Each year Qatar Airways holds a massive fare sale for various routes in their network. Unlike other fare sales, this one is typically not matched by other OneWorld carriers which means you must purchase flights on Qatar to qualify for the sale. The annual Qatar Airways Travel Festival sale went live earlier today (Jan 8) in the US and will expire on January 16, 2017. I will not dive into all of the fares available, but some highlights for a US based traveler include DFW-BKK for just $471 in economy and JFK-SIN for approximately $1,759 in business class. For more deals your best best is to search the MileageRun forums on Flyertalk or visit the Qatar Airways sale website.
Crediting Qatar Airways Travel Festival Flights To American Airlines
If you can’t tell from some of my recent posts regarding American Airlines, I have every intention of flying American again after breaking up with the airline late last year. After trying several different airlines, American was simply the best fit for me personally; more on that to come. Consistent with this theme, I have been looking into cheaper ways to attain American Airlines Executive Platinum status in 2017. It seems the best way to earn status cheaply for less with American Airlines is to purchase premium cabin tickets on partner airlines, somewhat ironically. Since that seems to be the best solution I have been searching for a nice long distance premium cabin mileage run and this sale may be the solution.
Because I am trying to maximize distance, the fare that sticks out the most is from Los Angeles (LAX) to Singapore (SIN)… the long way. The complete trip would be from LAX to SIN via Qatar’s Doha hub (DOH). In total the trip covers approximately 24,300 miles according to WebFlyer.
Since this fare books into the Qatar ‘R’ fare class, if the trip is credited to the AAdvantage program each passenger will earn 36,450 EQM (24,300 * 1.5) and $4,860 EQD (24,300 * 20%) and costs less than $2,000! AAdvantage members also earn 24,300 redeemable miles and elites earn bonus redeemable miles (Ex Plat 120%, Plat Pro 80%, Plat 60%, Gold 40%).
Best Case Scenario – Net Price
Assuming you are an existing Executive Platinum Elite you cover over 1/3 of the EQM and over 40% of EQD with a single $1,800 trip. You also earn just over 53,000 redeemable miles, which I conservatively value at 1.5 cents each ($795). That brings the ‘net cost’ of the trip to just $1,000!
For that price you get access to business class lounges, lie flat seats, and the chance to fly the new Airbus A350!
Final Thoughts
I am extremely torn right now. I had tentative plans to go to Asia later this year, but this may be the best way to get there. Sadly the fare I’m most interested in requires a 7-day minimum stay which ruins any chance of a quick mileage run, but I would love to incorporate this into a bigger trip. Given my annual travel plans just one of these trips should push me up to Platinum Pro status, but for the crazy low prices for fully lie flat seats, it may be worth looking to buy two of these?
Either way, if you end up purchasing one of these tickets make sure to attempt to use promo code ‘VISA’ which requires payment from a Visa card (Chase Sapphire Reserve for 3x points) and if the discount code does not work, use a card that earns bonus points for travel purchases (American Express Platinum Card 5x).
