✈️ Another Qatar Airways Devaluation! Avios Awards Rise for AA & Alaska

Hello, Adventurous Travellers, and Happy Sunday!

There’s good news and bad news from Qatar this week. There’s a new way to earn bonus Avios but redemptions for AA and Alaska Airlines have been devalued.

Let's get started:

• 🆓 Earn Up to 5,000 Bonus Avios with Qatar: Simply sign up to the Privilege Club as a new member.

• 📉 Another Avios Devaluation: Redemptions for AA and Alaska Airlines have decreased up to 63.6% via the Qatar Airways Privilege Club.

• 🛫  How to Maximise Your BA Tier Points: Discover our top tips and tricks.

• 👶New Parent? You Can Freeze Your BA Executive Club Status: Find out how.

🆓 Earn Up to 5,000 Bonus Avios When You Join the Qatar Privilege Club

Are you thinking of flying with Qatar soon? Now is a great time if you haven't already joined the Qatar Privilege Club. You can earn up to 5,000 bonus Avios if you join by 31st December 2024.

To earn your bonus Avios, use the code JOIN0324 and fly by 30th June 2025. You will earn 3,000 Avios when you fly in economy class or 5,000 in Business.

Remember you can use Avios to fly with any Oneworld airline, transfer them over to British Airways or use them for reward flights with Qatar. 5,000 Avios will get you nearly halfway to booking an Economy reward flight to somewhere in Europe.

REMINDER: You can now boost the Avios earned with Qatar in the last three months by up to 6 times, up to 250,000 Avios. However, this doesn’t apply to bonus Avios, so if you’re looking to boost, it will have to be Avios earned from the flight.

📉Qatar Airways Devalues Avios for American and Alaska Awards

There have been lots of Avios devaluations recently. The most recent change comes from Qatar Airways' changes to its Privilege Club program, devaluing Avios redemptions for American Airlines and Alaska Airlines flights. This change affects redemptions for all cabin classes.

Previously, Qatar Avios had some attractive rates for award flights with these partners. However, the recent change means you will need more Avios for these redemptions, with some routes needing up to 63.6% more Avios!

Here are the new redemption rates:

The booking fees have also increased, now $10 compared to $5 with BA. The cancellation fee is also 5x that of BA at $25 compared to $5.

This comes after British Airways also devalued AA and Alaska Airlines redemptions. Qatar redemptions are now more in line with other Oneworld partners. However, Qatar still offers slightly better value on some routes than BA, especially for domestic US flights. This is the end of yet another loophole.

JetBlue still has some reasonable redemption rates for AA and Alaska Airlines. Book them while you still can.

🛫 How to Maximise Your BA Tier Points

If you’re just short of reaching the next British Airways tier (or any other airline loyalty programme, for that matter), have you considered trying to maximise your tier points when booking flights? 

Moving from BA Blue to Bronze and onwards requires a set number of flights in a ‘membership year’. If you’re up for selecting flights that will earn you the most tier points for the least expense, you’ll be well on your way to moving up or maintaining your status level.

Reminder:

Bronze - 300 Tier Points

Silver - 600 Tier Points

Gold - 1,500 Tier Points

Here are some tips to maximise your points:

• The ‘lowest’ BA fare will earn you fewer tier points for the flight, whereas the flex options will earn you more. 

• The class you choose to travel in will also affect the number of tier points you earn. For example, the lowest ticket price to Cape Town will earn you 20 tier points, whereas flying in Club World will earn you 160 points, and First will earn you 210.

• Focus on routes that offer more tier points for the class you choose to travel in. Routes over 2,000 miles often offer more tier points.

• Remember that you can also earn BA tier points on Oneworld flights. These include flights on airlines like Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and Finnair.

• Multi-segment journeys can significantly increase the number of Tier Points earned. For example, a trip from London to Asia via the Middle East can offer more Tier Points if split into two segments (e.g., London to Doha, Doha to Bangkok) rather than a direct flight. Stopovers must have a minimum connection time to get extra tier points.

• Booking tickets in the sale - especially business class tickets will make earning tier points more cost-effective.

• Some BA routes start with as little as 5 tier points. These include routes like Aberdeen, Alicante and Almeria. 

Tip: If you speak to BA, you may be able to get an extension of up to 2 weeks on your ‘membership year, ' but this is not guaranteed—especially when the membership year becomes the same for everyone.

Have you considered a tier point run? We will cover these in a later newsletter, but the idea is to fly a certain route to maximise your tier points. Some people even book a return flight on the same day. Note that you must actually be on the flight to earn tier points rather than just booking one. You could also change your planned route to include a detour, e.g., booking a round-trip from the UK to the U.S. with a side trip to Hawaii.

👶 New Parent? You Can Freeze Your BA Executive Club Status

If you’re a British Airways Executive Club Bronze member or above, you can freeze your BA tier for up to a year when you take maternity, paternity or adoption leave. If you’re a new parent or parent-to-be, don’t miss out on this.

All you need to do is have the child’s birth certificate, documents, or a letter from a doctor and send an email to [email protected]. Once approved, you can continue to enjoy the benefits of your current status level and even collect more Avios and tier points. However, this offer doesn’t apply if you’ve been gifted status.

You’ll even get a 1,000 Avios bonus for adding your child to your household account.

If you qualify for a higher Tier during the extension period, this will be honoured, and the extension on your previous Tier will end.

You can be eligible twice over five years.

Final Words

That’s all for this week! We hope these tips help you maximise your travel rewards and have better experiences.

Safe travels, and always aim for the upgrade!

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Bye for now!