2 days only: Qatar Airways Privilege Club selling miles at 50% off

Qatar Airways Privilege Club has just launched a 2-day flash sale offering a 50% discount on Qmiles purchases. 

This normally wouldn’t be of much interest to me, but given how Privilege Club recently reversed its 2018 devaluation and members don’t pay fuel surcharges on Qatar Airways awards, it’s worth looking at in more detail. 

Buy Qatar Privilege Club miles at 50% off

Buy Qatar Privilege Club miles

From now till 16 December 2020, 4.59 a.m Singapore time, Qatar Airways Privilege Club members will be able to purchase miles at 50% off the usual price. 

A minimum of 5,000 Qmiles must be purchased to enjoy this promotion. Here’s how the cost per mile scales depending how many miles you buy:

A maximum of 250,000 Qmiles can be purchased per calendar year. Qatar Qmiles do not expire so long as you earn or redeem at least one mile every three years. 

There is a catch: Members must have earned at least 1,000 Qmiles since enrolment in order to purchase additional Qmiles. I assume this is a hedge they’ve built into the system to prevent people from opening multiple accounts and acting as mileage brokers. 

However, there’s an easy way to circumvent this restriction. From now till 31 December 2020 it’s possible to get up to 7,500 free Qmiles when you sign up for a Qatar Privilege Club account with the promo code OALQ320T12. 

• 2,500 Qmiles will be awarded immediately
• A further 5,000 Qmiles and 50 Qpoints will be awarded when you credit one Qatar Airways flight before 31 March 2021.

It’s almost impossible to fulfill the second criteria, given how westwards travel (the only direction that makes sense with Qatar Airways out of Singapore) is unlikely to happen by end March. But those 2,500 automatically awarded Qmiles will put you in a position to purchase miles, and would also save you US$37.50 assuming a cost of 1.5 US cents per mile. 

What can you redeem with Qatar Privilege Club Qmiles?

Qatar Airways does not have an award chart, so you’ll need to use their Qcalculator to find the cost of a given route. Use it like you would a regular flight search- pick the cabin, airline, origin and destination. 

As mentioned earlier, Qatar Privilege Club recently reversed their 2018 devaluation. Here’s an idea of how much Business Class redemptions cost for one-way travel on Qatar Airways out of Singapore. 

Qatar Privilege Club members will not pay fuel surcharges for redemptions on Qatar Airways operated flights, so the only thing you need to consider is the usual airport taxes. 

Based on a cost of 1.5 US cents per mile, you’d pay US$1,125 plus some taxes for a one-way Business Class flight to Barcelona, London, Frankfurt, Paris or Zurich, and US$1,425 plus some taxes for a one-way Business Class flight to North or South America. 

Those are decent prices, but if you’re looking at those destinations it’d probably be a better idea to buy LifeMiles instead. LifeMiles has been running a spate of 200% bonuses recently, which brings the cost per mile down to 1.1 US cents each. 

I can think of pros and cons for both. LifeMiles is cheaper for trips to North America and Europe, but with all the financial issues going on with its parent entity Avianca, you may be left holding the bag if the program folds. There’s little concern about Qatar Airways going under, but given how they’ve done unannounced devaluations in the past, I only have so much faith in them.

Also, LifeMiles does not impose fuel surcharges on any redemption, while Qatar Privilege Club only waives fuel surcharges for Qatar Airways redemptions. This means buying LifeMiles has more use cases, insofar as you can redeem any Star Alliance carrier. On the other hand, it only really makes sense to buy Qmiles for Qatar Airways flights. 

What credit card should I use to buy Qatar Privilege Club miles?

Qatar Privilege Club does not process miles purchases directly. Instead, they’re processed through Points.com in USD, which means you can use the following credit cards to earn the most miles on your transaction.

	Earn Rate	Remarks
Citi Rewards Apply here	4 mpd	Cap of S$1K per s. month
UOB Visa Signature Apply here	4 mpd	Min S$1K Max S$2K FCY spend per s. month
OCBC VOYAGE Apply here	3 mpd	Max S$1K until 31 Jan 21
SCB Visa Infinite	3 mpd	Min spend S$2K per s. month
UOB PRVI Miles Apply here	2.4 mpd
S. Month= Statement Month | C. Month= Calendar Month

I personally don’t recommend using the DBS Woman’s World Card for Points.com purchases, as many people have reported issues with getting the bonus points credited. 

Conclusion

This marks the second time that Qatar Airways has run a sale on Qmiles, and while it’s always a bad idea to buy miles speculatively, it’s a terrible idea to buy miles speculatively in a program with a history of unannounced devaluations. That’s a bell you don’t unring- Privilege Club members probably won’t feel secure to hold Qmiles for a prolonged period of time, and can you blame them really? 

So by all means partake if you have an immediate redemption in mind (award tickets can be booked up to a year in advance), but do consider your alternatives with LifeMiles and other frequent flyer programs too.