Want to Use Avios to Go to Thailand? Here's How!

Thailand is fully back on the map for Avios collectors following the announcement from British Airways that the Gatwick to Bangkok flight will now be year round. Currently operating 5x per week during Winter 2025, the flight will continue into the Summer at 3x weekly, before increasing to 6x per week for Winter 2026.

British Airways celebrates their return to Thailand

If you're looking to use Avios to go to Thailand, then your chances are better than ever. There are two main options for using Avios to get to Thailand, those being British Airways, or Qatar Airways.

Lets break this down:

British Airways

As mentioned above, British Airways have now made Gatwick to Bangkok a year-round route, operating 3x a week in the Summer, and 6x a week in Winter. The good news for you, is at the time of writing, there is good availability for seats during next Summer.

British Airways determines their pricing based on peak or off-peak periods. Essentially, if its a school holiday, its going to be peak. Return prices in Avios are as follows:

Off-Peak

• Economy - 70,000 Avios + £200 return

• Premium Economy - 100,000 Avios + £405 return

• Club World - 200,000 Avios + £575 return

Peak

• Economy - 80,000 Avios + £200 return

• World Traveller Plus - 155,000 Avios + £405 return

• Club World - 220,000 Avios + £575 return

As these flights depart Gatwick, Club World seats are the old style seats. No suites for you!

No competition, is it?

Flight to Thailand are very popular for Avios collectors, so you need to plan accordingly. Flights with British Airways go on sale 355 days in advance at midnight GMT. In addition to this, British Airways only guarantee on releasing eight seats in Economy, two in Premium Economy, and four in Club World. This is the same for all British Airways long-haul flights. They can release more, but this is the minimum guarantee.

If you wish to connect domestically in the UK, British Airways have cut back their domestic flying from Gatwick quite considerably, leaving just flights to Glasgow and Jersey. Anywhere else... May I recommend easyJet? The good news if you are from Glasgow or Jersey, your domestic connection costs no more than if you were to purely depart from London.

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Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways operates 10 flights a day from Heathrow and Gatwick combined, plus daily departures from Manchester, Edinburgh, and Birmingham. Onwards from Doha, you can expect up to six daily departures to Bangkok, offering an immense amount of flexibility if you wish to connect through Doha. Three of these six are operated on the enormous A380, meaning in theory there are an enormous amount of seats on offer.

Onboard the Qatar Airways A380

Flights on Qatar can be purchased on the British Airways website, or you can transfer your Avios between a BA Club account and a Qatar Airways Privilege Club account on the Avios website.

Qatar operate a peak/off-peak pricing model that roughly mimics the school holidays. Return prices in Avios are as follows:

Off-peak

• Economy - 75,000 Avios

• Business - 150,000 Avios

Peak

• Economy - 90,000 Avios

• Business - 180,000 Avios

Qatar puts their seats up for sale 361 days in advance, and guarantees to release two Business seats to be purchased with Avios on every flight, but there is no guarantee as to when these two seats may be put up for sale. For off-peak tickets, I've generally observed this to be at 361 days in advance, but for peak tickets, I have noticed no pattern for release.

To confuse matters more, Qatar will offer "Flexi" reward tickets. These are seats offered for sale at double the cost in Avios, so a return Business Flexi ticket off-peak would cost 300,000 Avios. Look, if you've got the Avios and this is the only fare on option, then go for it, but I wouldn't recommend it in normal circumstances.

On the BA website, flights go up for sale 355 days in advance, so if you are aiming to book flights 356-361 days in advance, then you'll have to use the Qatar Airways website.

So, BA, or Qatar?

As you can see, Qatar offers a cheaper fare in Business Class, and BA marginally undercutting them in the Economy cabin. But who should you choose to fly? This depends on a few factors, such as:

• Do you have a British Airways American Express Companion voucher to use (click here for our guide)? If so, fly BA

• Do you mind changing planes instead of flying direct? If that's okay, fly Qatar

• Do you prioritise luxury? Fly Qatar

• Is flight time the most important aspect? Fly BA

• Are you looking to fly from a non-London UK airport? I would go Qatar, as the only British airports that you can connect through Gatwick on BA are Glasgow or Jersey

Sam

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