Qatar Airways offering up to 50% bonus on Avios purchases

Qatar Airways Privilege Club has launched a new flash sale, which offers a bonus of up to 50% on Avios purchases made by 26 March 2025. 

This isn’t as generous as the most recent Avios sale, which offered a 60% bonus, but still reduces the cost per mile to 1.53 US cents (~2.04 SG cents) and could be potentially useful if you have an immediate redemption in mind. 

If you don’t need Avios right away, it might be worth waiting to see what promotion Citi PayAll runs for income tax season. The most recent PayAll offer allowed customers to purchase Qatar Airways Avios (and other loyalty programme currencies) for 1.49 SG cents, though the catch is that it takes a few months for the full amount to be credited.

Buy Qatar Airways Avios with up to a 50% bonus 

Buy Qatar Airways Avios

From now till 26 March 2025, 4.59 a.m SGT, Qatar Privilege Club members will enjoy up to a 50% bonus on Avios purchases.

Offers are targeted, and you’ll need to log in 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 42,000 Avios to enjoy the 50% 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 375,000 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.

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 are 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 in September 2024 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 maximise the miles earned on your purchase:

Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
Citi Rewards Card Apply	4 mpd Capped	Cap of S$1K per s. month
UOB Visa Signature Apply	4 mpd Capped	Min S$1K, max S$2K FCY spend per s. month
StanChart Beyond Card Apply	3-4 mpd No cap	3 mpd for regular, 3.5 mpd for PB, 4 mpd for PP
Maybank World Mastercard Apply	2.8-3.2 mpd No cap	Min. S$4K per c. month, Earn 2.8 mpd with min. S$800 per c. month
Maybank Visa Infinite Apply	2-3.2 mpd No cap	Min. S$4K per c. month. Earn 2 mpd with no min. spend
SCB Visa Infinite Apply	3 mpd No cap	Min S$2K per s. month
Maybank Horizon Visa Signature Apply	2.8 mpd No cap	Min S$800 per c. month
UOB PRVI Miles Card Apply	2.4 mpd No cap
S. Month= Statement Month | C. Month= Calendar Month

Citi PayAll alternative

While Citi PayAll is not running any promotions at the moment, it’s worth noting that Citi ULTIMA or Citi Prestige Cardholders could still purchase Avios at a slightly lower price.

Card	Earn Rate	Cost Per Mile  (@ 2.6% fee)
Citi ULTIMA	1.6 mpd	1.63 cents
Citi Prestige	1.3 mpd	2 cents
Citi PremierMiles	1.2 mpd	2.17 cents

Based on the regular 2.6% admin fee, the cost per mile would be 1.63 cents and 2 cents for Citi ULTIMA and Citi Prestige Cardholders respectively. Keep in mind, this isn’t just for Qatar Avios. The price would be the same for any of Citi’s 10 airline partners, including EVA Air, Etihad Guest, and of course, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer. 

There’s even a possibility of the price coming down further when Citi launches its promotion for income tax season. Last year’s offer saw the cost per mile reduced to between 1.31 to 1.62 cents each. 

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 50% bonus on Avios purchases, reducing the price to 1.53 US cents per mile.

There are still 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.

If you don’t need Avios right this instant, I would recommend waiting to see the various income tax payment promotions, which may present an opportunity to buy them for even less.