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Qatar Airways Privilege Club is currently running a flash sale on Avios, the loyalty currency that the Doha-based airline adopted last year alongside British Airways and several other airlines.
The promotion includes an impressive bonus of up to 40% on Avios purchases, but it’s set to end on February 1, 2024.
Buying Avios speculatively can be an attractive proposition to unlock luxury award travel, especially if you are already close to a redemption threshold. And the case for buying Avios is definitely stronger when a bonus or discount promotion likes this one is running.
Between January 28 and February 1, 2024, Qatar Airways Privilege Club is selling Avios with a bonus of up to 80% when you purchase a minimum of 5,000 Avios.
This particular promotion is tiered, so the bonus amount is going to depend on how many Avios you purchase.
Log in to your Qatar Airways Privilege Club account to see what bonus amounts you are being offered.
You can purchase up to 250,000 Avios through the Qatar Airways Privilege Club each year. The maximum purchase amount is before any bonus Avios points are applied to your account.
The cost per Avios point depends on where your Qatar Airways Privilege Club account is registered, as Avios points are sold in U.S. Dollars, Euros or Pound Sterling.
In the past, you could simply change your location on the Qatar Airways website to get the best exchange rate, but Privilege Club has now closed this loophole, and you’ll now be charged in the currency connected to where your account is registered.
Buying Avios in U.S. Dollars is generally more expensive than purchasing in Euros or Pound Sterling.
The cost per Avios in U.S. dollars ranges from 2.7 to 3.5 cents per point. If targeted for the maximum 80% bonus, the cost per Avios drops to just 1.56 cents per point.
One of the biggest advantages of acquiring Avios points is that Avios is the shared awards currency of Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and Qatar Airways (and Finnair is joining the Avios ecosystem next year).
You can move your Avios from one awards program to the other at a 1:1 exchange rate, although Qatar Airways currently only has an open transfer protocol set up with the British Airways Executive Club.
This is a process known as ‘Combine Your Avios’, and to do so, you simply need to link your Executive Club account and Privilege Club account together. Once the accounts are linked, you can move Avios from one program to the other pretty instantaneously.
Once you have moved Avios from your Privilege Club account to your Executive Club account, you can then combine your Avios into an Iberia Plus account and from there, you can combine your Avios into your Vueling Club or Aer Lingus AerClub accounts.
Admittedly, this seems like a pretty convoluted way to transfer or ‘combine’ Avios from one account to another, but considering that Avios is a product of the IAG airline group, it’s surprising they’ve got the IT to even achieve this.
Each Avios Point is worth approximately 1.3 cents each
On average, each Avios point is worth approximately 1.3 cents each. However, the value of Avios can vary massively depending on how you spend them, so you’ll want to be sure that you are getting maximum value out of your Avios when it comes time to spend them.
💡 To work out the value of your points for an award flight, simply divide the cost of the flight in cash by the cost of booking the same flight with points.
cash price ➗ cost in points = cents per point
The result is known as the ‘cents per point’ – a rate above the average represents good value for money, whereas a rate below the average could represent poor value for money.
I generally advise only to buy points in order to boost your points balance to achieve a specific redemption, but this latest deal is an excellent opportunity to acquire points for a very reasonable price, which could, in turn, unlock some pretty compelling award opportunities.
The case for speculatively buying points is definitely stronger when there’s an attractive bonus promotion such as this one, although you’ll want to be certain you are getting value for money when you book an award flight.
Qatar Airways doesn’t have a traditional redemption chart, but you can easily determine the number of Avios required for a specific flight by using the ‘My Calculator’ tool available on the Qatar Airways website.
This tool also provides information about the fees associated with award bookings.
Qatar Airways has off-peak and peak pricing around major holidays like Christmas. For example, a one-way Business Seat redemption on the London-Doha flagship route costs 43,000 Avios off-peak, but in the week before Christmas, the price increases to 54,000 Avios.
It’s worth bearing in mind that the ‘My Calculator’ tool shows the minimum redemption cost, but dynamic pricing based on numerous factors such as demand, award availability, and seasonality could push the price a lot higher.
Qatar Airways publishes an award chart for its Privilege Club Partner Airline, which is based on distance per sector. The chart can be found here.
Partner airlines include Oneworld airlines, including Alaska Airlines and Qantas, as well as LATAM and Oman Air.
Coming soon.
Unfortunately, Avios points can expire in your Qatar Airways Privilege Club account. If there is no account activity within 36 consecutive months, then any Avios points will be forfeited.
The good news is that any account activity, including purchasing Avios, will prevent your points from expiring.
Qatar Airways Privilege Club runs promotions on purchased points fairly regularly.
| Date | Bonus amount |
|---|---|
| September 2023 | Tiered bonus up to 80% |
| June 2023 | Tiered bonus up to 80% |
| May 2023 | Bonus of up to 50% |
| November 2022 | Bonus of up to 40% |
As you can see, this latest promotion isn’t the most generous that Qatar Airways has run in the last year but it still represents a good opportunity to acquire Avios at a reduced price.
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