Qatar Airways Privilege Club Awards Cost 20% More on Peak Days. Here's What You Should Know.

Since adopting Avios in 2022, Qatar Airways Privilege Club has slowly implemented features that resemble the other loyalty programs utilizing the currency.

In the latest development, Qatar Airways has rolled out peak and off-peak pricing across its network. While this pricing structure isn't entirely new to Privilege Club, more routes are impacted — including ones to and from the United States.

Here's what travelers need to know about changes in pricing with this new model.

Qatar Airways Privilege Club’s New Peak Pricing

As first reported by Mainly Miles, Qatar Airways' rollout of peak and off-peak pricing is much more noticeable — encompassing more routes than just those to and from Doha's Hamad International Airport (DOH).

The expansion of peak and off-peak pricing means flights beyond Doha are now subjected to higher pricing on days Qatar dubs “peak.” For example, if you're trying to book Boston (BOS) to Muscat, Oman (MCT) via Doha with Avios, you'll now have to take a more thorough look at the calendar to avoid spending more Avios than you should. Here's an example.

Flying from Boston to Muscat in economy on an off-peak day costs 37,500 Avios plus $132.90.

Credit: Qatar Airways

Fast forward a few months; a date that doesn't have the “off-peak” tag comes with a price of 45,000 Avios plus $132.90 — a 20% increase in the mileage cost.

Credit: Qatar Airways

Unfortunately, the pricing structure also applies to Qatar's Qsuite business-class product. Take an Atlanta (ATL) to Colombo, Sri Lanka (CMB) via Doha (DOH) itinerary for example. On an off-peak day, the trip carries a price tag of 85,000 Avios plus $202.90.

Credit: Qatar Airways

And a few months later, peak pricing marks the mileage price tag up 20% to 102,000 Avios plus $202.90.

Credit: Qatar Airways

As a baseline conclusion, peak awards cost 20% more than off-peak awards — across all bookable classes, as far as we can see.

Qatar's Peak Pricing Calendar

The calendar Qatar uses for peak and off-peak pricing appears to be route-dependent, which presents a modest challenge when trying to nail down which dates are more expensive.

Referring to the two example itineraries shown earlier, a quick scroll through Qatar's calendar award view suggests that most off-peak dates overlap, but not all do.

With that disclaimer out of the way, we've established a rough peak/off-peak calendar that carries through the end of Qatar's bookable schedule, and it looks like this (give or take a few days):

However, your mileage may vary depending on the route you try to book with your Avios and whether you're connecting. For example, we found a route from New York-Kennedy (JFK) to Doha (DOH) was off-peak on December 7 to 9, but JFK-DOH-MCT is off-peak on December 8 to 9 only. This begs the question of how you could be seated next to a passenger on that same JFK-DOH flight who had different peak/off-peak pricing from you, depending on who's connecting and who's terminating in Doha.

Are American Airlines and British Airways impacted by Qatar's new pricing structure?

Qatar Airways awards are bookable via American Airlines AAdvantage and British Airways Executive Club, which begs the question: Are these two popular booking methods also subject to Qatar's new peak and off-peak pricing?

After running a few mock searches, it appears the answer is “no.” American Airlines is not reflecting the peak and off-peak pricing, suggesting it's business as usual over at AAdvantage.

Related: 21 Airlines You Can Book Using American Airlines AAdvantage Miles

Here's the ATL to CMB itinerary, bookable for just 70,000 AAdvantage miles on Qatar's peak date of June 19, 2024.

Credit: American Airlines

British Airways Executive Club uses its own peak and off-peak calendar, which doesn't align with Qatar's. As such, awards booked via Executive Club will be subject to the dates British Airways dubs “peak” — irrespective of Qatar's calendar.

Final Thoughts

Qatar Airways is bringing peak and off-peak pricing to more of its award routes, which increases prices on the affected days by 20%.

Unfortunately, the exact calendar is hard to pinpoint, so picking the cheapest days to book an Avios reward via Privilege Clib might require patience as you scroll through Qatar's award calendar.

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