Originally Posted by
Donegal
Now I have checked various dates and the return-prices (at least here from Germany) are € 4000 - € 5000. They used to be about € 2500 in the past. This obviously has nothing to do with inflation or cost of fuel but is a simple attempt to push revenues and profit drastically. I could buy two tickets with LH-Group and AF/KLM for that amount. What a change!
It's helpful to remember that FRA DOH is a sector married to a whole host of destinations beyond Doha.
So it's possible that the Frankfurt-Doha-Colombo tickets in, say, late July fall victim to a IG Farben get together in Singapore.
Or, more likely, J-class capacity on the FRA DOH route is limited all year because of cumulative demand for destinations on QR's network: meaning there's likely an opportunity cost to letting seats between Frankfurt and Colombo go cheaply.
PS
It would be crazy to pay $5K to fly Qatar rather than $2K on another carrier/alliance. Unless of course you are head over heels with QR, or the QR schedule is uniquely convenient.
If it's retention of your position within the FFP, couldn't you achieve this by generating the points travelling with another OneWorld airline ?