Qatar Airways, please take all my Avios!
In this post:
Qatar Executive joins Qatar Airways Privilege Club
Qatar Airways Group has a private jet division, known as Qatar Executive. There’s a fun development when it comes to this, as Qatar Executive has been added as a Qatar Airways Privilege Club member. With this, loyalty program members can now earn and redeem Avios, and even receive elite status, for Qatar Executive bookings.
How does this work?
- Privilege Club members can earn 4x Avios per one USD spent with Qatar Executive
- Privilege Club members can spend their Avios on Qatar Executive bookings, either to pay for a flight in full, or using Cash + Avios to save on journeys
- When booking Qatar Executive for the first time, members can choose one person to upgrade to Privilege Club Platinum, and three members to fast track to Privilege Club Gold
The Avios redemption rates for Qatar Executive aren’t published. Maybe I’ll give them a ring and see how far my Avios balance will get me on a G700. 😉
Here’s how Qatar Airways Senior Vice President of Loyalty, Thomas Vadakedath, describes this development:
“As Privilege Club continues to augment the loyalty programme with exclusive experiences for our members, we are proud to collaborate with Qatar Executive. Members who prefer flying in the comfort of private charters can now collect Avios when making their bookings with Qatar Executive. Furthermore, members can now also choose to experience the luxury of Qatar Executive by paying for their flight, either in full or part with Avios. We look forward to seeing our members benefit from this fruitful collaboration.”
Meanwhile here’s what Qatar Executive Vice President of Commercial, Trevor Esling, had to say:
“As we continue to set the standard for business aviation, our partnership with Qatar Airways Privilege Club further enhances the exclusive benefits we offer to our clientele. The programme aims to reward our loyal passengers, while creating further synergies within the Qatar Airways Group. As a first-of-its-kind within our industry, we see it as another addition in providing a seamless and rewarding journey at every touchpoint.”
What is Qatar Executive, anyway?
For those not familiar, Qatar Executive is an on-demand private jet service, offering charter services globally. The company currently has a fleet of 20 private jets, with nearly 10 more on order.
The biggest planes in the fleet are the Airbus ACJ319 (essentially a private jet version of the Airbus A319), then there’s the Bombardier Global 5000 (which is also massive), and then there are Gulfstream jets, including the G650ER and G700, which are some of the most capable private jets in service.
Perhaps what sets Qatar Executive apart from the competition is just how cutting edge its fleet is. The company was the launch customer for both the G650ER and G700. It’s a pretty snazzy fleet, but up until now we otherwise haven’t seen much integration between Qatar Airways and Qatar Executive. So it’s cool to see a loyalty collaboration.
That being said, I’m curious what the overlap is between people looking to charter a private jet that’s the size of a commercial aircraft, and those interesting in collecting miles & points. Or at least I wonder to what extent that moves the needle. Regardless, it sure is a fun collaboration, and talk about an aspirational redemption, eh?
Bottom line
Qatar Executive is the newest Qatar Airways Privilege Club partner. It’s now possible to earn and redeem Avios for private jet journeys, and to even receive top tier elite status with Privilege Club for making your first booking.
Now, I don’t think this will be an affordable redemption for most of us, or a great opportunity to mileage run, but I still love the idea behind this.
What do you make of Qatar Executive joining Qatar Airways Privilege Club?
My suggestion is for Lucky to book/charter a Qatar Executive G700 using his Avios from Doha to the Maldives for a week. Given a G700 can seat up to 13, he can hold a drawing for 2 to 5 couples (depending on aircraft weight and range restrictions) to fly as guests. All drawing winners would be responsible for arranging their own lodging in the Maldives. Winston accompanies the group, which meets every other day for lunch or dinner. =)
The Earning rate isn't anywhere near as good as the LH private jet back in the day :) No Qatar equivalents of the Cessna HONs anytime soon I guess.
This would add a new dimension of earning Avios, and I expect also a new dimension in amounts of Avios to be earned per booking. At least I'm not expecting that booking a $50.000 flight will result in 'you get 100 Avios since you booked the cheapest package!'. That would be very much Lufthansa under dr. Franz, not Qatar Airways under Al Bakr.
I'm pretty sure that there's an overlap between those traveling on...
This would add a new dimension of earning Avios, and I expect also a new dimension in amounts of Avios to be earned per booking. At least I'm not expecting that booking a $50.000 flight will result in 'you get 100 Avios since you booked the cheapest package!'. That would be very much Lufthansa under dr. Franz, not Qatar Airways under Al Bakr.
I'm pretty sure that there's an overlap between those traveling on some private jet and those traveling first class, so I guess that's where these two branches will meet.
Now I really do hope that Lucky will be able to scrape sufficient Avios on his accounts to actually try this, at some point. And then get yelled at for taking photos on board, of course. ;)
And I just remembered that Al Bakr stepped down a year ago. That was a Saad day.
How long have you had that stored away?
Have what stored away?
"Maybe I’ll give them a ring and see how far my Avios balance will get me on a G700."
Why not really do it, I mean, a review of a short 2-3 hour flight from DOH to somewhere nice on a private jet would probably get lots and lots of readership. How much money are we talking here, tens of thousands of dollars? I reckon there can't be many reviews of private jet flights out there so I'm sure it would attract a wide audience.
There's actually a niche market where people can book seats on otherwise empty positioning flights on private aircraft. I'm surprised Ben hasn't touched on that subject there yet, but on the other hand, it's paid with cash, not miles. Needless to say, it's usually still a few thousand dollars per hour.
The G700 charters for $16-18K per hour and depending positioning, you would have to pay for both directions, so a 2 hour one way flight would end up around $75,000
I'm pretty sure bros reviewing this in about 5 years saying "BOOKED: I'm flying private on Qatar Executive!"
You would be surprised, but:
1) yes, there is an overlapping market. Some of my clients fly private, unless there is direct first class.
2) I think they have no idea how many Avios they are burning here. Even the staff at QE is surpised about this. Most of them expected 1USD/Avios. If, lets say, a London - New York flight will cost you 100.000USD (if you are lucky), they are giving out 400.000 Avios
3) I think they will generate a lot of business with this
With sufficient demand in each direction, Europe to Doha is easy enough to figure. With TATL routes, Qatar would add in potential positioning/deadhead costs. Assuming a typical rate of $12k to $15k per hour for the Gulfstream, backing into a redemption point price, it would probably be around 500k to 600k Avios per hour. Let's see . . . 30% transfer bonus from Amex . . . hmmm.
Fred, Qatar is operating their aircraft on a floating base.
A London - New York will set you back around 100-110k USD
The redemption rates will be interesting.
Price for a London-NYC charter will be cheaper. I paid $110K in height of COVID for a Teterboro - Biggin Hill - Westchester Gulfstream 450 charter. no big baller here, whole bunch of pet parents who needed to move doggies between continents and we split the bill. Would love to have done that on a Qatar jet and picked up 440K avios!