BA codeshare with QR via Doha cancelled – how stuffed am I?!

[Guernsey Globetrotter]

So for various reasons, to return from our Maldives holiday, we are booked MLE-DOH-LGW next month with QR via BA using Avios in J (QR0675) departing 19.45, arriving Doha 22.05. We are booked to overnight in the Oryx airport hotel then on the 08.10 to LGW (QR 0327)

I have had a message from BA saying the flight is cancelled and giving new flight as QR673 departing at 21.05 and asking me to accept the change via MMB. I am not overjoyed at departing 1 hour 20 minutes later as that means we don’t get to Doha until 23.25 and so faced with a few less hours in bed!

The weird thing is that QR0675 is NOT cancelled in that there is a QR flight departing MLE at 19.45 to DOH under the same code and it still shows availability for 2 in J. On the QR website the booking reference shows the original QR0675 flight for me as ‘rescheduled’ and in the passenger details the seat selection shows me and Mrs ‘Trotter in 21D and 21G, which can’t be in J on an B777 or A350 – weird!

Of course there is no way that MMB is allowing me the option to re-book and so my question is whether I have a right to demand BA put me back on this flight (irrespective of Avios availability) under UK261 rights or, because this is a flight originating outside the EU and only arriving in the UK via Doha, am I stuffed and forced to accept the change?!

Asking here because so far I have spent several hours on various phone calls with BA and still not managed to speak to someone who can help!

[NorthernLass]

What have you been told by BA so far? Personally, for 1 hour 20 mins I think the hassle of trying to change the flight again would outweigh the reduced time in bed! QR seems to be doing quite a lot of this at the moment.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

You have no rights under EU261 for the reasons you are already aware of.

But I see no harm in calling exec club and asking to be put back on the other flight.

[Guernsey Globetrotter]

So looking at the original flight we were scheduled on a 777. The QR flight is now on an A350 which as far as I can see should have at least the same number of business class seats so I cannot see why we were told it was ‘cancelled’ when it is still flying…

To add insult to injury it seems the reason for the odd seat numbers is that the later flight is operating a part of the economy cabin as business, club world style, so that we are on either end of a four seat row instead of Q Suites. This took a near 2 hour call (including 1 hour queue time) to BA Silver line to establish.

All this while QR are still selling space in J on the original flight we’ve been bumped off.

BA saying they can’t do anything as there is no Avios space and QR told them the change was for operational reasons.

Will complain to QR but not sure how far that will get us. First world problems I know but shoddy and leaves a sour taste – another data point on how reward flight customers are not treated equally.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

Economy acting as business class on long haul sounds darn right peculiar. It’s no where near the same as a business class seat!

I’m afraid I think you need to call again and ask to speak to a supervisor and escalate this higher up the chain.

[DonLee]

My flight to MLE in July also get cancelled today. Original flight departs from MAN at 21:30 rebooked to 14:55 which I won’t be able to catch. Phoned BA that I was told Qatar is very strict on redemption rebooking and refused to rebook me on the following day. After a long call BA cs booked me for the following day but only has 50/50 chance Qatar would authorise this change.

[Lady London]

This happens a lot with Qatar Airways.

Basically when you book a flight with Qatar Airways you are giving them the option to carry you at that time or at another time in a roughly approximate period to the time that you booked, that turns out to suit them better.

I believe Qatar Airways makes no commitment to flying you on the flight you booked or at the time you booked. Of course, award passengers will be included in this, for sure those paid by other airlines, possibly not QR award pax (though I suspect so), definitely cash customers without any status or other ‘pull’ with Qatar also vulnerable so far as I can tell.

The most regular phenomenon we keep hearing with Qatar is people booking a nicelooking flight timing with a connection in Doha that’s just long enough but not too long.

