betonic

We’re looking to book US (any airport) to BKK end of August and I’m finding QR considerably higher than other One World options. We prefer QR but aren’t willing to pay 7k vs. 4k on another airline. Is something going on? Should I wait for a potential sale? Or just give up and book something else? Thoughts and opinions appreciated.

IAN-UK

Qatar established an airline offering bling on the cheap, but now it is working to recover the considerable costs of that bling. Prices have risen relentlessly. QR sales faded away some time ago, though sometimes random city pairs turn up interesting fares.

What you do get from airline's marketing team are annoying offers of "special fares" (up to 20% discount etc etc) to illusive destinations. I just got an emailed "special offer" promising up to 20% discount activated by a discount code. Of course it made not a blind bit of difference to the fares I was inerested in. But feel free to try it - MEM22.

betonic

Thanks for the code but it also did nothing to lower my price.

LittleYaris

I am brand new to QR, but had been tracking my fares since early Feb (luckily pulled the trigger back then). The prices have only gone up in the last 2 months. I’ve also been tracking prices for different dates (e.g., 2, 3, 4, 5 months out), and they make absolutely no difference in fares.

ISTFlyer

Yes, I have also realized the same thing.
Fuel surcharges have increased as fuel prices have doubled compared to the past.

HAF

I just fell in love with QR business during my last rip SFO-HYD (... you can read my mini trip report here..)

I need to head back to India in July and unfortunately I can not find anything less than 10K with Qatar, while SQ is about 6K for my dates ... it is sad but I can not justify 4K more for QR over SQ - especially when SQ gets me in and out of HYD at a much more civilized hour! ... I still remember back in Jan when I was looking at QR this itinerary was running around 4K - so yes their business fare has gone significantly up!

IAN-UK

The link between fuel surcharges and the price of fuel are at best tenuous .

The former is an opportunistic construct to boost revenue, the latter a cost all airlines have to bear - the weight depending on the the carrier's luck with hedging and its operating base.

IAN-UK

There you go - your first whiff of the smoke and mirrors of QR-marketing !

SeeBuyFly

As the pandemic ends (maybe) and inflation surges, different airlines may make different projections regarding what fares they can fill their seats at. This stage is not a familiar situation that airlines have dealt with before. But even in normal times, fares don't make sense from the outside.

I was able to book some really low J fares a few months ago, fully refundable. But that was then.

LoungeLizardHugo

Yes the last few compelling fares (India and ATH) have been gone for a couple months now. The ferocious deals of the past two years are long gone

But then I'm seeing the exact same thing with most hotels/resorts as well.

At least until the FED engineered recession finally takes hold, I'm afraid the deals will be rare.

Hazgreen1

Cheapest routes with q suite on at least one leg on Jan/feb next year? Departing preferably from LHR or European airports. Seen some decent prices for Abu Dhabi. Thailand prices have really shot up too

escape2sun

I've noticed that not only have the QR flight costs shot up, but it's the same with BA etc.

The flights I have taken over the past 3-months have all been completely full, many of the people I've spoken to on re-bookings using vouchers, so no cash for the airline, so those who have to travel seem to be paying far higher prices. I suspect (hope!!!) that after the surge of re-bookings prices will scale back, but not to the their previous levels as airlines will have gotten used to the higher costs being paid

wijibintheair

I am wondering if the hike in prices has anything to do with the fact that many of the vouchers that they issued at the start of the pandemic are now approaching expiry date (mine for instance is next week) and so people are either having to use them at a higher price or lose them? Just a thought. That and obviously later in the year World Cup traffic.

Schwann

I've always been quite fond of the ex-EU fares from the usual suspects like ARN and AMS to Asia etc. They were all available up until around 6 weeks ago. I suppose they're covering themselves from the higher fuel and operating costs.. I would also hazard a guess they've realised they don't need to offer those cheapo fares now due to increased demand which has basically blown it's top.

Time will tell to see if they return but the current uplift of €800-€1500 on most fares won't see me returning to QR anytime soon. But that's fine... not entitled to those cheap fares - however fond I may be.

Pegasus42

I agree one just has to be rational and take one’s business elsewhere until QR fares return to being more competitive – or is that one of so many ‘back to normal’ aspirations that may never come to pass? I like the product a lot but not to the extent of paying silly money. I’m holding a QR EMD (voucher) that will expire on 30 June and am resigned to cashing it in and losing the 10% ‘bonus’. That 10% uplift in EMD value has proved nugatory whenever I’ve wanted to book in the last 6 months, because of the large further payment now required by QR to secure essentially the same seat I had on my 2020 cancelled flights. I claim no expertise in the dark art of airline yield management but from a punter’s perspective QR appears to be taking a short-term approach that will drive some of us away for the longer term. Since I resumed international flying I have seen significantly better value on other carriers and have given them business that would formerly have gone to QR.