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Qatar Airways Privilege Club, which uses Avios as its currency, offers a range of ways to earn and redeem miles. As a member of the Oneworld alliance, Qatar Airways provides extensive global coverage and numerous opportunities for travelers. However, understanding the nuances of the program is essential to maximizing its benefits. This guide will explore how to earn and redeem Avios, highlight valuable redemption options, explain the program’s expiration policy, and discuss how to earn elite status and navigate Qatar Airways’ award pricing.
How to Earn Avios
Flying on Qatar Airways and Partners
Earning Avios is straightforward when flying with Qatar Airways. The miles earned depend on the fare class and the distance flown.
For instance, if you fly Economy Saver (fare codes S, N, Q), you’ll earn Avios equivalent to 50% of the distance flown.
Flying On Airline Partners
As a member of the Oneworld alliance, you can also earn Avios when flying with any of the Oneworld member airlines, including American Airlines, British Airways, and Cathay Pacific.
While Avios are also similarly calculated here based on the fare class and distance traveled, earn rates vary significantly from partner to partner. For example, if flying on American Airlines premium economy and electing to earn Qatar Airlines Avios, you’ll earn a total of 125% Avios relative to the distance traveled.
To see the full breakdown for each partner, visit the Qatar site.
Credit Card Transfer Partners
Since Qatar Airways is a part of the Avios family, if a credit card can transfer to Avios, you can eventually move your Avios (no fees) to Qatar Airways. Notably, Avios transfer partners with several major credit card issuers, making it relatively easy to come by these miles:
Credit card issuers typically offer transfer bonuses to all of the Avios programs. For instance, in the past few years, it's pretty standard to get a ~30% bonus when transferring your points to British Airways. Here are some of our favorite cards to get Avios:
Buy Avios
Qatar Airways lets its members purchase Avios as well. However, this is not a particularly good deals by any means, costing $28 USD / 1,000 Avios. Usually, you would only use this option if you desperately need to top off your mileage balances.
Notably, Qatar does occasionally run sales to purchase Avios, which can make the price of purchasing miles more reasonable. For instance, a recent promotion in 2024 lets you effectively purchase Avios at just 1.53 cents per Avios, which can make it not too bad of a deal to buy Avios if you need them.
Avios Subscription
British Airways has a unique product called the "Avios Subscription," which allows you to automatically earn Avios every month for a monthly or annual fee. The best value plan (the annual "Adventurer" plan) costs £1,989/year, but gives you 200,000 Avios in a year (16,667 Avios/month). Converting to USD CPP, this comes out to about 1.25 CPP to buy Avios, which is definitely not a bad rate to purchase Avios outright by any means.
Do Avios Expire?
Avios earned through Qatar Airways Privilege Club expire after 36 months. However, any activity in your account, such as earning or redeeming Avios, can extend the validity of your Avios, making it easier to keep them active and use them before they expire.
Earn Qatar Airways Privilege Club Elite Status
Privilege Club offers four elite status tiers, providing various benefits to frequent flyers. To earn status, you need to earn Qpoints by flying on Qatar Airways or its partner airlines:
- Burgundy: Entry-level tier (free)
- Silver: 150 Qpoints
- Gold: 300 Qpoints
- Platinum: 600 Qpoints
Benefits of elite status include priority check-in, extra baggage allowance, and lounge access. Status also helps you get bonus Avios on flights alongside stronger soft benefits at the airport. Gold status gives you Oneworld Sapphire status while Platinum gives you Oneworld Emerald status. Emerald is particularly powerful, as it grants you access to first class lounges and check in lanes, which can drastically improve the experience and be a huge time saver.
Wait, Are My Avios In My Qatar/Iberia/Aer Lingus/British Airways Accounts All The Same Avios?
One of the unique aspects of Avios is that they serve as the frequent flyer currency for multiple airlines under the International Airlines Group (IAG). This arrangement allows you to transfer Avios internally at a 1:1 ratio between these programs. For instance, if you have 1,000 Qatar Avios, you can seamlessly transfer them to your British Airways account and use them as needed.
