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Qatar Airways is the flag carrier of the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar and a member of Oneworld Alliance since 2013. This airline also operates its own frequent flyer program known as Qatar Airways Privilege Club that uses the Avios rewards currency.
If you’re unfamiliar with Avios, it’s a rewards currency used by several different frequent flyer programs from different airlines, including Aer Lingus AerClub, British Airways Executive Club, Finnair Plus, Iberia Plus and Qatar Airways Privilege Club. Avios can be earned through any of these programs and can also be freely transferred between them. However, you may have to make a two-step transfer using British Airways Executive Club as an intermediary when transferring Avios between certain programs.
Thus, the Qatar Airways program is definitely worth paying attention to even if you never plan to fly on Qatar Airways, because their frequent flyer program offers better rates on certain flights than other Avios-using programs. Plus, Qatar Airways has access to certain partner airlines that other Avios-using programs don’t.
The Qatar Airways Privilege Club program prices all award flights using fixed award charts, meaning that you should be able to find outsized-value redemptions (exceeding 1 cent per Avios) on some award flights. Qatar Airways flights are priced using an unpublished award chart, which makes high-value awards slightly harder to find, whereas all partner award flights are priced using a single, published, distance-based award chart.
So, to help you get the best possible value out of your Avios and understand how you can take advantage of the sweet spots in the Qatar Airways Privilege Club program, we’re going to include this program’s award charts in this article.
Award Charts for Flights on Qatar Airways
As mentioned above, Qatar Airways-operated award flights are priced according to an unpublished award chart. And, since this award chart isn’t available to the public, it’s hard to know what the exact award price for Qatar Airways-operated flights on specific routes will be.
The Qatar Airways Privilege Club website, however, does have a My Calculator tool that can give you accurate prices for Qatar Airways award flights based on your origin, destination, travel dates and membership status.
Award Charts for Flights on Partner Airlines
In addition to using Avios to book flights on Qatar Airways, you can also use Avios to book award flights with many partner airlines through the Privilege Club program. Since Qatar Airways is a member of Oneworld Alliance, you can use Avios to book flights on any Oneworld Airline. Qatar Airways also has several non-Oneworld Alliance partners with which you can book award flights using Avios.
Here is the most current list of airline partners with which you can book award flights through the Qatar Airways Privilege Club program:
- Alaska Airlines
- American Airlines
- Bangkok Airways
- British Airways
- Cathay Pacific
- Fiji Airways
- Finnair
- Iberia
- Japan Airlines
- JetBlue
- LATAM
- Malaysia Airlines
- Middle East Airlines (MEA)
- Qantas
- Royal Air Maroc
- Royal Jordanian
- RwandAir
- S7 Airlines
- SriLankan Airlines
- Virgin Australia
Once again, award flights operated by all of the airlines listed above are priced according to the following distance-based award chart:
| Flight distance (in miles) | Economy | Premium economy | Business | First |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1–650 | 6,000 | 9,000 | 12,500 | 24,000 |
| 651–1,151 | 9,000 | 12,500 | 16,500 | 33,000 |
| 1,152–2,000 | 11,000 | 16,500 | 22,000 | 44,000 |
| 2,001–3,000 | 13,000 | 25,250 | 38,750 | 51,500 |
| 3,001–4,000 | 20,750 | 41,250 | 62,000 | 82,500 |
| 4,001–5,500 | 25,750 | 51,500 | 77,250 | 103,000 |
| 5,501–6,500 | 31,000 | 62,000 | 92,750 | 123,750 |
| 6,501–7,000 | 36,250 | 72,250 | 108,250 | 144,250 |
| 7,001+ | 51,500 | 103,000 | 154,500 | 206,000 |
The award chart above applies only to flight itineraries that are operated by a single partner airline (mixed-partner flight itineraries aren’t allowed) and contain four or fewer segments. Open-jaw trips are permitted on partner award flights but stopovers are not.
Partner award flight booking requests must be submitted at least 96 hours before that flight’s departure.
Since all partner award flights are priced using this same award chart, if you want to get good value on partner award flights through the Qatar Airways Privilege Club program, you should look for flights operated by partners that tend to charge high cash prices.
For example, Cathay Pacific tends to charge high cash prices, so you can usually find good value for flights on this airline. By contrast, JetBlue is a low-cost carrier, meaning that you probably won’t find as good value on award flights operated by this airline.
Award Chart for Upgrades on Qatar Airways
In addition to using Avios for award flights on Qatar Airways and partner airlines, the Privilege Club program also allows members to redeem Avios for cabin class upgrades on Qatar Airways-operated flights. You can do so either online in advance of your flight date or when you arrive at the airport.
If you choose to redeem for an upgrade award online, your upgrade will be priced according to an unpublished award chart (just like Qatar Airways-operated award flights). So, the best way to find out the price of an upgrade award on a specific route is to use the My Calculator tool.
The My Calculator tool mentioned above works for upgrade award searches. We chose to conduct a search for upgrade awards from Doha (DOH) to New York (JFK), which you can see above. We also conducted a search from Doha (DOH) to Washington, D.C. (IAD) and the prices were exactly the same, indicating that these two routes must be in the same zone.
So, since upgrade awards on Qatar Airways are priced according to a zone-based or region-based award chart, you can find outsized value on certain upgrade redemptions. Thus, purchasing upgrade awards on Qatar Airways flights is a potentially good use of your Avios.
The Bottom Line
The Qatar Airways Privilege Club program is a high-value frequent flyer program in many ways. For one, this program uses the Avios rewards currency, which means that you can transfer Avios freely between Qatar Airways Privilege Club and several other frequent flyer programs, including British Airways Executive Club.
Plus, you can transfer points from many of the major credit card rewards programs in the Privilege Club program either directly or indirectly. Citi ThankYou points and American Express Membership Rewards transfer directly to the Privilege Club program at a 1:1 ratio. Bilt, Capital One and Chase points can all be transferred to other Avios-using programs and then those Avios can be moved to Qatar Airways Privilege Club.
And one of the biggest advantages of this program is that it prices all flight and upgrade awards using fixed award charts. Qatar Airways award flights and upgrade awards are priced according to unpublished, region-based award charts. Partner award flights are priced according to a publicly available distance-based award chart. This means that you should be able to find some outsized-value redemptions (offering considerably more than 1 cent per Avios in value) if you do some searching.
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Editors Note: Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
10xTravel is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.
Editors Note: Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
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