I started traveling with Qatar Airways frequently from 2021. I also signed up for their FF program, Privilege Club. On average, I take three round trips every year between Atlanta and either Dhaka or Kathmandu, depending on price and availability. All of my trips in the last two and half year is on business class except one. Last year, I had to travel within four days’ notice, and the business class fare was a little over $8,000, so I bought a ticket in economy class.

The good thing about Qatar is after just two business class round trips; I became Platinum status. There is another perk Qatar offers is Q Credit. Once you become Gold, they give you 40 Qcredit, and when you become Platinum, you get another 60; then, on your anniversary, if you remain Platinum, you get another 60 Qcredit. The highest I ever had was 170 Qcredit.

You can use these Qcredits for class upgrades or to pay for extra baggage fees. There is a calculator that tells you how many Qcredit you need for certain upgrades or for extra baggage.

When I had to buy a ticket in the economy class, I tried to use Qcredit to upgrade my flight, but it was not available, I then tried with miles (Avios) but still was unable to do so because there were no seats available in that fare code, but I was told I could upgrade using cash. At the time of checking, I asked the agent/manager on duty if there were any empty seats in Business class. He said there were three; I asked if he could offer me an upgrade since I am a platinum member, and this is the first time I was traveling in Economy. His exact reply was, “Sir, unfortunately, we are not allowed/able to do those upgrades.”

Since then, I have tried two more times where I bought a round trip on economy to other destinations and then tried to upgrade; each time I was unable to do so because the class was not available! So, both times I returned my ticket, which you can do without any penalty if you return within 24 hours of purchase.

About two months ago, I noticed that half of my Qcredit was about to expire in a few weeks, so this time, I didn’t bother to buy a ticket and then try to upgrade. Instead, I asked for help from the reservation desk, I gave them open dates, and I said I could travel any day in February or April and return date should be within 7-10 days of departure. I wanted to take my wife on a vacation. After about a half hour, the agent notified me there were no available seats for an upgrade! I then offered them two other international destinations and asked him if he could find me a return trip to either destination, and again, I gave him a broad range of months and dates. Once again, I was told nothing was available!

About two weeks ago, I decided to try and find a business class ticket to any city in southeast Asia from Atlanta using my Avios. I was able to find just one destination out of the 5 I tried, and the Avios I needed for this trip was 320,000!! So, I then figured it would be better if I use my Avios on one of the one world partner airlines, but I found out the link that takes you to the partner airlines, in my case, AA from Qatar, does not work. With a little research, I found two other similar complaints (link not working) from 5 and 7 months ago.



So, this is my conclusion:



The best in-flight service – Each and every flight I was on was equally great. The food and the presentation were top-notch, the best, at least in my limited experience. In the last two years, I also traveled on Virgin Atlantic, Air Frace, Turkish, Singapore and Emirates, all of which were on business class.

This is how I would rank each of them based on In-flight service (food, beverage choices, presentation, professionalism, cleanliness and most importantly, seating and privacy).



In-flight Service:

Qatar Air -10(Among other things, they are the only one that offers on-demand dining, and their Q suites are the best)

Singapore -8(Wide business class seats with some privacy)

Turkish and Virgin (Tie) – 7

Air France – 4



Lounge – (Food, seating, privacy, cleanliness, service)

Qatar – 10

Emirates – 8 (Better food selections compared to any other airlines, not to mention the huge size of the lounge)

Singapore – 7.5

Virgin – 7

Turkish 6 (Great food selection, but too crowded, hard to find a place to seat at times)

Air France – 4

Disclaimer: When traveling in business class, platinum members can access the First-class lounge, which is a class all by itself. They offer On-demand dining and access to a private room for 4-5 hours so you can nap and shower. They also have game rooms for kids and grownups, a Spa facility and your own private Duty-Free shop.



Customer Service (on the phone or via chat):

Singapore – 9

Virgin -8

Qatar and Emirates (tie) – 7

Turkish – 6

Air France – 5



Frequent Flyer Program benefits and point redemption:

Turkish -10 (Among all the Star Alliance members, Turkish offers the most bang for your mile)

Singapore -8(I use my Turkish FF in Singapore and have friends who use the KrisFlyer program, and they love it)

Emirates -7.5(My father travels Emirates, and so far, he was able to get one free roundtrip and two upgrades using his miles)

Virgin Atlantic – 6(Based on two friend’s opinions and my online research, I took my miles on my Delta Sky Miles account)

Air France (No rating since I do not know much about their program; I took my miles on my Delta Sky Miles account)

Qatar Airways – 1(As I mentioned, there is no value or benefits that I have seen or experienced being a Platinum member for a little over two years. Almost impossible to use miles or Q credits for upgrades and award tickets.)



In my observation, Qatar’s Doha hub is missing two things.

1.No privilege club help desk

2.The customer service/change desk is only allowed to change same-day flights; if you need to change dates on a return flight or another flight in the near future, you need to call or get online. Both are very strange, in my opinion.

3.Almost no upgradeable options using Q credits or Avios.

4.The highest status (Platinum) does not get you any extra privileges or benefits other than access to the first-class lounge.



Final Thoughts:

I will still be flying Qatar as long as their price and in-flight service remain the same, but I have already switched my FF to American Airlines (with the status challenge for a fee). I received Ex. Platinum, and I am already seeing the benefits. In the last three domestic round trips, I got upgraded 75% of the time. The best part is that more than half of those upgrades were confirmed 48 hours before the flights.

I also noticed how easy and simple it is to upgrade or book award tickets with AAdvantage.

I was and still am a platinum member with Delta, but recently, with all the changes to their FF program, it is becoming difficult to maintain the status with Delta, especially now that they have switched to MQD-only Metrix.

Considering all the facts and after weighing all the pros and cons of Qatar, I came to the conclusion that there is no reason to use Qatar’s privilege club membership; it does not offer any benefits to its members. Instead, it is better to take the mileage credit on other One World airlines; for me, it is obviously American Airlines.