Have a travel related question? Post it here, and I’ll do my best to answer it as quickly as possible.
While anyone can comment on regular blog post, registration is required in order to post a question in this space. Creating your account is free, and you'll be able to see when your question is answered, as well as like comments from other users. And of course, you'll earn status points for offering helpful answers!
This space is intended to be more of a community as well, so please jump in and share tips!
How Many Avios Needed for a Reward Flight From JNB-Doha-Sydney return
Hi Guys,
I am new to the points game and have recently got a credit card that allows me to earn British Airways Avios for my expenditure.
Im planning to go to Sydney to visit my sister sometime next year and would really like to fly with Qatar to experience their award winning business class. Since Qatar is a partner of the Oneworld alliance i should be able to book a reward flight with my Avios. However when i try to search for reward flights i can’t find anything. Would anyone be able to give me an idea of the amount of avios i would require to fly from johannesburg to doha to sydney, return. I want to do some forward calculations to see if I will earn enough Avios, if I won’t have enough I will purchase some if a good deal comes along.
thanks for all the help.
@Dominik — Welcome! Avios are a [I]very[/I] expensive currency for long-haul flights. Seth has a nice calculator here that will tell you how many you need: [URL]http://wandr.me/avios-calculator/[/URL]. DOH-SYD isn’t listed yet, but I think you’d need something like 420k Avios? Which is just outrageous.
You’re almost certainly better off buying American miles for the same flights.
Also keep in mind that Qatar doesn’t start Sydney service until next March, so they might be stingy with award space.
While Qatar is a really nice airline, you should also look at the direct JNB – SYD service on Qantas. Qantas actually does release a few business class seats on this flight if you book early enough, and it would save you around 14 hours each way.
[USER=267]@aussiejosh[/USER] i was looking at the direct flight to Sydney, while it does save a lot of time it just doesn’t look as good of a hard product as Qatar. Also if i don’t have enough points by then and am forced to pay for the ticket going via qatar is cheaper. have you had any experience with qantas?
[USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER] that website is probably the best invention ever 😀
[USER=1145]@Dominik[/USER] I’ve not flown the JNB – SYD route with QF, but I have been on one of their non-refurbished 747s in business class before (from my understanding, they usually put the non-refurbed one on this route). It’s a lie-flat, not full flat seat, but I’ve always really liked QF’s service and business class food and wine, and if you can sleep in one of those seats you’ll be fine. Normally I wouldn’t pick the lie-flat option, but the amount of time it would save over going all the way to Qatar and then to Sydney is worth it in my opinion.
If you wanted to have full-flat seats the whole way AND save time, you could fly South African airways to Perth and then Virgin Australia to Sydney. They both have full-flat seats on the relevant routes and it would still save a lot of time over Qatar.
Your feedback is important in helping us keep our community safe.