QR Award availability
 

In 2016, I booked a J Class, One World RTW ticket through QF for 280k points. The itinerary included four QR flights and I thoroughly enjoyed all of them to the point that QR is now my preferred airline. At the time, it seemed like there was reasonable availability for the flights I was after. I am currently researching for another RTW trip in J and it seems that a lot of QR award availability has dried up. SYD - DOH is virtually non-existent as is anything to/ from JFK to DOH. Is there any reason why availability seems to have diminished and on some routes completely gone?

I would really like to experience QR again but it looks like it may prove too difficult in some circumstances. I am looking at several routes, SYD - DOH, DOH to CDG, JFK, MXP or reverse. I am currently searching the QF and BA sites for seats.

IMO, a lot of space was eaten up in the last sale. If we assume that award space comes out of the least expensive ticket categories, then it's easy to see why you, like me, are having so much difficulty finding award space. Probably makes sense for QR, at least up to a point. They'd undoubtedly sell the seats for cheap cash than have them go as awards. So the trick, it seems to me, is to grab award space for 2019 before the increasingly predictable January sale.

I remember finding 4 x J seats on long haul routes was common place, even post sales. Now I'm lucky if I can find one...

I think JFK and CDG Qsuite flights have zero award seats to begin with at the moment

Thanks for the input. It's frustrating but booking award seats has always required some flexibility.

Are there some popular routes that have more availability than others? I will still be able to complete a RTW fare with other One World airlines but I would love to include QR in the itinerary. Anything around Europe and Asia would have me interested.

It does appear that QR has pulled all or nearly all partner award availability. I have been checking multiple routes on BA.com across multiple dates in September and October (very painful). I have found exactly ZERO availability in all classes. I have also checked Qantas booking engine with same results - zero QR flights. QR flights did not show up once. I also called AA to check if it's just a BA/Qantas glitch - the agent checked 2 months across several routes - no QR flights showed up at all.

Is QR pulling out of OneWorld perhaps? Or just not playing by the rules?

Availability seems to be getting more scarce as time goes on. Not sure what QR's obligations are in regards to making award seats available but putting out next to nothing makes it seem like they're shirking their responsibility.

It's nothing to do with partner availability - there is also no award availability to its own QMiles members except at the 2x price.

Yes i noticed that also, standard award availability has become very poor in J or F cabins between Europe and Asia, hopefully situation will change soon

I was due to travel on QR831/15 yesterday but I changed the date to 12th of course my multiple requests for redemption upgrade received the standard.. We have checked ...

According to ef there were 6 empty seats in J and 6 in F on the 831

And 9 on the 15

Ive got 95,000 miles I think by the time I reach Doha would have 100.000 { F to DOH @ 70.000 and J to LHR @ 30000 so would happily use them to get home and good riddance to QR

Error on Dashboard Upgrade Feature?
 

Being new to QRPC award redemption's, I'm running into a problem that hopefully someone can help me with. I'm trying too upgrade a paid J to F. My routing is JFK-DOH-BKK. In the dashboard I retrieve my flight it brings up the segments, in the dropdown box next to the segment for DOH-BKK (only segment with F) it shows Businesstonull(). Tried selecting it and hit continue and get an error message. I realize that there may not be space available for the upgrade, my concern is due to a website error, I'm not even given a fair chance. Any advice?

I have had the same error and reported it to QRPC on 29/01/2018 with detailed description and screenshots.

They acknowledged receipt. A week later I followed up and they said that they are working on it and will "write back to you at the earliest with resolution."

Well now more than a month later still nothing. I submitted all subsequent request via the Contact Centre which I will also not be able to do after 11 March. So guess I won't be able to upgrade anything.

Yes maybe that's the reason Qatar Airways is moving all Privilege Club transactions online ;-)

For sure this is the reason... they are also struggeling in making Tickets booked in Economy Saver, but in booking class O, upgradable through their website....

that's going to be a real issue then I guess they hope pax will go for economy value

I wonder how difficult to get an award through a partner airline BA or CX any luck anyone?

I was being sarcastic, appreciate your input, hopefully situation is solved and award availability comes back to normal soon. The lack of redemption availability is bad press for Qatar Airways.

