BritishAirways and Qatar team up in mega expansion
Oneworld alliance partners BritishAirways and QatarAirways have just taken their relationship to the next level.
In September, they announced a tie-up that will see 42 new countries added across their joint network.
Some of the biggest cheerleaders for this will beAvios collectors. Not only does the expansion mean a host more destinations (and fare choices) for us to set our sights on but also more scope to shift ourAvios between airlines to bag the best deals. There are even more places to earnAvios through Qatar’s other partners.
This is a particularly welcome prospect in these times of rising costs. Here are some pointers on what it means and how to make it work for you.
What are the new travel destinations?
Qatar and BAnow jointly serve 185 points across more than 60 countries.
Italy, Norway and Sweden in Europe and Singapore and the Maldives in theAsia Pacific region are among the countries to have picked up new routes. Others will be announced once the relevant regulators have rubber-stamped them.
What else does it mean?
Because the two airlines are coordinating flight schedules, they have also created more seamless connections between Europe, the Middle East,Africa,Asia and Australasia, with passengers travelling on a single ticket via BA’s London hub or Qatar’s hub in Doha.
Customer support is also now integrated across the airlines.
Thanks to the greater choice and flexibility, another knock-on effect should be a wider range of fares, helping travellers get better value. You can also compare the Avios cost of reward flights, remembering to factor in the fees and taxes, which must be paid for in cash and vary between the two airlines.
Because BAand Qatar are partners, passengers with a business class ticket or upgrade privileges also have access to both airline’s airport lounges and premium cabins, including BritishAirways’new Club Suite and QatarAirways’award-winning Qsuite.You might already know which you prefer or you could take flights with both, if you’re able, to compare the products.
What aboutAvios collecting and spending?
Since March when QatarAirways Privilege Club swapped its currency from Qmiles toAvios, BAand Qatar passengers have been able to earnAvios on flights with both airlines and, significantly, to swap them between the two loyalty clubs to spend them. So, your BAAvios could easily be redeemed for Qatar reward flights and your Qatar AirwaysAvios for reward flights on BA.
If you held Qmiles before March and haven’t used them for a while you should find your points have automatically changed to QatarAirwaysAvios at the same points value.
You can actually spend yourAvios on a reward flight on any oneworld alliance member airline, though you can’t swap your points around so easily. Find out more here.
How to swap yourAvios between club accounts
To make the most of the airlines’combined network and bag the best BAor Qatar reward flights, you should make sure you have joined both the BritishAirways Executive Club and the QatarAirways Privilege Club.
Once you have done this you can move your points between your two loyalty accounts by choosing to link them. Look for the ‘link my accounts’option in theAvios balance part of qatarairways.com or find the equivalent page on BA.com.
You will be able to view all yourAvios at once and even select ‘combineAvios’to put them into one pool.
You can then switch yourAvios instantly between the two clubs whenever you like, to part pay for your travel or to get the best reward flight.
Using our BAflight finder
Only a few reward seats are released per flight when tickets first go on sale, though some more are added later.
You’ll need to use Qatar’s website to hunt for reward seats on routes you are interested in that Qatar is operating, but if you’re looking for BritishAirways flights you have the option to use our BAflight finder This gives you greater flexibility than the one on BA’s own website, for instance by searching on multiple dates.
You can even set an alert so that we carry on searching and let you know as soon as the reward seats you want are released, so you don’t miss out.
Connections and tier points
Members of both the BritishAirways Executive Club and the Qatar Privilege Club can also pick up tier points to entitle them to extra perks like lounge access that can be redeemed on either airline.
Though ticketing is now seamless between the two airlines, it’s worth remembering if you are on an indirect flight, for instance toAsia orAustralia, that you can collect extra tier points if you book the legs as two separate fares. It’s not something you would want to do normally but a factor to bear in mind if you’re keen to climb those tiers.
Extra places to earnAvios
Just as BAoffers extra places to earnAvios beyond its flights, so QatarAirways Avios can be earned through a host of hotel, car rental, banking and retail partners. Some of these differ from BA’s, so it’s well worth checking out the whole list to make sure you’re maximising yourAvios collection.
For instance, Conrad, Centara and Millennium branded hotels and resorts are among the places you can now pick upAvios due to their Qatar partnership and several familiar car rental companies partner with Qatar but not BA.
Likewise, some airlines which are outside the oneworld alliance separately partner with Qatar, for instance, OmanAir, BangkokAirways, which is good for regionalAsia flights and JetBlue, which covers much of the US and Caribbean.All these can now earn youAvios.
See the full list of BAAvios partners here and QatarAirwaysAvios partners here and look forward to earning even more.
QatarAirwaysAvios bonus
If you’re planning on flying with QatarAirways and haven’t yet signed up to the Privilege Club, now’s the time to do so as there’s a 5,000 bonusAvios promotion running in the lead-up to the FIFAWorld Cup.You will need to join the club by 20 December 2022 using the promotional code on the website and fly with Qatar by 31 March 2023.
Original Source https://rewardflightfindercom/news and advice/british airways and qatar team up in mega e xpansion
