The 10% off Qatar Airways flights discount code also works on some ex-EU sale fares

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We ran an article this morning about the new Qatar Airways sale.

For TODAY ONLY (Tuesday), you can get an additional 10% off the base fare of any Economy or Business Class ticket.

We thought that this only applied to the UK market.

However, the code 24HOURS is also giving a 10% base fare discount in some of the markets where Qatar Airways has its cheapest fares.

For example:

Berlin / Frankfurt

Copenhagen

Helsinki

Milan / Rome

Oslo

Stockholm

Vienna

It is not advertised as working everywhere, but if it is then it will show on the relevant national home page. Here are the key landing pages:

Qatar Netherlands offer

Qatar Norway offers

Qatar Sweden offers

There are some great deals from Belgrade but this is a tricky place to reach from the UK. Don’t book from there unless you know how you will position yourself.

A ‘good’ Business Class fare to Asia would be around £1,200 (£1,500 to Japan and Africa). Here is a £1,350 return example from Oslo to Cape Town for example (click to enlarge):

How to earn Avios and BA tier points with Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways has an excellent business class product.

If you read my recent series of Qatar Airways flight reviews (the series starts here with the Heathrow lounge) then you will be keen to give them a try.

If you won’t take my word for it, Qatar Airways won Best Airline, Best Long-Haul Airline, Best Business Class and Best Middle Eastern Airline in the 2019 Business Traveller Awards. And, of course, your fellow HFP readers voted it ‘Best Business Class Seat & Service’ in the inaugural Head for Points Travel & Loyalty Awards.

However, a key reason for Head for Points readers to fly them is that you earn British Airways Avios and tier points from your flight.

How many tier points will I earn?

Qatar Airways is a member of the oneworld airline alliance, alongside British Airways. This means that, if you put your British Airways Executive Club number into the booking, you will earn Avios and BA tier points when you fly.

When flying airlines other than British Airways, there is something called the ‘2000 mile rule’ in the Executive Club:

Business Class flights under 2000 miles earn 40 tier points per sector
Business Class flights over 2000 miles earn 140 tier points per sector

From all of the destinations listed above to Doha it is more than 2000 miles. Doha to Asia is more than 2000 miles. This means that your return Business Class flight from Europe to Bangkok will earn 140 + 140 + 140 + 140 = 560 tier points in British Airways Executive Club.

Be careful if you see any cheap Qatar Airways flights from Southern Europe. Check that the distance between your departure airport and Doha is over 2,000 miles. gcmap.com is a good resource for this – put in the airport codes (eg ‘LHR-DOH’) and click ‘Distance.

How many tier points do I need for BA Silver status?

600 tier points. This means that you are over 90% of the way there in just one trip to Asia or beyond with this deal.

However, you ALSO need to have done four paid British Airways one-way flights in your current membership year before you are upgraded. You cannot earn the 600 tier points purely from partners.

Bronze status requires just 300 tier point and two paid BA flight segments in your current membership year.

British Airways Executive Club Silver status has two key benefits – lounge access for you and a guest whenever you fly, plus free seat selection at the time of booking. You can find out more benefits of Silver status on ba.com here.

Your status would last for the rest of your current membership year plus all of the following year. If you booked one of these flights in the first few weeks of your next membership year, you would potentially get Silver status for almost two years.

What is Qatar Airways business class like?

Qatar Airways has an excellent Business Class product. Whilst individual seats can vary from aircraft to aircraft the exceptional soft-product is uniform across the fleet.

Here are the main aircraft options:

Boeing 787-8 – the seat you are most likely to get is the 1-2-1 herringbone configuration I reviewed here. This is based on the same Super Diamond seat that the new British Airways Club Suite is based upon, albeit without a door and a slightly different tray table and sculpted seat surrounds.

A350-900 – whilst some of the A350-900s are fitted with Qsuite, others have the reverse herringbone seat that is also on Qatar’s 787 (review) and A380 aircraft.

A350-1000 – between Doha and a variety of busier destinations in Asia including Singapore you get the fantastic Qsuite which I reviewed recently, which is installed on all of Qatar’s A350-1000 aircraft.

Boeing 777-300ER – some 777 routes still get the older 2-2-2 seating I reviewed here. Qatar is in the process of refitting its entire Boeing 777 fleet with Qsuite and is about 50% completed on the 777-300ER, so you may get lucky with refurbished one with Qsuite (reviewed here).

A380 – on some flights Qatar flies an A380, which features its reverse herringbone seat reviewed here – it is not Qsuite but it has a great bar.

If you are particularly unlucky you may also get an A330. These are fitted with a 2-2-2 business class seat – I would normally not recommend these but, as these are all companion fares, you will be travelling with other people so your neighbour will be know to you!

It has to be said that Qatar Airways has a habit of changing its aircraft allocations at short notice, so I wouldn’t get too hung up on which one you choose because it may change.

To learn more about Qsuite, take a look at this special page of the website.

To learn more about the herringbone seat on the A380 and Boeing 787, take a look at this special page of the website.

To learn more about the Al Mourjan business class lounge in Doha, take a look at this page of the Qatar Airways website and read my Al Mourjan lounge review here.

Qatar sale

Which credit card should I use?

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. Our review of Amex Gold is here.

If you’re planning a trip to Asia ….

It is difficult to pick out individual deals, especially as the 24HOURS code is only valid from some starting points and not others. It also seems relatively random when the code actually decides to work. You need to pick out a few starting points and try some routes.

Don’t get too hung on the cheapest fare to the nearest penny. Bear in mind the length of any stopovers and the cost and convenience of getting to your European starting point.

I strongly recommend starting a search with Stockholm, Gothenburg (whcre Qatar Airways has a lot of capacity) and Oslo. Scandinavia has been the home of the best flight deals for the last year or so, and not just with Qatar Airlines.

The 24HOURS code ends at midnight LOCAL TIME so don’t leave it too late – deals will start to drop away at 10pm and 11pm UK time.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

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 BA Amex American Express card

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 BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

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: