Qatar Airways Devalues Avios for American and Alaska Awards

Qatar Airways Privilege Club offers distance-based award pricing, similar to Avios partners like British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus. It implies that shorter flights are cheaper, while longer flights are more expensive.

The pricing for award flights with Alaska and American Airlines has been quite attractive when using Qatar Avios. However, it seems that Qatar Airways Privilege Club has unexpectedly raised the award costs for these redemptions.

Here’s what you need to know about this latest devaluation.

Qatar Airways Increases Avios Prices for American and Alaska Flights

Qatar Airways is highly regarded, due to its partnerships with American Airlines and Alaska Airlines — made possible through their joint membership in the Oneworld alliance. Unfortunately, due to the devaluation, the cost to redeem Qatar Avios for partner flights with American and Alaska has increased.

Here’s an illustration of the higher cost for American award redemptions from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Miami International Airport (MIA) using Qatar Avios.

The cost for the one-way flight today is 13,000 Avios. Before the devaluation, the price of that flight was 9,000 Qatar Avios. That’s quite a significant increase after the devaluation — a 44.4% increase in the price.

The devaluation applies to all cabins with American and Alaska, including business class. Previously, Qatar charged 16,500 Qatar Avios for this Alaska Airlines flight in business class from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA). That same flight now costs 27,000 Qatar Avios.

That’s a substantial increase of over 60% in the award price.

New Qatar Airways Avios Pricing for Alaska and American Airlines

Let’s look at the difference in cost from previous award pricing and what we see now after the devaluation in Qatar Avios.

Overall, the prices for Alaska and American awards with Qatar Avios have increased significantly, with many awards seeing a jump of over 60%.

While it may still be worthwhile to purchase American or Alaska flights with Qatar Avios, the savings are far lower than before. Qatar has also increased the booking fees for domestic awards from $5.60 to $10.

With these new award rates, Qatar Airways still charges less than British Airways in terms of cost on many U.S. domestic routes. Although Qatar Airways does charge a higher cancellation fee ($25 versus $5) compared to British Airways for domestic one-way flights with American or Alaska, booking with Qatar Avios may still be advantageous due to lower award rates.

How To Earn Qatar Airways Avios

Qatar Airways Privilege Club is a versatile loyalty program, as it gives users access to the Oneworld alliance, which includes Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian, and SriLankan Airlines.

Opportunities to earn Qatar Airways Avios are abundant. Qatar Avios can be transferred from Citi ThankYou Rewards and Amex Membership Rewards at a rate of 1:1 or from Marriott Bonvoy at a transfer rate of 3:1. For every 60,000 Bonvoy points transferred, you get a 5,000-mile bonus.

However, now that you can pool Avios together from other Avios programs, it has gotten significantly easier to earn Avios. You can now earn Avios from other programs, such as British Airways and Iberia, and convert them to Qatar Avios. That means Chase Ultimate Rewards and Capital One Miles can indirectly get you the Qatar Avios you need.

Final Thoughts

Qatar Airways Privilege Club has recently increased the redemption rates for flights on Alaska and American Airlines. This change aligns them with The British Airways Club, another program that has also made partner awards more expensive for its members.

Given the ongoing devaluations and the trend of airlines reducing the value of their mileage currency each year, it is important to have a thoughtfully planned strategy for redeeming your points and miles.

The value of your rewards is likely to decrease over time, so it is wise to act sooner rather than later.