In our series Award Success, I’d like to feature another redemption using Qatar Airways Avios, which was the cheapest source to ticket these particular flights, as prices (even within the Avios ecosystem) vary greatly.
These flights I needed were both Cathay Pacific short-haul segments from Bangkok to Hong Kong and Hong Kong to Taipei, with a stopover of roughly a week. They required two tickets as most programs no longer allow stopovers.
When using Avios, you currently have the option of interchanging the miles between all programs that use Avios as their currency, including British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, and Qatar Airways Privilege Club.
Some of these programs require intermittent transfers and you can find details about the transfer options on BA’s website (see here).
As almost every year, I decided to spend the holidays in Hong Kong and for a flight out of Bangkok I looked at Cathay Pacific and other choices again.
Various flights came up, including Thai Airways would have cost $183 in Economy one way. Cathay Pacific was the best choice as I still had a small amount of miles in a few Qatar Airways accounts of family members.
I then checked mileage tickets for Bangkok – Hong Kong in Economy:
- Cathay Asia Miles: 10,000 miles + $55 (440 HKD) tax/fees
- BA Avios: 12,000 Miles + $43.00 tax/fees (1485 Baht – not sure how that is even possible)
- Qatar Privilege Club: Y 9,000 Miles + $21 tax/fees (780 Baht – the departure tax and airport fee)
This particular account had 8,520 Avios left, and I paid an additional 460.00 Baht for the missing 480 miles.
For Hong Kong to Taipei, it was a similar story:
- Cathay Asia Miles: 7,500 miles + US$50.50 (426 HKD) tax/fees
- BA Avios: 9,750 Miles + $US50.00 tax/fees (422 HKD – not sure how that is even possible)
- Qatar Privilege Club: Y 6,000 Miles + US$28 tax/fees (220 HKD – the departure tax and airport fee)
This is my own account and I had 5,464 BA Avios left which I transferred to QR, and I paid an additional 120.00 HKG for the missing 536 miles.
A clean cut for both accounts which now have a zero balance.
I decided that the Qatar redemption was the best value for both tickets. The nice thing about Qatar Privilege Club and Cathay Pacific is that you can actually book the flights directly online rather than having to go through chat or complete a request like when you book a Japan Airlines flight.
I’m totally fine with both Economy flights as they’re usually only a ~ 2-hour flight duration or less, and with Emerald status, they really are the best value. I don’t need Business Class for such a short flight, especially without arrival privileges such as a special Business Class lane (I have a valid Auto Immigration registration in both Hong Kong and Taiwan).
Conclusion
This was a rather good redemption value using up these Qatar Privilege Club miles that were accumulated naturally by some flights over the last year or so.
It’s interesting how different the pricing still is, even between British Airways Executive Club and Qatar Airways Privilege Club. I would have expected that to stop at some point, but the arbitrage is still going strong.
I would definitely recommend linking your Avios accounts to use this opportunity and transfer your miles into the best program to redeem there when the pricing makes sense.
