This is (probably) the best award ticket I've ever picked up: business + first with Qatar for €290
The cost of this ticket is almost 4000€, paying just under 300€ is a really crazy thing, but with points you can do it and it is legal
Qatar Airways
Oneworld
I have peeled off so many prize tickets in my life, I have lost count. Some I carry in my heart as the first time with my daughter aboard Alitalia's flagship. Or the first one ever: a Malpensa Prague with Alitalia, when Az was still flying from Malpensa. As I always say, the best is still the one I have to book, but surely it will be difficult to match the one I just pulled off.
Coupled QSuite and first class on board Qatar's A380
In this article:
One of my goals in 2023 is to fly on the highest number of Airbus A380s before they are permanently retired. And among the candidates for end up turned into key chains first, there is definitely Qatar's A380 fleet. The reason is simple: the company's #1 stated that they are the worst planes ever put into operation and that buying them was the biggest mistake he did as CEO of Qatar.
A380 Qatar
The only reason Qatar has reignited the 4 engines of the whale of the skies is that, between A350 paint problems, non-deliveries of the 787 and the delay in the development of the 777X, the carrier found itself short of seats and the obvious solution was to put his 6 giants back on track. Today these planes fly on only 3 routes from Doha: London, Paris, and Bangkok.
Qatar is the best company in the world, Doha (its main hub) Is the best airport in the world and the QSuite is considered the best business cabin world class. Here with this award ticket I was able to make a row by adding to that the first class aboard the A380. First class that is destined to disappear from Qatar's fleet.
The prize ticket
What makes this prize ticket special, on par with the one I was able to peel off with Singapore Airlines to fly aboard the A380 Wedding Suite., è The low cost incurred both in terms of fees and points used.
At the end of the day for the two flights:
- Paris to Doha aboard 777/300 in business class
- Doha to Bangkok aboard A380 in first class
I spent only 118k Avios points and 289.13€ tax. This summer, the price of crude oil did splash premium ticket surcharges, an increase that involved all carriers including Emirates that now for a first class ticket forces you to pay almost €1,000 of surcharge. This ticket was incredibly cheap considering also that for only 118k avios points I will be able to take two flights: one in business and one in first.
A ticket that cost nearly 4,000
To put a value on the points, it is necessary to know how much the same traditionally bought ticket costs. In this case my award ticket is one-way, the return I have not yet decided how to fly it and especially with which airline. I am considering fund my last MilleMiglia points by booking a ticket with Air France from Vietnam. Or from some other airport in the area.
But, coming to the ticket in question, the same route with the same combination of seats cost just under 4,000 euros, €3,943.90 to be exact.
How I transferred the missing points
Avios is one of the partner currencies of American Express and, thanks to the recent Marriage between Qatar and British Airways' loyalty program currency and Iberia, booking flights with Qatar is a breeze.
I had never transferred Membership Rewards points to British Airways, so first I had to connect my profile in the Executive Club to the Membership Rewards program. Operation that is completed in minutes and thus makes it possible to transfer points between the two programs. Since I had about 100k Avios points in my account, I only had to transfer 30 thousand MR points to BA.
Transferring points costs nothing, but credit card credentials are required for security reasons.
The website says it takes 2 to 20 days to see the points credited, In my case it took a little over 12 hours. I made the transfer at 9 p.m. and by 10 a.m. the next morning I had already received the credit on my profile in the Executive Club.
How I booked the ticket
Booking an award ticket with BA is as simple as logging into your account on Executive Club and selecting the desire to book a ticket paying with Avios. You enter the requested route, number of tickets and class of travel.
The system returns all available combinations with both BA flights and oneWorld partner flights.
Once the desired combination is chosen, the cost of the ticket is shown both in Avios points needed and in fees. If desired, it will also be possible to settle the fees using points (not recommended) or reduce the outlay in points by increasing the fee paid in cash. Again not recommended.
The final summary leads to the end of the purchase process, in which case you will need to enter your credit card to pay the remaining fee.
The check-out process takes a maximum of one minute, and once completed, the ticket with the relevant PNR of the reservation arrives via e-mail.
Right away to choose places
As soon as I received the booking confirmation, I went to the Qatar website and chose the seats for the two flights. For the flight from Paris, the one aboard the QSuite, I opted for a window seat on the left side of the plane.
For the flight from Doha, in the upper deck of the A380, I instead aimed for the left side and chose the 1k seat.
In conclusion
Whereas. 100k Avios points I had accumulated by flying with British and the other oneWorld companies over the years, the final cost of this award ticket was 30 thousand Membership Rewards points and just under 300€ in taxes. Against a cash cost of just under 4000€.
Almost illegal stuff. I am well aware that Qatar's A380 is not comparable to that of Singapore or Qantas, But it is an airplane that will soon no longer fly And so I will be able to tell my grandchildren, that maybe they will only travel aboard Boom at the speed of sound, that Grandpa instead flew aboard a giant of the skies being able to get up and have a drink at the bar.
