How To Transfer BA Avios To Qatar Airways?

Last month Qatar Airways announced that their Privilege Club frequent flyer program would be replacing Qmiles with Avios. The move at the time raised many questions as to how the implementation would work, would you be able to transfer BA Avios to Qatar Airways using the combine my Avios feature? What about the cost of tickets and ‘taxes & fees’? With BA recently significantly raising the ‘taxes & fees’ on BA flights booked with Avios we had our doubts as to how good this change would be BUT we are happy to report it appears to be a GREAT change!

Should I transfer BA Avios To Qatar Airways?

As transfers are pretty much instant you don’t need to decide in advance. When you want to book simply compare the Avios cost + ‘taxes & fees’ on both options and make your decision then. If you’ve already linked your accounts within a few minutes you can switch Avios between BA & Qatar.

The biggest benefit of Qatar Airways’ switch to Avios…

The biggest benefit of this change isn’t the ability to move your Avios between accounts but rather the new options Qatar Airways’ adopting Avios gives you. This is particularly true if you don’t have a BA Amex 2-4-1 voucher or an upgrade voucher from Barclays.

Not only does Qatar Airways’ have arguable the best Business Class seat on the market with Qsuite their ‘taxes & fees’ aren’t as crazy as BA’s. Compare the following examples…

London – Maldives

BA – 125000 Avios + £ 832.06 (off-peak)
Qatar – 130000 Avios + £ 599.46

London – Dubai

BA – 100000 Avios + £ 806.15 (off-peak)
Qatar – 100000 Avios + £ 534.16

London – Sydney

BA – 125000 Avios + £ 617.31 (off-peak) (one-way)
Qatar – 180000 Avios + £ 592.76

The only difference is that unless you are flying to Qatar you will need to change planes BUT for lower ‘taxes & fees’, a superior business class product, and a chance to stretch your legs you might just be swayed.

How do I transfer BA Avios To Qatar Airways?

First of all, if you don’t already have Qatar Airways account you will need to make one to follow this process, you can do this here – https://www.qatarairways.com/

Login to your BA Executive Club account on – https://www.britishairways.com/ – click ‘Manage’ at the top then ‘My Executive Club’.

Here on the left-hand side, you should see an option to ‘Combine my Avios’, click it.

Here scroll down to Qatar Airways Privilege Club and select Combine my Avios.

You will then be asked to log in to your BA account again

You will then be able select Link accounts now which will require you to log in to your Qatar Airways account.

Once you’ve done this you will see the option to transfer BA Avios to Qatar Airways & vice-versa. These transfers happen almost instantly in both directions.

Conclusion

Qatar Airways’ move to Avios is very welcome news, particularly as BA has reduced the Avios cost & ‘taxes & fees’ on Qsuite redemptions, bringing them roughly in line with booking directly with Qatar Airways. This means the ‘combine my Avios’ feature to transfer BA Avios To Qatar is slightly less useful to BA Avios collectors but still useful where there are small differences in cost/availability. Are you excited by Qatar Airways’ switch to Avios?