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Good old Qatar. While it may appear to be in political meltdown, that hasn’t stopped its national airline from once again pulling out a mega sale in Business Class.
As ever, the bargains are from Europe, with standout fares as follows (Business Class, return):
- Stockholm to Singapore at SEK 11904 (£1080)
- Helsinki to Bangkok at €1301 (£1140)
- Copenhagen to Singapore at DKK 9806 (£1155)
- Venice to Bangkok – €1369 (£1200)
- Venice to Bangkok – €1369 (£1200)
- Copenhagen to Bali at DKK 12061 (£1424)
- Stockholm to Bangkok at SEK 16763 (£1525)
- Stockholm to the Maldives at SEK 17722 (£1608)
- Oslo to Auckland at NOK 17892 (£1655)
- Copenhagen to Auckland – DKK 15372 (£1815)
There are some genuinely superb fares there, with the Stockholm-Singapore and Oslo-Auckland routes particularly stand-out.
To benefit from the Flash Sale, you need to book by midnight in the country of departure, and travel by 30 September 2017
Free hotel room in Doha
Again up to 30 September 2017, you can also benefit from a free hotel stopover in Doha, should breathing in vast amounts of air pollution be your thing. Full details are here, but in brief they are as follows:
– First and Business Class travellers get one free room night in a 5-star hotel (the 2nd night is $50)
– Economy travellers get one free room night in a 4-star hotel (the 2nd night is $50)
Deals like this bring into question, is it worth IMO the use of the BAPP. With the usual taxes on BA redemptions the same or more as this RTN flight on a lot better carrier and service and having to pay £195 annual fee & needing to spend 10k to get the companion voucher + availability issues.
Remembering you would need over 150k avios for using the BAPP on CW plus RTN for 2 + 1k plus in cash in taxes.
🙂 I think Miles makes it clear in his other post. BA just about gets away with it because many Londoners just want to get on a plane at Heathrow and fly directly to their destination.
However, if the Gulf 3 attacked BA’s London base with Scandinavia-level fares, then they could take whatever they don’t already have of the Asia-bound market. Why don’t they? Probably due to slot restraints at Heathrow and the fact that the London market can bear higher fares in premium cabins due to business traffic.
Craig is absolutely right. While I of course mischievously challenged your issues with the BA Amex Companion Voucher, when you’ve got premium cash flights available for not that much more than the BA taxes, it is sometimes worth questioning the value of using the Companion Voucher instead.
As I said in my article, I do think a lot of it boils down to the type of “travel hacker” you are. If you love the idea of a trip to Oslo with Ryanair, then an ultra cheap long haul with Qatar from there, flying via Doha (as many do, I fully accept), then the Companion Voucher may not offer you particularly good value. On the other hand, if your only wish is to get a long haul direct premium flight with BA, then the Companion Voucher can work brilliantly (I think).
But yes, I do accept that – at face value – it may be a bit galling for some who use their Companion Voucher for an Avios + free flight, shelling out a small fortune in fees/taxes to do so, only to see premium flights with Qatar available for such comically low prices.
Edit: didn’t realise BAPP companion voucher entitled you to a RTN free plus taxes.