Back in 2022, Qatar Airways reintroduced award segment fees for those redeeming Avios points for flights on its own aircraft, adding sharply to the cash cost payable on some routes via its Doha hub, such as Singapore – Doha – London.

These award fees are usually a double whammy for our readers redeeming flights from Singapore to Europe or the USA, because they apply sector-by-sector, and are therefore charged twice on the outbound and twice on the return leg – a total of four times.

Well there’s very bad news to report, with Qatar Airways hiking its award segment fees significantly overnight, increasing the overall cash cost of these awards by up to 125% in some cases.

Qatar Airways hikes award segment fees

Until yesterday, Qatar Airways applied an award segment fee of US$35 for Economy Class tickets or US$70 for Business Class tickets, which for a Singapore – Europe or Singapore – USA routing in Business Class typically added US$140 (around S$180) to the mandatory taxes and fees payable on top of your Avios points.

While that was a nasty sting, the fact that Qatar Airways does not apply its fuel surcharge to award tickets redeemed using Avios points still made the redemption good value, given the competitive rate of 70,000 – 75,000 Avios one-way to Europe or 95,000 Avios one-way to the USA.

As spotted by UK frequent flyer site Head for Points, we’re now seeing a very sharp increase in the award segment fee rolled out with no notice.

The higher fees apply network-wide, but here are some examples for Singapore-originating itineraries.

• On a Singapore – London route, for example, the award cost in Business Class has increased from 75,000 Avios + S$300 to 75,000 Avios + S$583, a 94% increase in the cash element payable.
  The award segment fees on this route are now US$360 (~S$470).
• On a Singapore – Doha flight, the award cost in Business Class has increased from 50,000 Avios + S$163 to 50,000 Avios + S$224, a 37% increase in the cash element payable.
  The award segment fee on this route is now US$120 (~S$156).
• On a Singapore – New York route, the award cost in Business Class has increased from 95,000 Avios + S$359 to 95,000 Avios + S$818, a 128% increase in the cash element payable.
  The award segment fees on this route are now US$500 (~S$652).

For SIN-DOH-LHR the award segment fees now total S$469.60 (US$360), while for SIN-DOH-JFK they now total a whopping S$652 (US$500)!

Here’s a recent example of a Singapore – London Heathrow award ticket pricing with the old award segment fees in force.

And here’s how it loos today, with the new award segment fees in force.

Singapore Airlines charges 103,400 KrisFlyer miles + S$65.20 for this routing, so unless you value your miles at 1.8 Singapore cents or more each, it’s hardly worth considering the Qatar option anymore, provided both airlines are offering award space.

Here’s the latest fee schedule for a Singapore – New York award ticket, with that crazy S$652 one-way redemption fee making up 80% of the total cash charges payable.

As you can see the award segment fee now appears to be variable based on the length of your routing.

While the award fee in Business Class on Singapore – Doha (US$120) and on Doha – London (US$120) as individual sectors add up to US$240, a total charge when booking Singapore – Doha – London as a single itinerary is US$360.

Similarly the Singapore – Doha (US$120) and on Doha – New York (US$200) one-way single-segment fees combine to US$320, but US$500 is actually charged when booking a Singapore – Doha – New York itinerary.

Redeeming via British Airways is the same

In case you were wondering, it’s sadly not possible to avoid these hiked award segment fees by booking a Qatar Airways redemption via the British Airways portal, which also simply passes on the new charges in the same way the Qatar Airways site does.

Qatar Airways Avios transfer free and instantly 1:1 into British Airways Avios if you have linked your accounts, but that won’t help here.

We’ll need to take a closer look at whether partner programmes like Asia Miles and Qantas Frequent Flyer are also applying the new charges, but in any event you’ll have to pay the Qatar Airways fuel surcharge in those cases, which is frankly just as bad!

This devalues Avios points for Qatar Airways awards

Needless to say this significantly damages the value of Avios award redemptions on Qatar Airways, especially when you consider that you’ll be hit with this high award segment fee on your return journey as well, if you also choose to return home on Qatar Airways too.

Back in May 2018 Qatar Airways devalued its miles by over 40% without notice, and this latest hiked surcharge news comes less than a year after Qatar Airways adopted peak and off peak award pricing, increasing the Avios needed for redemption tickets on busier dates by 20%, again without notice.

That’s always led us to recommend never keeping a significant balance in the programme speculatively, so hopefully most of our readers have not been doing so.

Thankfully there are still some good value Avios awards to Europe, with Finnair Business Class between Singapore and Helsinki coming in at 62,500 Avios + S$87 when booked via the BA Avios portal, a very competitive rate.

You can also redeem great value Cathay Pacific intra-Asia awards in long-haul J seats online, with no fuel surcharge, like Singapore – Bangkok in Business Class for 16,500 Avios and Singapore – Hong Kong for 22,000 Avios, or Bangkok Airways Singapore – Koh Samui flights for just 6,000 Avios.

As we’ve always said, Qatar Airways is not a frequent flyer programme to trust with a large miles balance in your account for too long, thanks to its previous no-notice devaluations.

This latest change is no exception, with significantly hiked award segment fees now in force, more than doubling the cash cost of some redemptions to and from Singapore in Business Class, such as to Europe and the USA, overnight.

Booking through the British Airways Avios portal sadly doesn’t help bypass the charges, which now significantly devalue one of the better Business Class redemption options to and from Europe for many of our readers.

Thankfully there are still some good value ways to use Avios points on flights to and from Singapore, assuming these new charges are enough to put you off a Qatar Airways Business Class award redemption to Europe or the USA.

(Cover Photo: Qatar Airways)

Hat-tip to Head for Points