Update: I'm told more details on the new fare structure (which encompasses both Y and J) should land today, around 1400 DOH.

For those with an OW status that would hopefully not change that much as lounge access and advanced seat reservation should be covered by the status.

Not having access to a lounge and still being required to switch mid-way to Asia seems very unattractive compared to flying European or Asian airlines on a Europe-Asia flight.

IIRC, isn’t Al Mourjan at DOH off limits to OWE/OWS or PC members? Yes, there are First/OWE & Business/OWS lounges, but they are apparently not worth comparing...

I wonder if one could ‘buy’ their way in, as can be done for Al Safwa? Or, perhaps just drop the QAR600 for Al Safwa itself?

Do you think the Al Safwa is worth the ~£130/US$170 charge?

Nice - any examples for fares?
And would this affect upgrade fares too reducing them to Basic Business or Full Business in effect?

If the airfare is $340 less round trip, why not? :) I would also hope the Al Mourjan access would be. a bit less...

Still, if a ‘R’ traveller with OWE/OWS is satisfied with access to the First / Business lounges in DOH (expecting that perk stays as per the article), that’s perfectly fine too.

Status doesn't get you in to Al Mourjan. You get redirected to the cheap seats down the corridor.

No to the first question, no idea to the second question... Everything is pretty sketchy right now and we are still waiting for the promised press release to land, And even when it does I am sure that there will still be some details TBA, especially the sorts of details which the FlyerTalk brigade like to dive into!

Kinda expecting this to be merely the removal of lounge access from R fares with little to no reduction in the pricetag - so most likely to be a negative move for most. QR's flying pattern to much of Europe enforces some long layovers for certain destinations too.

Looks like they have now implemented the new fare. Fares are exactly the same as before, but now without lounge or seat reservation.

Indeed. That is what I was worried about. It's almost like what over at BA would call "enhancement" loaded with irony. Many of us previous enjoyed all benefits from R fares on QR. This could be a changer assuming the world returns to some.form of normality.

I guess the key question is how much it will cost to buy these things back. If lounge access is in the $50 range then I'll just sigh and go with this sleight of hand. If it's the $110 they want from economy PAX then that's ridiculous.

Also seems a slightly odd time to do it since I imagine the lounges are going to be far from full for years and the marginal cost of lounge access isn't that high.

I wonder if the 'enhancement' applies to existing or rescheduled 'R' bookings?

This is too bad. I assume this doesn't mean that a new lower fare level will result. Rather, they are just cheapening the R product. If OWE status still gets one advance seat assignments and some sort of lounge access it probably won't be a big deal. Ironically if they just raised the fare $50 or $100 I'd simply pay it, but doing it this way will mean they are unlikely to get that additional revenue from the likes of me.

I have no experience with the lower tier lounges, but how bad could they be if the layover isn't particularly long? I still miss the old premium terminal and its lounge.

For the moment it does.
All oneworld Sapphire and Emerald members + Qatar Airways Privilege Club Silver, Gold and Platinum members and their subsequent guests could use the Al Mourjan Lounge regardless of the travel class and the fare they purchased. Although, this is until the Business/First Class lounges re-open.