QR website displaying promo fare status
 

I have just spent the last hour trying to book a LHR-BKK return 4/11/17-27-11-17 on a Y saver so Q class I guess but being displayed as T class I think too risky to book as I want to try for an award upgrade

spec119 booking class T does not allow you to upgrade using Qmiles/Qcredits. If you want to upgrade your flights you should select Economy Value fares. Do remember to check reward availability before making reservations.

that's my point I'm not selecting a promo fare ( O W T ) I'm selecting economy saver which is Q class but the final booking displays T class

Based on what Ive seen after searching on the QR website for an Economy ticket from Delhi to Madrid, almost all fares in Economy Saver shown on the website are either O or T for the dates I was looking for, and both of these fare classes are non upgradable. So finally I called up the QR call center to book a Q fare class ticket and they did it with no problem (though I had to pay an additional 30 EUR as service fee which wouldnt exist online)

I spoke at length with both the reservation and pc depts the guy in reservations assured me that tickets purchased under economy saver fares with t class are valid for upgrading he said that the system had been changed recently

pc made a booking on hold for me unfortunately with added service fee of gbp25 with the guarantee that I can upgrade however surely the online booking should be fine considering information received at gbp 25 cheaper and 500 Qmiles
any experts concur?

When I spoke with the Call Center, they told me exactly the opposite. They said though it is an Economy Saver ticket, it has to be at least Q class to get an upgrade (which is as per their existing rules)! Wonder why they have different stories!! In fact, it was the agent who insisted that I buy a Q class ticket which I purchased over the phone.

I have made similar experiences with the QR Call Center - they seem to be very inconsistent (maybe partly because they don't know their own rules).

If you're not happy with the solution they offer you / their answer, just try again a while later and you might get an entirely different result. :)

I now have a 4th conflicting advisory they say I should choose a higer fare with Q class which obviously doesn't exist on their booking system I'm slowing getting irritated with this and considering booking with EK

You really shouldn't have to have paid that 30 euros given that it was their website not offering you the correct (and available) fare class which forced you to call. That's very poor customer service from Qatar....wait, why am I surprised !!

I will be looking to book an economy ticket on QR (for the first time) and upgrade it using QMiles to a business class ticket so this discussion is very pertinent to me.
Interested to see what further information you manage to get out of QR about this.

It seems a total shambles.

http://www.qatarairways.com/Privileg...e_changes.page

- Cabin upgrade eligibility change for Economy Promo fares
Fare purchased under Economy Promo fare (booking classes T, O, W) and Group or Tour fare (booking class G) will be ineligible for cabin upgrade to Business Class.
The number of Qmiles required for a cabin upgrade depends on the fare purchased.
Regular Qmiles will be required for an upgrade from Economy Value (booking classes K, M, L, V) and Economy Saver (booking classes S, N, Q) fares to the next higher cabin.
Our Economy Flexi Fare (booking classes Y, B, H) will be eligible for a discounted Qmiles rate for cabin upgrades.

Sisyphus1carus note the date the chnges are valid from! - 1st July 2016. Not a great deal of help a year later.

I tried negotiating with them, but all they said there was no way they could issue the ticket without the 30 EUR charge as it is system generated. This has been the case even for other tickets issued by the Call center (for example infant tickets - which cannot be purchased separately online).
If you are looking to buy an Economy ticket and then upgrade it using miles. Tell them exactly this, and tell them you´d like to do the whole transaction over the phone and see what they say. I bet they will say you have to buy the Q Class fare. The funny thing is that lets assume you buy a lower fare class T and then you see you cannot upgrade it because it is not Q or above. In order to upgrade it to Q class, apart from the fare difference you have to pay the penalty for a voluntary change (which is very high for low fare tickets)! This was confirmed to me by the QR agent after multiple calls

The last guy I spoke assured me that the y saver in t is definitely valid for upgrading but I don't feel confident

Ugh. So annoying. They used to show O, T and W fares only under Economy Promo on the website and it was easy to select a Saver fare in the knowledge that it could be upgraded. Now that they are grouping O,T and W with Saver fare it means either waiting until the cheaper fare codes have sold out of the Saver category or not buying the ticket online (i.e. travel agent, QR sales desk or QR service centre - all of which have added fees) :mad::mad::mad:

I don't know if the re-grouping of the Promo fares to Saver is a deliberate move or merely general IT incompetence...