How do I move Avios from British Airways Executive Club to Qatar Airways Privilege Club?

How can you link your Qatar Airways Privilege Club and British Airways Executive Club accounts?

When Qatar Airways Privilege Club started using Avios as its rewards currency in 2022, it became the fifth loyalty programme to adopt Avios. The others are British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, Vueling Club and Aer Lingus AerClub. Finnair is due to follow in March 2024.

Somewhat confusingly, the six different loyalty programmes don’t share an Avios ‘bank’. Instead, each individual account you have acts as a unique points bank. In theory, you could have a separate stash of Avios sitting with British Airways, Iberia, Finnair, Qatar Airways and Aer Lingus / Vueling.

Moving Avios between the various programmes can be complicated because there isn’t one single way of doing it. This article shows you how to move Avios from British Airways Executive Club to Qatar Airways Privilege Club.

How to transfer your Avios to/from Qatar Airways Privilege Club

Before you can transfer your Avios to Qatar Airways or vice versa, you first need to link up your British Airways Executive Club and Qatar Airways Privilege Club accounts. If you don’t already have a Qatar Airways Privilege Club account, click here to open one.

(Make sure your personal details match on both accounts so you can link them smoothly. I am told by Qatar Airways that there must be a match of first name, surname and date of birth and I would suggest using the same email address too.)

Once you’ve opened a Privilege Club account, head to this page on the Qatar Airways website where you should see a prompt to connect your BA Executive Club account like this:

Once you’ve gone through the linking process you should be able to see your total Avios balance across both Privilege Club and Executive Club:

To initiate the transfer of Avios from Qatar Airways Privilege Club to British Airways Executive Club or vice versa, click the ‘Combine Avios’ button under ‘More to explore’. It will take you to this page:

You can move as many or as few Avios as you like. You don’t have to transfer Avios in round numbers as the amount you transfer is a text field rather than a drop-down of options.

To transfer Avios from Qatar Airways to British Airways, just click on the reversible arrows.

Avios transfers between British Airways Executive Club and Qatar Airways Privilege Club are instantaneous. Of course, you can always transfer them back if you change your mind.

Before you transfer Avios to Qatar Airways Privilege Club ….

There’s one thing to note. In theory, you can book Qatar Airways redemptions on ba.com for the same number of Avios and the same taxes as you’ll find on the Qatar Airways website. You don’t need to move your Avios to Qatar Airways Privilege Club, and there are some benefits (easier cancellation, easier changes) to booking via ba.com.

Due to IT quirks, however, you may find different availability between the two sites so it is worth checking both. Qatar Airways also releases ‘Flexi’ redemptions where those who are willing to pay 2x the standard Avios rate get access to a wider pool of reward seats.

Moving Avios into Qatar Airways Privilege Club is also the only way of upgrading a cash Qatar Airways ticket using Avios. This cannot be done via ba.com.

You can also access airline and hotel partners who are NOT British Airways partners. If you want to redeem Avios on JetBlue or Virgin Australia flights, for example, you can ONLY do it from a Qatar Airways Privilege Club account via the Qatar Airways website.

Want to transfer Avios from Iberia, Aer Lingus or Vueling to Qatar Airways Privilege Club?

At present, you can only link a British Airways Executive Club account to Qatar Airways Privilege Club.

If your Avios are with Iberia, Aer Lingus or Vueling, you would need to move them into a British Airways Executive Club account via the routes explained below and then transfer them from BA to Qatar Airways Privilege Club.

(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Club works.  You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 2.6 million monthly page views.  Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios?  Click here to read our latest news stories and click here to sign up for our free weekly or daily email newsletters.)

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

---

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.