SteveF

I'm looking to do an LHR-DOH-DPS Avios redemption In J on Qatar through BA. I've posted on the Qatar forum and have got a good response to my questions about aircraft and J seating options, but have a couple more specific to booking through BA:

- Is it possible to have overnight (or more than one night) stopovers one or both ways on a Qatar redemption booked through BA? It doesn't look like it's possible online, but can it be done over the phone?

- Do Qatar J redemptions book into a class that gives lounge access or do they book into the Qatar Business Lite fare class which does not.

- Are there any advantages (or disadvantages) to booking Avios redemptions through BA rather than Qatar direct? e.g. carrier surcharges, Avios rates.

FlightDetective

1. For stopovers, the system will give you the option of stopovers when trying to book it, if it allows it. Failing that, you should book two one way flights - LHR-DOH on whatever date and DOH-DPS on the other.

2. J redemptions on QR have lounge access included.

3. Not sure, I generally prefer to book through BA, as then I can call the BA staff to make amendments. I don't know QR's call centre, so as I'm familiar with BA and am a BA Gold, I'd rather stay within their ecosystem as far as possible, I don't think there are any advantages when it comes to the Avios pricing etc.

noFODplease

Sorry to hijack this thread, but could someone please help a Qatar redemption newbie:

I am looking to get J seats from anywhere in Europe to BKK between Christmas and New Year - none have been available the last three months. Do I keep checking, and they may be offered up closer in, (like on BA), or do Qatar severely limit their avios seats and I should try another airline? Should I have hope or have I missed the boat. Thank you!

SteveF

Thanks.

I've just tried dummy return bookings for LHR-DOH , DOH-DPS and LHR-DPS and although the carrier fees are almost the same (about £3 difference), the Avios totals are 206,000 for the two bookings vs 160,000 for the single booking, so that's a non-starter. The single booking does not offer stopovers.

I wonder if Qatar allow stopovers on redemptions?

More research needed I think.

FlightDetective

You might ask on the QR forum whether they do the seat releases close in like BA do for unsold inventory, as I don't really know.

I can tell you that it's Christmas and New Year, so they'll either not be releasing seats or they've already been taken. It's the busiest time of the year, so I think you'll be lucky to get seats at this stage.

Do you have a Privilege Club account? Just do a search the same way over there and see. If you don't have one, sign up for one. I think you get bonus Avios for doing so, so there's no reason not to. Otherwise the QR forum is your friend.
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mikeyfly

Based on their stubbornly high J cash seats, which I’m beginning to think is the new normal, I suspect there won’t be any released.. Why not grab these on BA and work a plan from this…

SteveF

Yes I do have an account, but have only the bonus 2500 Avios so it won’t allow me to search for awards.

Traveller 935

If you link your QR and BA accounts you can freely move your Avios between them. Allowing you to temporarily shift enough Avios to QR to do award searches (assuming you have the amount of Avios required in your BA account ofcourse).

SteveF

Ah, good plan. I have plenty of Avios so I’ll try that tomorrow.

fbrj

There is another way to search for QR avios flights, without shifting the total required over to QR beforehand. I just leave a few in my QR account for searching purposes.

Providing you are registered as a QR frequent flyer and have a few avios in your QR account - you search first for the cash flight you want and once you have identified that (while logged in to QR) an option using avios pops up and away you go! You can then continue searching for QR avios flights for different routes/dates etc.
You can get total avios and cash costs even if you have nothing like the number of required avios.

SteveF

Brilliant. I have 2500 in there so I’ll try it in the morning.

rapidex

Young rapidex couldn't find any avios seats from London to Thailand. He's going DUB-DOH-HKT. there are more seats available from Dublin, and a domestic flight in Thailand is about £40.

fdem

I was looking for the same LHR/DPS flight recently, again would prefer to book via BA due to communication. Nothing on the BA website currently as only offering the BA flight to Doha and there is no avios availability. I have a Qatar account with the grand sum of 66 miles in it so was able to check availability and there were a few suitable flights but obviously can only see availability and bot be abe to book. So annoying as BA seem to want to keep you on their metal for the london/ Doha sector and show no CW seats and for obvious reasons would far to prefer Qatar on the first leg. When I am ready to book I might try ringing up BA to see if they can see any QR availability.

RK23

I don't believe you can do this for free for award flights whether you book through Qatar or on BA. As you saw, pricing it into 2 separate flights requires a lot more points too.

Yes you will get lounge access whether you book through BA or QR. Only the lowest cost Business Lite Cash fare excludes lounge access. All award seats INCLUDE lounge.

Qatar's customer service is very hit or miss. If you have questions or need to make changes, you will need to call Qatar's CS and may need to hang up and call again many times. ALSO, if you need to cancel through Qatar, points can take up to 72 hours to be refunded and 6-8 weeks for taxes and fees to be returned. Booking through BA, points are generally redeposited instantly and tax/fee refund is very quick too.

SteveF

When are you looking at? I was looking for Q2 2024 and there was plenty of ex-LHR QR availability.

Edit: I've just done a few searches and found the same issue for a number of dates when there is QR availablilty on their own site. Other dates are OK.