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It was long easy to write off Qatar Airways' partner award chart. Seemingly, no matter the route you searched, Qatar's award pricing was routinely so expensive that there was almost always a better booking option.
As soon as the option was added to transfer Avios from Qatar to British Airways, savvy travelers knew to do so to book the same partner award for fewer Avios most days. That's not so much the case anymore, as evidenced by a few key sweet spots.
Here's what you need to know about the five best under-the-radar uses of Qatar Airways Avios on partner airlines.
Page Contents
- Qatar Airways Avios Partner Award Charts
- Qatar Airways Partner Sweet Spots
- Short-haul award flights on American Airlines and Alaska Airlines for 9,500 Avios
- Caribbean/Mexico award flights on American Airlines and Alaska Airlines from 13,000 Avios
- LATAM flights from North America to Lima from 13,000 Avios
- Award flights to Hawaii on American Airlines and Alaska Airlines from 16,000 Avios
- Short-haul U.S. domestic flights in lie-flat seats from 27,000 Avios
- Limitations of the Qatar Privilege Club Program
- How To Earn Qatar Avios
- Bottom Line
Qatar Airways Avios Partner Award Charts
Qatar Airways Privilege Club has two partner award charts worth your attention: its general partner chart and its chart only for LATAM-operated flights. These charts are different, but each offers a couple of sweet spots that are well worth your hard-earned Avios.
Qatar Airways partner award chart
Let's start with the basics. Here's Qatar Airways' general redemption chart. This table details Avios awards on airlines such as American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
| Flight Distance | Economy | Business Class |
|---|---|---|
| 1-650 miles | 9,500 Avios | 20,000 Avios |
| 651-1,151 miles | 13,000 Avios | 27,000 Avios |
| 1,152-2,000 miles | 14,500 Avios | 34,000 Avios |
| 2,001-3,000 miles | 16,000 Avios | 43,000 Avios |
| 3,001-4,000 miles | 20,750 Avios | 62,000 Avios |
| 4,001-5,500 miles | 25,750 Avios | 77,250 Avios |
| 5,501-6,500 miles | 31,000 Avios | 92,750 Avios |
| 6,501-7,000 miles | 36,250 Avios | 108,250 Avios |
| 7,001+ miles | 51,000 Avios | 154,500 Avios |
If this award chart looks similar, that's because it essentially matches the British Airways Executive Club award chart for partner award flights — with one notable difference.
Unlike British Airways, the Qatar partner award chart practically doesn't have a “Zone 1” for short-haul flights in North America. Instead, British Airways and Iberia artificially bump these awards to 12,000 Avios each way (after a semi-recent Executive Club devaluation). With Qatar Airways, you can book award flights under 650 miles for just 9,500 Avios each way:
Related: All The American Airlines and Alaska Airlines Routes You Can Book for 9,500 Qatar Avios
Qatar Airways award chart for LATAM flights
To make matters more complicated, Qatar Airways posts a slightly different award chart for LATAM flights. There are sweet spots within this chart, too, especially at the upper end. But it's worth noting that you should refer to this chart for LATAM flights instead of the general partner chart.
| Flight Distance | Economy | Business Class |
|---|---|---|
| 1-650 miles | 6,000 Avios | N/A |
| 651-1,151 miles | 9,000 Avios | 16,500 Avios |
| 1,152-2,000 miles | 11,000 Avios | 22,000 Avios |
| 2,001-3,000 miles | 13,000 Avios | 38,750 Avios |
| 3,001-4,000 miles | 20,750 Avios | 62,000 Avios |
| 4,001-5,000 miles | 25,750 Avios | 77,250 Avios |
It's worth noting that LATAM operates a few routes that fall outside this award chart, such as Santiago (SCL) to Madrid (MAD). However, availability is so sparse that it's almost not worth your time to dig for it just for the privilege of booking with Qatar Avios.
Qatar Airways Partner Sweet Spots
Let us show you the power of these award charts with a few excellent uses.
Short-haul award flights on American Airlines and Alaska Airlines for 9,500 Avios
Perhaps the best sweet spot is booking American Airlines or Alaska Airlines awards under 650 miles in distance for just 9,500 Avios. As mentioned above, this award rate isn't possible when booking using British Airways Avios. And while 9,500 Avios is a far cry from the 6,000 Avios these awards used to cost (thanks to an August 2024 devaluation), this rate still deserves your attention.
