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Qatar Airways offers a flashy way to book flights using Avios. On the surface, it sounds great. “Avios Max” lets you pay for your entire ticket (taxes and fees included!) using Avios — with no cash outlay required.
But here’s the catch: you’ll often get terrible value for your Avios.
In this guide, we’ll break down how Avios Max works, compare it to Qatar’s other Avios redemption options, and show you when (if ever) it makes sense to use this feature. Spoiler alert: there’s usually a better way to spend your hard-earned Avios.
What Is Avios Max?
Avios Max is a booking option for Qatar Airways flyers with Avios in their Qatar Privilege Club account. Essentially, Avios Max lets you redeem Avios to completely offset the cost of a Qatar Airways fare.
That means you'll pay no out-of-pocket costs for the price of your ticket, including any taxes or fuel surcharges. This booking method is more convenient than traditional award booking methods as it lets you redeem Avios for any available seat on any Qatar Airways or partner-operated flight. Note: that credit card fees are excluded from Avios Max, so you'll have to pay those separately if they apply.
In addition, you'll still earn Avios and Qpoints earning for your booking! That makes it similar to how paying for flights with American Express' Pay With Points feature operates. It's like paying with cash for Avios and status-earning purposes.
How Much Are Avios Worth?
If you're looking to redeem Qatar Airways Avios for economy awards, we see redemption values around 1.1¢-1.5¢ each. Long-haul awards in premium cabins, like Qatar Airways' Qsuite, can see values rise to 3¢ per Avios.
Looking for ways to score more value from your Avios? Here's our overview of the best uses of Qatar Avios,
If you don't have any Qatar Privilege Club Avios, know that the program offers free Avios transfers between British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, and Finnair. They are also a transfer partner of several transferrable points currencies, including American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Points, and Marriott Bonvoy.
Comparing Avios Booking Options on Qatar Airways
To test out the redemption values for Avios Max, I performed a search for a flight from New York (JFK) to Doha (DOH). Cash prices were $758 for my one-way itinerary. Business class? A bit step for my budget.
An economy award between New York and Doha costs 35k Avios, plus taxes and fees. That should be our benchmark on whether any alternative booking options presented are a good deal.
I entered my booking details, and when it came time to check out, I was presented with several different options: Pay Now, Cash + Avios, Avios Max, and Hold My Booking. By selecting Cash + Avios, I'm presented with a slider where I can select anywhere between 1,000-52,054 Avios, plus a cash co-pay.
As you can see, if I paid 1,000 Avios, I'd still be responsible for $749.05. With this redemption, 1,000 Avios are worth $8.95, or 0.895¢ per point, which isn't great. If I chose exactly half of the Avios offered on the slider, I could purchase my flight for 26,027 Avios and $565.05.
With this redemption, my Avios are “saving” me $192.95 off the cash price, but at a value of 0.741¢ per point, which is even worse than the previous selection! Finally, let's max out the slider at 52,054 Avios and $378.05.
With this rate, we're saving $379.95 off the cash price, but at an Avios redemption value of 0.729¢ per point, which is the worst value of the search.
Avios Max Redemption Value
Moving one tab over, we see that when we select Avios Max, our cash co-pay goes away. What's left is a total of 108,292 Avios used to complete the booking. At first glance, that's only a redemption value of 0.699¢ per point, the worst of all of the options we've looked at!
However, you do need to take into account Avios earning for this example.
Avios are accrued with Qatar based on the fare class booked. With an S-class Economy Saver fare, you're eligible to earn 50% of flown miles in the form of Avios. That means for a flight between New York-JFK and Doha of 6,703 miles, I'd expect to earn around 3,351 Avios for my flight booking. That brings the total fare paid in Avios to 104,041 Avios, after accounting for the Avios earnings from the flown flight. That brings the total redemption value to 0.726¢ per Avios — which still isn't great.
Fare class is important here. Reasonably priced fares in business class may earn enough Avios to effectively boost your redemption rate. For reference, Qatar business class promo fares (“R” fare class) earn Avios at a rate of 125% per mile flown.
Based on the evidence of this search, it doesn't make sense to redeem Avios Max in most cases, unless you're looking to avoid paying any cash payment at all on your flight booking. It could also make sense for a low fare in an optimal fare class as outlined above. A typical Avios award would have some taxes and fees, and sometimes carrier surcharges. While Cash + Avios has a better redemption value, it's still not a great value at all, and cash is still required to complete the booking.
If you're looking to take advantage of Qatar Airways' frequent Avios sales, none of these redemptions make sense. The lowest you can purchase Avios on sale currently is 1.53¢ each.
Final Thoughts
It doesn't make much sense to use Avios Max. Even if there's a compelling reason that you'd like to avoid paying any cash on a flight booking, please don't. Ideally, use your Avios on a traditional award redemption, which will generally price lower than any of these options.
Cash and Avios redemptions generally provide a horrible redemption value, and Avios Max is the worst of them all. Anytime you need to use more points to receive less value for your Avios, it doesn't make much sense to me.
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