May 14, 2020, 11:57 am
Last edit by: realgaga
'Extending Our Commitment' policy has ended as of Oct 1st 2022.
Please see 'Schedule Change' policy below.
Web Version PDF Version
Important: Read the disclaimers and changes below before reading the policy.
Disclaimers:
ALL TIMES/DATES IN DOHA TIME (GMT+3)
Wiki maintained by realgaga
Please see 'Schedule Change' policy below.
Web Version PDF Version
Important: Read the disclaimers and changes below before reading the policy.
Disclaimers:
- The version of the policy at the time of change applies.*
- This document was made for viewing by travel agents, not passengers.
- You must call in to make the changes to your ticket since fees are waived manually.
- This policy is in addition to the fare rules of your ticket.
- Conditions of Carriage still apply.
- It is expected that there will be more changes to the policy in the future and Qatar Airways can amend the policy without prior notice.
ALL TIMES/DATES IN DOHA TIME (GMT+3)
Wiki maintained by realgaga
Covid-19: Book with Confidence QR Policy
Jul 21, 2020, 10:53 am
#1187
Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Avis First, Hertz PC, National EE，Enterprise Pt, Sixt Plantinum, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 34
Thought I'd share my experience booking with IAP and then using the Travel with Confidence Policy. SPOILER: It was successful, and it was a royal pain, and your mileage certainly will vary. This post will be a bit long, sorry, but hopefully it helps anyone looking at using IAP!
I was sharing on here a couple of weeks ago when I first started my attempt at making changes, and talked about how two different AMEX agents had no idea about the policy and were quite reluctant to make things happen. A lot happened since then!
Here's my full timeline:
Day 1: Bought JFK-TBS-JFK at $140 less than QR's
Day 15: After the 14 day wait, called to change to LAX-MLE-LAX, spent 6 hours on the phone with 4 different agents who called Amex supervisors or QR agents
Day 21: Called again with new R availability dates, 1 agent, 1 try, she called Qatar, got the waiver code, put it through, success!
Day 25: Spent over 4 hours on the phone with 2 different Amex agents who told me there was nothing they could do and whose supervisors told them that even if Qatar gave them waivers, they would not be allowed to use it because it wasn't Amex sanctioned. They attempted to change to DFW-MLE dates that had R availability and quoted me a fare difference of over $3K/ticket because the origin was different. I hung up and screamed so loud I nearly blew out my vocal cords
Day 26: Found LAX dates with R availability, called, got an agent who listened to my whole situation, called QR, made a 3-way call, I gave the very helpful QR agent my info, and just like that, it was ticketed. Fully ticketed by Qatar, with Qatar Airways ticket confirmation email and everything, and in fact QR took control so it is no longer with Amex at all. This final interaction was a dream and felt like exactly what I was hoping for from the beginning. This was over a week ago and we're still good to go!
tl;dr- Booked JFK-DOH-MLE through AMEX IAP, and after about 11 hours on the phone with Amex over the course of over a week, successfully rebooked to LAX-DOH-MLE. I would say it was 100% NOT worth the money I saved by booking through IAP. But that was just my experience. Again, YMMV.
I was sharing on here a couple of weeks ago when I first started my attempt at making changes, and talked about how two different AMEX agents had no idea about the policy and were quite reluctant to make things happen. A lot happened since then!
Here's my full timeline:
Day 1: Bought JFK-TBS-JFK at $140 less than QR's
Day 15: After the 14 day wait, called to change to LAX-MLE-LAX, spent 6 hours on the phone with 4 different agents who called Amex supervisors or QR agents
- One QR agent said that only the destination can be changed (wrong), quoting me $4400 in fare difference per ticket
- One QR agent said that the origin can only be changed within 1500mi so I can only change it to DFW/ORD-MLE (wrong)
- Two Amex supervisors said this policy is not on Amex's instruction list, so even if QR gave the Amex agent the waiver code, they were not authorized to use it
- Final agent succeeded at getting the code and everything but needed QR to ticket it and QR's hours are now apparently 9-6 M-F and it was already Friday night so I was told to call on Monday
Day 21: Called again with new R availability dates, 1 agent, 1 try, she called Qatar, got the waiver code, put it through, success!
- Called QR a few hours later to select seats and they said "the reservation has been changed but the ticket hasn't"
- Called Amex to make sure the ticketing had gone through. "Yup, everything looks good on this end"
Day 25: Spent over 4 hours on the phone with 2 different Amex agents who told me there was nothing they could do and whose supervisors told them that even if Qatar gave them waivers, they would not be allowed to use it because it wasn't Amex sanctioned. They attempted to change to DFW-MLE dates that had R availability and quoted me a fare difference of over $3K/ticket because the origin was different. I hung up and screamed so loud I nearly blew out my vocal cords
Day 26: Found LAX dates with R availability, called, got an agent who listened to my whole situation, called QR, made a 3-way call, I gave the very helpful QR agent my info, and just like that, it was ticketed. Fully ticketed by Qatar, with Qatar Airways ticket confirmation email and everything, and in fact QR took control so it is no longer with Amex at all. This final interaction was a dream and felt like exactly what I was hoping for from the beginning. This was over a week ago and we're still good to go!
tl;dr- Booked JFK-DOH-MLE through AMEX IAP, and after about 11 hours on the phone with Amex over the course of over a week, successfully rebooked to LAX-DOH-MLE. I would say it was 100% NOT worth the money I saved by booking through IAP. But that was just my experience. Again, YMMV.
