Originally Posted by
pythonisman
Is there any significant drawback to booking Qatar fares via a travel agent (e.g. Amex Travel) vs. direct? (e.g. lack of seat selection or other disabled features?)
I've used Amex Travel for the majority of my QR bookings and nothing is restricted. The only real difference is you have to speak/chat to Amex Travel in the event of needing to change dates or cancel etc but that really is no bother. To be honest I quite often book via Amex because they're easier to deal with than Qatar directly.
Originally Posted by
pythonisman
Also am I right in believing that these fares will qualify for the Al Mourjan lounge regardless of whether the Business/First lounges have re-opened by then? I'm a OWE but think the AM lounge is meant to be far superior to the First status lounge.
The business/first status lounge concept appears to be no more and are being replaced with the Silver and Gold lounges. But you're okay, "i" class gets you into Al Mourjan.
Originally Posted by
pythonisman
Weirdly fares seem significantly cheaper using open jaw origins rather than a return, so departing from FRA and returning to OSL looks the most cost effective at the moment, but if anyone has any tips on places to search from that'd also be brilliant
There's no real method to finding the best option. Usually I pop my desired itinerary into Google Flights and that is a quick option to quickly find what could be the cheapest option. I went out of AMS and into OSL on my last QR ex-EU and it's very common for me to mix and match. You just need to search different destinations as not all fares are made equal!