Qatar Airways Privilege Club Guide
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Before you read this guide, review "Points and Miles 101" to learn the basics of how it all works!
Want to earn more points to redeem through Privilege Club? Checkout our Recommended Cards!
​Qatar Airways Privilege Club has recently become a very useful program due to their oneworld alliance partners, along with others - such as JetBlue and LATAM. Qatar Airways uses "Avios" as an award currency. Other airlines that use this currency include British Airways, Finnair, Aer Lingus, and Iberia. This leads the something very unique in the points and miles world - the ability to transfer points between airlines! See this section for more on that. Qatar Airways often has better rates than other Avios programs and allows you to book flights 361 days in advance - which gives you more options than other programs. Read on for more on how to maximize points by transferring to Qatar Airways!
What have we booked through Qatar Airways Privilege Club?​
​​Qatar Airways business class Phuket-Doha-Dallas - 95k + $256
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Qatar Airways economy class IAD-Doha-Nairobi - 42.5k + $133
The Basics
1:1 Transfer Partners:
*transfer to British Airways first then combine Avios with a Qatar Airways account (see bottom of this post)
Book flights operated by:
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LATAM
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JetBlue
Pricing structure:
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Set rates with peak/off-peak dates for JetBlue, Iberia, and Qatar Airways flights (priced by individual segment)
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Distance-based pricing for all other itineraries (varies by airline)
Fees/surcharges:
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Fuel surcharges passed on (significant fuel surcharges for British Airways flights)
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Slightly higher fees than other programs for American/Alaska/JetBlue flights ($10 booking fee added)
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25 USD per ticket for change/cancellation/redeposit of miles
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Lap infant fee 10% of the adult Avios + minimal taxes (only applies to Qatar Airways flights and must be added at the time of booking)
Best uses:
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Qatar Airways flights worldwide
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American or Alaska Airlines flights within North America*
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JetBlue flights to/from Europe and within North America
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LATAM Airlines flights to/from South America**
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*at this time Qatar is unable to book American or Alaska flights that are operated by a regional partner (i.e. "AA3399 operated by Envoy Air as American Eagle")
**not all routes are available
​​​​​​​Customer service:
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Phone: +1(800)-988-6128 [09:00-18:00 Mon-Fri]
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Online Live Chat Support
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Limited support may be available through social media sites
Sample Saver Rates for Qatar Airways Flights:
Flight route
Economy
Business
US to Doha
35,000
70,000
37,500
US to Dubai via Doha
75,000
US to India via Doha
40,000
80,000
US to Thailand via Doha
47,500
95,000
Rates for American/Alaska Airlines Flights:
Flight distance (sample route)
Economy
Business/first
Up to 650 miles (JFK-CLT)
9,500
20,000
13,000
651 to 1,150 miles (MIA-DFW)
27,000
1,151 to 2,000 miles (ORD-LAX)
14,500
34,000
2,001 to 3,000 miles (SEA-HNL)
16,000
43,000
Tip: use gcmap.com to determine flight distance and get a general idea of the points you'll need before searching
How to search and book:
Before you begin searching with Qatar Airways Privilege Club, there are a few things to note:
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You must have at least some Avios in your account to search. This can be any amount, so earning a few Avios through the British Airways eStore and then combining with Qatar or transferring 1,000 points from your bank will unlock the ability to search for award flights
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The website isn't the greatest (though it has been improving recently). Finding the availability can be difficult and slow - especially for partner flights like American Airlines. To expedite the process we recommend using Expert Flyer Pro. The "Awards and Upgrades" tool on the site will return raw data on availability with a +/- 3 day window.
Step 1: Create a Privilege Club account
​This is required to search, and you will need to have a Privilege Club account setup to transfer points or combine Avios with another program.
Step 2: Enter Search Details on the Homepage
After logging in, the "Book an award flight" option will appear. Select this option to search with points. If you're searching for Business/First class, you can select the "Premium" option. However, in our experience, this does not change the availability that is shown.
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We recommend using the desktop site on Google Chrome, as it is the most stable. The app generally doesn't work very well for award flight searches.
Step 3: Review Search Results
The results page will look similar to the above. For Qatar Airways-operated flights, you may also see a "Flexi" option (below) - which is double the rate. This is generally not a good value to book unless you don't have any flexibility in your plans and/or have a lot of points to burn. You may also simply see a "Not available" message when there are no award flights for a particular route, date, or class of service.
You will not be able to view the taxes and fees unless you have enough Avios in your account for the redemption. To get an idea of the fees you'll pay, search for the same flight using British Airways Executive Club.
Step 4: Check Other Dates
By selecting the "See more dates" option on the previous step, you can view a monthly calendar of availability. Unfortuantley, this has only ever shown the lowest economy rates for us, even when searching for Premium seats. Hopefully this tool becomes more useful in the future!
Note that the above features only apply when searching for Qatar Airways-operated flights. If booking flights operated by partners (such as American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, LATAM, or JetBlue), the layout will look slightly different (below) and only one date can be searched at a time. Due to this, can be difficult to find partner flights available to book through Qatar Airways, so we recommend using Expert Flyer Pro to find availability.
American Airlines and Alaska Airlines flights are priced based on distance, so flights within North America are the best deals with those airlines.
Step 5: Transfer Points and Finalize Booking
At this point, you have confirmed the flight availability and are ready to transfer your points to book. Transfers to Privilege Club are instant in most cases, but you usually have to sign out and back in to see the updated points balance in your account. Once the points post, search for the flight again and go through the booking process - it's pretty straightforward from there!
​​TIP: if you booked a partner flight, you can change your frequent flyer number after booking (i.e. add an AAdvantage number for an American Airlines flight) under the "Manage Booking" page. This will allow to get any elite status benefits you have with that airline (including complimentary upgrades with AA). It will also usually populate the flight onto your account with that airline and make it easy to select seats. If not, you may need to contact Qatar Airways to request the reocrd locator for the partner airline.
Also, if you book a Qatar Airways economy flight and you have status with another oneworld airline, you can get benefits such as free seat selection, priority boarding, etc. when you add the frequent flyer number of the airline with which you have status.
BONUS: Combining points between Avios programs
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You usually can't transfer points and miles between different airlines, but this is an exception. Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, Finnair and Qatar Airways all use the Avios award system. This allows Avios to be instantly transferred for free between each airline.
There are a few situations where this is helpful:
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Qatar Airways requires you to have Avios in your account to search
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Qatar Airways opens up bookings earlier than British Airways, so you have an earlier chance at getting coveted Qsuite redemptions.
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Qatar Airways has lower rates than British Airways for short-haul flights operated by American Airlines and Alaska Airlines and for all flights operated by LATAM
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Finnair has better rates for some transatlantic flights and opens up more availability within their own program for Finnair-operated flights
To combine Avios, you'll need to have an account setup with each airline program. Make sure the name, contact information, etc. matches exactly between all accounts.