In some instances, you may have to transfer your Avios to British Airways first and then retransfer them to your desired partner.
To make your life easier, it is generally recommended to make sure that all your Avios accounts have the same exact name and registration information. This just makes it easier for the various systems at play to pull your information correctly.
What Airlines Are Partners With Qatar Airways?
As a part of the Oneworld alliance, Qatar Airways has several immediate partners that offer reciprocal status recognition and mileage earnings:
You can earn and redeem Avios whenever you fly on one of these airlines. Of course, award availability remains as the key determining factor of redemption ability when it comes to Avios.
Qatar is also partnered with JetBlue, which allows you redeem Avios on JetBlue flights.
How Qatar Airways Prices Its Award Flights
Qatar Airways no longer publishes an award chart, so it’s actually quite difficult to get a deep understanding of how they price their award flights. However, while some savvy travelers have noticed that Qatar award pricing seems to be aligned with the British Airways chart, it’s not necessarily safe to say that all Qatar award prices are based on that.
Generally speaking, Qatar uses a region based system to determine its Avios award pricing. The best way to determine the cost of an award is to use the website’s award price calculator.
Qatar Airways Sweet Spot Redemptions 2024
While Qatar Airways’ Privilege Club may have its limitations and difficulties, there are still some sweet spot redemptions that can provide decent value for your Avios.
Book JetBlue Economy Flights Starting At Just 8,500 Avios One Way
Qatar uses a distance based pricing model when it comes to JetBlue award flights, which can be very powerful if used correctly. The shortest JetBlue domestic flights price in starting at just 8,500 Avios, and you can even find transcons for just 18,500 Avios. Here are some example flights we found:
- JFK to BOS: 8,500 Avios (187 miles)
- JFK to FLL: 8,500 Avios (1,069 miles)
- BOS to AUS: 13,000 Avios (1,698 miles)
- JFK to SFO: 18,500 Avios (2,586 miles)
- BOS to AUA: 18,500 Avios (2,057 miles)
Book JetBlue Business Class (Mint) Flights Starting At Just 26,000 Avios One Way
Qatar’s distance based pricing continues on for JetBlue business class flights. If you do some testing, you’ll see there’s actually a pretty significant sweet spot when it comes to JetBlue partner business class pricing. With the same examples we just went through, let’s see what they price out as in business:
- JFK to BOS: 17,000 Avios (187 miles)
- JFK to FLL: 17,000 Avios (1,069 miles)
- BOS to AUS: 26,000 Avios (1,698 miles)
- JFK to SFO: 74,000 Avios (2,586 miles)
- BOS to AUA: 74,000 Avios (2,057 miles)
You might notice a huge jump up in pricing for that Boston to Aruba flight. Any flight over 2,000 miles traveled jumps into the next pricing band. However, if you can squeeze in right below that, you’ll notice that it costs just 26,000 Avios to fly in JetBlue Business Class. For instance, JFK to Aruba flies just 1,951 miles on JetBlue Mint, but costs just 26,000 Avios! Talk about a steal.
Book Qatar Business Class Flights To Doha Starting At Just 70,000 Avios One Way (Off Peak)
This is a fantastic deal, no matter how you cut it. For pretty much any nonstop flight originating in the US, Qatar will only charge 70,000 Avios to fly in their incredible business class product.
Qatar factors in seasonality into its award chart, so the 70,000 Avios pricing is only available during off peak travel times.
Qatar Airways Award Cancellation Policy
Qatar has its cancellation and change policies for award tickets pretty nicely laid out. If canceling more than 24 hours in advance, you can expect to only have to pay $25 per ticket.
Conclusion
The Qatar Airways Privilege Club offers a range of earning and redemption opportunities, but it has its drawbacks. High mileage requirements, poor pricing transparency, and a general difficulty with using the site can undermine the Avios redemption experience.However, with careful planning and by focusing on sweet spot redemptions, it is possible to find decent value in the program. Being aware of the program's limitations and benefits will help you make the most of your Avios.
