purple1addict

I was admitted to Al Mourjan about an hour ago with no questions asked - my ticket was upgraded with qmiles and reissued in December. However, this is the busy period, so I don't know whether the FF lounges may be overcrowded and they're sending Plats to Al Mourjan anyway (I didn't stop to ask in my haste to take advantage of the positive scan result ).

Also, I don't know if there may be any difference between tickets reissued before or after any particular cut-off date... But this is QR so it makes perfect sense that we're all left wondering

Dr. HFH

Actually, this seems consistent with what has been written above. Upgrades at the airport are not eligible for Al Mourjan or Al Safwa lounge admission; but those acquired before the day of departure are. IIRC elite status has no relevance for AM or AS admission; it's solely dependent on your cabin of travel on QR or another OneWorld carrier.

AAmerican_in_London

On the return leg from Athens > Doha > Nairobi on Jan 28th - ticketed in Y; upgraded using Q-credist - I accessed Al Mourjan with no issues at all.

The lounge was also a zoo...

Not sure what happened on my outbound leg, but there is something amiss at QR.

Anyway, over to EK after this trip for what I hope is at least a slightly improved customer experience.

LebaneseInQatar

Hey folks,

So apparently, QR has changed its policy, on their PC upgrade redemption page they have added a note that reads: "Effective 17th December 2017, baggage allowance and lounge access will be provided as per originally ticketed cabin."

This seems to be the new direction they're headed. I really have no idea what the wisdom behind this decision is, as it unfairly punishes QR's most loyal customers! Oh, and the same applies to the email upgrade offers - which some of us receive a week or so before the flight time. They have also amended the terms and conditions to read that baggage allowance and lounge access policy will be as per initially ticketed cabin.

I think those of us who were lucky enough to be admitted to the lounge, be it AM or AS - have either bought their tickets before the new policy change, or were lucky to take advantage of QR's confusion amidst these changes.

JasperT

That really devalues their PC perks.. It's already hard enough finding reward seats, now this..
They should change AM or AS entry for Qatar PC status members.. O'well.. Guess they want you to buy entry these days?

FlyingScientist

To be fair, there appears to be a lounge overcrowding problem in Doha (when do the North Node lounges open? - "soon" I guess). However, it seems that the largest pressure is on the Business Lounge, which will be further increased by this measure. I would consider using the First Lounge as extended Business Lounge and putting Emeralds in J in AS (which seems underused), and Emeralds in Y in AM.

LebaneseInQatar

I was flying during the holidays season last year, and AM was a zoo. Both restaurants operating at full capacity, long queues at the reception, and needless to stay, no available sleeping pods.
A couple of days later, I checked into AS, and my family and I were literally their only guests.

I agree that AM can be overcrowded sometimes, but I'm not sure that QR is going about this in the right manner. They could very easily, as suggested by FlyingScientist, shift some of the load over to AS.

There also remains the fact that they've cut the extra baggage allowance as well. Not sure about you folks, but very important detail for me, as I do most of my shopping in the US, and fly back to DOH in upgraded J cabin at least twice a year.. If you factor in the additional bag allowance for PC Gold members on US flights, I lose a total of 27 (3x9 kilos) for ticketed pax.

JasperT

Over the last 6 months I've connected through DOH about 6 times, twice arround 5pm, twice around midnight and twice arround 5-6 am..
AM wasn't crowded 5/6 times the one time it was fairly crowded (not full I'd say though) was one of the 5-6am connections , I suppose the morning is the busiest.. But I've never not found a place to sit.

Johnnieboy

LebaneseinQatar, thanks for posting that.

I can see on the "Upgrade at the airport" page that is says "Lounge access will be as per original ticketed class, if eligible and is subject to availability" Upgrade at the airport. So that confirms what we thought about last minute upgrades.

Over on upgrades section of the Qcredits page however it says that an upgrade "Does not grant access to premium lounges unless holding a premium ticket" qcredits So that is pretty much where we thought we'd got to - if upgrading in advance results in the issue of a new ticket for the upgraded cabin then you will have the upgraded lounge access.

If the page your quote came from suggests different to this, it would be really helpful if you could post a link to it please. Thanks!

lost_in_translation

It's on the 'Reedeem on Qatar Airways' page (think you probably have to be logged in to QPRC to see it) - https://qmiles.qatarairways.com/ffpo...dAwardMain.jsf

"You can now book award tickets on Qatar Airways for flights departing at least 2 days from today. For flights within the next 2 days, please contact us at [email protected]. Should you have insufficient Qmiles, you can also buy Qmiles (up to 50% of the required Qmiles for your award ticket) or use the Qmiles plus Cash option to request your award ticket.

Effective 17th December 2017, baggage allowance and lounge access will be provided as per originally ticketed cabin.

Not all Qatar Airways flights operate First Class/Business Class. Upgrades are subject to availability. Upgrade is applicable only on flights marketed and operated by Qatar Airways and should be issued on Qatar Airways document (ticket number starting with 157)."

lost_in_translation

Exactly. This surely materially increases the chances QR Plats won't spend miles on an upgrade (and will instead save them for outright redemptions), with the end result that QR ends up in some cases having to give them an opup for free instead.

lost_in_translation

It's also on this page - https://www.qatarairways.com/en/Priv...em-qmiles.html

LebaneseInQatar

Hi Johnny,

yes, like lost_in_translation pointed out, this text is available on the upgrade redemption page, where you have to be logged in : from the QR PC homepage, go to the Upgrade Widget, and enter your PNR. It will take you to this page.

i also called QR PC Priority line, and they confirmed the new policy for all upgrade redemptions. Needless to say, I gave them a piece of my mind. Doubtful it will get sent up the chain of command..

Johnnieboy

Ah, thanks both. I was logged in but was just looking at the main info pages rather than trying to upgrade a particular booking.

As people suggest, this is a downgrade of benefits. Presumably upgraded tickets issued before that date don't apply, given that I and others have gained access to the upgraded class lounges over the last few days.

I'd say that al safwa access is actually more of a perk than sitting in the First cabin, esp on regional, so that's a big loss

lost_in_translation

Although the flight is shorter I think regional F is at least a big step up over economy in hard and soft product, the bigger problem is definitely long haul F to me. The difference between J and F seats isn't *that* big, the catering is basically the same except sometimes you get some caviar in F, often the A380 bar gives F champagne to J passengers anyway - to me the biggest difference between QR A380 F and J is Al Safwa access!