How to go watch the Champions League using Avios points
Qatar Airways is, as of this year, the official airline of the Champions League and for soccer fans all over [...]
Qatar Airways
Qatar Airways is, as of this year, the official airline of the Champions League and for soccer fans around the world, this is news that has turned into a great opportunity to use piles of avios points to go to games of Europe's top soccer competition.
What the Qatar package for the Champions League includes
In this article:
Every week Qatar Airways publishes the list of matches on the initiative's dedicated website for which it is possible to participate in the auction. There is, as in the case of Emirates experiences, no fixed price for standard tickets, but only the possibility to participate in the auction to win an ultra-exclusive experience.
In addition to the two grandstand tickets, hospitality in the stadium restaurant and the opportunity to watch the teams warm up from the sidelines are offered in the package.
How much you have to bid to win the ticket auction
Very interesting statistic published by the English blog HeadsForPoints, obviously very attentive to the Avios world, in which it shows how many points were awarded for tickets on day number 3, the one that just ended.
Obviously it is the UK matches that have the highest average adjudication cost, which is a given since Avios is the currency of British Airways and therefore it is in Britain where users with rich wallets loaded with Avios are most likely to be:
- Arsenal FC vs FC Shakhtar Donetsk - 165,000 Avios
- Aston Villa FC vs Bologna FC 1909 - 72,000 Avios
Only the big match between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund held its own with a cifra award of 150k avios, to make a comparison 160K avios redeems a ticket to do a/r in business class from Milan to Bali with Qatar.
Decidedly more restrained are the auctions for Milan and Juventus matches. It took 48,500 avios to go to the San Siro and 41,200 for the two Allianz Stadium coupons. While the cheapest auction ever was 30k miles for the match between Sturm Graz and Sporting Club.
What to know if you want to participate in the auction
I have explained in several articles how Managing the avios accounts between British, Qatar, Iberia and Finnair. What is important to remember is that po participate in the auction you must have points on your Privilege Club account, which is Qatar's loyalty program, this means that it is not enough to have merged profiles.
Second thing to know is. you can't go negative, this means that the maximum bid you will be able to make will be the balance in your account at the time of the auction. I also remind you that, If you have the collective account, you cannot move group points, only personal ones.
It makes sense to use points for these experiences
As always, it all depends on what makes us happy, these are tickets that offer experiences that can't be bought, so if you think the price is fair it's okay to make them.
Personally Spending 40K avios for such a package to go to see a game of one of the Italian teams doesn't seem bad at all, considering that with the same points one could redeem a one-way economy ticket to Bangkok, so a figure of 4/500€, which more or less could be equivalent to two grandstand tickets. If we then add hospitality and courtside experience then it is a bargain.
I certainly wouldn't burn +100k points for a soccer game that maybe ends in a boring 0-0.
