Qatar Airways is currently running auctions for pairs of VIP hospitality tickets to Champions League matches, paid for with Avios. With our (my Dad pmcg and I) team, Celtic, participating in this year's competition, we were hoping for one of their games to be in an auction.

The first auction featuring Celtic was the away game at Atalanta in Italy but work commitments meant we couldn't bid on it. It appeared to go for a reasonable price, which gave us a bit of hope that if a Celtic home game popped up we'd be able to get a bid in and make it.

With the second auction, we were in luck. Celtic v RB Leipzig on the 5th November was included. A home game, no prior commitments, and the previous auction going for less than what our Avios limit was. We were definitely in luck! There was the small matter of having a trip booked for a T3 lounge crawl departing Edinburgh at 8.40am the morning after the match. Oh well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it...

The end of the auction came, and we won! Two tickets, hospitality, and a special money-can't-buy experience for a smidge over 60k Avios.

Lots of excitement, and finally the day of the match arrived. A half day at work to get out of the way, and then it was time to get ready and head out.



First up, it was time to head to Glasgow. We were aiming for a 14.55 train but ended up arriving at the station a little bit early and managed to catch the 14.51 which is non-stop between Stirling and Glasgow.



After arriving at Queen Street, the tickets for the match had to be picked up. They are physical tickets and Qatar Airways can't send them digitally or via post, unlike the tickets for the Champions Club which are sent digitally.

After a little detour in the wrong direction around Glasgow, we soon arrived at the Ibis Styles Glasgow Central, to meet the representative from Qatar Airways who would be providing the tickets and also meeting us later on for a very special experience.





Tickets in hand, and with around four hours until kick-off, it was time for a beer. We headed for The Counting House, a Wetherspoons located near Queen Street train station and set in an absolutely stunning building that used to be a bank. It was full of Celtic supporters, including one gentleman who'd travelled all the way from Mexico and didn't even have a ticket.






A couple of beers drunk, and it now being a couple of hours to kick-off, it was time to Uber to the stadium. Approximately 15 minutes later, we arrived at Paradise.




We had a bit of confusion entering the stadium and finding the Champions Club, with our tickets specifying that specific turnstiles had to be used and there also being a separate Champions Club entrance. To play it safe, we entered via the correct turnstile and then had to find our way to the Champions Club. As they're technically two separate tickets, we think you could actually just enter via the Champions Club entrance and then simply make your way to your seats. It was a little bit difficult to find the entrance after already being in the stadium, but with the help of some staff we made it with plenty of time to spare and enjoy a beer or two before our special experience.






With 45 minutes to go until kick-off, it was now time for our special experience: getting to watch the teams warm-up from the pitchside! Like a couple of excitable children, we were at the meeting point in the Champions Club five minutes before, making sure we could not be forgotten and miss out. Our representative from Qatar arrived on time, and with our lanyards in place, it was time to head down to the pitch.










Quite simply, what an incredible experience. Standing with my Dad on the pitch at Celtic Park before a Champions League match. Absolutely priceless! Still can't quite believe we got to do that. With that amazing experience behind us, it was time to head back up to the Champions Club for a swift beer, and then head to our seats to watch the match.






To cap off an absolutely fantastic night, Celtic came from 1-0 down to win 3-1!

After the match finished, we headed back to the Champions Club for another couple of beers and then started to make our way home. We originally planned on taking the train, but with an Uber costing around �40 all the way back to Stirling, it was an easy decision to go for that.

I ended up going to bed around midnight, making sure before sleeping to set my alarm for 5.30am as the next day was starting with a 6am pickup for the airport and the aforementioned T3 lounge crawl trip.

Haha, nice!

Plus thanks for showing us how bad the German League is apart from Bayern

RB is a good international points supplier, no question. They want to be a top team, but they play like amateurs.

I don't want to contradict that in general. But who was in the final of the Champions League and Europa League last year? It wasn't that bad.

I'm a sucker for a father son outing. Thanks for bringing us along on the adventure.

Good point. I might be biased though as a longstanding Bayern Club member

That's me too. Nevertheless, it has to be acknowledged that they had the edge last season. Unfortunately, our games against stronger teams haven't been a pleasure this season either, but things are going well in the Bundesliga now.

Most excellent. Nice to see some smiling faces in a Trip Report. Oysters and Guiness, the perfect combination. Well done.

Great report, and fantastic use of points.

Fantastic! Very ace. I’m glad you two got to enjoy this together!

Great experience. Hope you and your Dad enjoyed it. Obviously not as good as Ibrox��😉

Being a Celtic fan and tried and failed to get tickets for this game for me and my sons I am in awe what 60k avios got in this case.
I would switch from QR to BA immediately if these are the kind of awards up for grabs.
Anyway class experience.

Awesome! The same night I was at Anfield watching Liverpool beat Leverkusen 4-0.