Originally Posted by
Seattleguy10
Thank you. That actually makes sense because I got the seats for free no questions asked. Also, R booked on AA stock is more expensive than R booked on QR but QR doesn’t have R or I open for sale in that time period. It makes sense that restrictions only apply to QR issued tickets. At any case, I get access to lounge through amex platinum and priority pass and I’m not too worried about Qatar giving access to lounges for two hours. Plus I can’t access it on my way back since they don’t have their own language in Cairo. Thanks for the info and perhaps things will be semi normal by then. Keep in mind, the new normal will be Covid for a few years so UAE and Qatar will probably have to open at some point especially with the vaccination speed in both countries. In fact UAE opened borders in December and got a ton of infections and a ton of heat from other countries that banned travelers from UAE
Just a clarification, that AA/AY/BA/IB "R" fare class maps to QR "I" fare class, so it's highly normal that AA stock booked on "R" fare class is more expensive than QR stock booked "R" fare class.
By the way, the UAE borders are open at this time for tourists; Qatar is closed and they are not a country that relies on tourism. I also don't think that Hong Kong and Singapore would open their borders without quarantine until they are down to zero cases.