British Airways and Qatar Airways plan a JV to Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne and Perth

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

British Airways and Qatar Airways have submitted a request to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission to form a joint venture on nine routes to Australia from the UK.

Sydney is NOT included – I think both airlines know that such a request would be thrown out as damaging to competition. Instead, it will cover the following routes:

Adelaide – Manchester
Adelaide – London
Canberra – London
Melbourne – London
Melbourne – Edinburgh
Melbourne – Manchester
Perth – London
Perth – Edinburgh
Perth – Manchester

British Airways and Qatar Airways plan an Australian joint venture

What is a little odd about this joint venture is that British Airways brings virtually nothing to the party EXCEPT for its brand. Apart from the BA flight to Doha, every other flight in the joint venture will be operated by Qatar Airways.

At present, anyone looking to travel from London to Adelaide would be routed on British Airways to Sydney and then onto a Qantas codeshare. British Airways believes it can make more money by filtering passengers onto a Qatar Airways flight in Doha. As this is a joint venture, rather than just a codeshare, British Airways should make more money.

There would be very little obvious difference if the joint venture was approved. There may be some retiming of flights so that connection times in Doha are minimised. British Airways Executive Club status members would receive a tier bonus on the Qatar Airways service from Doha, which is not currently offered. Apart from that ….. little changes.

This doesn’t mean that approval for the joint venture is a given, of course, since it reduces competition into the four Australian cities. It may also raise questions over the future of the British Airways Sydney service, with many potential passengers planning to connect onwards now siphoned off via Doha instead.

You can find out more on the ACCC website here.

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:

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.)

Category

British Airways and Avios, Qatar Airways and Privilege Club

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Sam Wardill says:

25 Jan25 January 06:06

I was speaking to an agile consultant this week that started his career in agile in BA IT in 1992. Back then BA IT were pioneers. Then they outsourced to India…,,
- Jon says:
  
  25 Jan25 January 06:44
  
  Incredibly racist comment. Rob please remove asap.
  
  Thanks
  - Thywillbedone says:
    
    25 Jan25 January 07:07
    
    Found the snowflake. How much business have you done in India Jon?
    - So woke says:
      
      25 Jan25 January 07:38
      
      Don’t remove please Rob. It’s sharing relevant experience from someone in the know around the issue in question. Jon is too too woke and as Thywillbedone highlighted, a snowflake
  - Sam Wardill says:
    
    25 Jan25 January 07:33
    
    Jon. Racist? You really have got to be joking? My wife is of Indian origin (her mother left at the time of partition). Under the complex rules of identity politics, I believe this allows me to make such comments.
    - Shoestring says:
      
      25 Jan25 January 07:45
      
      Not remotely racist.
      
      Disadvantages of outsourcing to India
      Licensing and copyright issues. Outsourced projects may be copied and sold again to one of your competitors. This leads to serious issues with regards to licensing and copyright.
      Time lost managing project. Any financial gain must be weighed against the time spent having to manage the project from half way across the world. Communicating to the client and then having to translate requirements to the Indian programmers and back and forth. Paying for airfares, accommodation, visas, etc need to be factored in.
      Poorer standard of work resulting from poor communication and cultural differences. Financial losses that result from competitor’s having better systems.
      Political instability – It is a fact that India is not as politically stable as Australia. Assassinations can lead to street unrest that can shut businesses down for days.
      Lack of quality control. Outsourcing a project requires a great deal of trust because the quality of programming varies considerably. Most problems do not surface till later on, and unless a project is written well, it is expensive to fix. Patch after patch is applied to dodgy programming.
      Customer service. Pushy sales people are always a sign that something is not quite right. If in presales, Indian developers call and email persistently, refuse to accept ‘no’ for an answer and continue to speak about how great their company and developers are, then what happens in the middle of a project, when something needs to be fixed, will they listen then? Establishing a relationship, is more than – ‘we can get you a better price’ – it is about working together to achieve a common goal and this means being able to listen and provide thoughtful answers, not just sales rhetoric.
      Risks to confidential data and personal data. The world may becoming a global village but laws that protect privacy and personal information are locally based. Once you outsource your data, you have very little control about what happens to that data.
      Increasing long term costs. According to Forbes magazine’s article “The Coming Death of Indian Outsourcing” India’s cost advantage, which is currently 1:3 in 2007 will disappear by 2015, because of Indian wages are rising at a rate of 15% a year.Companies that choose to outsource to India, need to budget for long term increased costs, and provision for time to manage the project as well as budget for the risks of outsourcing.
      System crashes. Could outsourcing be contributing to the spate of internet banking system crashes.
      National security – entrusting critical systems like banking and government systems to a foreign country would have been unheard of many years ago but today, private companies who hold government data and banks outsource their systems and data to foreign countries for profit. Confidential information is shipped overseas, with no thought about what happens if India decides that Australia is a threat.
      Economic insecurity and fraud – $1 billion dollar fraud in India’s fourth largest software provider reveals how difficult it is to judge a company’s economic viability and their ability to provide long term support by looking at a balance sheet.
      http://www.passioncomputing.com/articles/disadvantages-of-indian-outsourcing
      - Lady London says:
        
