Qatar Airways launches new promotions as Doha joins the Amber List, letting you transit

This article is sponsored by Qatar Airways

One pleasant surprise from the review of the travel corridor lists last week was Qatar moving to the UK Government’s Amber list.

This means you can book a long haul flight with Qatar Airways, with a change of aircraft in Doha, without requiring hotel quarantine on your return to the UK. As long as you are fully vaccinated under the UK vaccination programme, transiting in Doha will not require any sort of isolation on your return.

Whilst British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are still running very limited long haul networks, Qatar Airways can get you to as many as 140 destinations. You can also earn Avios and British Airways tier points when you fly, as well as redeeming Avios for Qatar Airways flights.

Qatar Airways was one of the few airlines to continue flying throughout the pandemic, making sure that those travelling for essential reasons could get where they needed to go.

Now that tourism is beginning to re-open around the globe Qatar Airways has launched a number of offers from the UK to ease you back into long-haul flying.

Qatar Airways is currently operating flights from:

• Heathrow (3 daily)
• Edinburgh (2 weekly)
• Manchester (3 weekly)

You can connect to 140+ global destinations, including Doha, Phuket, Bangkok, the Maldives, Brisbane, Kuala Lumpur, Seychelles, Tokyo, Sydney, Dubai, Cape Town, Singapore, Bali, Muscat, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Jakarta and Melbourne.

Here are some lead-in prices for Business Class flights from Heathrow:

• Abu Dhabi from £1,609
• Bangkok from £1,719
• Jakarta from £1,829
• Muscat from £1,879
• Phuket from £1,929

Whilst not all destinations are open to tourists yet you can currently book travel up to August 2022.

Your ticket is refundable if you choose not to travel

Qatar Airways has one of, if not the, strongest coronavirus refund policies on the market.

The rules below apply to tickets booked by 31st August 2021 for travel up to 31st May 2022.

You can see the Qatar Airways ‘Travel With Confidence’ policy here. In summary:

• Your ticket has a two-year validity, allowing you to continue pushing forward your travel date if you wish
• You can change your travel date and destination as often as you want, as long as you pay any fare difference and remain within the same travel class
• If you book directly with Qatar Airways via their website or app, you can cash in your ticket at any time for a voucher worth 110% of what you paid (10% bonus is on the base fare)
• Alternatively, you can ask for a full refund at any time – there are no penalties and no refund fees

You can’t say fairer than that.

You may get the new Qatar Airways Business Class Suite

As we covered at length in this Head for Points article, Qatar Airways has just launched its new Business Class suite.

The seat features on the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft which entered passenger service in June 2021. You will initially find it on routes to Dammam, Karachi and Kuala Lumpur amongst others.

The new suite is a reverse herringbone seat, which means that window seats face the window and the centre pairs face the aisle. It is a 1-2-1 layout, with a fully retractable centre divider for couples travelling together. Each suite has a fully closing door.

The original Qsuite, which also comes with a fully closing door, can be found on the Qatar Airways A350 fleet and selected Boeing 777 aircraft. Qsuite won ‘Best Business Class’ seat in the 2019 Head for Points Travel & Loyalty Awards.

Our latest in-flight review of Qsuite is here. Our review of the older-style Qatar Airways business class seat – but still very good – on the Boeing 787-8 fleet is here.

You can find out more about the new suite on the Qatar Airways website here.

Save 5% when flying to Asia and the Middle East

Anyone visiting friends or relatives abroad will be able to save up to 5% on return tickets to a number of destinations in Asia and the Middle East. 10kg of additional checked baggage is also included for free which means you can check in up to 40kg. The offer is valid to the following destinations:

Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Baghdad, Basra, Bengaluru, Cebu, Chennai, Clark, Da Nang, Davao, Delhi, Dhaka, Erbil, Faisalabad, Goa, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hyderabad, Isfahan, Islamabad, Karachi, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Lahore, Manila, Mashhad, Multan, Mumbai, Nagpur, Najaf, Peshawar, Shiraz, Sialkot, Sri Lanka, Sulaymaniyah, Tehran, Thiruvananthapuram

You can access this discount by using the promo code ‘FLYHOME’ during the booking process here. You must book by 31st August for travel until 31st March 2022.

Get 1,500 free Qmiles for joining Qatar Airways Privilege Club

One of key reasons that Head for Points readers like to book business class flights on Qatar Airways is that you can earn a substantial number of British Airways Executive Club tier points and Avios. This is because Qatar Airways is a member of the oneworld airline alliance alongside BA.

The reason that Qatar Airways flights are so lucrative is that British Airways Executive Club awards tier points by leg. Unless you are travelling to Qatar itself, your flight will involve a change of aircraft in Doha. This means that your trip requires two flights each way, which earns two sets of British Airways Executive Club tier points.

London to Bangkok, for example, earns 560 tier points return in Business Class (4 flights at 140 tier points per flight) versus just 280 tier points if you fly direct on British Airways.

That said ….

Qatar Airways has its own frequent flyer programme called Qatar Airways Privilege Club. You can access virtually the same airline partners as you can via British Airways Executive Club.

You can currently pick up 1,500 Qmiles in Qatar Airways Privilege Club for free when you join. No flight is required.

Simply join via this page of the Qatar Airways website and use enrolment code JOINEUR21.

Joining does not commit you to crediting any future Qatar Airways flight to Qatar Airways Privilege Club and you can select your preferred frequent flyer programme at any point prior to departure.

Conclusion

There is a lot going on at Qatar Airways at the moment as you can tell, along with restored services to over 140 global destinations.

With Qatar now moved to the UK Amber list, Qatar Airways is a good choice for any long-haul travel plans – especially as you can earn Avios and British Airways Executive Club tier points if you choose.

You can find out more on the Qatar Airways website.

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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:

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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