Last week, Qatar Airways Privilege Club unexpectedly increased the “redemption fees” payable when you redeem Avios for Qatar Airways flights. Sadly, this isn’t the only recent change to Qatar Airways Privilege Club that negatively impacts Australian frequent flyers.
Qatar Airways has also increased the surcharges payable when redeeming Privilege Club Avios for Virgin Australia flights. On some Business Class redemptions, the increases are over 700%.
Qatar Airways has been a partner of Virgin Australia since 2022, allowing members of both airlines’ loyalty programs to earn and redeem points (or Avios, in the case of Qatar Airways Privilege Club) on flights with the other airline.
Privilege Club members can redeem Avios for some Virgin Australia routes on the Qatar Airways website, with bookings on other routes requiring a phone call.
In Australia, Qatar Privilege Club is a transfer partner of Amex Membership Rewards and CommBank Awards. Citi Prestige cardholders can also transfer points into Privilege Club.
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These cost increases are significant
Previously, Qatar Airways only passed on the mandatory third-party fees & taxes when you redeemed Avios for most Virgin Australia reward flight bookings.
This meant, for example, that a reward booking from Perth to Melbourne on Virgin Australia used to cost 11,000 Avios in Economy or 22,000 Avios in Business, plus around $42:
Qatar Airways has not changed the number of Avios required to book a reward flight on Virgin Australia. The same cannot be said about the co-payments.
On that same redemption from Perth-Melbourne, you’d now need to pay around $107 on top of the 11,000 Avios in Economy:
The cost increase is even more drastic on Business Class redemptions. On the Perth-Melbourne route, the co-payment to Qatar Airways is now over $310. That’s an increase of more than 700%.
The Qatar Airways website provides a breakdown of these fees and taxes. A quick look at this breakdown reveals that Privilege Club now has a “Redemption Fee” on that Perth-Melbourne booking in Business Class of $244.29. The Goods & Services Tax (GST) payable has also gone up.
Examples from other Virgin Australia routes
It’s not just the Perth-Melbourne route affected. On a reward ticket from Brisbane to Melbourne, for example, the fees & taxes now total $76.90 in Economy or $174.39 in Business:
To redeem Avios on Virgin Australia from Adelaide to Brisbane, you would now need to pay a co-payment of $101.98 in Economy or $305.10 in Business Class.
The highest fees & charges that we found were on the Perth-Brisbane route, where a Business Class redemption on Virgin Australia will now set you back an extra $335.89 in taxes and charges.
By comparison, when you redeem Velocity Frequent Flyer points for a Virgin Australia reward seat from Perth to Brisbane, the co-payment is currently $55.97. That includes Velocity’s own $11 carrier charge, which does not apply when you redeem points with other airlines to book Virgin Australia flights.
These are the highest fees on domestic Australia redemptions with any program
When you redeem points to fly Qantas on any domestic route, Qantas levies a carrier charge of $14. Velocity’s carrier charge is $11 per flight. (That’s in addition to the third-party taxes and fees.)
You can also redeem points with any of Qantas’ partner airlines to book a reward seat on Qantas, and likewise with Virgin Australia. Some of these overseas partner airlines add on their own arbitrary charges as well… but none are as high as the fees Qatar Airways Privilege Club members now have to pay to redeem Avios on Virgin Australia.
Finnair Plus has the second-highest charges
Finnair Plus has the second-highest surcharges we’ve seen on domestic flight redemptions within Australia, when booking Qantas reward seats.
For example, Finnair Plus charges 23,000 Avios + $151.56 for a Qantas Business Class reward flight from Perth to Brisbane. That’s much higher than the co-payment when redeeming Qantas points for the same flight, although you would pay fewer Avios than Qantas points.
Etihad Guest has the third-highest charges
The third-highest charges we’ve seen on domestic redemptions within Australia are when using Etihad Guest miles to book Virgin Australia flights. For example, these are the prices for a Perth-Brisbane redemption:
However, this appears to be due to Etihad’s website pricing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) incorrectly. Here’s a fare breakdown of a Canberra-Melbourne redemption on the Etihad Guest website showing a GST charge of $32.01 when the total amount being collected is $84.11. The GST is supposed to be 10% of the purchase amount.
For what it’s worth, Etihad Guest is also charging more miles for many Virgin Australia redemptions than the amounts shown on the program’s own award chart.
Qatar Airways denies making any changes
Australian Frequent Flyer requested comment from Qatar Airways Privilege Club. Bizarrely, the airline denied that it recently made any changes at all.
A spokesperson told us:
The collection of the fee mentioned has been implemented since September 2022 and no recent changes were made.
It is true that Qatar Airways Privilege Club did already charge these Redemption Fees on certain Virgin Australia routes and cabin classes. For example, there’s a screenshot of the Qatar Airways website in an article we published in May 2024 showing fees & taxes on a one-way Virgin Australia Economy redemption from Sydney to Brisbane of $76.68.
As of today, the fees & taxes on the same redemption are $75.33 – a minor reduction which can be attributed to exchange rate fluctuations.
But at that time, the higher charges on that specific route and cabin class seemed to be an outlier. That same article from May 2024 shows that Privilege Club, at the time, was levying $34.39 in taxes on a one-way Virgin Australia Business Class redemption from Sydney to Brisbane:
The charges on the same Sydney-Brisbane Business Class redemption are now $172.29:
This Mainly Miles article also shows the taxes payable to Privilege Club on various different Virgin Australia redemptions as of April 2024. The co-payments on all of the redemptions quoted in that article are much higher today than they were in April.
Clearly, something has changed in recent months because Qatar Airways Privilege was not previously charging hundreds of dollars in extra “Redemption Fees” on Virgin Australia redemptions.
Redeem Avios on Qantas instead
If you have Avios and you’d like to redeem them for flights within Australia, the good news is that you can still redeem them to fly Qantas – and pay much lower surcharges.
Qatar Airways does not make Qantas reward seats available on its website, but you can call Qatar Airways Privilege Club to book. Alternatively, you could transfer your Qatar Airways Avios into your British Airways Executive Club account at a 1:1 conversion rate. You can then redeem those British Airways Avios to book reward flights on Qantas at the same price as you’d pay over the phone with Qatar Airways.
When using Qatar or British Airways Avios, Qantas redemptions are particularly good value on routes under 2,000 miles in distance.
In the other direction, Qatar Airways continues to block Qantas Frequent Flyer members from accessing Business or First reward seats on Qatar flights until three days before departure. But you can still redeem Velocity points for Qatar Airways flights up to 11 months before departure.
