How To Transfer Avios From BA To Qatar Airways

Despite sharing Avios as their loyalty currency Qatar Airways, British Airways, Iberia, Vueling, and Aer Lingus all collect Avios into different ‘pots’. Each ‘pot’ is like a separate bank account that you can ‘deposit’ Avios into or of course spend them! Whilst it’s easy to redeem your Avios on the Airline you have your Avios points with transferring to another can be tricky. Depending on who you are transferring from/to the path you need to take is different. In this post, we are focusing on how you can transfer Avios from BA to Qatar Airways and vice versa.

Why would you want to transfer Avios from BA to Qatar Airways or vice versa?

Each Airline has its own unique partners (airline, hotel, and car hire) for earning and spending Avios. If you want to, for example, spend Avios with a partner that Qatar offers you’d need to transfer your Avios there first. Likewise, if you wanted to earn Avios on a partner that Qatar has and BA doesn’t you’d want to have a Qatar account to earn the Avios into and then to later transfer to BA if you wish. You can view their partners here – https://www.qatarairways.com/en/Privilege-Club/our-partners.html

It’s worth noting that whilst in theory, you can book Qatar Airway Avios seats on British Airway’s website for the same amount of Avios/taxes it is always worth checking both to see if the availability, etc matches up! Qatar Airways also releases ‘double Avios’ redemptions which opens up more reward seats to those who are willing to pay double the normal Avios rate.

How To Transfer Avios From BA To Qatar Airways or vice versa?

If you haven’t got a British Airways or Qatar Airways account, you must sign up for any you don’t have before attempting to make a transfer.

Make sure your personal details match on both accounts to avoid any problems when linking them e.g. name(s), D.O.B & your email.

Head to this page on the Qatar website to link your British Airways/Qatar Airways accounts (if you haven’t already.)

Once you’ve linked your accounts you should be able to see both your BA & Qatar Airways Avios balance on the same screen.

To transfer Avios in either direction between your BA / Qatar Airways account click ‘Combine Avios’ under ‘More to explore.’ This will load the following page…

You can transfer any number of Avios you want in any direction, simply type in the amount you want to transfer and click ‘Move my Avios.’ If you want to transfer in the opposite direction click the two arrows in the middle and the From/To will swap around to the other direction.

Transfers of Avios between BA & Qatar Airways are instantaneous in both directions. If you change your mind a few seconds later you can have your Avios back in their existing account.

Conclusion

Whilst a central pot would be easier for most people the fact that each scheme has a high level of independence with its own earn/spend partners and redemption structure is a positive for flyers looking for the best deal. It means you can transfer your Avios between schemes to get the ‘sweet spots’ when you redeem your Avios and earn Avios from partners that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to.