piotrger

So my story of rebooking flight due to aircraft swap is as follows:

I had a QR award booking Berlin - Doha - Chicago.
5 days before the trip, they swapped aircraft on Berlin- Doha route, so I thought about changing the ticket to a morning flight from Warsaw.
So I called:
- Doha main call centre - fairly nice agent, no help ("no availability")
- USA call center - the agent couldn't be more bothered with my call... I had a feeling like I interrupted someone's meal... ("noooo... I don't know... you have to email Qatar...")
- emailing the QR - got a quick response within an hour, with a big NO and also they wrote I have a Qsuite on the Berlin leg - which was obviously not there anymore...
- so I called the Australian/Indian number - super friendly, helpful, professional agent. Told me that as it is an award ticket, she needs approval from another department and she is willing to change it for me.
Asked me to call few hours later. So instead of calling Australia, I called the Polish number - a super nice lady told me the change was approved and changed my ticket on the spot, so am flying out from Warsaw.
And thanx to that, I'll be able to spend an afternoon in Doha, meet friends, booked a hotel through Qatar Stopovers, will go to the airport early enough to pay for an entrance to Al Safwa - I know
there'll be no alcohol, but at least I'll get to see the place and maybe eat something good ;-)

So as the information on the forum stated - only the Australian number worked ;-)

navylad

ctozlm

Hey, a newbie question, I reached platinum and have accumulated some qmiles so tried to redeem it for first time, however, when I searched online, there is no first class availability across all dates(before departure or far advanced dates). I checked the routes like cdg to doh, or CAN to DOH. How do you use the website to redeem the miles.

Also the multiple dates option didn't work for me, which showed only grid but no information on availability. I thought it's IT system bug... Do we need to use particular browser for Qatar website? I use Chrome on Mac, not sure if it's an issue...

i did some research and seems people complain a lot. Agents can't make phone booking. But not sure about the latest data point.

lost_in_translation

QR are stingy with F reward availability - there was a period a while ago where there was just none at all. What’s shown online should be what’s available. FRA seems to be the only route you can reliably find availability currently as QR opened up two seats on every flight after they switched the route to A380 and a lot of this is still around. Note that QR’s website is a bit temperamental and something odd seems to happen sometimes with cookies where seats disappear the second time you try to search the same routes / dates, so bear this in mind if the seats you saw previously magically disappeared (and either clear your cache or try a different browser).

Technically QR claim to show different availability to different levels of QRPC but I’m not sure how this works in practice

lost_in_translation

Oh also, one other thing to bear in mind is QR does use married segment logic so if you search for CDG - HKG you will sometimes see availability you can’t see by searching for CDG-DOH and DOH-HKG separately.

I wonder if there is some sort of redemption policy change coming generally - a few days ago I saw Qx2 seat availability on a LHR-DOH sector in F which technically is not possible currently! (Could have been an IT glitch, I suppose).

ctozlm

Wow. Thanks for the information. The data point is super helpful since I am always struggling to diagnose where the problem is.

Lexicycle

impeymac

This is not new & has been the case since day 1 of the opening of QR lounges in both the old airport & HIA. If you want access to QR business class lounges, fly business class or pay the entry fee to Al Mourjan (assuming your Y ticket permits it).

I wish you luck with Oman Air, goodbye.

Globalist

Hi all,

First time Qatar flyer, did a bit of research and booked a flight in July from Singapore to Amsterdam via Doha.
It seems I have Q Suites on all 4 sectors... that is a nice bonus.

As a OW Emerald it seems however there is no additional benefit besides 20K additional weight allowance.
There is no F check-in in Singapore or AMS, and maybe there is priority boarding but not expecting anything beyond J Priority.
The OWE lounge in Doha seems worse than the Al Mourjan lounge which I have access to on the account I fly Business.

I have a 7.45 hour stopover in Doha on both sectors. Both are between midnight and 7am.
I checked the Transit Oryx hotel, but at 300 USD that seems a bit rich for 7 hours.

So, the question to the experts..
Any Benefits I have overlooked for a J Pax with OWE?
How is the Al Safwa Lounge between midnight and 7am? is it worth paying up? (If the champagne is better I will be easily convinced)
Will there be (fresh) food and drinks served overnight?
There seem to be sleeper rooms, but by the time I get there I would guess they are booked up.

Thanks,
Globalist

Dr. HFH

It is. Veuve LGD.

Globalist

And they serve it warm?
Any hints on my other points, or did I get it right?

Thanks!
Globalist

lost_in_translation

Quite the opposite, it’s very much overchilled at first normally! Better than too warm, however, as you just need to be a little bit patient.

Correct on your other points, if your main objective is to secure status benefits then a QR premium cabin is not the best choice.

lost_in_translation

Oh and I’ve never been denied a sleeping room in many journeys, but haven’t been to Al Safwa since the paid access started so not sure if they are perhaps in more demand now.

Dr. HFH

Exactly as I like it!!

Globalist

Thanks all

Quote:

Originally Posted by lost_in_translation

Quite the opposite, it’s very much overchilled at first normally! Better than too warm, however, as you just need to be a little bit patient.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. HFH

Exactly as I like it!!

Same, cold is best.. some reports in the Al Safwa Lounge thread mentioned it was warm.. that would be bad...

Quote:

Originally Posted by lost_in_translation

Correct on your other points, if your main objective is to secure status benefits then a QR premium cabin is not the best choice.

At least earning nearly double the TP compared to a more expensive BA flight helps There is always a silver lining plus I really like to try their Q suite. It seems way more interesting that BA Club World.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lost_in_translation

Oh and I’ve never been denied a sleeping room in many journeys, but haven’t been to Al Safwa since the paid access started so not sure if they are perhaps in more demand now.

I am seriously considering to buy up to Al Safwa for my 7h overnight stopovers. If a room is available, good.. if not then the champagne consumption might increase.

Do they take credit card for payment or cash?
(I found the answer in another thread, they take cards)

Thanks all for the feedback.

Globalist