Qatar Airways slashes Oneworld and partner award costs by up to 60%

One of the poorest value award charts in the Oneworld programme has always been the Qatar Airways Privilege Club (QRPC) partner redemption table, a fairly unattractive series of rates to redeem a trip, including examples like Singapore to Brisbane on Qantas in Business Class for an eye-watering 100,000 Avios.

That’s more than it costs to fly to the other side of the world from Singapore to New York in Qatar’s own Qsuite Business Class (95,000 Avios), so it certainly doesn’t shout value!

Interestingly these partner rates weren’t hiked at all by the airline when it imposed a massive no-notice devaluation in May 2018, temporarily making them one of the best use of Qatar points for a couple of years, until the main scheme was thankfully revalued again in November 2020.

Since then though, the partner award chart rates have also remained stubbornly un-budged… until now.

Former QRPC partner award chart

Here’s how the QRPC partner award chart has looked for as long as we can remember, based on the total distance of your itinerary on a partner carrier.

Partner Award Chart
(until 18th June 2023)

For example, a Singapore – Sydney flight (3,908 miles) on Qantas using Avios (or Qmiles before that) from your Qatar Privilege Club account used to cost 50,000 Avios in Economy Class or 100,000 Avios in Business Class.

To say that was uncompetitive is no understatement.

British Airways is charging 20,750 Avios in Economy and 62,000 Avios in Business Class for the same ticket on Qantas, while Asia Miles is charging 27,000 miles in Economy and 61,000 miles in Business.

Singapore Airlines charges 30,500 KrisFlyer miles in Economy and 68,500 KrisFlyer miles in Business when you make a saver redemption on its own metal between Singapore and Sydney.

New QRPC partner award chart

The good news is that Qatar Airways has introduced a new partner award chart, effective from Monday this week, and it now matches the British Airways Executive Club partner chart, with one-way Avios pricing on a per sector basis.

Partner Award Chart
(from 19th June 2023)

That brings a Singapore – Sydney redemption on Qantas in Economy Class down from 50,000 Avios to 20,750 Avios, a 59% reduction, while in Business Class the former 100,000 Avios rate is now 62,000 Avios under the new pricing, a 38% reduction.

This is a very welcome move, with this chart applying to redemptions on all of Qatar’s Oneworld partners plus its partner airlines.

Koh Samui for 6,000 Avios

Another great option with this new Avios partner award chart is Bangkok Airways.

Fares between Singapore and the popular holiday resort island of Koh Samui, a non-stop route on which the Thai carrier now has a monopoly, are very high, often more than S$300 each way.

The new Avios rates using QRPC on this route are really very attractive:

• Bangkok Airways Singapore – Koh Samui
  Now 6,000 Avios in Economy (was 15,000 Avios) and 12,500 Avios in Business Class (was 30,000 Avios)

Qatar Airways does not impose an award segment fee for partner bookings, so you’ll only have to pay the mandatory taxes on a redemption like this.

For a Singapore – Koh Samui award, we confirmed with Qatar Airways that’s just 6,000 Avios + S$63.60.

Even after mandatory taxes are accounted for, on some dates this can give you a value of over 4 cents per mile on this route in Economy Class, almost unheard of.

Rates using other FFPs one-way to Koh Samui in Economy Class, all of which are less attractive, include:

• Air France/KLM Flying Blue: 10,000 miles
• Asia Miles: 10,000 miles
• Bangkok Airways FlyerBonus: 9,000 miles
• Etihad Guest: 12,000 miles
• Emirates Skywards: 14,000 miles
• JAL Mileage Bank: 12,000 miles
• Qantas Frequent Flyer: 14,000 miles

You can search award space on Singapore – Koh Samui flights via the Qantas website, then contact QRPC to book once you’ve found available seats.

Other examples

There are plenty of other examples of good value Oneworld redemptions too, thanks to this cut in partner award rates from QRPC.

