Some links to products and partners on this website will earn an affiliate commission.
There are many great reasons to fly Qatar Airways. Excellent Business Class service and hard product… check. Business Class fare sales… check. Earn nearly enough British Airways Tier Points for Silver status with one return trip… check. However, when reading InsideFlyer UK you might wonder whether Qatar Airways actually has an Economy cabin. 🙂
But none of the above attractions really explains the success of Qatar Airways and its estranged cousins Emirates and Etihad. The killer “app” of these Middle East airlines is one-stop service from almost anywhere to almost anywhere. Do you hate taking a plane, train, coach or automobile to Heathrow? Well then fly out of Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh or Manchester… Do you hate stepping off a 10+ hour long-haul flight, only to wait around the airport for a few hours to connect to your final destination? Of course, and there are only so many times that a stopover in Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur is enjoyable rather than a waste of a day or two of your holiday.
I was recently poking around the Qatar Airways website to check out a rather underwhelming “flash sale”, and I couldn’t help but marvel at the breadth of Asian and African destinations that I wouldn’t have previously dreamt of accessing seamlessly from Europe, but can now access on a simple one-stop basis by connecting in Doha. Here’s the full route map.
Here are some of the destinations I’m talking about…
Zanzibar, Kili, Namibia, Seychelles…
Or how about Bali, Rangoon, Goa, Kathmandu, Danang, Chiang Mai, Krabi, Phuket…
Why?
Apologies for sounding like an airline press release today. Most regular readers know that I’m not suited to being an “influencer”. Which company is going to pay me to promote something, when I’m actually more likely to teach people how to “travel hack” the product for far less. 😉
I suppose it’s a result of the temperature dropping and I’m jealous of my InsideFlyer colleagues leaving me alone whilst they holiday around warmer climes…
But, as always, we’ll be sure to update readers whenever we spy a good fare sale for Business Class travel on Qatar Airways or its competitors… And you can always use your Avios (or other Oneworld alliance mileage currency) to book your award flights on QR.
What about you? Do you value “one-stop” service to secondary airports in Asia or Africa? Or are you likelier to travel hack your way there with a combination of positioning flights, miles and low cost carriers?
Best thing to point out are the reduced air miles req on new routes, often discounted by 50 percent for segment from DOH. This saved me a ton before the devaluation. I was able to go lgw-nrt business one way for two people for just over 100k, most of which I got from sake fare. Great airline.
With Qmiles I presume.
Still regretting I didn’t book sake fare. I saw it, was looking at available dates, but for some silly reason didn’t book right away…
You also find the cheapest Business Class fares to some of these places with practically no business traffic. Penang, Krabi, etc.
Qatar Airways is one of the best airlines out there. A 5* full service airline with customer care a priority. I have flown Qatar from EDI-HKG return for only £500. I have never received champagne before in Economy class but Qatar obliged. Not just one glass but as much as I wanted.
Travelling via Doha, a 5* airport, onto Hong Kong another 5* airport in ultra-modern jets certainly did not make it feel like “cattle class”. The level of service in Economy was better than some other airlines, mentioned in insideflyer, business class.
The food was well above normal Economy class, HOT, and served with proper cutlery not plastic.
A couple of massive bonuses about splitting the journey via Doha was no worries about deep vein thrombosis and 4 meals on 2 flights rather than 2 meals on direct flights.
Any long haul flights i take is now done with QatarAirways. I would recommend this airline to ANYBODY wishing to get out of other legacy airlines.
Great deals can be found in business class especially to new routes.
Totally agree!
It feels like forever since we saw a business class sale. Im looking to book for next year so im really wanting a sale to pop up soon!!
I totally agree!
Qatar airways is one of the best airways in the world.