Qatar Airways is no longer giving reduced access to Business Class reward seats on its Australian flights to Qantas Frequent Flyer members.

It comes as Qatar Airways also switches its points currency to Avios, and British Airways Executive Club drastically reduces the cost of reward seats on Qatar Airways flights.

Qantas Frequent Flyers now have equal access to most Qatar Airways reward seats

Earlier this month, Australian Frequent Flyer revealed how Qatar Airways was limiting the number of Business Class reward seats available to Qantas Frequent Flyer members on flights to and from Australia, compared to what was available for members of other Oneworld airline loyalty programs. While Qatar Airways was releasing up to four Business Class award seats per flight, Qantas Frequent Flyer members would only have access to a maximum of one seat per flight.

On this front, there’s now good news and bad news.

The good news is that Qatar Airways is no longer giving Qantas Frequent Flyer members less access to reward seats, compared to other partner airlines. If a Qatar Airways reward seat is available to book using Qatar Airways Privilege Club miles or American Airlines AAdvantage miles, for example, it should also now be available to book using Qantas Frequent Flyer points.

The bad news is that Qatar Airways is now only releasing two Business Class reward seats on most long-haul flights to all partner airlines. It was previously up to four seats per flight on most routes. This doesn’t just apply to flights to/from Australia, but to other Qatar Airways destinations as well.

As the previous Qatar Airways reward seat limitation only applied to Australian flights, Qantas Frequent Flyer members could also previously redeem points for up to four Qatar Airways Business Class seats on other routes such as Singapore-Doha, Denpasar-Doha or Auckland-Doha. There are now only up to two seats available through all Oneworld frequent flyer programs.

Qatar Airways brings Airbus A380 with First Class back to Australia

Before the pandemic, Qatar Airways operated Airbus A380s with Economy, Business & First Class seating on its flights from Perth, Melbourne and Sydney to Doha.

The A380s were grounded during the pandemic. But from 1 June 2022, Qatar Airways will resume flying its double-decker Airbus A380 on the Sydney-Doha route.

First Class reward seats are available to book between Sydney and Doha using Qantas Frequent Flyer points, although there’s only a maximum of one reward seat per flight in that cabin class.

For passengers in Business Class, the change to the A380 unfortunately means the loss of Qsuite seating (which is not offered on the A380) on the Sydney-Doha route. But there is an onboard bar for Business Class passengers on the Qatar Airways A380.

Qantas Frequent Flyer members still can’t redeem for Qatar’s Adelaide-Auckland flights

Unfortunately, Qantas Frequent Flyer members still can’t redeem points for a seat on any of Qatar Airways’ new fifth-freedom flights between Adelaide and Auckland. Seats are now available to book via other frequent flyer programs, but the Qantas website isn’t displaying any Classic Reward availability on these flights.

Qatar Airways Privilege Club switches to Avios

The changes to Qatar Airways award availability came on the same day that the Qatar Airways Privilege Club program switched its reward points currency from Qmiles to Avios. Avios is the common currency also used by the British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus and Aer Lingus AerClub frequent flyer programs.

All existing Qatar Airways Qmiles were converted at a 1:1 rate to Avios earlier this week.

The cost of a flight redemption through the Qatar Airways loyalty program remains unchanged, but it is now possible to transfer Avios freely between linked Qatar Airways, British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus frequent flyer accounts on a 1:1 basis. This means you can now choose which program to use when redeeming for flights or upgrades, allowing you to take advantage of whichever program has the lowest price or best availability.

British Airways Executive Club cuts Qatar Airways award costs

This week, the British Airways Executive Club program also slashed the number of Avios required when redeeming British Airways Avios for many Qatar Airways flights. The carrier charges payable when booking Qatar Airways flights through British Airways Executive Club have also been reduced.

Traditionally, long-haul premium cabin redemptions have been relatively poor value through British Airways Executive Club. But this change (combined with the ability to transfer Avios to Qatar Airways Privilege Club) makes the British Airways Executive Club significantly more attractive.

For example, it costs 227,500 Qantas Frequent Flyer points to book a Qatar Airways First Class reward flight from Sydney to Paris (via Doha). Qantas Frequent Flyer also charges either $642.07 or $655.47 in taxes & carrier charges, depending on how you book.

But the exact same Qatar Airways First Class flights booked through British Airways Executive Club would now cost only 135,000 Avios + €230.68 (~AU$338) in taxes & charges.

Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: QR withholding award seats from Qantas?

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.