Heads up – excellent UK Qatar Airways business class sale launched (Perth £1425, Dubai £880)
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Qatar Airways has just launched a new ex-UK sale. This features some fantastic prices given that you are departing from the UK and not somewhere else in Europe.
The headline fare is Birmingham to Perth for £1,250 return in Business Class. This would be an astonishing fare – except that I couldn’t find one. There IS plenty at £1,425 return though.
There is LOADS of availability for Edinburgh to Dubai at £880 return.
The full list of deals is here. You must book by Monday but can travel up to 31st March 2017.
I will write more tomorrow.
But …..
Before you book, I should warn you about one BIG potential snag.
Qatar Airways flights earn British Airways Avios and tier points. A trip to Asia would get you 560 tier points (4 flights x 140 each) which is 90% of a BA Executive Club Silver card. It is a great opportunity.
Last month, Qatar brought in a new ticket ‘class’ for cheap business class seats, ‘R’. I would expect these flights to book into ‘R’ class.
British Airways has been slow to update its partner list. If you click here you will see that ‘R’ class tickets will only earn Avios and tier points if BOOKED after 1st May.
I am not 100% convinced by this – I get a feeling that it will actually apply to anything FLOWN after 1st May. However, the rule as it is written on ba.com is that you would need to BOOK after 1st May and, of course, that isn’t possible as this sale ends on Monday.
If you book one of these deals, you are taking a risk that you will get nothing in British Airways Executive Club. The best you could do is credit the flights to Qatar Privilege Club but you would be nowhere near earning equivalent status.
Of course, for these prices, you probably shouldn’t care.
How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)
As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!
There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express
5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus
25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review
You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express
30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a 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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa
The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review
You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios 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.
(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)
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