ISTFlyer

Yes, still Al Mourjan is used by all lounge eligible passengers.

The status lounges are open but it's not open for oneworld Sapphires and Emeralds traveling in Economy or Business Classic; they currently serve as an accommodation center for those passengers who suffered from IRROPS where QR needs to provide duty-of-care. As the airport hotel is fully booked and the country is closed to foreigners, QR is providing food, beverages and sleeper sofas in the status lounges. So, I don't think that the status lounges would be used as lounges until Qatar opens their borders to foreign nationalities.

tfizzle

sorry but what is a "status" lounge?

ISTFlyer

The Business Class Lounge and The First Class Lounge which are dedicated to oneworld Sapphire and Emerald members traveling in Y or Business Classic.

Clearedfortravel

Admitted to al mourjan without question twice on both departure and return (June 5). I have an R ticket and oneworld sapphire status.

el safwa is still closed fwiw with no eta on reopening.

PurdueFlyer

Hi all. I've tried keeping up with the various permutations of these business classic fares, seems like you need a flow chart to determine what benefits you get on QR these days. Apologies if this has been asked before.

We are looking at traveling in October, ATL-CAI, returning AMM-ATL. The fare is $2723 r/t. I'm OW Ruby, partner is no-status.

The long-haul legs book into (R) business classic. The DOH-CAI and AMM-DOH legs book into (A) First. Since I would not normally get into Al Mourjan on an R class fare, do the A-class segments get me anything in either direction here? Outbound, the layover is 4 hours. On the return, its an overnight layover (9 hours) and we depart for ATL at 0800. My understanding is that Al Safwa is closed, and we can't enter the country, although like everything else this may change in 4 months. I don't want to box myself into a corner here with an overnight layover and poor airport options.

TK actually has a better fare, in reverse (flying into AMM and returning from CAI) for about $2500, so $250 less than QR, minus all the un-bundling hoops to jump through. I prefer QR for the experience but if I'm going to have to pay for the lounge (especially on the return) I think I'll just go with TK but I thought I would ask the experts. thx!

ISTFlyer

You would have to pay for seat selection on the ATL-DOH & DOH-ATL legs; you would get lounge access at Doha when heading to Cairo and you would get access to the Royal Jordanian Lounge in AMM. Unfortunately, you would need to pay for Al Mourjan access at Doha before your flight to Atlanta and if you are planning to pay for the lounge, you would need to pay double the price as paid entry is limited to 6 hours of usage.

By the way, there is a table in the appropriate R fares thread -> QR unbundles business class with new R fares

IAN-UK

I'm not sure how the "QR experience" could be all that special without lounge access on long connections. If other considerations stack up (schedules, miles' accrual) I'd certainly save the cash: TK can be every bit as flaky as QR, but at least you're assured of lounge access and seat selection. And once things get back to normal, the istanbul lounges are a delight.

teemuflyer

A Turkish Delight, so to speak?

Snow n Sail

I hope this favor continues I’m OWS from AA platinum. Transiting next week with a family of 4 all in Y currently.

ISTFlyer

Also a reminder that as a OWS, you would only have one guest allowance.
Unless someone else in your party has status, you would need to pay $96 for each extra guest.

Snow n Sail

Yes I’m completely prepared to pay as needed.

Pursh

Flying DOH-DME tonight in Y and was admitted into Al-Mourjan as usual with my OWE status.

PurdueFlyer

Thanks to you both. I've been off for a few days. And yeah, half the QR "experience" is the lounge in DOH. I managed to tweak the days, and got the QR fare down to around $2500, including an early morning (2am or so) departure on the way home that reduced the DOH layover down to 3 hours instead of an 8 hour overnight. I would have pulled the trigger on this and sucked up the no-seat-assignment thing, but I was able to get the TK fare at $2255 r/t per person. ATL-CAI // AMM-ATL. So we went with that option instead. better arrival / departure times in the middle east both ways, and I get to pick seats. 789s out of ATL, too.

This was an interesting fare to construct because neither TK nor QR fly to ATL 7 days a week. Some days they both do, some days only 1 does, and some days the IST-CAI connecting flight was fuller in J and would drive the fare up. Eventually got what we wanted and I'm happy for the chance to try TK again. Now gotta do my research on the new IST airport & lounge!

LoungeLizardHugo

I've flown TK (all J) on six different multi-legged ex-USA (789) international itineraries the past 12 months. Just finished LAX-IST-CPT-IST-LAX a couple days ago. If I never have to fly TK ever again I will be thrilled. Horrid onboard service, some of the oldest planes I have flown on. IST airport is a multi mile walk in some cases to/from gates, the lounge is nothing special, it's hot as hell, meal stations offer nothing notable other than the pide, and the showers remain closed. TK onboard J meals are worse than the meals you used to get in US airline J. Did I mention the onboard service is dreadful? I have one more long-haul TK flight scheduled in a month and I am ready to cancel it because I have come to hate flying TK so much.

I've flown QR J four times this year and would gladly pay multi-hundred$ higher fare to fly QR wherever and whenever possible, be thrilled to do so. Regardless of added flight time. TK flat out sucks post pandemic. With QR I am filled with joy at the thought of stepping on one of their planes or being in DOH airport.

PurdueFlyer

one man's trash is another man's treasure.