tpassage12

I started traveling with Qatar Airways frequently from 2021. I also signed up for their FF program, Privilege Club. On average, I take three round trips every year between Atlanta and either Dhaka or Kathmandu, depending on price and availability. All of my trips in the last two and half year is on business class except one. Last year, I had to travel within four days’ notice, and the business class fare was a little over $8,000, so I bought a ticket in economy class.

The good thing about Qatar is after just two business class round trips; I became Platinum status. There is another perk Qatar offers is Q Credit. Once you become Gold, they give you 40 Qcredit, and when you become Platinum, you get another 60; then, on your anniversary, if you remain Platinum, you get another 60 Qcredit. The highest I ever had was 170 Qcredit.

You can use these Qcredits for class upgrades or to pay for extra baggage fees. There is a calculator that tells you how many Qcredit you need for certain upgrades or for extra baggage.

When I had to buy a ticket in the economy class, I tried to use Qcredit to upgrade my flight, but it was not available, I then tried with miles (Avios) but still was unable to do so because there were no seats available in that fare code, but I was told I could upgrade using cash. At the time of checking, I asked the agent/manager on duty if there were any empty seats in Business class. He said there were three; I asked if he could offer me an upgrade since I am a platinum member, and this is the first time I was traveling in Economy. His exact reply was, “Sir, unfortunately, we are not allowed/able to do those upgrades.”

Since then, I have tried two more times where I bought a round trip on economy to other destinations and then tried to upgrade; each time I was unable to do so because the class was not available! So, both times I returned my ticket, which you can do without any penalty if you return within 24 hours of purchase.

About two months ago, I noticed that half of my Qcredit was about to expire in a few weeks, so this time, I didn’t bother to buy a ticket and then try to upgrade. Instead, I asked for help from the reservation desk, I gave them open dates, and I said I could travel any day in February or April and return date should be within 7-10 days of departure. I wanted to take my wife on a vacation. After about a half hour, the agent notified me there were no available seats for an upgrade! I then offered them two other international destinations and asked him if he could find me a return trip to either destination, and again, I gave him a broad range of months and dates. Once again, I was told nothing was available!

About two weeks ago, I decided to try and find a business class ticket to any city in southeast Asia from Atlanta using my Avios. I was able to find just one destination out of the 5 I tried, and the Avios I needed for this trip was 320,000!! So, I then figured it would be better if I use my Avios on one of the one world partner airlines, but I found out the link that takes you to the partner airlines, in my case, AA from Qatar, does not work. With a little research, I found two other similar complaints (link not working) from 5 and 7 months ago.



So, this is my conclusion:



The best in-flight service – Each and every flight I was on was equally great. The food and the presentation were top-notch, the best, at least in my limited experience. In the last two years, I also traveled on Virgin Atlantic, Air Frace, Turkish, Singapore and Emirates, all of which were on business class.

This is how I would rank each of them based on In-flight service (food, beverage choices, presentation, professionalism, cleanliness and most importantly, seating and privacy).



In-flight Service:

Qatar Air -10(Among other things, they are the only one that offers on-demand dining, and their Q suites are the best)

Singapore -8(Wide business class seats with some privacy)

Turkish and Virgin (Tie) – 7

Air France – 4



Lounge – (Food, seating, privacy, cleanliness, service)

Qatar – 10

Emirates – 8 (Better food selections compared to any other airlines, not to mention the huge size of the lounge)

Singapore – 7.5

Virgin – 7

Turkish 6 (Great food selection, but too crowded, hard to find a place to seat at times)

Air France – 4

Disclaimer: When traveling in business class, platinum members can access the First-class lounge, which is a class all by itself. They offer On-demand dining and access to a private room for 4-5 hours so you can nap and shower. They also have game rooms for kids and grownups, a Spa facility and your own private Duty-Free shop.



Customer Service (on the phone or via chat):

Singapore – 9

Virgin -8

Qatar and Emirates (tie) – 7

Turkish – 6

Air France – 5



Frequent Flyer Program benefits and point redemption:

Turkish -10 (Among all the Star Alliance members, Turkish offers the most bang for your mile)

Singapore -8(I use my Turkish FF in Singapore and have friends who use the KrisFlyer program, and they love it)

Emirates -7.5(My father travels Emirates, and so far, he was able to get one free roundtrip and two upgrades using his miles)

Virgin Atlantic – 6(Based on two friend’s opinions and my online research, I took my miles on my Delta Sky Miles account)

Air France (No rating since I do not know much about their program; I took my miles on my Delta Sky Miles account)

Qatar Airways – 1(As I mentioned, there is no value or benefits that I have seen or experienced being a Platinum member for a little over two years. Almost impossible to use miles or Q credits for upgrades and award tickets.)



In my observation, Qatar’s Doha hub is missing two things.

1.No privilege club help desk

2.The customer service/change desk is only allowed to change same-day flights; if you need to change dates on a return flight or another flight in the near future, you need to call or get online. Both are very strange, in my opinion.

3.Almost no upgradeable options using Q credits or Avios.

4.The highest status (Platinum) does not get you any extra privileges or benefits other than access to the first-class lounge.



Final Thoughts:

I will still be flying Qatar as long as their price and in-flight service remain the same, but I have already switched my FF to American Airlines (with the status challenge for a fee). I received Ex. Platinum, and I am already seeing the benefits. In the last three domestic round trips, I got upgraded 75% of the time. The best part is that more than half of those upgrades were confirmed 48 hours before the flights.

