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Qatar Airways has launched a new flash sale for departures from the United States and is offering some very good Business Class deals (by US standards) to destinations in Africa and the Indian Ocean out of at least five different US cities. With all Qatar Airways flights between the US and Doha offering the famed Qsuite Business Class cabin, these deals could be a good way of getting 2022 off to a very nice start.
Key terms
- Offer valid through November 2, 2021.
- Travel period: January 10, 2022 to March 31, 2022.
- Minimum stay: 5 days
- Maximum stay: 3 months
- When different fare basis are combined on a same reservation, the rules from the most restrictive fare basis will apply to entire reservation.
- Other terms and conditions apply, see specific fare conditions while making your reservation.
- Offer is valid for flights booked on qatarairways.com for Qatar Airways-operated flights only.
- Fares displayed in the booking engine include all applicable discounts, fees, taxes and airport charges, all available fare options and applicable rules will be displayed at the time of booking.
- Additional blackout dates and weekend surcharges may apply. Please refer to the fare rules for details at the time of booking.
- Tickets are non-endorsable and non-transferable. Please refer to the fare rules at the time of booking for changes, cancellations, and no-show conditions.
- Any change or cancellation less than 3 hours prior to the stated time of departure will be considered a no-show.
- For travel involving multiple booking classes, the most restrictive fare rules apply to the entire itinerary.
Full terms and conditions can be found on the Qatar Airways sale page
Headline fares
Qatar Airways operates services out of 11 US cities and there’s every possibility that there are good deals available for departures out of all of them. For now, however, these are the better deals that I’ve seen:
- Atlanta – Cairo from $2,321
- Chicago – The Maldives from $2,407
- New York (JFK) – Cape Town from $2,728
- Philadelphia – Cairo from $2,466
- Philadelphia – Johannesburg from $2,899
- Washington D.C. – Cape Town from $2,899
To give you an idea of what availability for these fares can look like and how it can vary, here are screenshots showing the fares on two different routes:
JFK – Cape Town (7-day trips)
On this route, the best fare doesn’t appear until the last 8 days of January but is relatively easy to find and despite the fact that the sale is only meant to run through the end of March, it can be booked for travel into May 2022.
Chicago – Male, The Maldives (7-day trips)
The news on this route isn’t quite so good. I couldn’t find any availability for the sub-$3,000 fare in January, I only found one date on which it was available for a 7-day trip in February, and even March only seems to have a handful of dates on which the sale fare is being offered.
In more positive news, there are dates in April and May on which the best fare is available despite the sale’s terms and conditions suggesting that this would not be the case.
Understand what you’re booking
All Qatar Airways flights between the US and Doha (the longest leg of any journey mentioned in this post) offer the excellent Qatar Airways Qsuite which will see you traveling in some style. The fares that are being offered, however, book into the new Qatar Airways Business Class ‘Lite’ fare category which means that they don’t offer everything a regular Business Class fare usually offers.
You’ll find more details of what Qatar Airways Business Class Lite fares are all about here, but in summary, this is what you need to know:
- Lite fares do not offer complimentary lounge access
- Oneworld elite members whose status grants them access to lounges may only be able to access the lesser lounges on offer in Doha and not the Al Mourjan lounge.
- Lite fares do not offer a complimentary date or route change
- Lite fares offer fewer elite status credits and redeemable miles than standard Business Class fares
- Unless you have oneworld Sapphire or Emerald status, Lite fares only offer complimentary seat selection at online check-in
None of these should be a deal-breaker if your primary aim is to get to your destination in a great deal of comfort (everyone gets the same Business Class seat…more or less) but they are things to keep in mind if you’re not to be disappointed somewhere down the line.
Crediting these flights to AAdvantage
Qatar Airways is a member of the oneworld alliance which means that these flights can be credited to the American Airlines AAdvantage program.
Following the radical changes that the AAdvantage program has recently announced, the number of miles earned on a flight is now what determines the number of elite status credits that an AAdvantage member will credit to their account when booking through a partner airline. With that in mind, here’s what a mid-tier Platinum Elite member can earn when booking two of the fares that I’ve highlighted (assuming a P Class Lite Fare):
New York (JFK) – Cape Town (Distance = ~22,640 miles)
- Base Miles earned = 16,980
- Cabin Bonus earned = 0
- Elite Status Bonus (60%) = 10,188
Total redeemable miles earned = 27,168
Total Loyalty Points earned = 27,168
Chicago – Male (Distance = ~18,375 miles)
- Base Miles earned = 13,781
- Cabin Bonus earned = 0
- Elite Status Bonus (60%) = 8,269
Total redeemable miles earned = 22,050
Total Loyalty Points earned = 22,050
It’s probably worth pointing out that if you have top-tier Executive Platinum status, you’ll do a lot better. On the Cape Town route you would earn over 37,000 redeemable miles and Loyalty Points, while on the Maldives route you would earn over 30,000 redeemable miles and Loyalty Points.
Bottom Line
Qatar Airways has published a flash sale for Haloween that sees the airline offering roundtrip Business Class fares between the United States and Africa/the Indian Ocean starting at a little over $2,300. The fare class that these sale fares book into means that passengers will not be able to avail themselves of all the benefits that come with a standard Business Class booking but if great comfort is all that you’re really looking for on your flights, that probably won’t make too much of a difference.
