Hello,
I’m new to all this avios points system. Seems like you need a degree in physics to understand it.
I’ve just been looking at the QR avios “sale” online. I’m looking at purchasing the 100K points where you get a bonus 50K points for $3712.
Trying to work out if this actually worth it.
I’ve been reading on these forums and others, that you can get a flight out of Europe for like 90K points one way.
But I can’t track any of these down. I’m assuming these are only available on random low-season days.
Looking on Qatar’s website, I can see flights from MEL to say EDI for 180K points in business. But then you can’t actually get a return award flight. Do they only exist when the unicorns come out?
Even looking at the value. I mean my understanding is 1 Avios is roughly 0.01 USD of value. So I seem to be paying ~$3.7K for ~$3K value?? Unless I’m missing something
Hello and welcome @rlindsay74 !
Purchasing Qatar “off peak” flights in Business Class to Europe for 90,000 Avios is great value. Note, though, that they are indeed “off peak”, so if you’re looking at flights during the European Summer (June-September) you’ll almost certainly be out of luck. For the past two years, Qatar has released virtually no “off peak” award seats for those months. At other times of the year, though, there’s most definitely plenty of “off peak” award availability if you book 12 months out.
The current promotion works out at 2.47 cents (Australian) per point with the 50% bonus. This is good value if you can secure “off peak” award availability, as it would mean that you’re redeeming over 5c of value per point. So yes, it’s worth it if you have found Business or First Class flights that have off-peak availability (or if you’re very confident that you can). But I wouldn’t buy Avios speculatively.
Thanks for the response. Looking at Europe, probably Nov to Jan. I believe 15th dec to around 15th Jan is peak as well.
I seem to be looking more at 180,000 for a leg in business around that time. But that’s not quote 12 months out.
Yep, Qatar has two types of rewards tickets: “Flex”, and “Off peak”. The Flex tickets cost double the number of points. If the Off Peak seats have all been taken, you might still be able to grab Flex seats. The value is still not bad (ie. 180,000 points is not all that much more than the number of points you’d be paying if you booked via Velocity or Qantas), but I certainly wouldn’t pay for points at 2.47c per point if you were booking a Flex ticket.
I’ve had great success booking Qatar flights 361 days out, when the seats are first released. But if you’re looking for seats closer to departure than that (even 11 months out), it becomes a lot more difficult.
I have had success booking a Qatar Off Peak itinerary with flights in January – but 12 months out.