The Ultimate Gold Experience - i.e. Emirates vs. Qatar
 

Hi all - A few days ago I was thinking about the Skytrax awards a la "best airline of the year" etc. and I have in the past also completed these questionnaires. If people complete the questions, it just a snapshot of one person rating an experience but without having experienced EVERY airline that is available.

I started very frequent travel when I moved from the U.K to South East Asia in 2010 and the first airline programme I joined was Emirates Skywards and I quickly became one of their Gold members. Without experiencing any other Airlines Gold member benefits, the EK programme set the standard for me.

When EK then removed the lounge access for my wife which is not a gold member and occasionally flying together with me, I stopped flying with Emirates and moved all my travel to Qatar Airways about which I heard some positive feedback (unfortunately from friends that weren't frequent traveller I must say by now).... I booked all my 2011 travel with them and quickly became their Gold Member as well.

Now after I experienced 1 year as Skywards Gold and 1 year as Privilege Club gold, I must say that there is a huuuuuge difference between both Airlines, their frequent flyer programmes and their understanding of customer service in so many ways.

If I would have known before, I would never have changed and stated with Emirates Skywards gold but I didn't. And I am now somewhat stuck with QR due to the fact that my Skywards status diluted to Silver :-(.

I am now with experience able to give a detailed comparison about both airlines programmes because I have heavily used both of them in paid economy and business class and would very much like to kick of a conversation that compares Gold Experiences in one programme with Gold experiences in another programme in order to determine the perfect Gold Experience but only with feedback from people that have experienced two programmes.

Before we start, I recommend to agree upon certain criteria we rate and talk about in order to keep this discussion uniform.

What do you think?

Regards,
thstg

Upgrades: Skywards Gold vs. Privilege Club Gold
 

Emirates: Flown approximately 38 segments and got upgraded from paid Eco to Business in 10 cases and from paid Business to First in 4 cases.

Qatar: Flown 22 segments and never got upgraded from paid Eco to Business and never from paid Business to First.

Let me assume why: Emirates has to a majority large jets and many of them with a configuration that has lots of business and first class seats which enables them to offer upgrades to their most loyal customers. Qatar does have some large jets but most of them aren't and neither the large nor the small jets have a high quantity of business and first class seats which means that the amount of premium seats they have, they will usually be sold. However 40% of the times I flew, they still had spare seats in business and first available but despite Eco being 95% I did never receive an upgrade.

Appreciation: Skywards Gold vs. Privilege Club Gold
 

Emirates: Makes people feel welcome and appreciated. There was no single flight were I was not personally welcomed by the head purser thanking me for flying with EK again and asking if I need anything. They make it a nice show. :)

Qatar: 90% not welcomed at all. 10% briefly welcomed but without any attempt to make you feel special. :mad:

Redeem an upgrade: Skywards Gold vs. Privilege Club Gold
 

Emirates: The process to upgrade with points from paid Eco to Business is super easy. You book a paid fare, login to your Skywards account, retrieve the flight and click the upgrade function. It's instant and seems to be available as long as there are seats left in Business.

Qatar Airways: It's a hassle. Book economy and then you can request and upgrade which will be reviewed manually within 2 days or so. I then requested an upgrade for a specific date but was told that it is not available, although there were paid seats available to buy online for the same flight. I then told them that I am flexible and can move my ticket to another date within the next two month but was again told it is not possible which is shocking. I then told them that it is unacceptable that they are not able to find a single available date within the next 3 months where an upgrade would be available and questioned the Gold benefits. After talking to some more senior people I was then offered the upgrade for my originally requested date.

If Qatar Airways is not prepared to loose the opportunity to sell the business class seats at full fare they should stop their Privilege Club programme and stop to annoy their most valuable customers.

Thanks I
 

Useful analysis.

Priority Luggage: Skywards Gold vs. Privilege Club Gold
 

Emirates: Gold gives you the business/ priority luggage tags at check in and luggage usually arrives before the eco passengers luggage.

Qatar Airways: Gold gives you the business/ priority luggage tags at check in but luggage does usually not get priority.

Note: I was flying the same connections on EK and QR, thus it should not be related to the arrival airport.

Boarding Pass: Skywards Gold vs. Privilege Club Gold
 

Qatar Airways: I made all future bookings while I was burgundy. I then turned turned Silver and the status on the boarding pass was still burgundy. I then turned gold and the status of my boarding pass was still burgundy.... It seems that the status at the time of booking is the one that is attached to the profile/ booking too. When I asked checkin staff to correct it they said its bit possible which means no one cares....

Emirates: Boarding pass states the correct status irrespective of the status at the time of booking.

Since this thread is more about general differences in the two airlines I'll move to TB.

This bit is incorrect. There may be seats left in J and no upgrades available, although you're correct in that the process is straightforward.
There is however the Gold Desk who you can call and they may be able to make a "D" (the fare bucket required for an upgrade) seat available.

Yes, but what I was referring to is the fact that it is a lot easier with EK than QR, in addition Emirates has in general much, much more seats in the business and first class than QR and therefore naturally more availability.

Has anyone else experienced two different Gold programmes? By now I earned EK Gold again and so glad to have my last flight (biz) on QR in March... Only EK from April onward.

I have been Gold on both EK and QR for multiple years and completely agree with you. EK just delivers a higher level of professionalism all around, which manifests itself in recognition for Gold flyers and every other aspect of service.

I don't feel entitled to op-ups; though I have had a few more on EK than QR too but not nearly as many as others here. I wouldn't expect either carrier to give an op-up just because one is Gold and C is available, but rather only if Y is over-sold. Perhaps QR has tighter inventory management and/or lower loads in Y.

Keep in mind also that there is little difference between Gold and Silver on QR. Very few flights offer three classes, so the benefit of first class check-in and first-class lounge access, while nominally superior on QR (since Gold on EK gives only business class check-in and business class lounge access) is illusory. In fact, DOH and DXB are the only stations I can think of where F/Gold passengers have a different lounge from C/Silver anyway. (I am not sure if the new lounge in LHR has a dedicated section for F passengers, and if Golds are permitted to use this.) Combined with the lack of op-ups (for which Gold presumably would have priority over Silver), I am not sure what the point of going for Gold is.

The Ultimate Gold Experience - i.e. Emirates vs. Qatar
 

Moved to Thailand now. Starting with Thai from the beginning. Should be gold in a few months from now. Let's see how they do :-).

What about using miles for free tickets availability and how many miles required? I'm presently EK gold for a status match since Dec but haven't flown them as of yet this year. I can hit Gold for the rest of the year but wondering if it is better in this regard than QR.

Any info is helpful and thank you for the detailed description.

Interesting discussion. I don't have status such to add anything on the Gold v. Gold benefits. However I can tell you without exception everyone in my organization prefers to fly Qatar in paid business class rather than Emirates. The seat quality (angled v. 180 lie-flat) is not even close, and I have been less than impressed with Emirates service, food and lounges, at least in paid C. Qatar may not deliver upgrades, but it does take better care of paying customers.