Open Qatar business class for 54K points from New York to Doha

Award Wallet reported this morning that Qatar Airways has released a bunch of business class award space on its nonstop from New York (JFK) to Doha beginning on October 30, 2023. Many days have had at least 2 seats available in business class. I’m not seeing much of that space left, but I thought it was worth sharing for anyone hunting out Qatar space that this route is worth a look. These flights are not yet advertised as featuring Qsuites, so we don’t know for sure which business class product they will feature.

The Deal

• Qatar Airways has added another daily flight from New York to Doha beginning at the end of October and on some days they are releasing 2 business class seats on this flight. If you want to book via American Airlines, you may need to use the chat feature or call. Alternatively, these flights could be booked with Qatar Avios for 70,000 Avios and about $100 on the outbound or $150 on the return. Keep in mind that you can book via Qatar with your British Airways Avios, which means you could transfer just 54K Amex Membership Rewards points to have enough for this award with the current point transfer bonus.

Quick Thoughts

Qatar Airways has very well-regarded business class both in terms of product and service. Their best-regarded business class is their Qsuites product, so it would be nice of this availability popped up on flights that we were sure would be operated with those seats. Unfortunately, the flights that are available are not showing up as being operated by planes featuring QSuites.

That said, Greg booked this and was unable to select a seat, so it is at least possible that maybe the final equipment determination hasn’t yet been made. That could be because this availability beginning on October 30th is likely due to the fact that American Airlines will be ending their own New York(JFK)-Doha flight on October 27th, so Qatar is adding another daily flight.

Obviously not every flight will be available at the lowest rate. According to Award Wallet, these flights did not show up as available via the American Airlines website, but it was possible to book over AA’s website chat function. Alternatively, this could make for a good use of the current transfer bonus from Amex Membership Rewards to British Airways Avios since you’ll pay just 70,000 Avios and $98.75 outbound or a little over $150 on the return flight — that’s just 54,000 points transferred from Amex Membership Rewards with the current bonus.

Keep in mind that you could transfer to British Airways and then your Qatar Privileges account can book using your British Airways Avios balance — this is one of the odd situations where the airlines share the same frequent flyer currency. See this post for more detail and this post for more on moving Avios if you need to.

Again, I don’t see much space left, but it could be worth a look.

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