Goodbye sweet spot: Qatar Airways Privilege Club devalues American Airlines and Alaska Airlines award flights

Qatar Airways has devalued some Avios sweet spots for award flights on partner airlines including American Airlines and Alaska Airlines, as first reported by DansDeals.

Historically, Qatar Airways Privilege Club has been a popular, if somewhat niche, loyalty program for U.S. flyers thanks in part to the bargain redemption levels of short-haul flights on Qatar's U.S. airline partners. Unfortunately, that's no longer the case. And what's more, Qatar Airways made this devaluation with no notice to its Privilege Club members. Travelers should always consider diversifying the types of points and miles they earn and redeem because devaluations like this come all too often.

Here are the details on this latest blow, what flyers can expect, and how you might still be able to get some value from Qatar Airways Avios on short-haul American Airlines and Alaska Airlines flights.

Related: 5 versions of Avios: When to use Aer Lingus, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia and Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways devalues American Airlines and Alaska Airlines short-haul awards

Qatar Airways uses multiple (unpublished) award charts for flights on various airlines.

Although the airline made no announcement that it was changing the chart it uses for American Airlines and Alaska Airlines awards, flight searches reveal that the redemption rates for short-haul American and Alaska routes have indeed gone up. The cost of these flights in Avios has increased by up to 64%, with the shortest routes seeing the most dramatic price hikes. Here is what we have been able to piece together.

This means that even the shortest routes, like a 129-mile flight from Seattle to Portland, Oregon, will set you back at least 9,500 Avios each way.

The good news is that awards for longer-haul flights on American and Alaska, as well as redemption requirements for JetBlue flights, appear to be unaffected ... for the moment. Since this devaluation came with no warning, there's no telling whether Qatar Airways Privilege Club intends to make more changes to its award levels in the coming days. So if you were planning to book something using Qatar Airways Avios, do so sooner rather than later.

For now, the Qatar Airways award charts for flights on other partner airlines remain unchanged as well.

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Related: Airlines you can book using Avios: How to maximize your points

What’s the best use of Avios?

Although Qatar Airways award rates for these flights have jumped significantly, in the grand scheme of points and miles, they’re still relatively affordable.

British Airways Executive Club, which also uses Avios as its currency, recently underwent a similar devaluation. The British Airways award chart for Alaska and American partner flights is structured much like Qatar’s, except that each price tier costs a few thousand more Avios.

If you plan to use Avios to book award flights on American or Alaska, you’ll still get the best prices if you book through Qatar Airways. However, depending on what rewards currencies you have, there may be better options.

Finnair Plus charges a flat 11,000 Avios for any domestic flight within the continental United States (and Canada), so while that would be more expensive for a short hop, it might be the cheapest option for a longer domestic flight.

For instance, if you wanted to fly from Miami to Chicago, a one-way ticket on American booked through Qatar would cost 14,500 Avios in economy or 34,000 in business class.

Or you could book the same flight through American for only 8,500 AAdvantage miles in economy or 26,500 miles in business class.

However, since American uses dynamic pricing, using AAdvantage miles may not always be the cheapest option. You'll need to double check in each case.

AAdvantage miles are also some of the hardest frequent-flyer miles to earn because the program has very few transfer partners (the same is true for Alaska Mileage Plan miles). You may find it easier to book award flights with Avios since you can transfer them from:

• American Express Membership Rewards
• Bilt Rewards
• Capital One miles
• Chase Ultimate Rewards

As mentioned, Qatar Airways has not, at time of publication, changed its award chart for JetBlue flights, so you may still be able to get great value from your Avios by booking short-haul flights on JetBlue. Here’s the current award chart Qatar uses for JetBlue flights:

So, you could fly from Fort Lauderdale to New York (a 1,070-mile route) on JetBlue for only 8,500 Avios each way in economy.

A comparable route on American or Alaska would cost 13,000 Avios through Qatar Airways or 16,000 through British Airways.

When searching for routes to or from cities that Qatar Airways doesn’t serve, the city or airport may not appear in the destination drop-down menu. That’s OK — just enter the airport code into the destination box and click “Search,” and flight options should appear.

Related: The best Avios-earning credit cards: Which is the one for you?

Bottom line

Despite this devaluation, Qatar Airways Avios are still the cheapest type of Avios to book Alaska Airlines and American Airlines award flights.

British Airways’ award chart is pricier than Qatar’s for these partner flights, and it’s much more difficult to book partner award flights on the other airlines that use Avios (Finnair, Iberia and Aer Lingus). You should also always double-check awards on American's and Alaska's own sites if you have their miles to see if you can get a better deal that way.

For now, Avios collectors should keep their eyes peeled, as more devaluations could be in store.