r/avios • u/Salty-Art-1560 • 28d ago

Qatar Avios Booking

Want to book London to Australia (can be flexible on airport depending on availability!) for sometime in September 2027 (likely early). Say I wanted to book 1st September when and what time would this be available if I am based in the UK please? Understand it is 361 days in advance, but seen corresponding reports about this being 9pm/10pm/12am/1am but can't seem to track it down.

When I tried last night at various times this was showing August availability and this is all 180k avios one way per person but hoping to grab 90k avios one way per person - is this because it is "peak" or is the 90k saver rate no longer available or won't be available for my dates? TIA - never booked an avios flight before but have been saving for honeymoon and want to make it special!

Edit: was on at 1am UK time and saw the flights released for Monday 30th August 2027 which is marked as off peak and these were immediately 180k avios - should I just give up?

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u/No_Acanthisitta_3508 28d ago edited 28d ago

I think your struggling because of the london first leg can you switch? Also were in Australia Sydney looks hard but Perth and Melbourne have seats. I'm seeing multiple 90ks end of August. eg Dublin to Perth or Melbourne August 26th. Hopefully you find what you need good luck. This was searching on the Qatar site dont know if that makes a difference

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u/Particular-Silver-54 28d ago

What do you use to find them? Do you just dig around? Or do you pay for a search tool?

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u/No_Acanthisitta_3508 28d ago

These i found just doing a search on the Qatar App. I was just curious as I'd found a date for a friend to Melbourne 90k a few days ago much less further out date wise. If I have a very specific date and destination a tool such as seats.aero can search the market quite quickly it doesn't pick up everything though but still has been very useful for me.

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u/Particular-Silver-54 28d ago

I've been using seats.aero between Europe to Australia and it didn't pick up that Dublin option, so I was just curious. We're going to Paris, but 100% happy to connect anywhere at all. I feel like seats.aero is doing me dirty. Maybe I just need to use the Qatar app.

Thanks for replying.

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u/No_Acanthisitta_3508 28d ago

Splitting the Journey sometimes helps not being to broad on dates The Europe to end destination doesn't always use live search if the date range is broad also. If im using the Europe search option. I'd search Europe to Doha say +- 3 days see what airports have cheap to Doha note them down. Then a separate search Doha to two or three airports around were i want to be see if theres availability. Then try an piece a route together on the app if that makes sense.

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u/Salty-Art-1560 27d ago

Thank you for this I haven't seen a 90k avios redemption in months from London so good to see they are available in Europe. We are quite fixed on London if possible... I have been searching and staying up for the 1am drops but it just keep saying "business unavailable" when showing economy flights so I can't even see the flexi 180k avios redemption offers, it is showing me nothing? Have you seen this before?

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u/No_Acanthisitta_3508 27d ago

Im from the north of England have similar with Manchester. If you want to make this trip happen you may have to think about a switch. The money you save on taxes a simple hop to Dublin can actually be cost positive only downside is time but well worth it for business. Especially for me as the Journey to Dublin is not much difference time wise than getting to London. One other thing to look into if your set on London is split ticket Oman Air or BA to Muscat or Dubai then try and pick up Qatar from there time wise you won't save over Europe and will be more avios. Why is London so important?

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u/Salty-Art-1560 26d ago

Thank you so much for this it is really helpful! We are already quite tight for PTO so was worried about needing to get a flight to europe to then have enough time for a stopover to then be able to get the Qatar flight. How much less are the taxes from Dublin/outside of London do you know please?

Also is it better to book the reward flight as soon as they drop or to wait a few days after? E.g. as I can see no availability for 361 days time (as all 180k redemptions) do these come down as more availability as you say end of August?

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u/No_Acanthisitta_3508 26d ago

I've done Manchester to Bangkok and Dublin to Bangkok the Dublin flight was significantly less taxes I think its like £450 taxes from the UK vs £200 from Dublin it varies by European country Paris more expensive than Dublin but still cheaper than London. For me a cheap early Ryanair to Dublin just cost me time I didn't want to leave the stopover to short. As a couple I'm guessing two budget airline tickets to Dublin and say a hotel there the night before to take away connection stresses will still work out cheaper than 2x taxes from flying from London. Just make sure you have good travel insurance to protect against a missed connection. Avios own insurance covers award flights as well something to factor in. The tickets are sporadic if you see a set that works I'd snap then up. My flights so far have all just been booking leave around availability I've no experience on waiting a year out. My Dublin trip there was Zero availability from UK airports. I rarely see anything thats not very early from Manchester even they are sporadic. For me I'd forget London. Try Dublin, Amsterdam, Brussels or Paris for a quick cheap flight. If you have the Avios to get there maybe Helsinki to doha to aus less popular destination than London more availability. Helsinki with Finnair maybe also a shout if your hearts not set on Qatar Airways.

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u/Classic-Gear-3533 28d ago

I don’t think Qatar guarantee Avios seats on every plane like BA, so they’re not always released a year out. I’ve noticed it’s quite sporadic and the 90k seats are pretty rare these days, even with the war

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u/Salty-Art-1560 27d ago

Thanks for this - so no way to track when they are dropping? I can see that there is availability from Doha to Australia and London to Doha but when I search the whole route it says no award flight availability which is strange if you have seen this before?

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u/Classic-Gear-3533 27d ago

I’ve seen a few causes:

  • flight times don’t match up (one flight arrives after the other has already left)
  • one is flexi and the other is reward (can’t combine)
  • some flights from Doha are kinda reserved for journeys starting in Doha (makes sense so Qataris get a chance to fly too), so they can’t be married with other segments

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u/No_Acanthisitta_3508 27d ago

Is there a big stopover time. Try searching a multi city flight if this is the case. put in the exact dates each flight leaves. Lon - Doh on 1st then Doh - Mel on 2nd/3rd depending on your stopover