Buying miles & points strategically can represent a great value, especially for luxury travel. The Qatar Airways Privilege Club program has just launched its latest promotion on purchased Avios, and it has the potential to be a good deal, even if you’re looking to acquire another “flavor” of Avios. However, there are a lot of ways to acquire Qatar Airways Avios, so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend outright buying them.
In this post:
Promotion on purchased Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios
Through Thursday, February 1, 2024, Qatar Airways Privilege Club is offering a bonus on purchased Avios. While different members may be eligible for different offers, it seems that the standard version of the promotion offers a tiered bonus of up to a 40% bonus, as follows:
- Buy 3,000-10,000 Avios, get a 15% bonus
- Buy 11,000-25,000 Avios, get a 25% bonus
- Buy 26,000-250,000 Avios, get a 40% bonus
How much does it cost to buy Qatar Airways Avios?
Qatar Airways Privilege Club ordinarily charges 2.3-2.8 cents per purchased Avios, with the price getting lower the more Avios you buy. That’s before any discounts or bonuses, and there are no further taxes and fees beyond that cost.
With this offer, if you’re eligible for a 40% bonus, you’d receive a total of 350,000 Avios at a cost of $5,750, which is a rate of 1.64 cents per Avios.
How many Qatar Airways Avios can you purchase?
Qatar Airways Privilege Club limits members to purchasing 250,000 Avios per account per calendar year, before any bonuses. Note that in order to be eligible to purchase Avios, you must have earned at least 1,000 Avios in your account since enrollment, though that could be through any means (like transferring points from a partner).
If you do buy Qatar Airways Avios, it can take up to 72 hours for them to post to your account, but they ordinarily post much faster than that.
Which credit card should you buy Qatar Airways Avios with?
Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios purchases are processed by points.com, meaning they don’t count as an airfare purchase for the purposes of credit card spending. Therefore I’d recommend using a card on which you’re trying to reach minimum spending, or otherwise a credit card that maximizes your return on everyday spending.
In this case the best option is the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (review) (Rates & Fees) or Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review) (Rates & Fees), which offer 2x miles and have no foreign transaction fees. Usually the Chase Freedom Unlimited® (review) or Citi Double Cash® Card (review) would also be good options for maximizing everyday spending, but the cards have foreign transaction fees, so wouldn’t be a good option in this case.
Is buying Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios worth it?
While I love flying Qatar Airways, historically the Privilege Club program has been uncompetitive. Fortunately this is a trend that has been changing. In 2022, we saw Qatar Airways adopt Avios as its rewards currency, and I’d say that’s great news for the value of Privilege Club.
The first thing to keep in mind is that as long as you have some account activity and have your accounts linked for a minimum amount of time, you can transfer Avios freely between Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, and Qatar Airways. That gives you a lot of flexibility.
In general the best value with Qatar Airways Avios will be redeeming them directly for travel on Qatar Airways, rather than on partner airlines. To give some examples of redemption rates (note that these are starting costs, and in some cases awards cost significantly more):
- A one-way US to Doha award costs 35,000 Avios in economy or 70,000 Avios in business class
- A one-way US to Delhi award costs 40,000 Avios in economy or 80,000 Avios in business class
- A one-way US to Maldives award costs 42,500 Avios in economy or 85,000 Avios in business class
- A one-way US to Bangkok award costs 47,500 Avios in economy or 95,000 Avios in business class
- A one-way US to Auckland award costs 60,000 Avios in economy or 120,000 Avios in business class
Then again, you can always book Qatar Airways flights through American AAdvantage, and in many cases redemption rates will be lower.
One awesome Privilege Club sweet spot is the ability to route from the United States to Europe via Doha for a reasonable number of Avios. This can be great if you’re traveling to destinations in Europe that may be a bit harder to get to, from Mykonos to Tbilisi to Yerevan.
A while back, Qatar Airways Privilege Club greatly improved the value of partner awards, so there’s quite a bit of value to be had there as well. This doesn’t just get you redemptions on oneworld partners, but also on carriers like Bangkok Airways, LATAM, Middle East Airlines, RwandAir, and Virgin Australia.
How much are Qatar Airways Avios worth?
Everyone will value points currencies differently, but personally I value Qatar Airways Avios at 1.3 cents each. I tend to value points pretty conservatively, and there are many ways to get more value from Privilege Club than that.
Do Qatar Airways Avios expire?
Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios expire after three years of inactivity. However, any Avios earning or redemption activity would reset the expiration of Avios, so buying Avios would give you a further 36 months.
What other ways can you earn Qatar Airways Avios?
Qatar Airways Privilege Club is transfer partners with Citi ThankYou, so there are lots of great Citi credit cards that can potentially earn you Qatar Airways Avios.
Also keep in mind that since Qatar Airways now uses Avios as its currency, you can also transfer Avios between your various accounts, including Aer Lingus AerClub, British Airways Executive Club, and Iberia Plus. These programs also partner with other major transferable points currencies, giving you more options for accruing this currency.
This means you can indirectly earn Qatar Airways Avios with Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One, and Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Bottom line
Qatar Airways Privilege Club has launched its latest promotion on purchased Avios, which has the potential to be quite a good deal. With this, you can receive up to a 40% bonus on purchased Avios.
While I think the value of the Privilege Club program has improved considerably since Qatar Airways adopted Avios as its currency, there’s also less of a need to actually buy Qatar Airways Avios. That’s because there are so many other ways to acquire the different “flavors” of Avios, including with transferable points currencies.
For some people the math on this promotion might check out, though personally I’d only buy Avios with a specific use in mind.
Does anyone plan on buying Qatar Airways Avios with a 40% bonus?
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