Oh.man

I am traveling in business/first between SGN and AMM on Qatar Airways, arriving on QR 971 at 23:15 and departing on QR 402 at 09:10. QR 402 is scheduled to be operated by a wet leased Oman Air A330.

As I understand, I am eligible for complimentary transit accommodation since my transit exceeds 8 hours and I am booked on an immediate Qatar Airways connection. I completed the online form for transit accommodation but the response I received said I was only eligible for paid transit accommodation at USD 150. I called customer service and the representative claimed that I was not eligible because there is an earlier codeshare flight to AMM on Royal Jordanian with a connection of less than 8 hours.

I mentioned that I was booked on the first available Qatar Airways flight but the representative insisted that I was on an Oman Airways flight and not Qatar Airways. To their credit, the representative double checked with their supervisor but came back with the same answer.

A few questions to throw out there:

• Does Qatar Airways differentiate between a run-of-the-mill codeshare flight and a wet leased flight?
• Do regular codeshare flights count as an immediate connection?
• Are codeshare flights eligible for complimentary transit accommodation?
• If a passenger has a transit exceeding 8 hours and is booked on a codeshare flight departing before the next Qatar Airways operated flight are they eligible for complimentary transit accommodation?

The representative also claimed I couldn't use the Al Safwa lounge but later called me back after checking with the lounge team to inform me that I could use the lounge but not the transit accommodation.

My fare class is also eligible and segments far exceed the minimum USD 400.

KingCanute

There is a paragraph towards the bottom of the Non-Eligibility section here that suggests that codeshares count as QR departures:

https://www.qatarairways.com/tradepo...cies/STPC.html

You may wish to book one of the very heavily discounted hotels available for QR passengers through Discover Qatar instead

Oh.man

Thanks, KingCanute.

From the Eligible section:

To me this reads that Qatar Airways will only consider Qatar Airways flights for the connection time. The ineligibility section then (ironically) provides eligibility for passengers booked on a combination of Qatar marketed/partner operated and Qatar operated flights.

The email response I received is somewhat in line with this interpretation, with the email claiming I am eligible for paid transit accommodation.

But my interpretation isn't what matters if customer service disagrees! It wouldn't be an issue if I was also eligible for the stopover program but my transit is less than 12 hours.

Schwann

They're wrong about the Oman Air thing. It's a wet lease as you say, so to all intents and purposes it's a QR flight.

DYKWIA

I think the wet lease is irrelevent here. It's the RJ code share, as explained by the agent.

brunos

Indeed wet lease or codeshare is irrelevant

QR is selling QR6100 at 06:35. You could have selected that flight with a shorter transit (less than 8 hours), but probably more expensive.

Oh.man

Thanks, KingCanute.

From the Eligible section:
From the ineligible section:
To me this reads that Qatar Airways will only consider Qatar Airways flights for the connection time. The ineligibility section expands eligibility for passengers booked on a combination of Qatar marketed/partner operated and Qatar operated flights.

The email response I received is somewhat in line with this interpretation, with the email claiming I am eligible for paid transit accommodation.

But my interpretation isn't what matters if customer service disagrees! It wouldn't be an issue if I was also eligible for the stopover program but my transit is less than 12 hours.

orbitmic

Agree with the others - wet lease is a red herring but in my experience any existing itinerary on the same day with less than 8 hours, regardless of whether it is own metal or codeshare, your departure or another, has available seats or not will mean that the free transit is rejected. They are fierce about those rules and there is no room for negotiation I think. If anything, I thought that being on a codeshare excludes you too (but I think that may be of the paid special rate transit).

Oh.man

Thanks everyone for your input.

I initially was looking at the stopover policy wiki (new account so can't link the post) when typing up the OP, hence the discussion around the wet lease.

I thought that I would qualify under point 1 but it seems I may have misunderstood that a codeshare also qualifies as an immediate connection. Curious why I am eligible for paid transit accommodation but not complimentary.

In any case, the Al Safwa lounge might not be a terrible place to pass the time especially if I can snag one of the rest facilities.

Oh.man

An update for anyone following along:

I approached the transit desk to reprint my boarding pass and was offered complimentary STPC. So it would seem that either codeshares do not count for the purposes of an earlier flight or the STPC folks at the airport gave me a rook incorrectly. Either way, I'm glad it worked out with Al Safwa being closed.