Great Qatar Airways Business Class flight deals to Asia and Australasia …. from Izmir

If you’ve been waiting for a cracking Qatar Airways deal to Asia or Australasia, it’s your lucky day …. possibly.  This offer comes with a few messy tweaks, to put it midly.

These fares are only valid if you start your trip in Izmir, Turkey.  From the London area, this is likely to mean a sub-4 hour flight on Jet2 from Stansted.

Even more annoying, Izmir to Doha is only 1,687 miles.  This means that you only get 40 tier points in British Airways Executive Club for this leg (the cut-off is 2,000 miles).  Whilst London to Phuket on Qatar Airways would earn 560 tier points (140 x 4 segments), Izmir to Phuket will only earn you (40 + 140 + 140 + 40) 360 tier points.

The prices are great though.  Here is Izmir to Phuket for $1,222 (£1,006):

Similar fares are available to Bangkok, Singapore, Mila, Bali, Kuala Lumpur, Maldives etc.

Here is Perth for $2072 (£1706) return in Business Class. Sydney and Melbourne are around £200 more:

This isn’t a routing that appeals to me, frankly, but it might work for you.  You can book on the Qatar Airways site here.

If you don’t have a credit card with 0% foreign exchange fees, your best option for paying is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold which offers triple points – 3 per £1 – when you book flight tickets in a foreign currency.  This is because the transaction triggers the ‘double points for airline spend’ and the ‘double points for foreign spend’ bonuses.

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.)