Get up to 5,000 bonus Qatar Airways Qmiles and a status fast track when you join Privilege Club

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• robbo says:

  5 Jan5 January 04:17

  You’d have to have your head read to join QR Privilege Club as your preferred One World partner. On May 27th last year, the greatest act of fraud committed by an airline, EVER, against it’s members. Done overnight. Done in a clandestine way. Without notice. Without warning. Boom!

  The little bastards blew it to smithereens. I was Privilege Club Platinum, still am, but I cancelled all my flights, and all my business with these thieves. These mongrels. Virtually double the amount of points required to claim an award flight than it was on May 26. Almost impossible to claim a reward.

  And forget using your Q Credits. It’s impossible. For 2 years n a row now I have been unable to use the 60Q Credits I get, no matter how hard I tried. And you can’t call the bastards. They closed the call-centre down, which was mostly useless anyway, full of arrogance and that Middle – Eastern trait of never admitting or committing to anything.

  The cost of fees and charges is exorbitant now compared to what it was. In 2017 I paid $USD 80 in taxes, charges etc; for a one way award ticket in Business from JFK-DOH, when I attempted the same ticket in 2018 after The Greatest Travel Rip-Off of May 27, the same charge was double the points and nearly $ USD 700 in fees and “airline charges”.

  These people are thieves, they are liars and as I stated at the beginning, you need your head read to join this airline as your preferred One World partner.

  It’s such a shame, because as soon as you walk on board a QR aircraft, they are truly magnificent. If they could only get their on-ground side sorted out, it would be a no-brainer.

  • Max says:

    5 Jan5 January 05:28

    One to avoid then! Thanks!

  • MikeL says:

    5 Jan5 January 06:45

    And breathe ……..Try booking a BA biz class redemption flight from the U.K. to the States = £660 / $825 in taxes

    • Catalan says:

      5 Jan5 January 09:42

      …and Virgin UC taxes have gone up too. LHR to east coast USA is now £430 oneway but Delta biz still remains at £330! Strange.

  • Phil says:

    5 Jan5 January 07:09

    You forgot to mention the hard expiry of miles even for Golds (though not Plats). Combined with the awful award availability there is a very high likelihood of miles going to waste.

    But fully agree with your overall assessment of the FFP. I credited flights to them based on a 3X miles promotion. Then watched as they promptly eviscerated the program and devalued the miles. Have finally managed to redeem most of my pot but fully expect to be transferring the remainder to Accor (because it’s the only option) before the end of the year.

  • TripRep says:

    5 Jan5 January 11:27

    Come on Robbo, no sitting on the fence, tell us what you really think lol.

    Are you the reincarnation of Shoestring , TRH? 😉

  • Mikeact says:

    5 Jan5 January 15:50

    That’s what I like to see…an honest comment to save us all unwarranted hassle and stress etc. Thanks.

  • Mario says:

    5 Jan5 January 20:15

    I’m so glad I am not the only one who has had a bad experience with Qatar Airways.
    When I shared my experience on social media, not many people believed that Qatar Airways could behave so badly. I was even called a liar.
    I know how you feel mate.

    • Rob says:

      6 Jan6 January 11:12

      To be fair he said the flight was “truly magnificent”!

  • RIccatti says:

    6 Jan6 January 12:06

    Problem with QR as an airline is they have no understanding of words, “contract” and “obligation” when it s against them. (When it is against the customer, oh, they will use full power of terms and conditions and fare rules in the most restrictive way).

    Also, QR is the only airline implementing those degrading credit card checks on check-in, and cancelling a ticket if the original card not presented on the spot!! This is an example of compensating unreliability of their internal systems/checks at the expense of the customer.

    On the same note, the airline have no idea about what “personal data” is by requesting corresponding bank/credit card statement, never mind the privacy!

• Daniel says:

  5 Jan5 January 08:29

  And don’t forget that Qatar keep threatening to leave OneWorld, so your miles could easily end up being practically worthless

  • Daniel says:

    5 Jan5 January 08:30

    And status!

