Qatar Airways offering up to 60% bonus on Avios purchases

Qatar Airways Privilege Club has launched a new flash sale on Avios purchases, which offers up to a 60% bonus till 20 October 2024. 

This reduces the cost per mile to 1.44 US cents (~1.89 SG cents), and can be potentially lucrative if you already have a redemption in mind and need the miles immediately.

However, do keep in mind that the ongoing Citi PayAll sale allows you to purchase Qatar Avios (and other loyalty programme currencies too) for 1.49 SG cents, though the catch is that you’ll need to wait till early 2025 for the full amount to be credited- and who knows what shenanigans Qatar will pull between now and then!

Buy Qatar Airways Avios with up to a 60% bonus 

Buy Qatar Airways Avios

From now till 20 October 2024, 4.59 a.m SGT, Qatar Privilege Club members will enjoy up to a 60% bonus on Avios purchases.

Offers are targeted, and you’ll need to login to your account to see how yours is structured. Here’s what I see on mine:

In my case, I’ll need to purchase at least 52,000 Avios to enjoy the 60% bonus. As a reminder, each member can buy, gift or transfer up to 250,000 Avios (pre-bonus) in a calendar year, which works out to 400,000 Avios after the bonus. 

Members must have earned at least 1 Avios since enrolment in order to purchase additional Avios. 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, those Avios need not be earned by flying; you also meet the minimum Avios threshold via credit card transfers or any other partner activity. 

What can you redeem with Qatar Privilege Club?

Qatar Privilege Club offers good value redemptions between Singapore and Europe and the USA, at least in terms of miles.

It will cost you 70,000-75,000 miles for a one-way Business Class ticket to Europe, versus 103,500 miles for KrisFlyer, and 95,000 miles for a one-way Business Class ticket to the USA, versus 111,500 miles for KrisFlyer. Factor in a transfer bonus of up to 35%, and those sweet spots get even sweeter. 

While you will need to transit in Doha, keep in mind that Qatar Airways serves many destinations that Singapore Airlines does not such as Boston, Chicago, Miami and Washington DC, so either way you’d be looking at a one-stop itinerary. 

Even if you don’t plan to fly with Qatar Airways, there are some excellent partner redemptions to consider. Qatar Privilege Club partners with Bangkok Airways, which allows you to redeem tickets on the Singapore to Koh Samui route for just 6,000 miles. Commercial tickets on this route are often expensive, so there’s potential for great value here.

Here’s some other examples of sweet spots worth considering (with the operating carrier in brackets):

Qatar Privilege Club caveats

While Qatar Privilege Club does not impose fuel surcharges on Qatar Airways redemptions, it does tack on an award booking fee, payable on top of the standard airport fees and government taxes.

This fee was hiked without notice last month by up to 80% in some cases. 

Keep in mind that this fee applies per segment, so if you’re flying through Doha on a round-trip Business Class ticket, for instance, you’ll pay US$720 in award redemption fees alone. Ouch. 

Fortunately, this fee does not apply to non-Qatar Airways redemptions, so if you plan to fly with Bangkok Airways or one of its other partners, you won’t have to pay it (you will pay whatever fuel surcharges those carriers impose, however).

When do Qatar Avios expire?

Qatar Privilege Club Avios do not expire, so long as you earn or redeem at least 1 Avios every 36 months. Should you fail to do this, you can revalidate your Avios within one year of the end of the 36-month period by paying a fee. 

Qatar Privilege Club Platinum members enjoy non-expiring Avios.

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

Qatar Privilege Club does not process miles purchases directly, so they won’t code as airline spend. Instead, miles purchases are processed through Points.com in USD under MCC 7399 (Business Services Not Elsewhere Classified).

Here’s the best cards to maximize the miles earned on your purchase:

Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
Citi Rewards Card Apply	4 mpd	Cap of S$1K per s. month
UOB Visa Signature Apply	4 mpd	Min S$1K, max S$2K FCY spend per s. month
Maybank World Mastercard Apply	3.2 mpd	Min S$4K per c. month, no cap
SCB Visa Infinite Apply	3 mpd	Min S$2K per s. month
Maybank Horizon Apply	2.8 mpd	Min. S$800 per c. month
UOB PRVI Miles Apply	2.4 mpd	No cap
S. Month= Statement Month | C. Month= Calendar Month

Remember, you can always pair the Citi Rewards Card with the Amaze Card to earn 4 mpd on Points.com purchases, with lower foreign currency transaction fees compared to banks.

Do not use HSBC cards or the DBS Woman’s World Card for Points.com purchases, as MCC 7399 will not earn points. 

What about Citi PayAll?

Another way of buying Qatar Airways Avios would be through the Citi PayAll service, which is available to Citi cardholders with a 2.6% fee.

From now till 28 February 2025, the platform is running a promotion that upsizes the earn rate to a flat 1.75 mpd across participating cards, reducing the cost per mile to 1.49 cents each. 

Card	Base	Bonus	Cost Per Mile  (@ 2.6% fee)
Citi ULTIMA	1.6 mpd	0.15 mpd	1.49¢
Citi Prestige	1.3 mpd	0.45 mpd	1.49¢
Citi Premier Miles	1.2 mpd	0.55 mpd	1.49¢
Citi Rewards	0.4 mpd	1.35 mpd	1.49¢

To illustrate how this works, suppose you spend S$5,000 on Citi PayAll during the promotion period: 

• You will earn 8,750 miles (S$5,000 x 1.75 mpd)
• You will pay an admin fee of S$130 (S$5,000 x 2.6%)
• The cost per mile is therefore S$130/8,750 miles = 1.49 cents

This is obviously lower than the cost of buying from Qatar Airways directly, but comes with a big caveat: you’ll only receive the base miles first; the bonus component will only come by 23 May 2025. 

That is a very long time to wait, and who’s to say the sweet spots you now have with Qatar Privilege Club will still be as sweet down the road? 

What about BA Balance Boost?

British Airways, which also uses the same Avios currency as Qatar Airways, now offers a feature called Balance Boost which allows you to purchase additional Avios.

The basic idea is that you can buy a lump sum of Avios equivalent to 100%, 200% or 300% of the Avios you have earned in the last 30 days, including flight activity, hotel points transfers or credit card points transfers. 

So basically, you can’t generate miles out of thin air, as you could with a traditional miles purchase offer. Therefore, even though the prices here are lower, it won’t be an option unless you have credit card points handy to transfer to British Airways. 

Do note that you cannot boost Avios earned from Qatar Airways or Finnair transfers, or Avios which were purchased, shared or gifted. 

Conclusion

Qatar Airways Privilege Club has launched a new flash sale that offers up to a 60% bonus on Avios purchases, reducing the price to 1.44 US cents per mile.

There are some very good redemption opportunities to be had via the programme, such as Koh Samui for just 6,000 miles or Helsinki in Business Class for 62,500 miles. However, given Qatar’s history of unannounced devaluations, you should not be buying miles speculatively. Only buy if you have a definite use in mind, and have confirmed that award space is available.