I'm on QR831 BKK DOH connecting to QR15 LHR on Monday 12th both flights seem wide open 9 in nearly every booking class yet no redemption my only salvation is a adjacent blocked seat

I can not understand their policy... I should credit the next flight to BAEC... :(

I'm looking for JFK-DOH in October and finding lots of economy seats but no business class.

What are the odds of last minute award inventory being released? I have flights booked at saver level but would prefer an earlier routing that has seats open, but none for award currently. Do they release more closer to flight date traditionally?

I bet zero. QR does not want any redemptions. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qata...xperience.html

To add a data point: I booked a MEL-OTP RT using QF points and the inventory was there 7-8 months prior to the flight and it dried up soon after (it's Q2 now). So it seems that inventory decreases with time; not sure if more opens up closer to the departure date. I would expect things like day of the week, public holidays, peak business travel season and such to play a role in this equation.

Hi,
I am trying to find award space for NBO-HKG for next year U fare. QR only displays xQ2 award space but American displays plenty of saver award space on QR on the same dates, also business class (U). (Now AA can show award space for QR online). I can go all the way to the payment page on AA so I don't think it is phantom space. How is it possible that AA has award space available and QR PC does not for its own members?

[Quick update: also checking BA, no award space coming up. This is getting weird.]

well i dont know which day you look, but i can find a lot QR Y+J award space with normal miles (not Q2). I checked award space until april 2018 and nearly every month/week there is space available with normal miles

here a short selection:

https://abload.de/img/screenshot_20181103-1v7e3x.jpg


https://abload.de/img/screenshot_20181103-18ach5.jpg

Thanks for the update! I was actually looking for flights for mid-February but nothing seems be available from February 9th onwards (on the QR website). AA does display award space on its website.

Any recent data points of QR releasing J space as departure gets closer? I'm coming up on 30 days to departure so hoping to be able to re-ticket from Y to J.

Yes! upgrade availability opened up on a flight I'm taking soon about 2 weeks ahead of departure date.

Thanks. Do you mean saver award availability? Or the option to pay cash to upgrade cabin?

I'm struggling to find any award availability in Business to the US for 2020 (Jan-Sept). I can't find any seats to Chicago, JFK, BOS, Washington DC. I've tried starting points in Doha, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur & Bangkok. Anyone being able to find availability? Thanks.

Simple question, if award availability in business only shows Q2.
Would there than be a chance to upgrade from economy to business based on the amount of qmiles? Or will it also be double qmiles?

Usually in my experience if it’s showing reward availability as X 2 it’s unlikely an upgrade will be come available - if space available at check in you maybe able to secure upgrade then .
that said closer to the date of travel you may find the X2 availability becomes normal X1 which MAY open up upgrade seat.

I was able to book 2 from ORD-DOH J class back in may for March 2020 and it was super slim pickings then on any award availability using AA.

Seems like they've really tightened up, on their US routes at least. Also, with AA making it more convenient to book QR awards (online vs. call centre) I'm sure has also made a difference in how long award seats stay available.
In the end I was able to book IAD-DOH-SIN for 2pax in Qsuites for Oct 2020.

Yeah, that is indeed a big MAY. QR obviously first tries to have people pay for their upgrades with cold cash. Only seats which don't get bid on may then be opened up for upgrades using Qmiles/Qcredits. I've been lucky twice, being able to upgrade with Qpoints a few days before departure, but many times it hasn't worked out.

But the other way around is also valid?
If there is reward availability in business at normal rate for the specific route and day, there will also be availability to upgrade from economy to business with miles at normal rate?

I would say yes. However, some CSOs have told me that the buckets are different for the two types, which I highly doubt. HUCA has worked in these situations.

I recently had the issue that on the QR website it did show availability to buy tickets with QMiles for the exact flights of my booking but on my booking itself, one of the flights was not selectable for an upgrade with QMiles or QCredits.
After writing the issue to QR via Contact Center with a printscreen of the availability they have been able to do the upgrade for me. Well after two days I didn't hear anything back so I contacted them via Twitter and some hours later it has been done. Not sure if the Twitter people had any role in it being solved but it seems to me that it helped to speed up the process a bit.