• Malaysia Airlines Singapore – Kuala Lumpur
  Now 6,000 Avios in Economy (was 12,500 Avios) and 12,500 Avios in Business Class (was 25,000 Avios)
• Cathay Pacific Singapore – Hong Kong
  Now 11,000 Avios in Economy (was 25,000 Avios) and 22,000 Avios in Business Class (was 50,000 Avios)
• SriLankan Airlines Singapore – Colombo
  Now 11,000 Avios in Economy (was 25,000 Avios) and 22,000 Avios in Business Class (was 50,000 Avios)
• Japan Airlines Singapore – Tokyo
  Now 20,750 Avios in Economy (was 50,000 Avios)
• British Airways Singapore – Sydney
  Now 20,750 Avios in Economy (was 50,000 Avios) and 62,000 Avios in Business Class (was 100,000 Avios)

Booking remains offline

While it’s great news that Qatar Privilege Club has harmonised its partner award chart with the same rates applicable for British Airways Executive Club Avios redemptions, there’s one major downside.

With the exception of British Airways and American Airlines, partner award bookings are only possible via a request form.

That means for examples like most of the ones shown above, you’ll have to search partner award availability first (ideally via the American Airlines or BA Avios Portal), then complete the booking request form via QRPC in order for them to ticket your itinerary.

This must be done a minimum of 96 hours (four days) prior to the commencement of travel.

In order to complete the booking request, log on to your QRPC account, then go to Privilege Club > Redeem my Avios > Spend on other partner airlines.

You can then search flights for your desired partner and routing (don’t get too excited – all flights appear, whether award space is available or not!).

You can then choose the flight you want, and proceed to complete the booking request.

Qatar Airways then takes the Avios from your account immediately, an agent checks the space and tickets the itinerary if available, or refunds the Avios if it is not available.

If this rather rudimentary form system doesn’t work, you’ll unfortunately have to call QRPC to book.

Less than ideal, and hopefully a fully online search and booking function can be established in future.

Cancellation fees for partner flights booked with QRPC Avios

If you cancel a partner flight booked using Qatar Privilege Club Avios, the same cancellation and change fees apply as they do when you book a Qatar Airways flight through the programme.

If you cancel your flight:

• More than 24 hours before departure: 100% of your Avios and all taxes and fees will be refunded, less a US$25* cancellation fee per person.
• Between 3 hours and 24 hours before departure: 100% of your Avios and all taxes and fees will be refunded, less a US$100* cancellation fee per person.
• Less than 3 hours before departure: Avios and fees are forfeited (no refund). Only eligible airport and government taxes will be refunded.

* Free for QRPC Gold and Platinum members

Hang on, isn’t this the same as BA Avios?

As you may have figured out by now, following Qatar Privilege Club’s adoption of the BA Avios partner award chart there really isn’t much you can do here to secure good value redemptions that you can’t already do simply by linking your Qatar and BA accounts (see this guide), transferring your Qatar Avios to BA and just booking through that platform instead.

The search and booking process is then fully online with BA, which is much easier, so why is there any benefit here?

Well…

• Not all our readers have a BA Executive Club account, and even though it’s free to sign up for one, they may not want the hassle.
• Bangkok Airways is a QRPC partner, not a BA partner, so you can only book 6,000 Avios Singapore – Koh Samui flights via QRPC.
• Qatar Airways has five other non-Oneworld partners BA doesn’t have that you can use Avios on at these new lower rates:
  – LATAM
  – Middle East Airlines
  – Oman Air (DOH-MCT route only)
  – RwandAir
  – Virgin Australia

Using the KrisFlyer programme to fly from Perth to Melbourne in Business Class on Virgin Australia costs an uncompetitive 44,000 miles – you can now do so for half the Avios through QRPC, albeit through the offline booking process.

Another potentially useful perk? You can book LATAM award flights using QRPC Avios, which has been impossible through BA Avios since the airline left Oneworld in 2020.

Qatar Airways has slashed its Avios requirements for booking on Oneworld and partner airlines, replicating the British Airways Avios partner award chart, which provides some great value short-haul redemption options on a wide range of carriers.

While this isn’t too interesting for those of you who already have a QR > BA linked Avios account, since you can do most of this through BA using your pooled Avios at the same rates already, it’s great for those who don’t have a BA account, though sadly offline booking remains under QRPC.

The big benefit is tapping Qatar’s non-oneworld partners at these significantly enhanced award rates, including Singapore to Koh Samui flights for only 6,000 Avios + S$64, as well as Virgin Australia redemptions, plus a few others like LATAM.

(Cover Photo: Qatar Airways)