Summary
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club allows guests to earn and use Avios miles with a growing list of partner airlines using a 1:1 transfer rate.
- Avios points can be redeemed for flights, hotels, holiday packages, tours and other services with over 200,000 hotels available for booking.
- Avios can be valued at approximately 1 cent and membership tiers in Qatar’s Privilege Club earn varying amounts of Avios based on class of travel.
Qatar Airways is one of the world’s leading airlines and is constantly ranked among the world’s top airlines. The Qatar Airways Privilege Club loyalty program enables guests to earn Avios miles by flying with Qatar Airways, oneworld alliance members, and other airline partners. There are many ways to earn Avios miles with Qatar and its partners and now that Finnair has just officially switched to Avios, there are even more ways to spend Avios.
Avios: The frequent flyer currency
The Avios frequent-flyer program is the result of a merger of BA Miles, Air Miles, and Iberia Plus Points. It is now the frequent flyer currency of British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, LEVEL, Finnair, and Qatar Airways (who switched to Avios as its frequent flyer currency in 2022).
Photo: Suparat Chairatprasert | Shutterstock
Avios points can also be used within the oneworld Alliance – including Finnair, Qantas, and many other airlines.
Select oneworld members:
- Alaska Airlines
- American Airlines
- British Airways
- Cathay Pacific
- Finnair
- Japan Airlines
- Malaysia Airlines
- Qantas (including QantasLink and Jetconnect Qatar Airways)
- Qatar Airways
Qatar Airways’ Privilege Club has four tiers – Burgundy, Silver, Gold, and Platinum and each earns an increasing amount of Avios.
The Different Ways To Earn Avios With British Airways Executive Club
British Airways Executive Club offers many ways to earn Avios – including flying on all oneworld airlines, and many travel and retail partnerships.
Photo: Qatar Airways
A transferable airline currency
Avios is now used as the currency of not only Qatar Airways’ Privilege Club, but also the British Airways Executive Club, Aer Lingus AerClub, and since 9 March 2024, Finnair Plus. Members can transfer their Avios between any and all of these programs at a rate of 1:1. This means that 1 Qatar Airways Avios is worth 1 British Airway Avios.
“We’ve adopted a new loyalty currency called Avios and updated the logic of earning Avios and tier points. We’ve also added some new benefits. At the same time, many of the familiar benefits and rewards have remained unchanged.” –
Finnair
This means that Qatar Airways’ Privilege Club members now have the flexibility to spend their Avios with this growing list of partner airlines all sharing the same currency. Use the Qatar Airways’ Privilege Club Avios to purchase upgrades, flights and more at the British Airways Executive Club.
Members can also claim their Avios from past flights – as long as it was within 180 days (or within 90 days for those who joined the Privilege Club after their trip). Avios can be claimed through Qatar Airways even if the flight was with a partner airline – members need to provide a copy of their ticket and boarding pass.
What Avios can purchase
There are many ways to spend Avios points with Qatar and partner airlines on a range of products and services. There are over 200,000 hotels that can be booked with Avios.
Avios can be spent on flights, hotel packages, sporting events, tours, and more. They can be used for exclusive upgrades to fully or partially book travel packages.
To use Avios, members just need to choose their vacation packages (or any other product) on the Qatar Airways website and then select the option “Pay with Avios” at the check-out. Members can save up to 30% on holidays by paying with Avios.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
What can be purchased with Avios:
- Flights
- Hotels
- Holiday packages
- Airport transfers
- Tours
According to Upgraded Points, in the United States, Qatar’s Avios can be used to book flights under 650 miles for just 6,000 Avios (each way). For under 1,151 miles, it takes 9,000 Avios for an economy-class seat (this puts much of the Caribbean within reach for many Americans). These flights are operated by Alaska Airlines or American Airlines.
Distance |
Avios Required For Economy Class |
---|---|
0-650 |
6,000 |
651-1,151 |
9,000 |
1,152-2,000 |
11,000 |
2,001-3,000 |
13,000 |
3,001-4,000 |
20,750 |
4,001-5,000 |
25,750 |
5,001-6,500 |
31,000 |
6,501-7,000 |
36,250 |
7,001 and over |
51,500 |
For the lowest distance category of 0–650 miles, 9,000 Avios are required for Premium Economy, 12,500 for Business Class, and 24,000 for First Class. For the longest distance category of 7,001 miles or more, the Avios required are 103,000 for Premium Economy, 154,500 for Business Class, and 206,000 for First Class.
Not Just Flying: How To Earn Avios Without Leaving The Ground
Flying is the most obvious way to earn Avios – but it is far from the only way.
How much are Avios worth?
Qatar Airways lists a number of Doha holiday packages with flights and luxury hotels under 200,000 Avios points. Members need to have a minimum of 2,000 Avios to use Avios for their Holiday Booking payment.
Avios points are typically valued around 1 cent, according to NerdWallet (at least by British Airways).
- One Avios: Approx. 1¢
- 10,000 Avios: Approx. $100 (this may vary somewhat by airline and by class)
To put that into perspective, a one-way economy class ticket from New York JFT to Doha, Qatar, will earn between 3,348 and 13,392 Avios with Burgundy membership.. A first class city with Burgundy membership earns 40,178 Avios while a first class ticket with Platinum membership earns 53,568. Refer to Qatar’s online calculator to see how many Qpoints and Avios points are earned on its flights.
Expired Avios can not be redeemed.
Photo: Qatar Airways
Booking tours also earn Avios. E.g. a guided tour (London Guided Tour with the Tower of London and Westminster) valued at approx. $168, earns 162 Avios points according to Qatar Airways Holidays.