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Qatar Airways has fantastic Business Class award space on its Dreamliner and on its routes from the US to Doha and beyond in 2014. These routes are a high-value way to use Avios or American Airlines miles on a recent addition to the oneworld alliance.
Where do Qatar’s Dreamliners fly? Where does Qatar fly in the US? How many American Airlines miles or British Airways Avios do you need to fly Qatar?
Qatar Dreamliners
Qatar flies its Dreamliners from Doha to:
- Several European destinations
- Singapore (starting in April 2014)
- Mozambique (starting in May 2014)
- South Africa (starting in May 2014)
Qatar bills itself as a “5 Star Airline” and all the trip reports I’ve seen indicate that Qatar’s premium cabins and lounges are some of the nicest in the world.
Qatar has a page set up with photos and videos of the 787 experience. The Business Class cabin–there is no First Class–looks fantastic!
Searching for Award Space
I took a look at award space on the Doha to Singapore route which will be operated by a Dreamliner (on one of the two daily flights) in April 2014. I found solid award availability by searching ba.com.
Price of Award Space
The price of the award space depends on whether you use British Airways Avios or American Airlines miles to book the space. American has an award chart that charges based on the regions of the origin and destination cities.
On the chart, Doha to Singapore is only 30k miles one way in business class! The US to Doha is 67.5k miles one way in business class. The price is the same (67.5k miles) if you connect on one of Qatar’s many flights to the Indian subcontinent.
American Airlines does not collect fuel surcharges on Qatar award space.
The price of Qatar award space booked with British Airways Avios depends only on the length of each flight and the cabin of the award space, not the region of any of the cities involved.
British Airways would charge 40k Avios one way from Doha to Singapore.
British Airways collects fuel surcharges on Qatar awards. The surcharge to Singapore is $162.
Flights from the US
Qatar flies to Doha from the following US cities:
- New York
- Washington DC
- Philadelphia (begins April 2014)
- Miami (begins June 2014)
- Houston
- Dallas (begins July 2014)
- Chicago
Space on all these routes exists. Even the routes that haven’t begun flying yet have some space loaded onto the award calendars.
If you fly from the US to Doha on Qatar on an American Airlines award, you can continue to anywhere else in the Middle East, the Maldives, India, or Pakistan for no additional miles.
But if you connect to somewhere else in Asia, you will have to pay two awards each direction: US to Middle East plus Middle East to Asia.
Explorer Awards
Even better than booking Qatar flights as individual American Airlines awards or British Airways awards may be to include Qatar segments on Explorer Awards.
Explorer Awards are American Airlines’ distance based awards that I covered here.
Booking Award Space
Always search Qatar award space on ba.com, but always book with the airline whose miles you’re using. You can book with Avios on ba.com or with AAdvantage miles by calling American Airlines at 800-882-8880.
Getting the Miles
Most awards that put you in Qatar Business Class can be booked more cheaply with American Airlines miles than Avios. From The Best Cards to Earn United, American, Delta, US Airways, Alaska, Southwest, and British Airways Miles, the best cards to earn American Airlines miles are:
- Several Citi American Airlines Platinum personal cards (up to 50k)
- Several Citi American Airlines business cards (up to 50k)
- Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express (30-31.25k after transfer bonus is factored in)
- Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express (30-31.25k after transfer bonus is factored in)
- Citi Gold American Airlines personal cards (up to 30k)
And lastly, if you get the US Airways Premier World MasterCard, you’ll get 30k US Airways miles on first purchase, which will become American Airlines miles very soon since the airlines have already legally merged.
Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.
With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!
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[…] Qatar Airways has fantastic Business Class award space on its Dreamliner and on its routes from the US to Doha and beyond in 2014. These routes are a high-value way to use Avios or American Airlines miles on a recent … Continue reading → […]
So how does their business class compare to others first class?
You mention you can fly from US to Doha and continue on to other parts of Middle East/Asia… any luck with Europe on that? Or are they considered separate segments from an award standpoint?
I looked at qatarairways and can’t find any flights paired together from a departure/arrival standpoint from US to say, London or Paris. I know they fly US –> DOH and DOH –> LHR/CDG, but guessing they are separate awards?
Trying to figure out the best way to get to Europe from US since AA availability pushes you toward BA now. Argh…
Does Iberia collect fuel surcharge on Qatar Airlines?
Is it true that Qatar airways never releases more than 4 awards at a time? I was looking for 5 and could never find on any route?
Scott, QR also flies the dreamliner on the DOH-BLR route. I am doing that next month!
Departing from USA, Can u connect back to Europe or would this be a separate award?
Just experienced their 5* dreamliner from Doha to Zurich on Sat. The premier terminal; executive shuttle to plane; fine dining menu; unbelievable entertainment system….. then withdrawal symptoms on American Airlines back home. Only 6 of us in front section.
How far in advance does Qatar release this award space? Trying to book US to MLE for late summer.
Same question as FlyingTigerSC; finding availability on Qatar very limited when searching on ba.com for a relatively straightforward route such as LAX-DOH (even with stops).