Good Qatar Airways Business Class Fares: Helsinki – Asia

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It looks like Qatar Airways still has some good Business Class fares available from Helsinki to the Middle East and Asia for travel through to the end of March 2017. These aren’t fares that are going to blow anyone away but, if you’re looking for a comfortable way to get to destinations like Dubai, Thailand or even Vietnam then these fares could be of interest.

Qatar Airways Business Class Fares

Key Information:

• Travel period: 11 August – 31 March 2017
• Blackout Dates: 10 December – 31 December outbound and 31 December – 15 January Inbound
• Fares must be booked by 26 June 2016
• Child/infant discounts:  Child pays 75% of adult fare & infant pays 10% of adult fare
• It looks like there’s a 5 night minimum on most (if not all) of the cheaper fares

Headline Fares:

Helsinki – Dubai: $1,015/£715/€905

Helsinki – Krabi: $1,410/£990/€1,255

Helsinki – Delhi: $1,510/£1,065/€1,345

Helsinki – Phuket: $1,540/£1,085/€1,370

Helsinki – Bangkok: $1,595/£1,125/€1,420

Helsinki – Ho Chi Minh City: $1,625/£1,145/€1,450

The full list of Business Class fares from Helsinki can be found here.

Availability

I’ve been using the ITA Matrix to search for availability and I’ve been finding that the best fares for each city pair are not necessarily available for all months that the fare is supposedly active.

Taking Helsinki – Phuket as an example:

The fare is valid for travel in September but the fares aren’t that great……

….but, come October, the fares are right where they should be:

The same is true for flights to Ho Chi Minh City.

Unimpressive fares in September…

But October….

…and dates into 2017 are looking good:

Things To Look Out For

1 – Qatar Airways flys a narrow-body Airbus A320 between Helsinki and Doha.

This aircraft isn’t as luxurious as the plush wide-body aircraft that Qatar Airways gets a lot of attention for but it’s also considerably better than most narrow-body premium cabins you’ll see on western airlines – it has lie-flat seating:

Qatar Airways A320 Business Class cabin

2 – Some of the routings involve long layovers which can turn the trip into a very long one…..

But stopovers are permitted on these fares so you can split the trip up into more manageable segments if that’s what you prefer.

Qatar Airways Dreamliner

Some of these routes will involve travel on the Qatar Airways Dreamliner and that’s not a bad aircraft to be flying on. It has the airlines newest Business Class cabin:

Qatar Airways 787-8 Dreamliner Business Class – Courtesy of Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways 787-8 Dreamliner Business Class – Courtesy of Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways 787-8 Dreamliner Business Class – Courtesy of Qatar Airways

Bottom Line

Before you book these fares make sure you take into account the journey times and the aircraft that are servicing the route.

The journey times can be improved by taking a stopover but you can’t do much about a bad aircraft so be sure you know what aircraft is operating your route of choice and what sort of Business Class cabin you can expect.

The A320’s (with the new seats), Dreamliners, A380s and Airbus A330-300s all have very good Business Class cabins….but the Airbus A330-200s still have the old-fashioned angle-flat seats which aren’t the best so stay clear of those if you’re particular about flying in the newer cabins.

Still, if an A330-200 is operating the route you’d like to book and the price is to your liking then you may as well book it….it’s still considerably better than sitting in Economy! 🙂

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