QUICK: Unbelievably Cheap Business Class Fares On Qatar Airways

Business class fares to/from the Middle East and Asia normally start at a few thousand dollars, round-trip.  Right now, there are fares for under $1,000 round-trip if you’re willing to do a bit of work.

Ben from One Mile at a Time outlines a bunch of fares as cheap as ~$600 round-trip from Vietnam.  I’m sure you’re saying, “But, Ed.  I don’t live in Vietnam.”  Neither do I.  Here’s how  you can use the fares.

Ben cites a round-trip fare to New York’s JFK airport that’s around $700.  If you used miles to get you to Vietnam, you could use potentially use this to get two trips in business class.  This gives you two ways to play this (or both, if you’re a junkie like me):

Plan Two Vacations

Using miles to get you from New York to Vietnam round-trip, you could use these cheap business class fares to explore two different parts of Asia.  For example, you head to Vietnam on February 1st using miles.  You can either explore Vietnam or hop a flight to someplace else in the region (Hong Kong or Bangkok, as examples).

Then, you start your $700 business-class flight to get you home.  When you book your return flight from New York to Vietnam, you schedule that for March, April or some date further ahead where you can take some more time off from work to explore the world again.  When you arrive in Vietnam on your “return” flight, you can use miles to get you home, or explore some more.

Earn Elite Status

You can earn both elite-qualifying and redeemable miles in the American Airlines AAdvantage program when flying Qatar.  The Vietnam to New York itinerary via Doha is about 20,000 miles of flying.  With the business class 150% bonus, you’ll earn about 30,000 elite-qualifying miles for this itinerary.  Mileage run, anyone?

The Final Two Pennies

When you see cheap fares pop up, don’t think of them as point to point (Vietnam to New York, via Doha).  Try to think of places nearby either end that you want to visit and use these fares as a cheap way to stretch out your miles.  You could also tag on a London flight on the way back as a second round-trip if you’re truly insane.  3 of these and some credit card spend would earn you top-tier Executive Platinum status on American Airlines.  That’s not too shabby.

You’ll have 24 hours to cancel these flights if you change your mind, as long as your flight arrives or departs the United States.  If you’re on the fence, the best bet is to book it and think about it overnight.  These fares aren’t likely to last long.  I also suspect they might be mistake fares, which means you should wait a few days before booking anything else non-refundable (hotels, etc).

Happy Hunting!

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