Amex Membership Rewards points in Australia can now be converted at a 2:1 rate to Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios! This is an exciting new development for American Express cardholders in Australia for several reasons.

Firstly, it gives Australians better access to Qatar Airways Business and First Class reward seats. Secondly, Qatar Avios can be used to fly on several partner airlines that weren’t previously accessible through other frequent flyer programs that partner with Amex Membership Rewards. Qatar Airways even recently lowered its partner airline award pricing.

You can also convert Qatar Avios into British Airways Avios at a 1:1 transfer rate, opening even more redemption opportunities. (Avios are the common currency of five frequent flyer programs including British Airways Executive Club and Iberia Plus.)

Plus, you can redeem Qatar Airways Avios to upgrade Qatar Airways flights.

This is the first time Amex Membership Rewards members in Australia have been able to redeem their points for Avios.

If you have a CommBank Awards, Citi Prestige or Diners Club card, you may also be able to transfer your credit card reward points into Qatar Airways Privilege Club.

So, how exactly can you use Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios? In this guide, we explain how to redeem Qatar Avios for flights and upgrades…

Redeem for Qatar Airways flights

Of course, one of the best ways to use Qatar Airways Avios is for Qatar Airways flights – especially in Business or First Class!

As Qatar Airways is part of the Oneworld alliance, and also a Virgin Australia partner, it’s already possible to redeem Qantas points or Velocity points for reward seats on Qatar Airways. However, with Qatar Airways Privilege Club, you get earlier access to reward seats – and they’re cheaper, too.

When redeeming Velocity points for Qatar Airways flights, you can only book up to 330 days in advance. You’ll also need to pay relatively high Velocity carrier charges.

Meanwhile, redeeming Qantas points for Qatar Airways flights is now almost impossible. Qantas Frequent Flyer members only get access to Qatar Airways reward seats in Economy up to 28 days before departure. And Classic Reward seats in Business or First Class only become available within 3 days of departure.

Qatar Airways reward seat availability and pricing

With Avios, you can book Qatar Airways reward seats in all cabin classes up to 355 days in advance. Qatar Airways generally releases two Business Class seats per flight at this time. By booking at the initial release date, it’s quite easy to snap up seats on the flights you want – before Velocity members get access to them.

Qatar Airways reward seats are also generally cheaper when booking through Qatar Airways Privilege Club (or British Airways Executive Club) than they are with Velocity or Qantas Frequent Flyer. This applies to both the taxes and Qatar Airways carrier charges, as well as the points required (or Avios, in this case).

You can check the number of Avios required for any redemption on Qatar Airways using the airline’s calculator.

Another advantage of using Qatar Airways Privilege Club is that you can get access to extra “Flexi” award seats.

Flexi awards cost twice as many Avios. But you might be able to book these on flights that have no award seats available at the regular pricing.

Flexi awards are only available to book through Qatar Airways Privilege Club. So, if you want to travel at a peak time and you’re having trouble finding award seats, this may be a way to secure a seat with points – albeit twice as many of them.

How to book Qatar Airways award flights

You can redeem Avios for Qatar-operated flights on the Qatar Airways website. Log in to your Privilege Club account and go to the “Spend my Avios” page.

You can easily see what flights have award seats by scrolling through the different dates. If you want to book a mixed-cabin award, simply choose a different cabin class for each sector.

Flexi awards, which are available on some flights that don’t have any regular award seats left, are marked with a green ribbon as shown below.

When booking a reward flight on the Qatar Airways website, you just need to have at least 50% of the Avios required to book the seat in your account. If you’re a bit short, you can purchase the remaining Avios required during the payment process.

Redeem Qatar Avios on partner airlines

You can redeem Avios to book flights on any Oneworld airline:

You can also redeem Qatar Airways Avios to book flights on the following non-Oneworld partner airlines:

• Bangkok Airways
• JetBlue
• LATAM Airlines
• Middle East Airlines (MEA)
• Oman Air
• RwandAir
• Virgin Australia

Yes, that’s right – you can redeem Qatar Avios for flights on both Qantas and Virgin Australia!

The Privilege Club partner airline award chart shows the number of Avios required for redemption bookings on these airlines:

Partner award tickets may only include travel on a single airline. You can’t combine flights on different partner airlines (such as Qantas and Virgin Australia, or even Qatar Airways and other Oneworld airlines) onto a single ticket. There is a maximum of four flight sectors per ticket, and stopovers are not allowed.

How to book award flights on Qatar’s partner airlines

Unfortunately, redeeming Avios on most partner airlines is not a simple process. The exception is flights on British Airways, American Airlines or Virgin Australia, which you can search for on the Qatar Airways website using the same procedure used to book Qatar Airways award tickets.

To book award flights on most other partner airlines, including Qantas or RwandAir, you would need to complete a partner award request form on the Qatar Airways website.

After entering your preferred airline, route and travel dates, the Qatar Airways website will show a list of available flights. However, these are simply flights that are scheduled to operate on that route and date. It’s possible that none or all of those flights might have award availability!

To request a Privilege Club partner airline redemption, you would need to:

• Choose your preferred flight
• Specify an alternate date or time that you’re willing to travel (in case the flight you selected has no award availability)
• Fill in the passenger details
• Submit your request form

After requesting a partner award ticket, Qatar Airways will then block the required Avios from your account. If there is award availability on the flight you requested, Qatar Airways will then contact you within four days to complete the booking. Otherwise, you’ll receive a refund of the blocked Avios.

Frankly, this is not a user-friendly procedure. If you want to use your Avios to book a flight on a Oneworld airline, you’re probably better off just transferring Avios to British Airways Executive Club and booking directly on the British Airways website.

Nonetheless, if you need to book a flight that isn’t available through British Airways Executive Club – for example, with partners like Oman Air or Middle East Airlines – we strongly recommend searching independently for award availability before requesting a partner award ticket. You could do this using third-party websites such as ExpertFlyer. By only requesting award tickets on flights with verified award availability, you’ll save yourself a lot of time and hassle!

Some award bookings require a phone call

In some cases, you also can’t select all of the destinations that a partner airline flies to from the drop-down menu. For example, Hobart and Launceston are not options you can select. In these cases, you’ll need to call Qatar Airways Privilege Club to redeem your Avios.

Transfer Qatar Avios to British Airways Executive Club

Transferring Amex Membership Rewards points into your Qatar Airways Privilege Club account can also be an indirect way to get British Airways Avios. That’s because you can freely transfer Avios between your own Qatar Airways Privilege Club and British Airways Executive Club accounts at a 1:1 rate.

Redeeming Avios through British Airways is generally easier if you want to book a flight on a partner airline. British Airways Avios could also be useful if you want to book a flight on Aer Lingus, which is a partner of Executive Club but not Privilege Club.

You can also use British Airways Avios to upgrade British Airways, Iberia and American Airlines flights.

When transferring Avios between your accounts, ensure the full name on both accounts matches exactly.

Upgrade Qatar Airways flights with Avios

Subject to availability, you can also redeem Qatar Airways Avios to upgrade on Qatar-operated flights. Upgrades are possible from Economy to Business (or First Class on short-haul flights without a Business cabin). You can also upgrade from Business to First Class on three-class Airbus A380 flights, except on the Doha-London route.

You can check the amount of Avios needed for an upgrade using the calculator on the Qatar Airways website.

In general, Avios upgrades can be confirmed in advance if there is award availability in the higher cabin class at the time of the request.

Upgrades are not possible from Promo Fares (booking classes W, P or G), nor from award tickets. To upgrade, you must be booked on a Qatar Airways ticket with a flight marketed and operated by Qatar Airways.

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.