Booking a $12,000 playpen in the sky with Amex points

In a nutshell

My husband, daughter and I flew to Asia in what is (arguably) the fanciest business class seat in existence using American Express Membership Rewards® points. It was the perfect play area for my infant daughter. It wasn’t free — we paid about $1,600 in taxes and fees all-in — but we saved well over $14,000, giving us an 89% discount.

What are Qatar Qsuites?

I’ve taken a few quick trips in coach with my daughter as a lap infant once or twice. Not a fan.

So when planning an international trip that required a tear-jerking 36 hours in the air, I unsheathed my travel rewards for a slightly bigger seat to give my daughter (and myself) more room to stretch out.

I managed to book what is widely considered to be one of the best business class seats in existence: Qatar Qsuites. These are seats that recline into a lie-flat bed. They also come with sliding doors to make the journey more private. And get this: Some side-by-side seats produce a double bed when reclined at the same time. It’s a legit bed in the sky.

You can book Qsuites from many major U.S. hubs, including Miami (MIA), Atlanta (ATL), Dallas (DFW), Chicago (ORD) and New York (JFK). All flights travel through Doha, Qatar (DOH), but you can book through to many areas around Europe and Asia. Here’s a rough idea of where in the U.S. Qatar serves.

You’ll have a tough time finding Qatar Qsuites for under $3,000 one-way (or a round-trip flight for under $6,000). But you can book with points and fly for pennies on the dollar, and that’s what I did.

I transferred American Express Membership Rewards® points to British Airways to book two Qatar Qsuite seats round-trip between Atlanta and the Maldives. These seats cost 85,000 points each way or 340,000 points for two round-trips. That’s a lot of points! But for the otherworldly experience, I regret nothing.

Related: American Express Membership Rewards guide

I should add that Amex points transfer to British Airways at a 1:1 ratio. But American Express frequently publishes “transfer bonus” promotions with British Airways, which can greatly improve the conversion rate. I jumped on a 30% transfer bonus, meaning I only had to convert 262,000 Amex points to achieve the 340,000 British Airways points I needed for my flight.

My Qatar Qsuite experience

First, it’s important to reiterate that these seats were not “free.” We paid:

• $400 in taxes and fees per adult.
• $800 for my daughter’s ticket (Qatar charges 10% of the adult fare for lap infants).

In other words, we paid around $1,600 for round trip travel to the Maldives. And while that’s not chump change, it’s about $900 less than it would’ve cost had we purchased coach flights out of pocket. And since paying for Qsuites would have set us back $8,000 per ticket, it was more than worth the points and cash.

I’ve flown in several business class seats thanks to travel rewards, but upon arriving at my seat, I knew this would be the best yet. The space was cavernous, and my daughter had plenty of room to play on the floor during the first part of the flight. The abundance of shelves and drawers meant there was plenty of room for toys, bottles and blankets, too.

While not tall enough to afford full privacy, each seat’s sliding doors provided enough of an enclosure that my daughter couldn’t escape. She was free to expend all her energy without disturbing other passengers.

My husband and I booked two seats side-by-side, giving us the option to lower the middle partition to create one massive cubicle. And with both doors shut, the space effectively became a $17,000 Pack 'n Play.

Flight attendants also offered “turndown service,” reclining our seats while adding a mattress topper, proper pillows and blankets. They even plugged a strip of padding between the seams of the two seats to transform our area into a double bed at 37,000 feet.

Yes there was free-flowing champagne; the meals were made-to-order at any hour; the business class lavatories were gargantuan; the flight attendants gave us pajamas to keep. The experience checked just about any over-the-top boxes you might’ve heard about fancy airplane seats, but the hands-down best part of the flight was the fact that I wasn’t worrying about my daughter sticking her legs into the aisle, cooing at the stranger in the seat next to us, or fussing loudly from being held in one position for hours and hours.

I generally find that’s what travel rewards do best for me. They alleviate stress. And they also let me taste a bit of the lifestyle of someone much, much richer than me.

Booking seats like these is easier than you think

There are two obstacles to booking a fancy lie-flat business class seat like this:

1. Earning enough points to book it.
2. Finding available seats during a time you’re available to travel.

Earning the points is the easy part. When you and your travel partner are both earning travel rewards, it’s not difficult to rack up the points in no time.

Plus, there are dozens of travel rewards credit cards with excellent welcome bonuses and generous earning rates for everyday spending. Many of these are enough for one-way — or even round-trip — travel in Qsuites. Let’s look at some quick examples of how to do it.

Collect Avios rewards points

“Avios” is the rewards currency used by British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus and Qatar. You can transfer points from one program to another.

It costs 70,000 points to fly from the U.S. to Doha in Qsuites — or, as you can see below, just 85,000 Avios one-way to fly all the way to the Maldives. Here’s a sample flight from Atlanta to the Maldives: you’ll pay 85,000 points and $205.

As you can see, the same exact one-way seat costs $6,883. That’s a steal at 85,000 points.

Each of the credit cards listed below offer a welcome bonus that can get you one-way travel in Qsuites from the U.S. to Asia:

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You can also transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to these programs (as I did), and then transfer those points onto Qatar Airways. The below credit cards offer a welcome bonus enough for a one-way flight to Asia in Qsuites (after meeting minimum spending requirements):

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In fact, after you earn the Amex Business Platinum Card welcome bonus, you’ll have enough for a round-trip in Qsuites. That’s several thousand dollars in value from a single intro offer!

Related: Best American Express credit cards of 2024

Collect American Airlines miles

This is worth mentioning, but only briefly: You can book Qatar Qsuites to Asia (all the way to the Maldives, even) for 70,000 American Airlines miles and swallowable taxes and fees. The only reason this isn’t the go-to strategy for reserving Qsuites is because they’re hard to find on the American Airlines site. If you can find one that fits your travel plans, congratulations.

The below American Airlines credit cards offer welcome bonuses large enough to fund a one-way flight in Qsuites:

• Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard®: 75,000 bonus miles after spending $5,000 on purchases within the first five months from account opening.
• card_nameCiti® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®: bonus_miles_full

There are many other credit cards that can get you a fancy seat, as well. Just be sure to open cards that offer ongoing benefits that complement your travel style. If a card doesn’t save you more than you’re spending in annual fees, it’s not a good fit for your wallet.

The AP Buyline roundup: It’s possible to save more than $15,000 on Qsuites

Travel rewards can make the airplane the destination. I often book trips where I’m as excited for the commute as I am for my vacation spot.

If you’re in the market for a new travel credit card, you could quite easily get thousands and thousands of dollars in value and book a fancy seat on an international flight.

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