21000 complimentary tickets - world teachers day
Oct 12, 2020, 1:44 pm
#136
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Boston, MA
Programs: EK Gold, A3 *G, AB Gold, Jetblue Mosaic
Posts: 1,386
I think blitzkrieg is correct, for the Business Class and First Class longes that are for status passengers (not the main QR lounges) they are probably time limited for paid access. Even paid access to Al Safwa when it was an option was time limited, albeit to 6 hours.
Oct 13, 2020, 7:10 am
#139
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: LHR
Programs: BA Gold, VS Silver, Hilton Gold, IHG Gold, Wyndham Gold
Posts: 85
Is there actually a restriction on the country of departure? Ex-BRU, there seems to be no availability of W fares during Belgian school holidays. However, ex-FRA/CDG/AMS there seem to be options. Not sure however if the conditions allow starting your trip in a different country than the one you registered in.
Oct 18, 2020, 5:58 am
#140
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Austria
Posts: 12
I am reading a lot of complaints about this "promotion". People not finding any "complimentary" flights or actually have to pay for their free flights.
Here is the press release:
Qatar Press Release
"Giveaway will open on World Teacher’s Day on 5 October 2020
Complimentary Economy Class return tickets to any destination operated by Qatar Airways for travel up to 30 September 2021"
The words "Giveaway" and "Complimentary" clearly identifies this as a prize promotion. In the European Union unfair commercial practices are regulated in the DIRECTIVE 2005/29/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL.
The Directive describes two major categories of unfair commercial practices:- those that are misleading (Articles 5(4)(a), 6 and 7) and those that are aggressive (Articles 5(4)(b), 8 and 9). Annex 1 to the Directive sets out a list of "commercial practices that are, in all circumstances, considered unfair" (a black-list of bad behaviour).
On that list under (19) and (20) you can find the following commercial practices which are in all circumstamces considered unfair and therefore prohibited:
This Directive directly protects consumer economic interests from unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices. Thereby, it also indirectly protects legitimate businesses from their competitors who do not play by the rules in this Directive and thus guarantees fair competition in fields coordinated by it.
Therefore, if you are a "winner" of this prize promotion you should get your complimentary ticket to anywhere like advertised without paying anything (at least in the European Union).
Otherwise file a complaint with your local Consumer Protection Agency and/or Advertising Standards Authority (for example: https://www.easa-alliance.org/)
Commercial practices need to be fair to consumers as well as competitors!!!
Here is the press release:
Qatar Press Release
"Giveaway will open on World Teacher’s Day on 5 October 2020
Complimentary Economy Class return tickets to any destination operated by Qatar Airways for travel up to 30 September 2021"
The words "Giveaway" and "Complimentary" clearly identifies this as a prize promotion. In the European Union unfair commercial practices are regulated in the DIRECTIVE 2005/29/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL.
The Directive describes two major categories of unfair commercial practices:- those that are misleading (Articles 5(4)(a), 6 and 7) and those that are aggressive (Articles 5(4)(b), 8 and 9). Annex 1 to the Directive sets out a list of "commercial practices that are, in all circumstances, considered unfair" (a black-list of bad behaviour).
On that list under (19) and (20) you can find the following commercial practices which are in all circumstamces considered unfair and therefore prohibited:
19.
Claiming in a commercial practice to offer a competition or prize promotion without awarding the prizes described or a reasonable equivalent.
Claiming in a commercial practice to offer a competition or prize promotion without awarding the prizes described or a reasonable equivalent.
20.
Describing a product as ‘gratis’, ‘free’, ‘without charge’ or similar if the consumer has to pay anything other than the unavoidable cost of responding to the commercial practice and collecting or paying for delivery of the item.
Describing a product as ‘gratis’, ‘free’, ‘without charge’ or similar if the consumer has to pay anything other than the unavoidable cost of responding to the commercial practice and collecting or paying for delivery of the item.
This Directive directly protects consumer economic interests from unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices. Thereby, it also indirectly protects legitimate businesses from their competitors who do not play by the rules in this Directive and thus guarantees fair competition in fields coordinated by it.
Therefore, if you are a "winner" of this prize promotion you should get your complimentary ticket to anywhere like advertised without paying anything (at least in the European Union).
Otherwise file a complaint with your local Consumer Protection Agency and/or Advertising Standards Authority (for example: https://www.easa-alliance.org/)
Commercial practices need to be fair to consumers as well as competitors!!!
Oct 19, 2020, 3:12 am
#141
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 2,553
I am finally going to look into options for using the vouchers this week. Does anyone know just how generous the Qatar current booking policy is - if we book somewhere for next summer that is then still not allowing us in (if all the covid restrictions are still continuing). Can I get a voucher for the £ spent, change my booking to somewhere that is letting me in still using this offer, etc?
