Another reason to join Qatar Airways Privilege Club (birthday discount!)

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Most of the year, Qatar Airways runs promotions that offer travelers one or more incentives to join its Privilege Club program and if you’re US-based, the fact that Qatar Airways is a Citi Thank You program transfer partner is another good reason to get signed up if you aren’t already.

Recently, however, I discovered a third reason to make sure that you’re a Privilege Club member – you get sent a future flight discount on your birthday.

Qatar Airways birthday bonus

Recently, I had yet another birthday and while the rapid passing of time isn’t often something to celebrate when you reach my age (oh how I miss the years when birthdays were something I looked forward to), a small bonus that helped take my mind off the march of Father Time came from Qatar Airways – the airline sent me a gift.

Specifically, on the day of my birthday an email from the Qatar Airways Privilege Club (free to join) dropped into my inbox with the following text:

Enjoy 10% off & up to 20 bonus Qpoints

Happy Birthday. Wishing you a year full of happiness and new adventures.

As a gift we’re treating you to 10% off your next trip. Book your trip within the upcoming 90 days and enjoy this incredible saving. Simply select ‘Add promo code’* and enter your unique code.

*A promo code was attached

The key terms of the offer seem simple enough:

• The discount is valid on Economy and Business Class flights booked into the following fare codes: N, Q, T, O, and R (Business Lite fares are excluded).
• The discount is valid on First Class flights booked into the A fare code on intra-Gulf Flights between United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Oman, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Qatar only.
• The promo code is valid for 90 days from my birthday and for travel up to 1 year from my birthday.
• The offer is non-transferable.
• The offer will discount a base fare by 10% (taxes/fees are not discounted) and while the discount can only be used once and on a single booking, it will discount the cost of travel for everyone included in the booking (no limit to how many people are included in the booking).
• The discount will only work for itineraries that only include Qatar Airways flights (partner flights cannot be included).

All of that looks quite appealing to me so it may well encourage me to book another Qatar Airways fare for travel later this year (I’m already booked to fly with Qatar Airways later this month).

The Qpoints bonus is of far less interest to me as I’m still focused on earning/maintaining elite status with British Airways, but for those wondering what it involves, here are the key terms:

• Booking period: 01 January 2023 to 31 March 2023*
• Travel Period: 01 January 2023 to 31 December 2024.
• To be eligible for this offer, members need to ensure to quote their Privilege Club membership number at the time of booking or check-in.
• Existing tickets issued prior to the offer booking period; will not be eligible for the promotional bonus, if reissued during the offer period.
• Members will earn bonus Qpoints based on the cabin of the travel and the Fare Family purchased of the first leg of the itinerary.
  • Economy Cabin:
    • Classic – 5 bonus Qpoints
    • Convenience – 10 bonus Qpoints
    • Comfort – 15 bonus Qpoints
  • Business and First Cabin: 20 bonus Qpoints
• Offer is applicable only for flights operated and marketed by Qatar Airways.

*This would appear to indicate that this offer isn’t only linked to a birthday bonus but more widely available as well.

Current Privilege Club sign-up bonus

As I mentioned at the start, Qatar Airways usually has some kind of promotion running to prompt people to join its Privilege Club and right now, one such promotion is available in all regions.

• Sign up for a Qatar Airways Privilege Club account using promo code JOIN0324 (here).
• Travel by 30 June 2025.
• Collect 3,000 bonus Avios for your first Economy Class booking as a member.
• Collect 5,000 bonus Avios for your first Business or First Class booking as a member.
• Bonus Avios will be awarded based on the cabin of the first flight flown.
• The enrolment period for this offer runs for the whole of 2024.

Full details of this offer can be found on this promotion page.

Bottom line

Based on my recent experience (and this may have been happening for some time without me noticing), members of the Qatar Airways Privilege Club will receive a bonus ‘gift’ from the program on their birthday.

There’s a good chance that the nature of the gift will vary from year to year but this year, I was sent a promo code for a 10% discount on a future flight (the discount is subject to certain fare conditions) and an offer of some bonus elite qualifying points.

As the program costs nothing to join, that’s not a bad gift to receive so this is just another reason why joining the Privilege Club can be a good idea.

Link to the Qatar Airways Privilege Club