Hi all, thought I should give a final update on my posts above.
In short:
- every day in June, there were Business redemptions for available for SYD-FCO almost every day in July.
- on 1 July, the entire month of redemptions were removed (as were the entire months of redemptions in August & September).
Today, I noticed that almost every remaining day in July had redemptions available again and they had all be re-instated. I immediately called the Qatar Platinum member line who confirmed that as correct. I asked why and they said that someone must have cancelled their award tickets (more than 4 every day for several months instantly? haha). While they were on the phone, I booked an Economy (V) ticket and went to upgrade. Then, online, it stated that no upgrade seats were available. I confirmed on the phone once again immediately that they were indeed still available. I asked them to manually upgrade because their website is obviously buggy. I was told it would be done within a few minutes. After three hours, I didn't hear back so I called again. They said no manual upgrade was done and now they weren't available because some else had taken them (hmmm). Yet, they still appeared online to redeem for a new booking. I asked to please speak to a supervisor and was denied. So, I wrote a complaint stating all the facts clearly. Today, I see my seats have been upgraded, of course with no reply or explanation lol.
I'm very happy with the outcome but extremely frustrated that I had to fight for it. I love Qatar, but I am frustrated that I never seem to have these sort of problems with their competitors and admittedly, it's sadly beginning to question my future loyalty ((