NEWS: Qatar Airways – spend £500 get £100 off – what are the best deals & carbon offsetting for passengers

Qatar Airways – spend £500 get £100 off – should you buy now and if so why?

If you have a Gold or Platinum American Express card, you may have noticed that there is a Qatar offer which gives you £100 off when you spend £500 by 31 December 2020. This is avalable for payments made to Qatar Airways via their website.

e Like me, you may have thought that you don’t really need to book anything right now which may be a bit annoying. Or that the fares are not low enough to bite (as you will see below there are some good deals on ex EU at the same price as recent sales or a little lower but they are not spectauclar.)

One option to consider is that if a better price comes up for the destination or in fact you fancy a change of destination, you can of course get a voucher instead with an extra 10% on the base price of the fare. You can also change to a destination in the same region if you are a member of Qatar Privilege Club and also change the dates for no change fee. 

It is worth bearing in mind that the Amex T&C says that “credit may be reversed if qualifying transaction is refunded or cancelled”. This should not apply if you take a voucher as the money has still been spent with Qatar. 

Spend £500 or more, get £100 back until 31 December 2020.Available to the first 10,000 cardmembers. Terms and payment restrictions apply.

 The current Qatar travel with confidence policy can be found here and I would highly suggest that you read it if you think you may want to use it. It is a lot more complicated than the previous one and does not allow the massive changes of destination unless you do it by taking a voucher and rebooking (which is fairly straightforward). You can read more in this article. 

Overall I would only suggest buying if you know you want to fly to a specific destination with Qatar and are willing to book at the prices available during the offer. 

What are the best deals?

With Black Friday at the end of the month, I expect some great deals from the airlines this year, so you may want to hang on until then. Here are the current best offers:

• Stockholm to
  • Hong Kong £1359
  • Bangkok £1275
  • Phuket £1275
  • Singapore £1279
  • Taipei £1429 (connection onto Cathay)
  • Nairobi £1362
• Oslo to
  • Cape Town £1276
  • Johannesburg £1224
  • Maldives £1664
  • Bali £1536
  • Dar es Salam £1440
• Copenhagen to Kuala Lumpur £1617
• Rome to Maldives £1440
• Amsterdam to
  • Bali £1488
  • Cape Town £1401
• London to
  • Nairobi £1801
  • Dar es Salam £1765
  • Jakarta £1887

You can book with Qatar Airways direct here. 

Carbon offsetting for passengers

Qatar Airways has announced the official launch of its carbon offset programme. The airline’s passengers now have the opportunity to voluntarily offset the carbon emissions associated with their journey at the point of booking.

Qatar Airways’ carbon offset programme is built on a partnership with the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Carbon Offset Programme, providing its customers with the assurance that the credits bought to offset these emissions are from projects delivering independently verified carbon reductions as well as wider environmental and social benefits.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “We are pleased to be able to offer our customers the opportunity to offset the carbon emissions associated with their journeys with us. As an environmentally responsible airline, our modern fleet of technologically advanced aircraft, together with our fuel-efficiency programme, combine to optimise aircraft performance and reduce the environmental impact of flying. Our customers can now help to further minimise their environmental footprint by opting to contribute to our carbon offset programme.”.”

Customers can opt in to Qatar Airways’ carbon offset programme when purchasing tickets through the Qatar Airways website and mobile app. Booking information, including information regarding the carbon offset programme, is available in multiple languages. 

Emissions will be offset with climate and sustainable development expert ClimateCare, through the Fatanpur Wind Farm project in India. This project has installed wind turbine generators (WTGs) with a combined output of 108 MW to generate and supply clean electricity to the Indian National Grid. The project consists of 54 wind turbines, installed in and around the villages of Taluk Dewas, Tonkkhurd and Tarana Taluk in the Dewas and Ujjain districts of Madhya Pradesh. The turbines displace electricity generated from fossil fuel sources from the Indian grid, reducing the overall carbon intensity and leading to emissions reductions. This project avoids 210,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually.

ClimateCare Director of Partnerships, Mr. Robert Stevens, said: “We are pleased to be working alongside Qatar Airways and IATA to retire high quality, independently verified carbon credits on behalf of Qatar Airways’ customers who want to take responsibility for the environmental impact of their flights. Their support for the Fatanpur project not only reduces global carbon emissions, it also provides employment opportunities; delivers improved education through providing materials and expertise to nearby schools; and supports a mobile medical unit – enabling improved healthcare to the local community.”

IATA’s Carbon Offset Programme has been approved by the independent audit organization Quality Assurance Standard, the highest standard for carbon offsetting which assesses how organisations calculate emissions, select offset projects and how they communicate this information to their customers. IATA is one of only four organisations worldwide to meet this standard.

Qatar Airways operations are not dependent on any specific aircraft type. The airline’s variety of modern fuel-efficient aircraft has meant it can continue flying by offering the right capacity in each market. Due to COVID-19’s impact on travel demand, the airline has taken the decision to ground its fleet of Airbus A380s as it is not commercially or environmentally justifiable to operate such a large aircraft in the current market. The airline’s fleet of 52 Airbus A350 and 30 Boeing 787 are the ideal choice for the most strategically important long-haul routes to Africa, the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions.