I recently returned home from a dream vacation to the Maldives. One of the many incredible aspects of this trip was our flight home in Qatar Airways Qsuite. Qatar is said to be the best airline in the world along with their Qsuite being the best business class in the world! I used American Airlines miles to book Qatar directly on the AA website. This is a great option and cost me 70,000 miles one-way but American Airlines is not a transfer partner of any of the major transferable points programs so it’s not that easy to build up a big stash of AA miles.

The latest news is that you can now book Qatar Qsuite with British Airways Avios. This is really exciting as American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Capital One Venture Miles all transfer to British Airways. Originally, British Airways was charging 105,000 Avios to the Maldives. The recommendation was to link your British Airways and Qatar accounts and then book directly with Qatar at 85,000 miles. But, I just checked and British Airways is now charging the same amount as Qatar! This makes it even easier to book!

 

U.S. Cities That Offer Qsuite

• Atlanta (ATL)
• Boston (BOS)
• Chicago (ORD)
• Dallas (DFW)
• Houston (IAH)
• Los Angeles (LAX)
• Miami (MIA)
• New York (JFK)
• Philadelphia (PHL)
• San Francisco (SFO)
• Washington (IAD)

Qatar has been known to periodically switch out its planes and you could end up in an aircraft that doesn’t have Qsuite. To avoid this possibility, we recommend flying out of DFW, ORD, JFK, or IAD.

When booking with American Airlines I was able to book all the way to Salt Lake City. When searching on British Airways and trying to search from Salt Lake City it said, “British Airways and its partners do not fly this route. Please consider an alternative destination.” In this scenario, I would take a positioning flight to DFW or ORD.

 

Booking QSuite with British Airways Avios

Let’s go over how to actually book this:

1. Open a free British Airways Executive Club account
2. Log in to your British Airways account
3. Select “book flight with Avios” and search for a flight
4. After finding the flight, transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One Venture Miles, or use your Avios from your British Airways Signature Visa card.
5. Book your flight

I ran searches from Seattle (SEA), Dallas (DFW), and NYC (JFK), and all of them priced out at 85,000 Avios plus $206 in taxes and fees. Booking with Qatar was the same 85,000 Avios, maybe a few dollars less in taxes

 

 

Compare this to an American Airlines Qatar Qsuite flight. It’s more expensive, yes, but it is so much easier to earn British Airways Avios than American Airlines miles. Especially if you already happen to have a bunch of points sitting with one of those transferable points programs. If you don’t have any American Airlines cards and are looking to use fewer points and less cash, check out this post.

 

 

Bottom Line

The ability to now book Qatar Qsuite with British Airways Avios makes it even easier to fly “the best business class in the world”. While it will cost you more points and cash than booking with American Airlines, it is much easier to earn a big stash of British Airways Avios.