        25 Jan25 January 10:33
        
        That’s ‘told’ @Jon then! Tired of people thinking they need to think any comment about differences between countries or cultures must be racist. Matches my experience. Some of that list also overlaps dealing with other countries/cultures. Recognising it is actually helpful as it may help us adapt or work with the relevant culture better.
        
        Reminds me of the recent post where someone thought Rob hadn’t chosen ‘gay’ enough names for a list of examples he was giving. Oh, puh-lease 🙂
  - Will says:
    
    25 Jan25 January 17:22
    
    In a demented parallel universe it could be xenophobic but it’s not racist and you should be ashamed to suggest that it is as it detracts from the real racism that exists today.
- maccymac says:
  
  25 Jan25 January 11:59
  
  Actually is racist. Stating that outsourcing work ‘to India’ as derogatory and tarring every person in India with the same brush just because that is where they were born, live and work is racist.
  
  There are plenty of business examples of outsourcing to certain companies in America and Europe that have had similar issues. If you penny pinch, have negligent oversight and poor audit then doesn’t really matter which country you outsource to, you’re going to get suboptimal results.
  - Rob says:
    
    25 Jan25 January 12:05
    
    I don’t see it as racist. Had it been outsourced to Budapest the same points apply – no easy oversight, work not being done by your people etc.
    
    Also …. it WAS outsourced to India so it is a statement of fact. It was not using ‘India’ as a catch-all term.
    - memesweeper says:
      
      25 Jan25 January 14:10
      
      I’ve worked with enough British Asians who didn’t want things outsourced to India to know that it’s not racist to oppose inappropriate offshoring.
      
      IT used to be a sideshow for many businesses: increasingly it is part of the core offering (eg a ‘good app’). Offshoring core activities is high risk.
    - Mikeact says:
      
      25 Jan25 January 14:13
      
      Rob….you’ll never win the argument with some people. I wonder if they ever stop to think what we ‘white’ people may be called in some areas. Am I bothered? Couldn’t care less.
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      25 Jan25 January 14:16
      
      Do you really believe the comment was intended as a statement of fact?
      
      It’s not bad because it’s outsourced to India. It’s bad because it’s been badly managed (for years) and they’ve probably chosen a sub par company to outsource too.
      
      Anyway I’ve seen lots of stories about IT projects taking place right here which have been crap and the fact that the local staff want to blame the outsourced company for the all of the failings is laughable. The IT was crap when it was handed over and now it’s just creaking at the seams because it’s being replaced when it’s too late.
  - Will says:
    
    25 Jan25 January 17:25
    
    Again you are confusing racism and xenophobia. The comment was neither but discriminating against the people of India purely on their country of origin is xenophobic not racist.
- Charlieface says:
  
  25 Jan25 January 18:45
  
  As someone who works in IT, I can tell you that it’s not really outsourcing per se that is the problem, it’s managers who don’t understand IT and don’t know the difference between a quality job and a bad job, and ask their subordinates/outsourcing to just “get the job done”. It does so happen that it’s easier to get a bad job done when you outsource, because of the reasons people have mentioned.
Tom says:

25 Jan25 January 06:41

Of course any normal person uses Android. Problem solved!