Jul 21, 2020, 12:13 pm
#1188
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: LAX
Posts: 3,639
I have to say my experience with using Amex to book travel has been so frustrating that I will never, ever use them again. See reference "Originally Posted by scstrider86" for perfect examples.
Jul 21, 2020, 12:35 pm
#1189
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: LAX
Posts: 3,639
Return half of SOF LAX SOF. QR emailed to cancel when the dropped SOF service; I took no action; QR emailed reinstatement of the booking when it became operational (though as American I wasn't yet allowed into Bulgaria); QR emailed a week ago to again cancel "due to operational reasons".
Again I'm doing nothing, pretending QR doesn't have any asterisks attached to their current promise that my ticket will be valid for two years from issue date. I worry that a missing asterisk would lead to an admission that they really don't mean that in my case, because their earlier coronavirus generosities still maintained the normal rule that the trip duration itself could not exceed the one year. (Any link to an empowered Oracle at Qatar that would authoritatively address that question?)
Again I'm doing nothing, pretending QR doesn't have any asterisks attached to their current promise that my ticket will be valid for two years from issue date. I worry that a missing asterisk would lead to an admission that they really don't mean that in my case, because their earlier coronavirus generosities still maintained the normal rule that the trip duration itself could not exceed the one year. (Any link to an empowered Oracle at Qatar that would authoritatively address that question?)
Jul 21, 2020, 1:24 pm
#1190
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Queens, NY
Programs: Bonvoy Titanium, OW Emerald, HH Diamond
Posts: 1,066
tl;dr- Booked JFK-DOH-MLE through AMEX IAP, and after about 11 hours on the phone with Amex over the course of over a week, successfully rebooked to LAX-DOH-MLE. I would say it was 100% NOT worth the money I saved by booking through IAP. But that was just my experience. Again, YMMV.
11 hours is ughhhh a pain worth $150 to avoid.
Thanks for sharing your story - probably took you a half hour to write it so 11.5 hrs total LOL
Jul 21, 2020, 2:19 pm
#1192
Suspended
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 860
It also depends on how you actually booked to begin with. If you have a platinum card and called up the platinum desk to make the reservation you tend to get much more competent people vs. booking online and then calling up and having to speak to the "general" travel department.
I made a change to an IAP booking (booked online) and ended up having to speak to three agents before I found someone competent who was willing to spend the time with me to read through the QR policy posted on their trade site. That agent was able to make the changes in about half an hour.
Jul 21, 2020, 8:32 pm
#1193
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Seattle
Programs: AS MVP100K, Hilton Diamond, IHG Gold
Posts: 3,215
No offense but for something so convoluted, unheard of, and new as this policy, is it really wise to be booking with a travel agency?
i could’ve booked with Orbitz and gotten points but wasn’t gonna take that chance so booked directly with QR.
i could’ve booked with Orbitz and gotten points but wasn’t gonna take that chance so booked directly with QR.
Jul 22, 2020, 12:58 am
#1194
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Dublin
Programs: Aer Lingus, United, Virgin Atlantic, Qatar
Posts: 292
Mrs DJ and junior on way home 5 months after they left.
Initial reports I am being told is that both flights have had light loads. Most of the shops in Doha are closed.
The face shields are a pain but functional. Cabin Crew are PPE'd to within an inch of their lives but still attentive.
Initial reports I am being told is that both flights have had light loads. Most of the shops in Doha are closed.
The face shields are a pain but functional. Cabin Crew are PPE'd to within an inch of their lives but still attentive.
Jul 22, 2020, 6:56 am
#1195
Join Date: Jul 2020
Programs: QR Plat
Posts: 7
Same, glad I booked direct and QR now has the same pricing on their website as most travel agents. It used to be a lot worse
Jul 22, 2020, 8:20 am
#1196
Suspended
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 860
Jul 22, 2020, 3:46 pm
#1197
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: AUS
Programs: AA EXP, MARRIOTT TI, HILTON GLD
Posts: 77
Jul 23, 2020, 6:28 am
#1199
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: London
Programs: Hilton, IHG - BA, GA, LH, QR, SV, TK
Posts: 17,008
the difference between (Doha to A) and (Doha to B) is always going to be less than between A to B.
(unless Doha-A-B is a straight line, in which case both measures are of course equal)
Jul 23, 2020, 8:55 am
#1200
Join Date: May 2014
Location: WRO
Posts: 19
Sounds like nonsense. But it would work in your favour: you could switch Bangkok as your destination, to Los Angeles.
the difference between (Doha to A) and (Doha to B) is always going to be less than between A to B.
(unless Doha-A-B is a straight line, in which case both measures are of course equal)
the difference between (Doha to A) and (Doha to B) is always going to be less than between A to B.
(unless Doha-A-B is a straight line, in which case both measures are of course equal)