Award Mispricing: Fly Qatar Airways First Class at the rate of Business Class!

Since Qatar Airways started opening up award space for their First Class product recently, there has been an award mispricing for bookings under certain specific conditions on Qatar Airways Privilege Club.

Meeting the right conditions as described below will allow you to fly First Class for the same amount of Avios, taxes and fees as Business Class!

Let’s dive right into it.

How is it like flying Qatar Airways First Class?

My Qatar Airways Business Class experiences have always been fantastic, especially in the famous Qsuite. Because of how good the Business Class experience is, it kinda makes the First Class product a tiny bit less special.

I flew First Class with the airline recently and found that there are indeed certain experiences that I did not get in Business Class. This includes complimentary access to the massive Al Safwa Lounge, larger seat/bed, larger restroom and of course, better food and champagne.

Key conditions to trigger the mispricing

• Mispricing only occurs when booking with Avios (miles) through Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• You have to start the journey from a city in Asia or Oceania (SIN, BKK, DEL, SYD, AKL etc.)
• Your journey must start or end in Paris, France (CDG)
• Your non-Paris segment must be in Business Class

Here’s an example of how your itinerary should look like:

How to fly First Class at the rate of Business Class

Step 1: Ensure that you have sufficient Avios

In Singapore, only Citibank and Standard Chartered miles/points can be transferred to Qatar Airways.

This itinerary involving both Business and First Class will cost you 75,000 Avios + ~S$300 in taxes/fees. The rate for this itinerary is supposed to be 92,500 Avios + ~S$340.

If you had taken advantage of Qatar Airways 40% transfer bonus last month, this entire journey will only cost you a nett amount of 53,572 miles + ~S$300 taxes/fees. Ridiculous!

Step 2: Look for award availability for each segment

The easiest way to find Qatar Airways award availability is on American Airlines’ website, aa.com. This is because, you will be able to set filters like “non-stop flights only” and “first class only” and have a lovely calendar view of award availability.

Use aa.com just as a reference and always cross-check on your Frequent Flyer Program (FFP) of choice.

Pro tip: Search one segment at a time to/from Doha and search non-stop flights only, so that you only see Qatar Airways availability.

Step 3: Look for matching award availability for both segments

When you have seen the calendar views of award availability from Step 2, look for dates where the award availability for First and Business Class match.

For example: If you see Business Class availability for SIN-DOH on 15 March, check if there is First Class availability for DOH-CDG on 15 or 16 March.

If you plan to originate from Singapore, surprise! I’ve done some work for you. Here are the matching dates in November, January and February that trigger the mispricing and are ready to be booked right away:

November 2022: 3, 4
January 2023: 19, 20, 23, 27, 28, 29
February 2023: 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23

Step 4 (optional): Choose better flight times

There is only 1 Qatar Airways Airbus A380 flight from Doha to Paris and it departs at ~8am.

However, there are 2 Qatar Airways flights from Singapore to Doha. QR 947 departs at ~9pm and arrives at ~midnight while QR 945 departs at ~2am and arrives at ~5am.

If you would like to wake up in Paris fully refreshed, you should aim for QR 945 for shorter layover and better rest.

If it is your first time flying Qatar Airways First Class and visiting Al Safwa First Lounge, you should consider flying QR 947 for a longer (~8 hours) layover in Doha to have more time to enjoy all the facilities, dinner and breakfast in the lounge.

Step 5 (optional): Choose better Business Class seats

While there is only 1 type of First Class seat flying from Doha to Paris, there are potentially four types of Business Class seats from Singapore to Doha!

Here’s a quick guide of Qatar Airways Business Class seats in wide-body aircrafts, ranked from best to worst:

Seat	Aircraft	Seat Pitch
Qsuite	Boeing 777-300ER Boeing 777-200LR Airbus A350-1000	103
Business Suite	Boeing 789-9	52
Super Diamond	Airbus A350-900 Airbus A380 Boeing 787-8	50/52
“Super Old”	Boeing 777-300ER Boeing 777-200LR Airbus A330	78

As you can see, there are some aircrafts with 2 different types of seats. By looking at the “Seat Pitch” you should be able to confirm the type of seat that you will be getting.

To look at the Seat Pitch quickly on qatarairways.com, select your flights of choice and click on “Flight & Cabin features” (see screenshot below).

Additional note: Choosing a preferred Business Class seat does not guarantee that you will be getting it for your flight as there may be last-minute aircraft swaps that can work in your favour or against you. You may use websites like flightradar24.com or expertflyer.com to check for the latest aircraft type for your flight.

Regardless of the seat type, you will still enjoy the same great Qatar Airways dining experience, service and amenities onboard.

Bottom line

Qatar Airways is mispricing mixed-cabin award flights ending in Paris. If you have not tried out the airline’s First Class product, you really shouldn’t miss this one! Act fast as we do not know when this mispricing will be patched.