(exits rapidly……)
- BJ says:
  
  25 Jan25 January 08:55
  
  Exactly, no exit required as your comment was simply factual, not remotely i’ist!
  - Chrisasaurus says:
    
    25 Jan25 January 11:12
    
    Agree entirely, though the ‘to India’ bit didnt add a lot, the issue is really about cost-led outsourcing projects
- Doug M says:
  
  25 Jan25 January 09:05
  
  Android indeed. But to be fair I find the attempted Samsung hijacking of things I already have in Android to be very annoying. The Samsung phone really nice, but the Samsung overlay is tedious.
  - BJ says:
    
    25 Jan25 January 09:19
    
    +1, I just ignore it and decline every request to use any of it. Next time you get a new handset you might want to try the google pixel. AFAIK those still run basic android.
- Harry T says:
  
  25 Jan25 January 09:35
  
  As an iPhone user, I insist Rob puts the commenter to death, to set an example.
  
  Just kidding, there are some great android phones that I’m sure I’d be happy to use!
  - Nick_C says:
    
    25 Jan25 January 11:58
    
    Where do you think we are? Iran?
    - Will says:
      
      25 Jan25 January 17:29
      
      Racist
      😉
Andrew says:

25 Jan25 January 07:08

Qatar leaving One World has all gone very quiet. I guess Al Baker has had the sense to rethink.
Shoestring says:

25 Jan25 January 07:36

Travelodge 20% off sale use code 20OFF

exclusion dates apply https://www.travelodge.co.uk/sites/default/files/Forecast_Availability_List_PAYDAY_20_Sale.pdf

but some good availability eg London Central Tower Bridge
23rd Feb – £24
1st Mar – £28
8th Mar – £28
15th Mar – £28
22nd Mar – £28
29th Mar – £28
5th Apr – £28
12th Apr – £28
19th Apr – £28
- BJ says:
  
  25 Jan25 January 09:01
  
  The key question is how much would it cost to stay two or more consecutive nights including one of these sale rates? Still a good deal though for those requiring only one night.
Richard says:

25 Jan25 January 07:54

Hat tip to the senor maybe?
- Rob says:
  
  25 Jan25 January 09:37
  
  He sent it to me!
Andrew says:

25 Jan25 January 08:04

Only one posting today and an advert for a Visa card to earn them commission? What’s going on with HFP these days?
- Alex M says:
  
  25 Jan25 January 08:20
  
  Give me your card details so I could send your subscription fee back ( don’t forget 3 digits at the back). 😉
  - Callum says:
    
    25 Jan25 January 12:07
    
    Oh you don’t like their comment? Give me your card details and I’ll refund the subscription you paid for it…
- AJA says:
  
  25 Jan25 January 08:24
  
  Relax….. It’s Saturday. Enjoy the weekend. Alternatively send the team an email with some new topics you want them to cover.
  
  I don’t recall anything about Rob promising to publish more than one new article a day, or even one new article cone to think of it.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    25 Jan25 January 08:47
    
    Actually he promises 3.
    
    Let’s be honest the 3 articles today are a bit none news stories. But that’s because none of the promos have started so what’s there really to talk about.
    
    Could’ve thrown in some more useful info like M by Montcalm is now live for Marriott bookings or the Moxy NEC is now open etc
    - BJ says:
      
      25 Jan25 January 09:05
      
      With al the bad news of late … no news is good news 🙂
    - AJA says:
      
      25 Jan25 January 09:12
      
      Oops, you’re right about the 3 articles each day. On the other hand quite often 4 articles appear in a day. Should he limit it to only 3 per day and delay the 4th article? It all balances out.
      - Rob says:
        
        25 Jan25 January 09:42
        
        We pushed Norwegian early because no-one else had the ‘removal of lounge access’ story. If others had covered it, we would have left it for today.
        