  • Alan says:

    5 Jan5 January 12:27

    Yeah have heard nothing but bad things about their programme. Seem to be a good on-board product but crediting to BAEC or other OW programme rather than QR’s seems safest.

• Jovanna says:

  5 Jan5 January 09:09

  Food and wine onboard isn’t as good these days as it once was. Champagne in business is Pommery, which BA served in CE a few years ago.

  • Lumma says:

    5 Jan5 January 09:42

    It was lanson black label last time I flew them. Crap pub champagne cause they have to stock something

  • Ian says:

    5 Jan5 January 10:41

    This was exactly my experience on the last flight I took with them. The level of “service” on their so-called flagship LHR route was pretty dire too. It will take a lot to persuade me to fly with them ever again – and as for their prices …

    Next week we’re going to BKK and have chosen Royal Jordanian this time. It’s our first time with them so we’ll see what they’re like.

• Nick says:

  5 Jan5 January 10:33

  I’ve got 4 sectors with them next month (Oslo-Doha-Cape Town rtn), so shall be paying close attention to detail. Though not ever having flown on Qatar before, I have no benchmark. Shall credit points to Gold though, for sure!

  • Potato says:

    6 Jan6 January 12:24

    I’d go with BAEC. Oslo-CPT return should get you pretty much all the way to Silver. Throw in a two returns on shorthaul BA to get Silver. Since the change to the Qatar Mile program, it has become a big, stinking, pile of

• Clive says:

  5 Jan5 January 11:14

  OT – My Daughter is flying to Thailand and I am wondering if she could use my lounge pass from Amex. Has anyone tried to gain access where the names are different?

  • Benylin says:

    5 Jan5 January 11:19

    They check boarding pass to check names so probably unlikely imo.

• Benylin says:

  5 Jan5 January 11:18

  On the upside, I can agree their business product is very good for the price!
  Shame about the issues they have based on the comments I’m reading.

• Ben says:

  5 Jan5 January 12:23

  Hmmm, why not give us an honest review of the full program?

  Or would that not be possible with your Qatari overlords?!

  • Rob says:

    5 Jan5 January 14:40

    Not spending a day researching and writing a review of any non-UK scheme ….

    • Lady London says:

      5 Jan5 January 15:26

      Sounds llke the HfP readership is well on top of this one… so no need, Rob 🙂

      This is why I love HeadforPoints. It’s the amazing knowledgeable and sometimes, hugely ironically humorous, readership you have developed Rob.

    • Potato says:

      6 Jan6 January 12:26

      It takes ten minutes to know about the issues revolving around the Privilege Club. It used to be good when QR threw around the 3x, 5x, 10x promos. The changes last year mean that it has become close to useless.

• AndyGWP says:

  5 Jan5 January 12:43

  OT – I need a guaranteed 4pm checkout – what hotel chains / brand status’ are my options now my (SPG Gold matched) Marriott status won’t cut it?

  – Fine Hotel and Resorts (FHR) is one option I can look at
  – Going to contact Emyr too but I’d ideally like to use Amex Travel (£200 off £600)

  (if it matters, this is for Hong Kong in August – I have an Amex Plat too)

  • Alan says:

    5 Jan5 January 12:45

    IC Ambassador would be the one that comes to mind from my POV. Have to pay for it but the weekend cert pretty much covers the cost.

  • Rob says:

    5 Jan5 January 14:39

    If you want to prepay via Amex Travel then not much you can do – it will be a 3rd party booking do status benefits unlikely to apply anyway.

    • AndyGWP says:

      6 Jan6 January 14:54

      Just noticed that T&C state “Cruise bookings and hotels booked through Fine Hotels & Resorts and The Hotel Collection are not eligible.”….

      ….. would they know?

      • Alan says:

        6 Jan6 January 14:56

        Yes because FHR bookings don’t involve payment upfront – just a deposit taken and money paid at check-out at the hotel.

      • AndyGWP says:

        6 Jan6 January 15:11

        Cheers Alan – appreciated 🙂

      • Rob says:

        6 Jan6 January 18:11

        FHR hotel bookings are paid at the hotel in all cases, I assume cruise bookings are done via another agency with Amex just acting as the front man and the actual seller processes payment.

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