LUFTY

Hi Everyone

I live in the UK and am flying Venice - Bangkok - Heathrow in a couple of weeks.

I have booked a positioning flight from Heathrow to Venice.

The time of the flight from Venice to Doha has been brought forward by one hour which is not significant however it means that the afternoon appointment and whole purpose of flying from Venice is no longer feasible.

Qatar will allow a same day change to fly from any airport within 500 miles of Venice however Heathrow is a few miles over this distance.

I appreciate the rules are the rules but is there any way around this so that I can change to fly direct from Heathrow to Bangkok ?

I am a British Airways GGL but have no status with Qatar.

Many thanks in advance


Lufty

msm2000uk

Unfortunately QR don't bend the rules on the 500 mile limit.

However, I'd suggest finding an airport where it's easy to transit, if you'd like to avoid Venice.

Safe travels,

M

LUFTY

Dear msm2000uk

Many thanks for the information and can you point me to a reference to the Qatar Airways policy of being able to change departure airport (500 NM limit) on the same date or to another date within 14 days from the same airport.

Kind regards


Lufty

msm2000uk

Hi Lufty,

I'm afraid I cannot as it's not a published 'benefit', It is something QR Customer Service have, within their power, if the case arises where it is needed.

Discretion is used by the CS Agents, and they look at things on a case-by-case matter.

In your Original Post (OP), you stated " Qatar will allow a same day change to fly from any airport within 500 miles of Venice however Heathrow is a few miles over this distance" so I presumed you had been advised this already by QR.

If you have not, then I would suggest calling QR Customer Service, and asking whether it would be applicable.

Safe travels,

M

Pyros

How exactly does the 500 mile rule work? For example, I have a flight in C booked to CDG and an onward connection on the Eurostar to London. Would my flight to CDG need to be delayed for QR to consider transferring me on a direct flight to LHR? I had this happen to me last year and the agents requested I give them the exact time of departure of the train to decide whether to transfer me...

Could I request the transfer to a LHR flight without a potential delay of the flight to CDG?

msm2000uk

Only if your Eurostar train was linked to your QR booking, and you were delayed over a certain period of time - I'd presume 3 hours at a guess.

Most of the time, the ability to change the starting point of the trip is linked to a cancelled service or lack of available seats.

For the end of a trip, that is relatively rare.

M

Pyros

Good to know. Thanks for the speedy reply!

deleter

How big of a schedule change must it be before they consider you for a 500 mile rule?

Also is there a point at which QR will let you change your dates free of charge in case of a schedule change? (ie. in TK's case I know after a change of 15min you have close to free reign to change the dates as you wish)

FlightDetective

I think it's considered on a case by case basis depending on your personal circumstances. I don't think any hard or fast rules are published and it's certainly not common knowledge.

higham44

I have had scheduling changes AMS-DOH-DPS and return in May 2017 which would have been a significant and costly inconvenience. Very helpful and sympathetic agent at Qatar UK reservations changed start/end of flights to LHR-DOH - apparently where an 'involuntary change' comes about through Qatar's scheduling alterations then you can be rerouted to another airport within the country or another airport within a 500 mile radius (i.e. LHR) - bonus!! Every cloud......