If you've been trying to book Philippine Airlines with points, there's finally a new way to do it. You can book it online now.
Booking Philippine Airlines with points has been notoriously a nightmare for years. PAL doesn't belong to any of the big airline alliances, which is the reason why. The only real option was to book through ANA, and honestly, I'm not even sure that's still possible.
This guide breaks down three things: what changed with the Qatar Airways and Philippine Airlines partnership and why it matters, the exact Avios pricing from every US gateway in economy and business class, and the transfer bonus play that can drop a 110,000 Avios redemption as low as 55,000 credit card points.
What Changed With the Qatar Airways x Philippine Airlines Partnership
Quick context. Qatar Airways and Philippine Airlines first partnered in 2025, and they finally expanded their partnership in May of 2026. This is what matters most for points travelers, because it unlocks the ability to search and book Philippine Airlines flights directly on the Qatar Airways website using Avios.
The award availability is pretty solid right now. There are sometimes six business class seats available, sometimes nine, on most of these routes. That's kind of unheard of for business class alone, and definitely unheard of for nonstop flights to the Philippines.
Philippine Airlines Award Pricing From Every US Gateway
Pricing is distance based, and there's no public award chart, but Qatar Airways does distance based pricing for all their Avios bookings. Here's what you need from each gateway to Manila.
I'm not gonna lie, 154,500 Avios in business class out of JFK, Chicago, or Toronto is pretty steep at the standard rate. Hawaii is the cheapest gateway for US-based flyers if you can position to Honolulu first, but I don't think it's really worth the extra hop. Just fly out of LAX, San Francisco, Seattle, or Vancouver if you can.
Taxes and Fees
Reasonable for a long-haul redemption, thankfully. LAX to Manila is $104 in economy and $204 in business class. Manila back to LAX is $160 in economy and $260 in business class. Round-trip business class, you're looking at under $500 in fees.
What to know up front is that Qatar Airways doesn't show you the taxes and fees on a search page unless you have Avios in your account. So you'll need a small balance there before you can see exact taxes and fees for any route.
The Transfer Bonus Play (Where This Becomes a Deal)
This is the part that turns these redemptions, the ones that seem expensive, into a good deal.
Qatar Airways takes transfers from American Express, Capital One, Citi, Bilt, and Rove. All at a 1:1 ratio. Chase Ultimate Rewards doesn't transfer to Qatar Airways directly, but you can transfer Chase points to British Airways, and BA Avios move to Qatar at no extra cost at a 1:1 ratio as well. So Chase points are absolutely in play here too. All the major credit card points have a route to get to Qatar Avios.
Live Transfer Bonuses to British Airways Avios
If Bilt runs another 100% transfer bonus to British Airways as they did earlier in 2026, the math gets really good. Here's what each tier of transfer bonus actually costs you in credit card points.
A 50% transfer bonus is not terrible, it's still a solid deal. Amex has often run 30% to 40% transfer bonuses to Avios over the years, and at those rates the East Coast and Midwest redemption gets way more reasonable.
Honestly, I would not pay 154,500 Avios out of New York or Chicago at the standard rate. That's not really that good of a deal. Wait for a transfer bonus, or just position to the West Coast if you can. The transfer bonus is what makes this whole partnership worth getting excited about.
If you want a deeper look at how often these transfer bonuses actually run and when to expect them, here's the data on credit card transfer bonus timing.
Best Cards to Earn Avios For This Redemption
Bilt Palladium Card1
Bilt is the one to watch here because of the history of 100% transfer bonuses to British Airways. If another 100% bonus drops, this is the fastest path to a 55,000-point West Coast business class redemption.
Amex Membership Rewards transfer 1:1 to Qatar Avios directly. Amex has often run 30% to 40% transfer bonuses to Avios, which is what makes this card a great pairing for the redemption.
How to Find Philippine Airlines Award Space
You already know what it costs and how to bring that cost way down. Let me show you exactly how to find these flights.
You have two options.
Option one is searching directly on the Qatar Airways Privilege Club website. It's a no-cost search, but it's slow if you're checking a bunch of dates or gateways. You log in, run a partner award search, pick your route, and scroll for Philippine Airlines.
Option two, and this is what I actually use, is seats.aero. It's a paid award search tool, but it makes the search way easier and way quicker. Using seats.aero, you can search Qatar Airways award space, and Philippine Airlines routes do show up. It saves you the headache of clicking through dozens of dates manually on the Qatar Airways website, which gets really annoying.
Which Philippine Airlines Aircraft to Book (And Which to Avoid)
The plane matters a lot here. Philippine Airlines flies three different aircraft to the United States, and the experience is not the same on each one.
The Boeing 777 is the one to avoid because it has an outdated 2-3-2 layout with angle flat seats. Not true lie flat.
The New York route is the only one that has the A350-1000, which is their newest product.
Chicago and Toronto get the A350-900, which is still a great option. If you're stuck on the West Coast, just know you're probably getting the 777 unless you're routing through Seattle before October.
A Few Things to Know Before You Book
Philippine Airlines is not Singapore Airlines or ANA. The service, from what I've heard, is solid but not amazing. You're paying for the nonstop and hopefully a lie-flat seat directly to Manila. It's not industry-leading service, but it's not terrible either.
The partnership is still pretty new. Routes and award space could shift at any moment. If you find the award space at a price that works for you, book it. If not, just wait for some transfer bonuses to Avios. That's when you should really book.
If you're newer to using Avios, this Avios transfer strategy guide walks through how British Airways Avios connect to Qatar and the other partners that share the Avios currency.
The Bottom Line
Philippine Airlines is finally bookable with points online through Qatar Avios. West Coast business class runs 110,000 Avios, East Coast and Midwest is 154,500 Avios, and Hawaii is 100,000 Avios. Fly the A350 whenever you can. Avoid the 777.
The biggest deal here is that getting nonstop to the Philippines used to be a phone-only booking nightmare. Now you can search and book in about five minutes. If a transfer bonus to British Airways or Qatar Avios shows up, this becomes one of the better business class to Asia redemptions out there.
If you want to see this in action with a full on-screen demo of how I search for the award space and walk through the transfer bonus math, watch the full video on YouTube.
