The inaugural hunt: Chasing a half million points from Doha

Do you like inaugural flights? Qatar Airways is looking for some dedicated AvGeek folks to join the company as it adds to the route map in the coming months, with an impressive motivation: A half million QMiles can be yours if you fly all the inaugurals. Yup, 500,000 points just for taking some first flights.

The catch is that the promotion extends from 1 August 2017 through 31 March 2018. That’s an 8 month span where a traveler has to be on every single first flight to or from Doha. There are three new destinations in August alone: Sohar (12 Aug), Prague (21 Aug) and Kiev (28 Aug). Without a full list of other route to be added or knowing when they’ll hit the schedule it is nearly impossible to plan for such a conquest, even if based and Doha and sufficiently motivated to try.

This is the sort of promotion that grabs attention and generates buzz while also being nearly risk-free to the company. Odds of paying out are incredibly low. And on the off-chance someone does hit the milestone odds are they’ve paid a pretty penny to do so. The first three will cost a traveler ~$2,000 in airfare, assuming a willingness to stay three nights each in Prague and Kiev. A quick turn adds about $500 to each of those destinations. Paying out the half million miles would likely be hugely profitable for Qatar Airways if it comes to pass. Which it won’t.

But it is great for marketing.