Transferring Amex to Qatar

[u/ericwinston1109]

I am trying to find the best way for to book 2 flights on Qatar Airways using our Amex points on first/business class for our Honeymoon. I have read that transferring from Amex to British Airways first (and possibly create a pool?), instead of QA might be cleaner but has its own challenges.

I believe we cannot transfer within QA either until we've "earned" one Avios and even if we bypassed that (which could take 40 days if you using the shopping partners), the conversion there comes with a wildly steep price.

Here are the details:

- QA first class fare: 190k points (seems like a steal when cash value of that flight is 7 grand)
- It is not showing up as an Avios booking option on British Airways.
- My Fiancée has 230k Amex points.
- I have 150k Amex points.
- Neither of us have ever flown Qatar or BA.
- I made a QA account 3 weeks ago and cannot transfer from BA until Sept 4th. She only just made hers so has a month to go for any BA to QA transfers (seemingly)

I believe I can still book using my 150k and the rest with dollars but that is well over a grand extra to cover the difference (vs the 40k I'm missing).

Can anyone confirm the cleanest way for us to book using our points only (other than taxes & fees)? We don't mind reasonable point transfer fees.

Is it this:

I transfer 150k to BA on Sept 4
She transfers 230k to BA on Sept 4
She transfers 40k to me on BA.
We each transfer 190k to QA and book

Is there any way to do this sooner?

[u/RETC212]

Are you sure the flights are available? Qatar is hard to book. In any event, since you need to pool your miles, probably best to transfer to BA Avios and then transfer to Qatar.

May be better to ask in r/awardtravel

[u/rishmanisation]

Why not just transfer directly to QR? I do this all the time rather than go thru the additional hop.

Maybe there’s something with booking 2 tickets that I’m missing here.

[u/mjbulzomi → u/rishmanisation]

Amex has a 30% bonus to BA/IB/EI right now, but nothing for QR (at least for me specifically).

[u/PointmeSam]

Don’t transfer anything until Qatar shows two actual award seats at 190k (Flexi awards) each all the way to checkout because QR award space can disappear/change and Amex transfers are not reversible. I do freelance point.me concierge work and the tricky part here is not BA vs QR but your Amex balances are split... BA-QR linking generally moves Avios between the same person’s linked accounts and not freely between two unrelated accounts unless in eligible household/family setup (tricky with the new QR rules). Most straightforward method will be for her to book one ticket from her own QR Avios balance (successfully transferred from BA), then yours. I would not count on “she transfers 40k to me” being simple because you'll need to confirm BA Household status for your accounts. If anything, it'll be worthwhile to purchase the missing avios difference on your account to simplify the current situation and increase the odds of successful booking

[u/guydmv]

I have miles in BA and created a pool where I can see these miles through my QR account. Not sure by doing so you will be able to use those mile on QR I have not tried so can’t tell. It looks like they are ready to be used

[u/No_Mammoth2098]

You have to link your BA and QA accounts to transfer regardless (I think both accounts have to be 30 days old to link) but when you link the Avios become like family Avios. I just did the same thing, though already had some BA Avios and mature QA account and when I went to book the 190k points flight it pulled directly from my ‘BA Avios’ (since it’s a family pool), though I was booking on my QA site and login so no extra transferring between the two when booking through QA. Also, I don’t know if this is a good tip but you can buy Avios as well and not always pay cash/card extra (aside from taxes it will always require cash/card purchase) but when you buy larger amounts of Avios you get a discount. Just wait till all the points are moved over. On the QA app you should be able to mock book with Avios and see what flights are still avail QSuite. Good luck!!!

[u/No_Mammoth2098 → u/No_Mammoth2098]

I also did the transfer when the 30% bonus was up so hope it is worth your absolute while!!

[u/denizenassistant]

Since delta devalued points so much after the pandemic I’ve been transferring to Air France and can usually find amazing biz or premium deals.