Oct 21, 2020, 9:27 am
#143
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Denmark
Programs: TK Elite
Posts: 11,846
How much was the actual discount for the second/"50% off" ticket? EUR 405 for a AMS-KUL return ticket doesn't sound like 50% off of lowest fare available.
Oct 21, 2020, 9:46 am
#144
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 427
Sneaky of QR.
Oct 21, 2020, 10:25 am
#145
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: AMS
Programs: BA Silver ITA Premium
Posts: 27
As Aston 100 stated the fare class for this ticket is N. For the companion ticket the discounted fare (N) is EUR 204 and the 'Taxes and Carrier imposed fees' are EUR 204 as well. For the free ticket the fare (W) is zero and the 'Taxes and Carrier imposed fees' are EUR 65. Sneaky? Maybe, At least it's not very transparant. However, for us a great deal and who knows we can even go there!
Oct 28, 2020, 1:57 am
#147
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 796
I’m not going to comment on whether QR is generous by offering free tickets or treacherous for pulling the rug beneath our feet with limited W class space during school holidays as I really don’t know what is going on in the inventory department, but what I will say is that if FlyerTalkers find it challenging to hunt for W class on the dates and destinations we want, how is it for 99% of the other people who won a ticket?! Most people are not well-versed in fare buckets and not familiar with advanced concepts like married-segment logic etc...for them it’s just First, Business, Economy etc
a few questions:
1) the no-show fee, is it only applied if one tries to recoup value out of the ticket after a no-show? It would be nice to confirm that the fee won’t be unilaterally applied to the credit card on file
2) the 50% companion ticket:
does it have to be on the same flights as the free ticket? The word companion would seem to suggest so
i know it’s valid for N class and above but what Business fares?
some of you might already see where I’m going with this:
book W class to any destination
Then use companion code to book a QSuites flight (preferably one of the many business promo fares available all the time) to get 50% off
as long as 50% ticket doesn’t have to be same flights and the no-show isn’t charged if you just walk away from the W ticket, it could be a lucrative deal in certain cases?
a few questions:
1) the no-show fee, is it only applied if one tries to recoup value out of the ticket after a no-show? It would be nice to confirm that the fee won’t be unilaterally applied to the credit card on file
2) the 50% companion ticket:
does it have to be on the same flights as the free ticket? The word companion would seem to suggest so
i know it’s valid for N class and above but what Business fares?
some of you might already see where I’m going with this:
book W class to any destination
Then use companion code to book a QSuites flight (preferably one of the many business promo fares available all the time) to get 50% off
as long as 50% ticket doesn’t have to be same flights and the no-show isn’t charged if you just walk away from the W ticket, it could be a lucrative deal in certain cases?
Oct 28, 2020, 9:55 am
#148
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Denmark
Programs: TK Elite
Posts: 11,846
If is not 50% off any fare. It is 50% off the N fares AFAIK
Q on voluntary rebooking: Are these W class fares eligible for the QR guaranteed flexibility policy ? i.e. you will be able to rebook for other dates with W class available without up-fare to 'normal' W class fare? Obviously, if one would rebook into a different/higher booking class than W the difference/upfare would need to be paid, but what if later one succeeds finding W class availability for the more desired travel dates?
Q on voluntary rebooking: Are these W class fares eligible for the QR guaranteed flexibility policy ? i.e. you will be able to rebook for other dates with W class available without up-fare to 'normal' W class fare? Obviously, if one would rebook into a different/higher booking class than W the difference/upfare would need to be paid, but what if later one succeeds finding W class availability for the more desired travel dates?
Nov 21, 2020, 9:21 am
#150
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: HKG/LON
Programs: QRPC-Plat/OWE, MPC, BAEC
Posts: 106
If is not 50% off any fare. It is 50% off the N fares AFAIK
Q on voluntary rebooking: Are these W class fares eligible for the QR guaranteed flexibility policy ? i.e. you will be able to rebook for other dates with W class available without up-fare to 'normal' W class fare? Obviously, if one would rebook into a different/higher booking class than W the difference/upfare would need to be paid, but what if later one succeeds finding W class availability for the more desired travel dates?
Q on voluntary rebooking: Are these W class fares eligible for the QR guaranteed flexibility policy ? i.e. you will be able to rebook for other dates with W class available without up-fare to 'normal' W class fare? Obviously, if one would rebook into a different/higher booking class than W the difference/upfare would need to be paid, but what if later one succeeds finding W class availability for the more desired travel dates?
Under the book with confidence policy, flights can be rescheduled for free given the fare class (W) remains the same, interested to see how this plays out on our tickets.