ISTFlyer

Yes, you would have lounge access.

gms

I assume their IT must have caught up by now. So has anyone found any examples of routes where the R/Classic pricing has been lowered to reflect the reduced product proposition and support the argument that this is to try to get passengers to buy up from Economy?

Looking at the routes I have mostly used previously, in every case the R pricing is pretty much the same or increased from what it would previously have been. The premium between Classic and Comfort coming out on average around +£600-700 return. So to get the same experience as before I would need to pay this premium (yes, I know that I would get seats and non-QR/crappy lounge access through my status!)

Also, if someone has no status can they still pay to select seats in advance? On the booking page it just says "Seat selection at check-in". That seems a much more obvious and less controversial revenue source compared to expecting customers to pay for lounge access.

Finally, can someone clarify what they mean by "Refundable as voucher" on all types of ticket? Does this really mean that if I book a ticket and cancel I don't get a refund to my card, just a voucher? Or is this just a short-term feature linked to their Covid "Guaranteed flexibility" policy?

mpnakh

Reporting on my experience of calling a few times to inquire about my existing booking, and I got mixed messages from phone agents. About 50% were aware of the pre Nov 8th rule and the other 50% adamant that prior bookings are subject to the new R fare rules (this is going to be fun when trying to access the lounge).

I've had an involuntary change on my flight, which I haven't yet confirmed. I had one agent confirm with her supervisor that the involuntary change will still keep old benefits, but any voluntary date changes will trigger new fare rules. Given my booking is in March, I'll be waiting until closer to the time to decide on new dates for the involuntary change as I'm hoping to fly qsuites which have now been removed from CPT until April. I will also try emailing support to try and get it in writing in case of any issues trying to access the lounge.

Ideally I was hoping for a similar experience as posted, but no luck yet - I may keep calling and see if any agents offers me a similar solution to avoid any chance of being denied access.

etiene

The selection of Asia beach destinations I'm idly watching from AMS are entirely unchanged still. At best looking like the marketing department ought to have been told to hold off on their annoucement if the fares department are this far behind...!

IAN-UK

Yup, exactly so. But we are dealing with QR, an arline tha seldom resists the opportunity to create farce.



These comments say it all:

gms

I now strongly suspect that there isn't any lag with their revenue management/IT systems. They just aren't radically changing the fares. Suggesting this is nothing to do with getting Y pax to buy up, it's about devaluing the lowest business class fare buckets in the hope that business passengers will pay more. It's going to backfire spectacularly. I only pick QR over other airlines if the fares are attractive enough to justify the need for transit in Doha and on the basis of having access to a decent lounge where I can relax/shower/etc. At current prices, buying up to Comfort or Elite doesn't make sense since I could probably fly direct at near those prices. Buying QR lounge access doesn't appeal either, since I would not be allowed to expense that for corporate travel.

gms

One other aspect of this change is puzzling me. The naming of the fare families: Classic / Comfort / Elite

I would have switched the positioning of 'Classic' and 'Comfort'. So Comfort in my mind would represent the base offering (i.e. you get the space and comfort on board). Meanwhile Classic would represent the traditional business class full offer (lounge/seat selection / plus onboard experience). Maybe someone in Marketing got confused taking notes at the one meeting they seem to have had about this

etiene

I suspect we might see some actually compelling prices for the reduced R product during sales - but indeed the "encourage buy up" reasoning is nonsense if the "usual norm" fares are unchanged [those ouside of specific sales, which QR don't seem to very all that much]. It's possible that the new norm might be in force after some upcoming [Black Friday?] sale, I suppose - but until then I see nothing wrong with being skeptical of this unbundling "bargain" having an upside for the consumer.

Agreed, I can see avoiding "lite" or similar but those two terms are unintuitively used.

Reetmafreen

I had a CPT-DOH-LAX booking that booked into R for travel back in May, before all this COVID nonsense kicked in and the flights were ultimately cancelled. The overnight layover in DOH was 7hrs and 55 mins, so I was toying with springing for access to AS in the hope of getting as close to 6hrs sleep as I could, whilst also making sure to sample the other AS goodies.

If going forward, R class tickets have no lounge access (I would have access to the international lounge as a OWS), then if the AS lounge is still priced at ~130 USD, then I would be more inclined to pay that vs. having to pay that on my original trip when I would have had access to AM

railways

I looked at BUD-BKK-BUD fares until the end of Jan. Currently, there aren't any Classic fares. The Comfort fare (I) is about the same price as the previous R sale fare - but it has validity up to one year rather than the usual one month for R fares.

Then I looked at Jan fares - again no Classic fare and a much higher Comfort fare. However, on the days the BUD-DOH flight doesn't operate, the routing BUD/train/VIE-DOH-BKK shows the Classic fare higher than the Comfort fare.

So, clearly, a bit of work still to do for the IT department.

djsflynn

I see where you're coming from, but I'd think 'Comfort' would not be the best fit for an unbundled business class fare because you're not getting the actual travel experience 'comfort' of the lounge ahead of departure and during your DOH stopover, or the psychological 'comfort' of choosing your own seat. But I'd agree that 'classic' is a misnomer here because classic is usually associated with 'the original' or 'the standard'. I reckon QR went down the 'Classic' route because in modern multi-skew marketing the term is often used to mean entry-level.

plunet

Basic, Classic and Elite would probably make more sense. But the marketing department probably doesn't like it.

Traveller999

I just checked a upcoming booking for me+1 - following facts:

• booked in "R" pre-Covid19
• rebooked voluntary / involuntary several times last time before the "unbundling", now the booking is in class "I"
• we both do have Platin status

If I check now online which lounges are included, following appears:

• Qatar Airways First Class Lounge (not Al Safwa), temporarily closed - INCLUDED
• Oryx Lounge - 37 EUR per person
• Al Mourjan Business Lounge - 81 EUR per person
• Al Safwa not mentioned at all

There it goes......

ISTFlyer

Until the Business/First Class Lounge's ( status ones ) re-open, you would still be eligible for the Al Mourjan and I could verify this.
I had many post-COVID occasions with QR when flying Y and was offered to be upgraded to the Al Mourjan online, but when at Doha, I was admitted at the Al Mourjan for free without any issues and any fees as the Business/First Class Lounge's are closed.

Traveller999

Yes, thank you, I am aware of that :-)
I just wanted to show that it will be a time of confusion about regulations and that will be "fun" - the statement from QR was, that bookings made before the unbundling will be honored accordingly. My booking was done pre-covid, but you see what the system is showing... ;-)