AU25

Hi All,

Does anyone know Qatar Airways actual schedule change policy? I want to know the following:
What are the options e.g. refund, date change, reroute etc.
Is there a minimum time change for these options to be triggered?

I have tried to search for the answer but seems to be a lot of contradicting information. Also the call centre is no help gives a different answer everytime.

haroon145

its been revised if there is a schedule change over 2 hours it's considered a major change so reroute/refund

anything less than 2 hours they will generally not assist unless it causes problems with mct etc

However I've had luck before the policy changed in changing the ams sake fare in changing flights with a 5 min schedule change so you may get lucky with a helpful agent

plunet

As suggested by haroon145, a change of more than 2 hours or a minimum connection time issue will be when you can expect Qatar to treat your reservation has having experience an involuntary schedule change and entertain a conversation on changing it further.

Anything else, you should not expect assistance and the fare rules and t&cs would normally be applied.

ttop10

But does anyone know what is the policy? For example, with AA they let you choose a new flight a day before or after for free. With LATAM it's even better, they let you rebook for free on any flight (same destination, of course) and you can rebook for 7 days before original schedule or 15 days after. I've read their contract of carriage but didn't find any mention regarding this. So what's the policy for Qatar in regards to this?

plunet

What is permitted does vary, but forum experience would indicate that these options normally include retiming to another flight from the same airport, and reschedule to another QR served airport within 500 miles, both subject to availability in the same cabin.

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orbitmic

Schedule change policy is almost never part of the CoC. Airlines have to comply with regulatory obligations (which will change by country of departure) and beyond that, they logically prefer to make their own unilateral policy without being constrained by an unnecessary contractual mention.

ttop10

I called them about my flight that now will arrive 1h later than originally scheduled and that would make me miss my connection. They told me about the 2h policy and that there's nothing they can do free. Unsatisfied, I called again and the other agent I spoke to asked my connection Flight number I was going to miss. She put me on hold and then came back saying that she can't do anything as it is on a separate ticket. Very unhappy with that.

Dr. HFH

QR does have an option you (and others) might want to consider for the future. When you book on another carrier but enter your QRPC number, the QR system can often see the reservation. Then go into the QR system, sign in with your QRPC number and then click on the "manage booking" tab, enter your PNR from the other carrier along with your last name. If the system finds the booking (and IME it does nearly always), you are then given an option to "link" it to your QRPC account. I'm not sure exactly what that means from a systems perspective, but if you say yes, the QR computer at least is aware of the booking, and QR agents (at airport checkin and on the phone) will be able to see it on their screens. That might help with both missed connections and checking bags across different tickets. So far, it has worked 100% of the time when I book UL tickets on srilankan.com using my QRPC number for mileage accumulation.

maxvor

I didn't know that there is such possibility on qatar website, but I can imagine that this is due to the fact that OW (and only OW) guarantees your connection on different reservations. It's alliance-wide policy and I guess QR had to comply. Hence second agent for previous poster first went to check what other flight was, and I guess it wasn't on OW airline, hence reschedule refused. Just guessing

msm2000uk

Can I ask the reason for the separate ticket?

If it was cost related, then regrettably, that is part of the risk you run when booking flights.

M

ttop10

Qatar doesn't operate the flight I need when I arrive in Brazil, so I had to book a flight with a local Brazilian Airline (Azul). I do agree the risk is on me, however I just found out that 2h is the minimum change amount to allow for free change, and that was unexpected for me. Like I said, other OW airlines allow for changes with much less time difference (for LATAM 15min is enough for a free change).

My next flight within Brazil is not OW, when called the agent asked she refused to do the change for free because of that. Do u guys think if I call again and tell them my flight is with an OW carrier, will they ask for ticket number to verify I indeed purchase the flight I'm telling i will miss? Or will they simply trust me?

msm2000uk

Ah, thanks for coming back with the response.

The predicament is a bit of a pain, but regrettably there aren't many options unless they have changed your flight by 2 hours; obviously, that isn't something they've currently done.

M

Dr. HFH

Cool! Azul (Portugese for "blue") was founded by David Neeleman after he was booted out of Jet Blue. Apart from super low fares, one of the reasons that the Brazilians like it is that until its recent order with Airbus, its fleet was all Embraer, a Brazilian manufacturer. Undoubtedly was responsible for many jobs at the manufacturing plant. Classic comeback story for Neeleman.

toz100

Excellent advice! Do you know if this will work also for Non-OW-bookings?

Dr. HFH

I don't know for sure; but I doubt it.