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Rare First Class Qatar Airways Avios availability to Perth for spring 2025

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Qatar Airways blocks Avios redemptions in First Class on its A380 fleet between London and Doha (although I booked one for my wife via ba.com ….. go figure!) and its rare to see it on other routes.

This is why I thought it worth mentioning that a decent chunk of Qatar Airways First Class Avios availability has appeared between Heathrow and Perth for spring 2025.

Because you can’t book First Class on the leg from London to Doha, even if you choose an A380 service, you can only book First on the Doha to Perth leg.

Qatar Airways A380 First Class

This is fine though. London to Doha is just over six hours and perfectly slummable in Qatar Airways business class – especially if you avoid an A380 and choose an aircraft with Qsuite instead. (The A380 Qatar Airways business class seat is old school, see our review here, although the food, service, IFE etc is the same as the other aircraft).

Doha to Perth, on the other hand, is blocked at over 11 hours, so having First Class here is more interesting.

Now, I need to be clear. The First Class seat on the Qatar Airways A380 isn’t necessarily a lot better than a Qsuite business class seat on another aircraft type. It’s a very open cabin for a start – no high wall around your seat and certainly no doors. I reviewed it here, albeit quite a few years ago and very briefly. A PR photo is above.

If you want to try Qatar Airways First Class though – and the amazing Al Safwa First Class Lounge in Doha – this is a good opportunity.

First Class is available for Avios, at least for one person, on many dates between January and March next year between Doha and Perth.

To be honest, on many of those days it is a ‘Flexi’ award which requires 2x Avios for that leg. On some days, however, it is bookable for ‘standard’ Avios.

Qatar Airways business class between London and Australia is 180,000 Avios return on off-peak dates. If you fly between Doha and Perth in First Class, it jumps to 270,000 Avios return.

Here’s an example I found, with business class to/from London and First Class to/from Perth, all on a day with ‘standard’ pricing:

Qatar Airways First Class on Avios

As you can see, it is 270,000 Avios + £588 for one person.

Whilst this screenshot is from the Qatar Airways website, ‘standard priced’ Avios seats should also show at ba.com. You only need to book via the Qatar Airways site if you want to book a ‘Flexi’ ticket using double Avios. This article explains how to link your British Airways and Qatar Airways account.

Thanks to Alison for this.

PS. What about Sydney, you may ask, which is also an A380 route? There is a LOT of ‘Flexi’ First Class Avios award availability – so priced at double Avios – but I struggled to find anything at standard pricing.

PPS. As per the comments, Qatar Airways does not block First Class redemptions on the Paris route. You could book Paris to Doha to Perth and get First Class all the way if you wish.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

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 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 card

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.

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.

Comments (29)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Mister E says:

    I managed to find 2 SYD > LGW in Feb 25 at standard prices: First on A380 SYD > DOH and then Bus DOH > LGW.

    1 What’s the best strategy to get DOH > LON in First?
    2 Can we use the First Lounge in DOH while transferring from First to Bus?
    3 Can we use the Qantas First Lounge in Sydney at the start of the trip?

    TIA

    • RichFamilyFlyer says:

      Hi Mister E,

      In an attempt to help from my limited experience
      1. I would say not possible, although my family managed to get lucky booking BA First DOH=>LON, the flight was cancelled/moved date, so YouFirst hotline moved us onto a Qatar First return flights on the A380
      2. Yes, we just flew back from Maldives to Doha in First then Business Doha to London, we were permitted into Al Safwa, no issues
      3. This I dont know

    • Dragonfly says:

      2. Yes, if you can use the First Lounge in DOH – need to show your F boarding pass from SYD – DOH.
      3. Yes, you can use QF First lounge in SYD. QR check-in counter will tell you to use their lounge, but it is not as nice as QF First. Just turn up with your QR F boading pass. You can order a la carte or have buffet or both.

  • Occasional Ranter says:

    Have been able to see QR F on quite a few dates in the last couple of years from Oz. Perth has had the most availability but have sometimes seen it from Sydney as well. Have not actually booked it though, always preferred to stick to J and save 30k AA miles and pick a route where I get to enjoy the privacy of qsuites.

  • Stephen says:

    I booked 2x flexible F from SYD-DOH-CDG for next Jan the other day 🙂 given the doh-lon block, consider cdg by A380 as alternative maybe

  • Phillip says:

    There was a lot of availability on LHR-DOH-BKK route for April 2025.

  • James Wyatt says:

    I recently done the LHR/DOH/PER trip. Q suite to Doha was nice. But I disagree with the comment that Qatars first class isn’t much better – it is still streets ahead. Amazing lounge in Doha, HUGE seat with very considerably more space. Flight attendants galore (we had one for every two passengers). Much better food and drinks and so on. In fact there was an empty seat next to me which they made up as my bed. I really thought it made the qsuite offering look ordinary. Just my view!!

    • Phillip says:

      When I flew DOH-PER in Jan 23, First class was filled with op-ups, so it’s clear it’s not selling which may explain some of the award availability.

      • qrfan says:

        Qatar only announced the re-introduction of the A380 to Perth in Sept 2022, starting Dec 2022. So it’s very possible that the F tickets went on sale too late to attract anyone to your flight. Could be very different now.

    • James W says:

      I need to go back to school! “I recently DID”!!

    • RichFamilyFlyer says:

      I would concur with your thought James, just undertook Qatar First from Maldives to Doha (both ways) in First, on the way back had the entire cabin to ourselves! Food was exceptional from Wagyu to Caviar etc, and the drinks menu was almost unparalleled – Premium Champagnes, Vintage Bordeauxs and Chardonnays, and the service was the perfect balance of attentive but with adeuqate space. Our infant also had a seat on both occasions due to quiteness of the cabin, despite only having book a lap infant seat. And Al Safwa was majestic to say the least, even great for the kids! Was fortunate these old Cathay fleet 777-300ER’s have a first section you can book!

  • Dragonfly says:

    Quite a few months ago, I found 2 standard award seats on QR for SYD – DOH in F and DOH – LHR in J. I was excited so decided to book using my QR avios, everything looked OK, I put in my CC details to pay for the taxes and got a confirmed booking ref. But no email came through so I checked my CC and nothing was charged. Next day the seats re-appeared, I tried to book again, same process happed but nothing was charged to CC (not even pending). I then phoned QR and it was a tortuous task and I got nowhere. They kept saying to use another CC – I did this, and still no result. They refused to help to resolve the issue – I have used the same CC to book QR award seats before without any problem. Also the strange thing was that I was able to use that CC to book 2 more QR award seats (all J, not mixed F and J, on different routes). Needless to say I agree with many that QR hard products and inflight services are very good, but their call centres / customer service are very bad.
    What also very odd about the 2 award seats on QR website (which I found and was not able to book) was that I also found the exact same ones on AA website. I thought maybe I could book using my AA miles, but they appeared to be phantom. I phoned AA and like QR they were absolutely unhelpful.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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