HomeAirline LoyaltyIs this easy path to oneworld Sapphire status now dead?

Is this easy path to oneworld Sapphire status now dead?


TravelingForMiles.com may receive commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on TravelingForMiles.com are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. TravelingForMiles.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers.

Some links to products and travel providers on this website will earn Traveling For Miles a commission that helps contribute to the running of the site. Traveling For Miles has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Traveling For Miles and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. For more details please see the disclosures found at the bottom of every page.


Historically, those of us who are in a position to book premium cabin flights for travel between Europe and Asia have had a very easy path to oneworld Sapphire Elite status courtesy of one of the world’s best airlines – Qatar Airways. Now, however, it’s starting to look like that path may have been shut down.

Earning oneworld Sapphire Elite status with ease

The key to earning easy and relatively cheap oneworld Sapphire Elite status has, in the past, been a combination of the following:

  • The way that the British Airways Executive Club calculates how many Tier Points (status credits) a trip will earn.
  • The fact that Qatar Airways has offered easy-to-find amazing Business Class fares from various European cities to destinations in Southeast Asia, China, South Korea, and Japan.
  • The fact that all Qatar Airways bookings for travel between Europe and Asia include a stopover in Doha.

The way this has worked is simple:

British Airways awards Tier Points based on the distance of any sectors flown and because every Qatar Airways booking for travel between Europe and Asia involves two long sectors in each direction (because of the stopovers in Doha), all such trips booked into Qatar Airways Business Class earn a massive 280 Tier Points in each direction when credited to the British Airways Executive Club.

That’s 560 Tier Points for a single roundtrip booking and with British Airways Silver status (equivalent to oneworld Sapphire Elite status) requiring just 600 Tier Points (and 4 sectors purchased through British Airways), this has long been one of the cheapest and most economical ways of getting most of the way to oneworld Sapphire Elite status.

What has changed?

The way British Airways calculates the number of Tier Points to award hasn’t changed and the number of Tier Points that the British Airways Executive Club hands out for Qatar Airways bookings hasn’t changed, but the amazing Qatar Airways fares appear to have dried up.

I’ve been holding off writing this post for quite a few months because I wanted to see if the absence of great Qatar Airways fares between Europe and Asia was down to the Covid restrictions that have been in place (in destinations like Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan) or if something else is going on.

Well, most counties in Asia are now making it considerably easier for passengers to visit by lifting a lot (in some cases, all) of the travel restrictions that were put in place to stem the spread of Covid-19 but there’s no sign of the amazing Qatar Airways Business Class fares that were were used to seeing pre-pandemic.

In the past, I’ve found great deals for travel to various cities in Asia from places like Rome, Pisa, and Budapest but the best and easiest to find deals have always come from northern Europe. Specifically, it has been the Business Class fares that Qatar Airways has offered from Oslo, Stockholm, and Helsinki to Singapore and Bangkok that have been the key to locking in cheap oneworld Sapphire Elite status.

It’s these fares that haven’t made an appearance in a worryingly long time and where once you were “overpaying” if you paid more than $1,800 for a Stockholm – Bangkok Qatar Airways Business Class roundtrip fare (booked a few months in advance), the best roundtrip Qatar Airways Business Class fares are now often somewhere between $2,700 and $3,200.

Here, for example, are some of the Qatar Airways Business Class fares that are currently being offered for travel between Stockholm and Singapore:

a screenshot of a calendar a screenshot of a calendar a screenshot of a calendar

And here are some of the Qatar Airways Business Class fares that are currently being offered for travel between Stockholm and Bangkok:

a calendar with numbers and a few green numbers a screenshot of a calendar

a calendar with numbers and a few green numbers

Historically, these are two of the routes on which Qatar Airways offered its best deals and while by the standards of some airlines these prices look pretty normal, by Qatar Airways standards, these prices are hugely inflated (I once booked a Stockholm – Singapore Business Class fare for under $1,300).

What’s going on?

It would be easy to say that the disappearance of the great Qatar Airways fares is probably down to a combination of factors that have hit the travel world one after the other – Covid-19 followed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine – but that answer isn’t particularly satisfactory.

By the nature of its ownership and geographical location, Qatar Airways is far less sensitive to the price of oil than most other airlines and yet while it is now charging fares of over $2,800 for travel between Northern Europe and Southeast Asia, we see Finnair charging over $1,000 less.

a calendar with numbers and a few dollar bills

If anything, you could argue that with Finnair flights to Southeast Asia being seriously affected by the need to avoid Russian and Ukranian airspace, Finnair should be the airline charging more.

What I think may be happening is that Qatar Airways has now reached a point where it doesn’t need to offer the amazing fares that it once offered and that the days of easily being able to find a great Qatar Airways Business Class fare between Europe and Asia may be over.

For Qatar Airways, the pandemic appears to have created far fewer issues than it created for most of the rest of the airline industry – as evidenced by the $1.54bn profit the airline announced last week – so it’s very possible that it no longer feels the need to draw in customers with super-low fares.

Hopefully, I’ll be proven to be completely wrong about this and once oil prices start to go down, inflation is under control, and Putin is suitably neutered, we’ll go back to the good old days of easy-to-find incredible fares…but I’m not optimistic.

We may still see some great Europe – Asia Business Class fares appear now and then when Qatar Airways decides to run regional sales, but anyone who has become accustomed to earning relatively cheap oneworld status courtesy of the Business Class fares that Qatar Airways once offered, should probably start coming up with an alternate strategy.

Our Favourite All-Round Travel Card

card_name

The card_name is Chase's incredibly popular entry-level Ultimate Rewards card which offers strong earnings on travel and dining and some great benefits too. Right now and in exchange for an annual fee of annual_fees, this card is offering all successful new applicants the following welcome bonus:

bonus_miles_full

Our Favorite Benefits:

  • 5 points/dollar on most travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
  • 3 points/dollar for spending on dining worldwide
  • 3 points/dollar for spending on select streaming services
  • 2 points/dollar for spending on travel worldwide
  • Redeem points at 1.25 cents each when booking travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
  • Annual $50 credit for hotels booked through Chase
  • Primary auto rental cover

Click here for more details

Regarding Comments

Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser or any other advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility or any other advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

2 COMMENTS

  1. What is it about OW Sapphire that is the big draw for you? If you’re already flying business class long haul the only tangible benefit I can think of offhand is business class lounge access. Part of the reason I’m asking is that I’m a newly minted OW elite through American.

    • In my specific case it’s slightly different because I’ve used these deals to see parts of Asia on the cheap as well as to help me lock in Emerald status (BA Gold) which is a totally different beast. The extra short-haul economy class Avios seats that’s have been opened up to me have been worth a lot as has been access to the first class wing at LHR T5.

      From a Sapphire point of view, the ability to book exit row seats for free at the time of booking can be a great benefit and don’t forget that BA Silver members get access to all Admirals Club lounges in the US on domestic itineraries regardless of the fare they have booked.

Comments are closed.

Credit Card News & Offers

Miles & Points On Sale

Air Fare Deals

Related Posts

Shop Briggs & Riley luggage today!
BoardingArea