UPDATE: Qatar Airways has updated the Easy Deals page and no longer lists the destinations in a list format but uses a (confusing) map:
Anyway….It’s no secret that I transit Doha airport A LOT. It’s my preferred transit city if I have to go through the middle east.
It’s also no secret that Qatar Airways has the worlds best business class product, PERIOD! Qsuites are comfortable and private and the airline has amazing food and service. That sounds like a winning combination in my book and if I can finagle my travel plans to have this experience, I do it.
QATAR “EASY DEALS”
Similar to the Flying Blue Promo Awards or the Singapore KrisFlyer Spontaneous Escapes, Qatar Airways runs sporadic specials throughout the year where they offer discounted mileage requirements for award bookings on specific routes. In other words, instead of redeeming 100,000 miles for a business class ticket, you only have to redeem 50,000, 40,000, 30,000 or even less for the same seat.
Here is the DIRECT LINK
There are a number of terms and conditions but currently they are running this special:
Enjoy up to 50%* discount on redemption tickets
Book a redemption ticket from now until 31 December 2020 for travel from 20 January 2020 until 31 March 2020 and enjoy up to a 50% discount. Please ensure you login before you click on the Easy Deals destinations and don’t forget to enter the Promo Code EDEALS1219 during the redemption process. *Terms and conditions apply.
SO HOW DO I GET QMILES?
In 2018, Qatar Airways (which happens to be one of my favorite airlines) had a major devaluation in its award chart. Unfortunately, I had a few miles in my account that were, essentially, stuck. But fortunately, “Easy Deals” were a way for me to salvage my miles and I use them on every sweetspot I can find.
If you do not have any Qmiles, they’re pretty easy to earn. You can transfer from:
- Capital One Venture Card (Transfer Rate 2:1.5)
- Capital One Spark Miles For Business (Transfer Rate 2:1.5)
- Citi Premier (Transfer Rate 1:1)
- Citi Prestige (Transfer Rate 1:1)
- American Express Marriott (READ MORE) (Transfer Rate 3:1)
- Chase Marriott (Transfer Rate 3:1)
Reminder: If you have Marriott Bonvoy points, remember that when you transfer 60,000 points, you’ll receive a 5,000-mile bonus.
HOW TO SEARCH FOR AWARD SPACE
Searching for award space can be tough on Qatar because if you don’t have Qmiles in your account, you can run a search but you won’t get any search results. UGH!
However, here are two ways to work around it:
1) You can search with American Airlines (or British Airways). Typically, I use AA because it has a calendar search option so it’s easy to see which dates have award space or;
2) You can call Qatar Airways (800-988-6128) and ask a phone rep to search for award space.
FINAL STAMP
There are two caveats to be aware of:
1) Agents are not able to tell you the taxes and fees for your route until you have the miles in your account.
2) Transfer times from Citi and Marriott are 2 days and 3 days, respectively.
Qatar has begun to update the interiors of its planes at a faster than expected rate so depending on your dates of travel, you may find yourself in some real luxury. If you can’t determine if your route has Qsuites, shoot me a message and I’ll look for you. But even if you don’t get Qsuites, rest assure you’ll still be getting the best.
Qatar’s Easy Deals are a great chance to get the most bang for your buck!
Look at this…29,000 miles for a one-way business class ticket from DOH-HEL (Helsinki). Not bad at all!!!
Unfortnuately, there is no published award chart for flights on Qatar Airways booked with Qmiles. You will need to use their Qcalculator to determine the cost of an award. In my experience the calculator seems to be region-based but there are a few sweetspots (…I’ll post more about this in a future blog).
So, who’s booking an award?
1TattedPassport 