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Qatar Airways offering full refunds on flights booked now for 2021

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Qatar Airways has made a VERY aggressive move to capture your business for 2021.

It will offer unlimited date changes and full refunds, no questions asked for all tickets issued before 30th April 2021. Travel must be booked for completion by 31st December 2021.

qatar airways refund guarantee

Full refunds are available regardless of whether your flight has been cancelled or not. This is extremely attractive and makes every ticket fully flexible.

Date and destination changes are offered in the same booking class and you do still have to pay any difference in fare or taxes, so it’s not a complete slam dunk. However, if the cost of changing is too high, simply take the full refund and book elsewhere.

Whilst Qatar Airways initially attracted some criticism at the beginning of the pandemic for making refunds difficult, the airline claims that it is now processing refunds within 30 days and has paid out over £92m to UK passengers since March.

You can see all your options (you can also choose a voucher with 10% value uplift instead of a refund) on the Qatar Airways ‘Travel with Confidence’ page here.

Category

Qatar Airways and Privilege Club

Comments (93)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Jon says:
    24 Dec24 December 04:59

    My free night (from IHG premium card) was credited in April 2020 and now expires in Nov 2021 after being extended six months. I take it no second free night for me? 😉

    • Anna says:
      24 Dec24 December 05:43

      It’s confusing – the article says that anyone with an existing voucher will be given an extra one, but then that this is only if your current voucher expires in 2020 (so in the next week!). The bit about some people losing out doesn’t make sense either as the article seems to be saying that the original certificate will still expire on 31/12. But maybe it’s just too early for me!

      • TGLoyalty says:
        24 Dec24 December 07:32

        Only get a new one if it expires 31/12/20

        The original certificate will still expire on 31/12 but it’s a book by date so you can use it for a stay next summer for example.

        Only issue is if the stay is cancelled you lose the voucher.

  • josh says:
    24 Dec24 December 05:22

    Its certainly better than nothing. But, unfortunately, so many people have burned their free night with suboptimal stays just to “use it.” IHG has lost so many elite customers or potential elites. Their elite benfits are already VERY POOR and so far behind the Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, etc. Now making so many people “burn” their free night is adding additional pain to stay with them.

    • Jon says:
      24 Dec24 December 07:09

      I wonder if there are going to be more people annoyed by this (e.g. those who burned their vouchers and those who just missed out because their voucher expires early in 2021) than are pleasantly surprised… My opinion of IHG is already low, largely thanks to repeated IT issues (I regularly go days, if not weeks, without being able to get into my account); now it’s a just a bit lower. (Don’t get me wrong, I don’t begrudge anyone their extra voucher, and I’m not *that* upset at not getting one, but if IHG wanted to generate goodwill, why not just give a voucher to all their credit card holders, or to everyone who had held a voucher this year regardless of whether used and when expiring…)

      • Chrisasaurus says:
        24 Dec24 December 08:36

        Because they are running a business. I don’t know how many credit card holders they have (from the reports that people were getting emails even without having the premium card or as ex card holders, I’d wager neither do IHG) but the cost to doing what you suggest would be immense and hotels are not exactly outperforming this year.

        They had to draw a line somewhere and there will always be people jut the wrong side of any line.

  • Phillip says:
    24 Dec24 December 05:55

    The extra night is for anyone with a free night voucher expiring 31 December 2020. What IHG has done, is instead of extending the voucher, they created a new “extended voucher” and haven’t cancelled the expiring voucher. And by the sounds of it, they will allow that to be used before the expiry date.
    For anyone who used their expiring voucher already, there’s no additional night. Hence the part about losing out.

    • Chrisasaurus says:
      24 Dec24 December 08:37

      If they’ve used their expiring voucher but not stayed (which given that hotels are mostly closed seems plausible) could they have cancelled the stay, get their voucher back and potentially have received their bonus one?

