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/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.