Qatar Airways has today announced that it will be adopting Avios as the reward currency for all members worldwide from late March 2022.
Current Privilege Club members should experience a seamless transition into the loyalty programme’s new reward currency, Avios, with their existing Qmiles balances changing automatically to Avios on a 1:1 ratio basis.
This is just the start of the announcements as apparently Privilege Club members will be provided more opportunities to accumulate Avios. IAG Loyalty and Qatar Airways are working to introduce new customer benefits from the partnership, as well as more ways to earn and collect Avios around the world in the coming months.
For those already a Privilege Club member it means there will be extra opportunities to spend on airlines that are not oneworld but Avios partners like Aer Lingus and Vueling. I would hope there would be a “Combine my Avios” function as there is between BA and Iberia for example. This would allow you to move Avios between two accounts such as BA and Qatar.
Being able to earn Avios on both could be useful when there are specific promotions for Qatar Privilege members as you could earn through Qatar but then transfer the Avios to BA to use on a companion voucher if they allowed this.
The amount of Avios required to book an award ticket or use Cash + Avios will not change from the amount of QMiles currently needed.
Further details are available on www.qatarairways.com/Avios and more will be announced by Qatar Airways Privilege Club next month.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, stated: “The transition from Qmiles to Avios marks a ground-breaking new era for Privilege Club, enabling our loyal members to participate in the most compelling loyalty network and the largest portfolio of partners in the industry.
“As the World’s Best Airline, Qatar Airways continues to redefine loyalty through the adoption of exciting digital innovations to create unique world-class experiences for our members. We look forward to revealing more details of this exciting change over the coming weeks, as we explore even more ways to reward our valued members both on and off the ground.”
I will take a look at Qatar’s Privilege Club in a separate article.