  • The Savage Squirrel says:
    24 Dec24 December 06:31

    Would QR let you book with a travel voucher … and then get a refund for cash? (hoping so, but if not I can understand the reason 😀 😀 )

    • KP says:
      24 Dec24 December 06:51

      I would have thought that the refund will be in accordance with the original form of payment. So cash back to the same credit card. And voucher for voucher.

  • jil says:
    24 Dec24 December 06:50

    I wrote this in the 19th dec chat thread (and today’s another thread by accident), there’s a catch around the “extended” IHG cert, if you book 1 night in 2021, the “extended” cert disappears first, so in order to use both certs you have to book before 31st, i.e. you can’t book 1 night now to use the cert that’s about to expire and hold the “extended” cert into 2021

    • Zoe says:
      24 Dec24 December 06:51

      Thanks Jil

    • Nick says:
      24 Dec24 December 07:10

      Hi jil. I just checked this out with a ‘dummy’ reservation, which I then cancelled. In my case it was the certificate expiring 31/12/20 that disappeared after making the reservation. The certificate expiring 31/8/21 was still available.

      • jil says:
        24 Dec24 December 07:25

        I just tried, for a few different dates in 2021 still the new cert disappears first, maybe because I have 3 nights, in my case I have to book all 3 nights in order to use the expiring cert

      • Rob says:
        24 Dec24 December 07:43

        Yes, the system is meant to automatically take the oldest voucher first.

        • Anna says:
          24 Dec24 December 08:08

          It must be different from the Ambassador renewal bonus certificate as I am able to use that and my credit card free night completely independently of each other.

        • jil says:
          24 Dec24 December 08:22

          in my case, the order is 31/08/2021 (new extended cert) -> 08/11/2021 (from uk credit card this year) -> 31/12/2020 (from uk credit card last year, extened in may 2020)

    • TGLoyalty says:
      24 Dec24 December 07:35

      Not sure what you are doing but I used my Dec 31st night after my new night landed just fine via the app.

      Nothing has disappeared.

      31/12/20 night booked for next June and 2 vouchers still on my account

      • jil says:
        24 Dec24 December 07:37

        I did it from pc, will try web

        • jil says:
          24 Dec24 December 08:20

          I meant from *app, just tried, same hehaviour, if i book 1 night, 31/08/2021 disappears first, book 2 nights (together or separately), 31/08/2021 and 08/11/2021 disappear, I can only use the expiring cert when I book 3 nights

      • Ian says:
        24 Dec24 December 08:16

        I have been given the new voucher, however my UK Credit Card Free Night voucher that expires on 31 December is not allowing me to book a stay for 1 January onwards – I can book up to 31 December – any suggestions?? The hotels I am looking at do have availability.

      • jil says:
        24 Dec24 December 08:25

        in the app, the voucher is still there but it shows 0/1 available on one of your voucher.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          24 Dec24 December 10:06

          Yes on my voucher expiring 31/12/20.

          I still have 2 left.

          The way I’ve done it is to go to my voucher click the one I want to use and then book the night.

          • jil says:
            24 Dec24 December 10:32

            my 3 vouchers are displayed together (all from my uk credit card), I can’t find a way to select 1 and book

          • TGLoyalty says:
            24 Dec24 December 11:39

            On the app? They are all displayed together but each one can be tapped taking you to the search as normal.

            Enter location then the date (1 night) and book away as normal.

    • Alan says:
      24 Dec24 December 07:56

      Oldest one (expiring 31/12/20) was taken from my account first, so only have one night booked.

  • Zoe says:
    24 Dec24 December 06:50

    My original voucher was due to expire in Jan 2021 but it has been extended to Aug 2021. I think it is just those expiring Dec 2020 who will receive an extra one. Better than losing out.

  • Christmas novice says:
    24 Dec24 December 07:12

    Can anyone tell me where the voucher is?! I got the email stating it had been extended but I’ve no idea where to actually find/use the voucher?

  • EvilGazebo says:
    24 Dec24 December 07:26

    Weirdly I booked using a Dec 2020 expiring voucher about 10 days ago for a night next year. Saw this article, assumed I missed out, checked my account and the voucher is back dated as expiring 31/08/21. Result.

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