It seems that Qatar Airways and its Privilege Club loyalty programme is to preparing to adopt Avios as its reward currency towards the end of March.
Qatar Airways Airbus A350-900 at Hamad International Airport, Image Economy Class and Beyond.
The move will be completed by the End of March according to the airline.
Avios is currently used by the IAG group of airlines as its reward currency (Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, LEVEL and Vueling) via its IAG Rewards subsidiary.
It’s also probably worth mentioning that Qatar Airways has a 25.1% stake in IAG at this time.
What we know so far
QMiles will be the thing that will go and be replaced by Avios. These will be converted at a 1:1 ratio (One QMile = One Avios). You will be able to spend these the same way you spend QMiles at current – on flights, hotels and other rewards.
Meanwhile, Qpoints will not change at this time – these are used to track your Elite Membership requirements. QCredits which are used as a reward benefit for the airlines’ frequent fliers will also be retained as-is.
There will also be no change to the current Qmiles expiry rules when the currency switches to Avios.
At this time, Qatar Airways aren’t changing the value of a reward – so the price in QMiles will be the same as in Avios.
The airline will also retain its current expiry rule of Avios when they are migrated (currently 36 months).
Information is light on the ground at this time, with Qatar Airways publishing an FAQ at https://www.qatarairways.com/en/Privilege-Club/Avios.html
What we don’t know
There are plenty of what-ifs from this, that will come out over the next few weeks I suspect – such as the ability to move Avios from one programme to another or combine them.
Allowing this will allow those with balances on Iberia or British Airways to take advantage of different mileage rates and redemptions, which could be tempting.
It’s going to be interesting to mileage collectors over the next week weeks, be they Qatar Airways Privilege Club or other members who hold Avios.
In Quotes
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive 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.”
IAG Loyalty owns and manages the Avios currency. CEO of IAG Loyalty, Mr Adam Daniels, said
“Qatar Airways have recognised the power of Avios. By adopting Avios they will be able to offer their customers a wider range of benefits and support their business development ambitions. It’s an exciting step for IAG Loyalty as we extend our leadership in loyalty, increase Avios’ global reach, and build out our partnership strategy even further.”
Let’s see how this pans out
There are going to be a lot of things to keep an eye on during this migration from QMiles to Avios and what benefits and features Qatar Airways chooses to take from the IAG Loyalty platform and how they implement it.
Certainly, a lot to watch out for Qatar Airways Privilege Club members.
Suffice to say, IAG loyalty could open up some new possibilities in how to redeem hard-earned miles.
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It’s now been confirmed by Qatar Airways Privilege Club that Avios “will be fully transferable between Privilege Club and British Airways Executive Club”, this allows travellers on both airlines to pool their Avios into a single account.
In addition, BA and Qatar Airways will increase the number of Avios-based reward seats across their flights, to accomodate an expected jump in demand once both airlines are sharing a common currency’.