While 650 miles may not sound very far, you can book some routes that would be a pain to drive. For example, Dallas–Fort Worth to Denver is almost a 13-hour drive, but you can book an award flight on this route for just 9,500 Avios:
Then, there are undrivable routes. For example, you can fly from Miami to the Bahamas for just 9,500 Qatar Avios:
Caribbean/Mexico award flights on American Airlines and Alaska Airlines from 13,000 Avios
Another great use of the distance-based Avios award chart is flying nonstop flights under 1,151 miles to destinations like the Caribbean and Mexico from the U.S. mainland. There are dozens of options from several American Airlines hubs — plus additional point-to-point routes like Austin to Cancun.
Some of these flights can cost hundreds of dollars to book with cash but are available for just 13,000 Avios (but mind the taxes and fees):
LATAM flights from North America to Lima from 13,000 Avios
Depending on the time of year you head south, tickets to Lima, Peru, can add up. One of the most underrated parts of Qatar's chart for LATAM covers flights between 2,001 and 3,000 miles. On these itineraries, you can book flights such as Miami (MIA) to Lima (LIM) for 13,000 Avios plus taxes and fees.
Or if you'd rather splurge for business class, those rates are pretty good, too. You can book seats on the MIA to LIM route for 38,750 Qatar Avios.
Award flights to Hawaii on American Airlines and Alaska Airlines from 16,000 Avios
You can even fly to Hawaii using just 16,000 Avios! To get this price, you'll need to fly on a nonstop route under 3,000 miles in distance. Dozens of American Airlines and Alaska Airlines routes from the U.S. West Coast are bookable using this sweet spot, such as Phoenix to Honolulu:
If you booked this award through British Airways, you'd redeem an additional 4,000 Avios!
Related: The Best Points and Miles for Free Flights to Hawaii
Short-haul U.S. domestic flights in lie-flat seats from 27,000 Avios
American Airlines operates several domestic routes with internationally configured planes (here are all American Airlines domestic lie-flat routes this month). This means you can fly in a lie-flat seat without traveling around the world! Even better, you can book these awards starting at 27,000 Qatar Airways Avios.
Alternatively, you can fly longer — think Los Angeles to Miami — for 43,000 Avios. Sometimes, that rate will be far cheaper than what American Airlines charges through its AAdvantage® program.
Limitations of the Qatar Privilege Club Program
The biggest limitation to utilizing this new Qatar partner award chart is that most partner awards aren't bookable online. However, several of its main partners — like American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, and British Airways — are. For those unavailable online, the best practice is confirming award availability elsewhere, checking the price through Qatar, and then calling Privilege Club to book.
You can check pricing for partner airline flights on this page. After entering the partner airline, cabin class, origin and destination airports, date(s), and the number of passengers, Qatar will pull the flight schedule for that route. Once you select a flight, Qatar will show you the award price.
Qatar's website can be finicky sometimes. You might have better luck searching for awards via Qatar Airway's mobile app and then using the web browser once you've confirmed dates.
Related: How To Find Airline Partner Award Availability
How To Earn Qatar Avios
You have plenty of ways to accumulate Avios even outside of flying Qatar Airways and its partners. Qatar Privilege Club partners with dozens of bank transferrable point programs around the world. Even better, Qatar routinely offers a transfer bonus for converting bank points to Qatar Avios and big bonuses when you purchase Avios outright.
For U.S. travelers, Qatar Privilege Club is a direct transfer partner of three major transferrable point programs:
- American Express Membership Rewards: 1:1 transfer ratio; most transfers take less than a day
- Citi ThankYou® Points: 1:1 transfer ratio; most transfers take less than a day
- Marriott Bonvoy: 3:1 transfer ratio, plus 5,000 bonus Avios for transferring at least 60,000 Bonvoy points; most transfers take three to four days
Or you can leverage the ability to transfer Avios between British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Qatar, and Aer Lingus to effectively mint Qatar Avios from any major U.S. transferrable point program. These options are especially worth taking advantage of when there's an ongoing transfer bonus.
- American Express Membership Rewards: 1:1 transfer ratio to British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, and Aer Lingus AerClub)
- Bilt Rewards: 1:1 transfer ratio to British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, and Aer Lingus AerClub
- Capital One Miles: 1:1 transfer ratio to British Airways Executive Club and Finnair Plus
- Chase Ultimate Rewards: 1:1 transfer ratio to British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, and Aer Lingus AerClub
Bottom Line
Qatar Privilege Club's award chart mostly matches what you'll find in other Avios programs, like British Airways Executive Club or Iberia Plus. And this totally makes sense. After all, travelers can transfer Avios between programs at a 1:1 transfer ratio with no fees (and transferring instantly). That means travelers could simply transfer Avios to British Airways or Iberia to book award flights instead of going through Qatar's program.
However, pricing is generally the same whether you book a partner award through British Airways or Qatar. There is one notable exception, though. You'll want to book short-haul partner awards and LATAM flights between North and South America through Privilege Club to take advantage of better pricing.
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