AAdvantage does partner with the growing BILT point currency, which earns 2x on travel with their Mastercard FYI
The post specifically said major points currencies (Amex, Chase, Cit, or Capital One).
Bilt isn't a major points currency and continues to operate more like a startup with very limited access.
It seems a bit all over the place on pricing - EDI-DOH-SYD return is coming in at 226,000 Avios + £ 557.65 yet LHR-DOH-SYD is 180,000 Avios + £592.46!
I hate these routing rules as it makes it a lot more difficult to travel to Southeast Asia from the Northeast. Does anyone know if these routing rules are posted anywhere for reference or is there anyway to bypass them?
Also today saw a large increase in QR J availability to AA (and I would assume, other Oneworld partners). Was looking for DOH-SYD to complete an award and it popped today, either nonstop to SYD on the 380 (no QSuite), or via BNE on the 777 (likely QSuite).
I saw that too. I'm glad QR added BNE but I'm pretty disappointed it's a noisy and jetlag-inducing 777 (even with QSuites). It's completely your call, obviously. But for myself, I'll still to continue trekking down to SYD just to catch the QR a380 instead.
As someone else pointed earlier there is devaluations on the increased charges when booking on QR award flights. In example I saw Some short distance middle east flights that had around 50$ round trip charges with status are now charging 130$ so significant increase there.
can't find any availability to BEY - same dates but not sure whether settings are correct. Are you looking at first class or business class when selecting reward availability?
I’ve been trying to book a Qatar Airways business class seat from a city in the USA to MLE using avios. BA shows there’s 2 business/first seats available and I want to select the flight. But, I get an error message that states “sorry there is a problem booking this flight online. Try selecting other flights.” I haven’t transferred avios to my account yet but I wanted to test out the system before I did. Would I have to book this flight on the phone with a BA agent?