        Amused that people are grumpy about an exclusive offer which we negotiated just for our readers and which basically lets you buy 15,000 Avios for £99 even if you throw the credit card in the bin and never use it (although that would be silly given 1 Avios per £1 on your spend). I’m not entirely sure what we could have run today which would be more valuable – I see the suggestion of an article about the new Moxy at the NEC ….
    - Rob says:
      
      25 Jan25 January 09:36
      
      We did M in December. No-one sent us anything on NEC.
      - TGLoyalty says:
        
        25 Jan25 January 11:03
        
        There’s no complaints here.
        
        While you did the it’s coming story it’s only just become bookable yesterday. Couple suggestions for a line or 2 in tomorrow’s bits.
        
        While COT is a good deal it’s limited to those with businesses, so some will feel it’s irrelevant to them.
    - Lady London says:
      
      25 Jan25 January 11:53
      
      Wasn’t someone saying real news might return on Monday.. with new points break list out then?
      - Rob says:
        
        25 Jan25 January 12:06
        
        Hopefully!
- Peter K says:
  
  25 Jan25 January 08:32
  
  An extra article dropped in on one day (The Norwegian one yesterday) always becomes part of the 3 the following day. If your have not noticed this then you are not a long term reader as you suggest.
  - Rhys says:
    
    25 Jan25 January 09:13
    
    Peter is correct, when we publish out of cycle it becomes part of the next day’s articles. If you are an email subscriber this means you sometimes get ‘breaking’ news a little later, but maintains the consistency of 3 articles a day.
- Doug M says:
  
  25 Jan25 January 09:09
  
  Stay calm. We can still post 500 comments about whether Revolut top ups attract cash advance fees. Don’t need new items to get that one up and running again.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    25 Jan25 January 11:05
    
    What it now draws fees 😉
    
    Though as I don’t think I’ve seen this in a bits anywhere I’m sure 90% of readers have no idea.
Benilyn says:

25 Jan25 January 08:16

OT: did a BA Avios booking for Japan using 2 for 1 voucher if I want to cancel would I get back my Avios and tax money back less the £[30/35] admin fee? And what about the seat selection money, acumen that’s gone?
- AJA says:
  
  25 Jan25 January 08:57
  
  Hi Benilyn
  
  If the booking is cancelled before 24 hours of the first flight, the Avios, taxes, and fees will be refunded, plus the companion voucher.
  The voucher and Avios will be refunded quite quickly, with the monetary components taking a few more days to process. A cancellation fee will apply unless you are a BAEC Gold Guest List card holder.
- BJ says:
  
  25 Jan25 January 09:12
  
  Further to the above, if you don’t need the avios, fees and tax now I suggest you sit on it as there may be a schedule change that would allow you to get the lot returned.
  - Benilyn says:
    
    25 Jan25 January 10:36
    
    Thanks all, will sit on it I guess and see what happens.
    - 2020 says:
      
      25 Jan25 January 11:11
      
      Yes, selfishly sit on it to save a few quid and so as to ensure others cannot avail of the (potential) reward availability.
      - Shoestring says:
        
        25 Jan25 January 11:15
        
        gotta look after No1! 🙂
      - TGLoyalty says:
        
        25 Jan25 January 11:20
        
        There will always be someone ready to take them even with 24hrs notice. I really don’t think it makes much difference.
      - BJ says:
        
        25 Jan25 January 17:36
        
        There would be no need were BA not so horrible with their seat selection and cancellation fees and penalties.
CraigyC says:

25 Jan25 January 08:19

So if it’s a joint venture and not a code share, spoils that mean you could use a 241 voucher on a redemption?
- Anna says:
  
  25 Jan25 January 08:23
  
  All the flights except one are on Qatar aircraft so would exclude use of the 2 4 1 anyway.
- Rob says:
  
  25 Jan25 January 09:37
  
  Unfortunately not as still not BA metal, in the same way you can’t use them on AA transatlantic already.