Qatar Airways Privilege Club giving new members up to 7,500 free miles

Qatar Airways Privilege Club has undergone something of a renaissance of late, with its unannounced revaluation (yes, you read that right), and my discovery that Privilege Club members do not need to pay fuel surcharges when redeeming Qmiles for travel on Qatar Airways.

Now, Qatar Airways is offering a solid new member bonus which is good for some free miles even if you’re not traveling anywhere soon. 

Qatar Airways Privilege Club new member bonus

From now till 31 December 2020, anyone who creates a Qatar Airways Privilege Club account using the promo code OALQ320T12 will receive 2,500 bonus Qmiles immediately. 

A further 5,000 bonus Qmiles and 50 Qpoints will be credited when they take their first flight, with travel before 31 March 2021. Let’s be honest though- westwards travel (because that’s the only direction that makes sense with Qatar Airways ex-SIN) won’t happen by then, so it’ll take something special for you to earn this bonus. 

In case you were wondering, here’s how many Qpoints it requires to be upgraded to the various tiers:

If you do end up on a Qatar Airways flight before 31 March 2021, you can expect the 5,000 bonus Qmiles and 50 Qpoints to post within 30 days. Only flights that are marketed and operated by Qatar Airways qualify for this bonus.

How long are my free miles valid for?

Qatar Airways miles expire after three years of inactivity, so it’s unlikely you’ll need to worry about this for a while. It’s possible to extend the validity of your miles by earning or burning at least one, and the following banks in Singapore offer points transfers to Qatar Privilege Club.

	Citi Miles	ThankYou Points
Citibank	1:1	5:2
	SC Rewards (Visa Infinite)
Standard Chartered	3:1
For a full list of transfer partners by bank, refer to this post

Qatar Airways Privilege Club has some new sweet spots

At some point last week, Qatar Airways carried out a no-notice revaluation of its loyalty program, cutting the mileage required for many destinations. 

This creates a new sweet spot opportunity for travel to Europe, provided you don’t mind a stopover in Doha. As the chart below shows, Qmiles pricing is very competitive for Europe vis a vis KrisFlyer and Asia Miles (we can compare these numbers directly as all three will not have fuel surcharges when flying on their own metal). 

Sadly, Europe may not be on our radars for a while, but assuming these award rates remain unchanged (which isn’t a given for Qatar Privilege Club), it may be worth looking at when things get a bit more sane. 

Conclusion

There’s very little to dislike here: get 2,500 free Qmiles for a couple minutes’ work, and save yourself some miles down the road if/when you decide to use Privilege Club for flights to Europe.

Remember to double check that the promo code OALQ320T12 reflects in your form, and you’re good. 

(HT: YHBU)