Flight deals: Qatar Airways to Tokyo for £795, British Airways business and First deals

Here are a couple of interesting flight deals if you are spending your weekend wondering what to do over the Summer.

More Qatar Airways bargains from Pisa

Qatar Airways is pushing its Pisa route again with some further very heavy discounting to Asia.

You see Qatar’s special Pisa fares here.

Pisa to Tokyo is a ludicrous €1,015 (£795) in Business Class.

Other standout deals are Kuala Lumpur (€1,205 / £945), Phuket (€1,125 / £882) and Bangkok (€1,030 / £808).

From Pisa, you are on a short-haul A320 to Doha but this still has flat bed seats in Business Class.  These Asia routes will earn you 560 British Airways tier points which is over 90% of what you need for a BA Silver card.  You can connect to Pisa on British Airways via Gatwick or Heathrow.

You need to book by Monday for travel at any point until March 2017, although at peak times you might not find the fare available.

PS.  Readers who booked the recent Pisa to Auckland deal on Qatar, who hit trouble when the Auckland service was delayed, have come up trumps.  Qatar has rebooked them Pisa – Heathrow (BA, Club Europe) – Hong Kong (Cathay Pacific, Business) – Auckland (Cathay Pacific, Business).

Good British Airways First Class deals out of Europe

British Airways is, for some odd reason, selling cheap First Class tickets out of the Netherlands and Germany at the moment.  There may be other starting points available as well.

How cheap?  First Class to Johannesburg is €2,684 (£2,105) from Frankfurt or Amsterdam.  Cape Town, oddly, is not reduced.

Hong Kong is around €2,850.  Manila, which involves changing to Cathay Pacific in Hong Kong, is €3,000.  All of these prices are freely available, including over Christmas for those I checked.  A Saturday night does seem to be required.

These are clearly not pocket money prices but they do represent very good value for money if you are prepared to spend £2,000 on a return flight.

Good Club World deals are also available.  Johannesburg is €1,844 from Germany for example, and I found that fare easily available over Christmas.

Note that, whilst these fares are theoretically ‘refundable for a fee’, the fee is high.  Under the new BA cancellation rules, the cancellation fee is PER SECTOR.  That would be 4 x €300 for Amsterdam to Johannesburg which wipes out much of what you paid.

Have a play around at ba.com and see what you can find.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.