flashware

By placing my booking on hold, I was told I could rebook up till the end of 2 years from original ticket issue for no fare change as long as I booked into the same bucket.

So that restriction may only for those processing a date change there and then, in which case placing on hold might be a workaround?

ISTFlyer

According to my very recent experience, it takes longer than normal to get support at the moment.
For the first time ever it took long as 4 hours for the WhatsApp support line to return to me and at the 2nd hour, I had already called the Platinum line and for the first time I waited about 5-10 minutes for an agent to become available. In the past, I had never had a wait longer than 1-2 minutes at the QR Platinum line.

I assume that you are QRPC Gold ( from your profile ) so it would be better to call the Gold hotline before your flight to avoid no-show fees. Your booking should be cancelled at least 3 hours before departure in order to avoid the no-show fee.

By the way, I have no idea why the QR customer service channels are overwhelmed at the moment.

ISTFlyer

To clarify,

As your situation is involuntary,
If you rebook you end your travel until 31 December 2021, no fare difference would be charged if there is availability in the same cabin ( no same fare bucket required ).
If you wish to travel in 2022, availability in the same fare bucket would be required and when you would like to book at a higher fare bucket, a fare difference and a change ( service ) fee would be collected.

Also, a reminder that after your first rebooking, unless another involuntary situation occurs, all further changes would be considered as voluntary.

salehir

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to clarify whether being positive for Covid count as an involuntary change for QR? If I get a positive result will QR allow me to shift my flights without any charge. Secondly, I had upgraded these flights using their pre departure upgrade offers so if it does count as involuntary would I retain the upgrade or lose it?

plunet

Yes, if you have COVID around the date of departure then according to the current Qatar policy this counts as an involuntary change. However they do require proof as per the policy text below. The full policy as currently offered by Qatar is in the wiki (the first posting in this thread)



I seriously hope you don't have COVID, and if you do you make a speedy and full recovery.

I am not certain about pre-departure upgrades, hopefully someone else can confirm on that point.

salehir

Thanks for the info, I have just started getting some symptoms so wanted to be proactive in this scenario

ISTFlyer

In case of involuntary situations, the upgrades are refunded if you opt for a refund or you are re-booked in Business Class if you wish to change your travel dates.
However, the point that I'm not sure if that QR would like to see evidence of your positive COVID test. ( Eg. They might ask it through the feedback form )

flashware

Mine was deemed voluntary, as the flights were still operating. 2 different agents confirmed no charge for rebooking any dates in the same fare bucket 2+ years from ticket issue; which puts me in 2022 for the dates I need to rebook to, which I did ask them 3 times to confirm no charge and was told that's correct even if booking 2022 dates. So, I guess we will see what happens when I try ..... will report back.

ISTFlyer

Oops, sorry for the confusion about voluntary/involuntary. You probably misquoted my response to another poster so that created confusion.

Then as you mentioned, you would be able to select any date at the same route with availability on the same fare bucket until the validity of your ticket ( 2 years after you've requested to hold on ). Obviously, a fare difference would apply when rebooking on a higher fare bucket.

For travel in 2022, this sentence that I made previously remains valid until QR changes or modifies the policy. Of course, if you rebook at the same fare bucket, no fare difference or change fee would be collected.

GT49

As of 22 Dec the EOC t&c’s have completely changed. There is now no option to apply for a voucher or extend ticket validity for 2yrs. On the plus side it seems to be possible to have a full refund without flights being cancelled ie. voluntary.

Am I mis-reading this ?

realgaga

I've updated the 'wiki' bit with the EOC Policy V2.0 link which has quite a number of changes.

ISTFlyer

Wait, if I'm not wrong, are all QR tickets now fully refundable except YQ/YR?
The "Refund to Original Form of Payment" does not state anything for voluntary or involuntary cases. It just says "may waive refund penalty".

realgaga

Yep. It's good that they're making cancellations much easier but at the same time it's no longer viable to buy a cheap fare and change it.

GT49

That’s my reading of it. Not sure about the YQ/YR though

realgaga

It's a shame that they're now only waiving the rebooking fee instead of everything like before.