Qatar Airways is a Oneworld Alliance member airline along with British Airways and American Airlines. Qatar Airways Globetrotter promotion runs from April through December 2015 for an opportunity to earn 100,000 bonus Qmiles in Qatar Privileges by visiting four destination cities.
Loyalty Traveler – Qatar Airways Globetrotter 100,000 bonus miles. Doha 2015 mileage runs baby! (March 24, 2015)
Qatar Airways has assigned dozens of destination cities around the globe to four themes. A Qatar Privileges frequent flyer member with a flight to one of the destination cities during the time period for that theme earns a badge for that theme. Each theme has a time period of several months. Members who earn all four badges for flying Qatar Airways flights to a destination city during each theme period receive 100,000 bonus Qmiles at the end of 2015. Earn three badges and receive 50,000 bonus miles. Earn two badges and receive 25,000 miles.
Qatar Airways Globetrotter
Qatar Airways Globetrotter Travel Badges bonus miles and elite upgrade reward for earning four badges in 2015.
Qatar Privileges 100,000 Bonus Miles
The feature of this promotion that had me pricing routes is the opportunity to earn 100,000 bonus miles in Qatar Privileges after December 2015 for flyers who earn all four theme badges.
On top of the bonus Qmiles, at the end of the offer period for every theme, you will be awarded a special “travel badge”for participating in that theme, e.g. Cultural Exploration badge, Adventurous Getaway badge and so on.
At the end of the Qatar Airways Globetrotter campaign in December 2015, in addition to the bonus Qmiles and travel badges you would have earned for travelling to various destinations across the four themes, bountiful rewards await you based on the number of “travel badges” you would have earned by the end of 2015.
Loyalty Traveler Objective:
Earn Four Badges and 100,000 bonus Qmiles on $2,000 in Qatar Airways tickets.
My curiosity led me to examine flight routes to fulfill the promotion on paid economy flights to earn all four badges and 100,000 bonus miles. I think this is a good value promotion for a European resident frequent flyer. For this American, earning 120,000 Qmiles with Qatar Airways is a break-even promotion since I have no other reason to be in Doha, Qatar and the expense of getting to Qatar adds to the price of Qatar tickets. Qatar Airways flies USA routes, but they are astronomically expensive, even in economy class..
When I say break-even, my initial analysis shows a frequent flyer can likely fly on four Qatar economy class tickets to places like Delhi and Goa, India and Barcelona, Spain and Dubai, UAE for $2,500. For $3,000 you might be able to travel to Male in the Maldives or Casablanca, Morocco. Four tickets on Qatar Airways for midrange flights earn an additional 5,000 bonus Qmiles for each roundtrip ticket to one of the destination cities. In total, $2,500 to $3,000 in economy class tickets can earn more than 120,000 Qmiles in Qatar Privileges frequent flyer program.
Qatar Airways Qmiles can be redeemed for a business class long-haul one way ticket with many business class mid-range distance round trip additional possibilities on Qatar Airways.
For example, Zurich, Switzerland to Male, Maldives is 65,000 miles one-way in Qatar Business Class. It is possible to earn 130,000 bonus miles with the Globetrotter promotion on four roundtrip economy class tickets.
Qatar Airways one-way award ticket chart for ZRH-MLE Male, Maldives
- 32,500 economy class
- 65,000 miles in Business Class
- 97,500 miles in First Class
Sample Fares to Earn Four Qatar Airways Globetrotter Theme Travel Badges
The travel period for the first two themes overlap for June, July and August. My perspective for this promotion is one of a resident of California who has to get to Doha to make this promotion happen. Oneworld Alliance member Qatar Airways USA airport destinations look like they are around $1,600 roundtrip in economy for Miami, New York and Washington Dulles IAD.
For sake of simplicity, this post assumes I am in Doha, Qatar to start or that I can start from one of the destination cities and fly to Doha roundtrip for an eligible flight to earn a Globetrotter travel badge for the theme.
Travel Badge 1: Cultural Exploration Theme
Travel Period 1: April – August 2015
Cultural Exploration Theme Destination Cities: Cairo, Athens, Delhi, Rome, Amman, Casablanca, Washington IAD, Beijing, Berlin, Vienna, Madrid and Zurich
The worst part of these searches for lowest priced Qatar Airways flights is Google Flights does not price many Qatar flights. Expedia has helped. Qatar Airways sight is slow and cumbersome to find information, although there is a grid of fares showing prices for dates one week at a time. Today the Qatar website has been down for fare searches.
