Qatar Airways has launched a new promotion for credit card points conversions, which gives an uncapped 30% bonus for transfers completed by 30 June 2023.
This has the potential to be an excellent offer, allowing you to fly from Singapore to Europe in Business Class for the equivalent of 54,000 miles. What’s more, your Qatar Airways Avios can be spent through British Airways Executive Club at a 1:1 ratio, allowing you to enjoy its sweet spots for short-haul redemptions. In other words, this is effectively a transfer bonus for British Airways as well.
On top of the 30% bonus, Qatar Airways is also dangling a bonus of 100,000 Avios for the 10 individuals who convert the highest number of points during this campaign.
Qatar Privilege Club 30% transfer bonus
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| Offer Details |
From 1-30 June 2023, Qatar Privilege Club members will receive a 30% bonus when the convert at least 1,000 Avios from credit card points, with no cap.
No registration is required, but do remember that your points conversion must be completed by 30 June 2023 to be eligible for the bonus. There’ll be some lead time involved, so donโt leave it till the last minute (I recommend giving at least a week of buffer).
The regular number of Avios will credit initially, with the bonus component credited by 14 August 2023. Since the bonus is awarded by Qatar Airways, you won’t see it reflected by the bank during the transfer process- only the regular number of miles will reflect.
Win 100,000 bonus Avios
In addition to the 30% bonus, the top 10 members with the highest number of base Avios converted at the end of the campaign period will receive 100,000 bonus Avios.
Winners will be contacted within 45 business days after the end of the campaign. Qatar has added a further clause that members must convert at least 500,000 base Avios to earn the additional bonus 100,000 Avios.
I’d be very curious to know how many Avios you’d need to transfer to make it into the top 10!
Which programmes are participating?
The following banks and loyalty programmes are participating in this offer (Singapore-relevant ones in bold):
| Ahli Bank (Qatar), Ahli United Bank, ahlibank Oman, Air Miles, American Express (France & India), Banque Saudi Fransi, BNZ, Cathay United Bank, CBQ, CIMB, Citibank, Commonwealth Bank, CTBC Bank, Doha Bank, Dukhan Bank, Emirates Islamic, Hana Bank, HSBC (Hong Kong, Mexico, Taiwan, USA), Hyundai Card, Kasikorn Bank, Kuwait Finance House, Mashreq, Masraf Al Rayan, Ping An E-wallet, QIB, QIIB, QNB, Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) |
In Singapore, both Citibank and Standard Chartered offer transfers to Qatar Privilege Club.
While Citibank offers the same transfer ratio for all of its airline partners, Standard Chartered offers an inferior ratio for Qatar Privilege Club (3,500 points: 1,000 miles, vs 2,500 points : 1,000 miles for other programmes like KrisFlyer). A 30% bonus helps offset the deficit, but really, you’re better off sticking to Citi.
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| 10,000 Citi Miles | โค (S$27 fee) |
10,000 Avios 13,000 Avios |
| 25,000 ThankYou Points | 10,000 Avios 13,000 Avios |
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| 3,500 360ยฐ Rewards Points | โค (S$27 fee) |
1,000 Avios 1,300 Avios |
Terms and Conditions
The T&Cs of the Qatar Airways Privilege Club transfer bonus can be found here.
Is this a good deal?
Redeeming via Qatar Privilege Club
Anyone considering converting points should know that Qatar Privilege Club thinks nothing of unannounced devaluations (and to be fair, revaluations too), or quietly adding junky award segment fees. This isn’t a programme I’d feel comfortable keeping a sizeable balance sitting around!
That said, if you go in with both eyes open, a 30% bonus can unlock some excellent value. As a reminder, here’s how much it’d cost to fly from Singapore to the following destinations via Qatar Airways.
| โ๏ธ One-way Business Class Awards | ||
| From SIN to: | Qatar Privilege Club | KrisFlyer |
| Doha | 50,000 | N/A |
| Athens, Bucharest, Sofia, Thessaloniki | 70,000 | N/A |
| Barcelona, London, Frankfurt, Paris, Zurich | 75,000 | 103,500 |
| Chicago, Houston, New York | 95,000 | 111,500 |
| *Assumes Avios redeemed for Qatar Airways, KrisFlyer miles for Singapore Airlines. Not all destinations served by each carrier. |
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Award rates between Singapore and Europe are extremely competitive, with Qatar Privilege Club requiring just 70,000-75,000 Avios compared to KrisFlyer’s 103,500 miles. Once you factor in the 30% transfer bonus, that’s just 54,000-58,000 Avios!
It’s a similar story for flights between Singapore and the USA, with Qatar Privilege Club charging 95,000 Avios (73,000 Avios factoring in the bonus) compared to 111,500 miles for KrisFlyer.
It’s true that all Qatar Airways flights will involve a layover in Doha, but Qatar serves many destinations that Singapore Airlines does not, such as Chicago and Sofia. If you were to fly SIA, you’d still require a transit anyway.
Qatar Privilege Club does not impose fuel surcharges for Qatar Airways awards. However, you will pay non-refundable award segment fees as follows:
| Economy | Business | First | |
| Fee per segment | US$35 | US$70 | US$70 |
This means a round-trip award redemption from Singapore to Europe would have US$280 of these junk fees tacked on, which can’t be refunded should you cancel the booking!
So there’s certainly value to be had here, provided there’s award space available on the dates and routes you want (Qatar’s website normally doesn’t let you search with a zero balance, but there is a workaround).
What’s more, you should ensure that it’s regular award space, and not the more expensive Flexi awards, which cost 2x the price. These are labelled with “Q2” tags; for example, DOH-SIN prices out at 50,000 Avios normally, but 100,000 Avios for a Flexi award.
It’s inevitably going to be a bit of a gamble, since the bonus component will only show up in August, and there’s no knowing what the award space situation will be at that point in time. Do make it a point to book awards as soon as the Avios come into your account; Qatar Airways is one place I don’t feel confident holding miles!
Redeeming via British Airways Executive Club
Even if you have no interest in Qatar Privilege Club, you can convert any Avios earned into British Airways Executive Club at a 1:1 ratio.
British Airways has some excellent short-haul sweet spots (even if they’re not as sweet as before). Some examples of itineraries you can book include:
- SIN-KUL for 6,000 miles
- SIN-CMB for 11,000 miles
- SIN-PER for 13,000 miles
- Intra-Europe from 4,750 miles
- Intra-Australia from 6,000 miles
At the risk of stating the obvious, you’ll need to transfer points to Qatar Airways in order to enjoy the bonus, then utilise them via British Airways (there’s no more need to do a transfer if you’ve linked your accounts; your British Airways balance will mirror Qatar Airways). If you convert them directly to British Airways, there will be no bonus.
When do Qatar Privilege Club Avios expire?
Qatar Avios do not expire so long as your account has some activity within a 36 month period. Any earning or redemption activity, including credit card points conversions, will reset the clock for a further 36 months.
Conclusion
Qatar Airways is offering a 30% conversion bonus for the month of June, which could be a lucrative deal for those planning flights to Europe or the USA. The bonus component will only credit in August, however, so you’ll have some thumb twiddling to do, all the while hoping that Qatar doesn’t decide on a whim to devalue its programme.
Don’t forget that your conversion must be completed by 30 June 2023, so if you plan to participate, don’t leave things till the last minute.
I don’t know if it’s an error or Qatar has changed their T&Cs, but I see that the promotion period ends on 31 May 2025. Be careful if you are still reading this article in June 2024!
Sorry, I mean it ends on 31 May 2024.