I also noticed how easy and simple it is to upgrade or book award tickets with AAdvantage.

I was and still am a platinum member with Delta, but recently, with all the changes to their FF program, it is becoming difficult to maintain the status with Delta, especially now that they have switched to MQD-only Metrix.

Considering all the facts and after weighing all the pros and cons of Qatar, I came to the conclusion that there is no reason to use Qatar’s privilege club membership; it does not offer any benefits to its members. Instead, it is better to take the mileage credit on other One World airlines; for me, it is obviously American Airlines.

florin

Not all FF programs are for everybody; I'm glad you've found the ones that work well for you.

AAtticus

I feel this is such a cop out reply. The OP has posted a very detailed and enjoyable read about their analysis, no need for sarcasm or snarky comments (in before "I wasn't being sarcastic").
Let's just agree the upgrade availability on Qatar is hard to find for their own members and it's better to use your Avios on other partners.
The lounge passes and QPoints are basically worthless but I guess it's offset by the hard and soft product + HIA experience and I can find myself agreeing with the analysis posted by the OP.

brunos

Interesting post.
I am considering moving to QR Privilege. But I don't understand how you can get Platinum (600) with just 2 return trip in Business.
COuld anyone explain?

billy.f

I think it's possible if you take very long flights (e.g. US-DOH-Aus) and higher fare bucket (e.g. Business Comfort or Elite) or when there's double Qpoints promotion. I do enjoy OP's detailed review of his experience, and agree it's more difficult to find upgrades (and upgrade availability also depends on route, with those to/from US and Western Europe being more limited).

However, I do find gaining status on QRPC is easier compared to many other FFP. With QRPC it's even possible to obtain status with just 1-2 flights on higher fare bucket / during promotion, as illustrated above.

tpassage12

Thank you for all the comments. I appreciate it. I do need to make one correction, though. I misspoke when I said I became platinum after just two round trips; I just downloaded the activity statement 2021-2022 and noticed I was getting roughly 130-150 Qpoints per round trip, depending on the fare class. So, it took me more than two trips for sure, but I was traveling so frequently around that time that I think it felt like in no time I became a Platinum member.

florin

This was neither snarky nor sarcastic. I truly believe what I said.
QCredits can be used for upgrades, but it's not trivial (QRPC does not make it trivial). The comparison with US domestic upgrades is a bit silly, IMO. There's really a lot to unpack... the bottom line being that not every FF program is for everyone. QRPC hasn't worked out for the OP, but AA does, so there you have it. No need to take it so personal and pounce in my reply like that. Chill out...

KingCanute

Two I class returns BKK-SFO during the 2x promo earlier this year accrued me 984 Qpoints. Even at 1x that's then only a few short hauls across the year from reaching or renewing platinum. The ultra long haul routes such as Aus/ NZ or west coast US can be particularly rewarding

Agent69

Ranked on everything but ticket price?

FlyingNowhere

For those of us in the UK, the close tie in between Qatar and BA works well (since BA is the 'home' airline for UK) but I always credit flights to my BA account. With BA it's quite easy to get to gold (One World Emerald)

Matt4

OP should have asked to upgrade at airport using its Qcredits instead of requesting a complimentary upgrade. Airport upgrades usually work well (and are available at almost all QR destination), as long there is a seat available in J (and enough catering but that isn’t usually a problem). It’s a far more easy way to upgrade than to try to find upgrade availability in advance after booking the ticket.

Privilege clubber

As a platinum member I can confidently say that Qatar Airways Privilege club is a SCAM!!

They deliberately make it impossible to utilize Avios or Qcredits.

I booked an economy class flight two months in advance with plenty of business class seats available and they won’t let me upgrade. After tens of calls and complaints they asked me to call a week before then a day before and then to come to the desk an hour before the flight (there was a seat available). When I came back an hour before the flight in Doha airport desk (the one near gate C2) they told it was just gone!!

I have been flying Qatar Airways for well over 13 years and now I am just looking to liquidate my points to find another FF that is not worthless like Qatar Airways Privilege Club.

ft101

I think you'll find they're all much the same. Advice even on here for a while now has been not to chose your airline based on its Frequent Flyer program.

KingCanute

As a platinum member who has flown with QR for well over 13 years, is it not apparent that the situation with redemptions and flight loads right now is not representative of the situation during the previous 12+ years? Yes, using avios and qcredits is harder right now than it has been previously. But presumably it has all gone well enough for you previously to maintain your long relationship and top tier membership, and to have utilised your benefits throughout that decade+?

An inability to upgrade one flight now hardly justifies calling it all a "SCAM!!", particularly if one of the gripes is that someone else got to the desk before you to snag a first come first served benefit?

But thank you for taking the time to register a new account to tell us. Welcome to flyertalk.

I hope you find another programme that better suits your needs.

am0985

As someone pretty new to QR Privilege Club, the award availability was pretty good earlier this year. 11-12 months out there was pretty good availability in J on LHR - DOH - Australia flights for standard redemption.

It then basically shut down for European summer 2024 redemptions which was expected. Problem is now that even opening out into October/November 2024 - traditionally not high demand times - availability is still almost non existent at standard redemption rates in J. This isn't just down to high demand relative to capacity as they were high earlier this year, this is clearly a business decision to effectively devalue the program. A pretty annoying blow after they tempted in people with 20% bonus on transfers to QR Avios over this time.