Delhi looks to be the lowest priced city pair starting in Doha.
Europe is a better starting point with two tickets; fly in August with one Qatar Airways ticket from a European city like Berlin or Athens to Doha for Badge 1 and another Qatar Airways ticket to Goa, India or Male, Maldives or Colombo, Sri Lanka for around $500 round trip.
Qatar Airways Athens – Doha $719USD August 18-26
earns Cultural Exploration Badge.
[Note: Qatar Airways site went down and will not price tickets today].
Washington IAD is an obvious consideration for me since that is one of the destination cities for the Cultural exploration theme from April to August and I need to get to Doha. The problem is Qatar Airways is expensive on this route in summer.
Washington Dulles IAD – Doha, Qatar $1,480.28 in April 2015 is lowest fare during the theme period. August is $1,600 to $2,000 most dates.
I can fly from San Francisco to Doha for $800 and then start the Qatar Airways tickets. Or fly to Europe and start from a city like Athens to Doha and nest a second ticket from Doha.
Travel Badge 2: Adventurous Getaway Theme
Travel Period 2: June – August 2015
Adventurous Getaway Destination Cities: Chengdu, Larnaca, Goa, Denpasar Bali, Nairobi, Male, Kathmandu, Cape Town, Colombo, Kilimanjaro, Phuket and Hanoi
Doha, Qatar DOH – Goa, India GIA August 19-26
1,990 Qatari Riyal = $546.55 USD for Badge 2 flight
The reason I find this promotion interesting is the opportunity to actually globetrot in a part of the world I have never traveled before. This is why Male, Colombo and Goa sound like good travel destinations to me. Besides being the least expensive flights from Doha, these are places I would like to visit and explore.
Badges 1 and 2 can be earned for about $1,300 in Qatar tickets if starting from Athens or Berlin with one trip in June, July or August.
Travel Badge 3: Culinary Journeys Theme
Travel Period 3: September to November 2015
Culinary Theme Destination Cities: Ho Chi Minh City, Hyderabad, Tokyo, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Chongqing, Brussels, Istanbul, Venice, Munich, Phnom Penh and Copenhagen
Qatar Globetrotter themes 3 and 4 overlap in the months of October and November to repeat this strategy with a ticket to Doha and a nested ticket from Doha to one of the theme cities.
Qatar Airways 2,020 QAR = $554.79 USD
Doha DOH – Hyderabad, HYD India
October 6-13, 2015
Badge 3 Culinary Journeys is earned with Doha-Hyderabad ticket.
Travel Badge 4: Metropolitan Excursions Theme
Travel Period 4: October to December 2015
Metropolitan Excursions Theme Destination Cities:
Miami, Melbourne, Shanghai, Paris, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai, London and New York
Qatar Airways DOH-BOM Mumbai 1,990 QAR = $541.11 USD
This flight earns badge 4 for Globetrotter 100,000 bonus Qmiles.
Of course this neglects the need to get to Doha a second time.
Qatar Airways Venice, Italy VCE – Doha, Qatar $842 USD Oct 6-Oct 15
This is my initial assessment of this Qatar Airways promotion. Since this offer lasts all year the outlook I take is to watch Qatar fares and strike when the fares drop. My strategy is a June or August trip and then an October of November trip to earn four badges.
$2,663 to earn 120,000+ miles
- Badge 1: Athens – Doha $719 August 2015
- Badge 2: Doha – Goa, India $547 August 2015
- Badge 4: Venice, Italy – Doha $842 October 2015
- Badge 3 Doha – Hyderabad, India $555 October 2015
$2,663 to buy four Qatar Airways tickets and earn 20,000 bonus Qmiles for Globetrotter flights and 100,000 bonus Qmiles for earning four badges. Discount economy fares earn negligible miles for actual flight distance flown.
The value I see is the opportunity to travel to some exciting new places while earning sufficient frequent flyer miles to travel to more places on Qatar Airways Qmiles awards.
At the fares I found today, this is not the deal that will have me buying. I will be keeping my eye on this promotion for rules clarification and to search out lower fares.
I inferred from my conversation with a Qatar Airways representative today that she thought I was too dense to understand the clearly stated rules for the Qatar Airways global promotion. We had a long conversation and I still have lots of questions about this offer before I invest in Qatar Airways tickets.
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