Change Avios Award Booking
 

Sorry if question has been answered already but I'm trying to change a O/W Award booking using Avios, including the origin and destination cities. When trying to change online, despite suggesting the option to edit O&D cities is there, these appear locked, only allowing date change.

1. Do I need to call in to make this change? If so, any recommended times to call from USA?
2. Is cost $25 per person as well outside 24 hrs?

Anything else I should be aware of?
Many thanks

If you are changing origin and destination without any major involuntary changes having been made to your current booking, you may be seen as effectively cancelling one ticket and booking a new one. You will need there to be avios availability on the new route and dates. There may or may not be an adjustment in the amount of avios required compared with your existing ticket routing, and to the taxes and fees. QR may or may not choose to ask you to pay the non refundable booking fees again, if they deem you are actually cancelling and booking a new ticket. Depending on your membership tier in QRPC, there may also be a cancellation fee if QR deem you to be cancelling your current ticket to book the new one.

The Doha call centre is open 24 hours and cheap to call using Skype or similar. The contact number for your membership tier will be on your QRPC dashboard once you log in to your account.

Alternatively you can send them a message via Contact Centre from your QRPC dashboard, selecting from the appropriate drop down message subjects, and telling them which flights you want to change to. If there is any fee to pay they will place the new itinerary on hold and tell you how long you have to pay this. There will then be a payment link on the Manage My Booking page for the reservation.

thanks for the detailed reply - am expecting an increase in Avios but a refund in fees comparing original vs. new itinerary, but am hoping I only get charged the $25 change fee vs. losing the booking fee.

going to submit via the contact center per your suggestion

thanks!

Please let us know what they say about the fees for this sort of change, I'm sure others will find that helpful info

I tried to change the origin of a redemption with Avios (booked through QR) and the call center is stated that it's impossible to do. They're saying that the fare rules state that it's impossible to change the origin. The only option is to cancel (and wait 7-28 business days for the refund of the Avios) then rebook.

I then tried to change the timing of my flight, keeping the original routing. Despite showing availability online, the agent then said that there was no space on the new routing. The website also errors out when I try to change online. Apparently, this was because a change of ticket books into a different fare class than new avios bookings. Again, the only option is to cancel then rebook.

If you have better luck, please let me know. This has been an extremely frustrating process.

This has not been my experience. Earlier this year I was able to change dates of redemption bookings online. More recently that option has posted an error after taking payment (automatically refunded shortly afterwards) but I have then sent messages via the appropriate drop down options in Contact Centre and had the new tickets issued, in one case about an hour later.

Perhaps the Contact Centre option may route your message directly to someone at QRPC who has the authority to make whatever behind the scenes adjustments might be needed, rather than a standard reservations call centre operator who may not be able to amend redemption bookings directly?

Likewise with cancellations and refunding avios. I have posted several times here that I have had refunds often same day when cancelling via Contact Centre.

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If you remember which subtopic you select to get QR reply you that fast? I am waiting for their reply since July 20. I just selected redemption then change avios booking when using QRPC contact center to message them.. frustrating…

I just logged in to check and interestingly the number of service area and service sub area options available to select from has been reduced quite a lot since last month. There used to be a "refund avios" option which is the one that always gave me a rapid reply. I hope that has not gone forever... I last used the award booking change option 4 weeks ago and that was resolved within 48 hours.

Alternatively, have you tried calling the QRPC number in Doha? In contact centre, select your country and then to the right should be the 24 hour Qatar number for your membership tier. It's not expensive to call if you use skype or similar. I haven't called them recently but they always seemed better to deal with than the main call centre number.

Thanks for bringing up QRPC's QR #. Called them recently, and they finally manage to cancel my booking but unfortunately, they have to submit refund request which take UP to 28 business days. Def much better than QRPC US line, which dont do anything for me. Note to myself - be sure about my ability to take trip when I use avios to avoid long wait to get avios back.

Bummer that QR remove "refund avios" part from dashboard.

May I ask what number you called? I’ve called several times and the most they’ve done is to get them to cancel the booking. But I’ve been told repeatedly that I need to wait for an answer from the online form. I’ve sent several messages in all categories and I’ve been waiting for 2 weeks now. I did note as well that the options are reduced now.

Replying to my own question, I called the Qatar number and after some polite pushing I was told that an email/message was sent on the background to expedite it. We’ll see if it works.

Did they act quickly for you? My award booking is officially canceled last week so I'll wait 1-2 week before calling QR to press them with redeposit miles and fees back to credit card. I hate when airlines take THAT long to process cancelled award booking (up to 28 business day is ridiculous but i guess they require manual processing...

Puh, that's a pity! I have a Avios booking with QR and am considering in changing my origin (so the first leg), but not the destination (second leg). The thing is that there is no more availible award seats on the second leg. So if they can't change it directly and have to cancel, then I risk that the second leg will not be anymore availible, right (cause either someone else bookes it until I got my Avios back and can book again or they don't even open this seat anymore)?
Or did anyone manage to change the first leg of the booking on the phone?

I'm finding the same as some of the others here. I called Privilege Club and was told that the fees would be refunded to my credit card, then I would have to call into Privilege Club to pay $25 and get the miles back, which would happen instantly (ha!)

I "canceled" two award bookings online on Monday (Aug 1) after they assured me multiple times that they could not change the origin. I got a cancellation email for each but as of Monday evening both reservations were still active in the system.

On Tuesday (Aug 2), I chatted (they couldn't help) and then called, and was told that I am calling too soon and it would take some time. I asked if I could pay the penalty on the phone and the agent sounded surprised. He said he never heard of this and they would just refund the cash minus a $25 penalty and give me back the miles automatically. He said it could take 8 hours to show the cancellation.

On Friday (Aug 5) with both reservations still active, I called again. The agent confirmed that both itineraries were active and not cancelled. He cancelled them while I was on the phone. He told me it would now be 7-28 days for a cash refund minus the $25 penalty and I'd get the miles back automatically.

Current status is that both itineraries are cancelled and I can't access them on the web, so that is a step in the right direction. I imagine I will be calling multiple times in the next few weeks.

It took 2-3 days after this call for the avios and taxes to be re-deposited/refunded. The whole process took about 2 weeks, maybe a bit more.