Then nearer the flight they suddenly receive notice of a flight reschedule and their 1.5-3 hour gap between flights is now 7 – 9 hours, say. And that time taking them in Doha from very late evening, through the ghastly hours in Doha at 1am to 3am in the morning that they expressly chose to avoid when they booked their flight. Till 5 or 6 hours more still in Doha, after their original plane would have left. Or, as they discover later, 5 or 6 hours after the time their original plane, or what looks suspiciously like a flight at or very very close to their original plane’s departure timing, has left. With them now connecting much later and in a considerably worse physical state due to having worse flight timings imposed on them that they originally booked (and possibly paid a higher fare) to avoid.

This we hear time and time again with Qatar Airways.

To get back to Mr. Trotter’s case.
Being offloaded will come to you as a cancellation. It’s the same email.

I believe Qatar’s deliberate commercial practice is to move people off flights for commercial reasons as well as operational reasons. EU261 can’t help on the to-UK/Europe leg as QR is not a Europe based airline. Even on the outward from Europe, you do have rights but not always easy for another airline to be able to exercise them on your behalf. (same as with CX, but CX’s changes seem mostly imposed on them by external factors, unlike the QR changes).

Personally I’d ask BA to rebook to a later flight leaving a longer gap or if hotel is moveable, rebook the trip a day either side. Or cancel it all in disgust – which is what more of us should be doing as flying Qatar is very expensive these days and perhaps alternatives should be considered if this airline is not treating your ticket as a commitment.

Even if you do move it though there’s a good chance Qatar Airways will do it again.

[NorthernLass]

@DonLee – departing MAN you have full UK261 rights regardless of whether you paid with avios or cash so make sure you are re-routed for your convenience, not QR’s!

[NorthernLass]

I’ve got my first QR redemptions in December. From what I’ve seen so far, they are sort of the ME equivalent of AA, you make your booking, expect it to be changed at some point before you travel, and be satisfied with actually getting to your destination on the day you’d planned! My QR route is DXB-DOHA-MAN so we’ll see how that turns out, we do have a bit of wriggle room with the schedule …

[DonLee]

@NorthenLass
Thanks for pointing out. I always thought that EC261 only covers cancellation within 14 days of departure. There is only a Emirates flight similar to my original flight time, but I doubt BA would rebook us so even a day later would be acceptable

[JDB]

DonLee wrote:

@NorthenLass
Thanks for pointing out. I always thought that EC261 only covers cancellation within 14 days of departure. There is only a Emirates flight similar to my original flight time, but I doubt BA would rebook us so even a day later would be acceptable

While you do have UK261 rights they are, as a practical matter, difficult to enforce vs QR, particularly with BA in the middle, effectively acting in the role of agent; the two will happily bat the problem between them. Any UK261 remedy lies with QR as the operator of the flights and while BA can ask, QR will do what it wants and as QR does not participate in any ADR scheme, MCOL is ultimately your only resort which isn’t ideal. QR is extremely unlikely to rebook you with Emirates, so realistically it will be a matter of pressing BA/QR hard in the nicest possible way to obtain the least bad outcome.

[DonLee]

Thanks @JDB, still waiting for Qatar to confirm BA’s request. Not sure what I could do if they refuse.

[Hogdiesel]

I think the QR flight may have shifted onto one of the 777s Qatar have leased from Cathay, in which case row 21 is indeed still a club seat (albeit not quite as nice as most of the QR fleet). We came back from MLE in late January and had something similar happen. We had a cash booking made directly with QR rather than via BA, but our original flight was changed to one departing slightly later, and we went from row 6 to row 19 on the revised flight. The original flight number still ran, but I think it was one of their A320s with the much older style 2-2-2 business seats.

If you look on Aerolopa, you can see the seating plan for the plane we flew on (https://www.aerolopa.com/qr-7d3). Club seats go all the way back to row 26. It’s a herringbone pattern so all seats have direct aisle access. The seat is a bit older than the rest of the QR fleet, but still fairly reasonable – and the service, food & drink is very much the same as on other QR flights.

[harley]

I had a recent downgrade which they counted as a cancellation from first and i wanted to rebooked. polite persistence quoting conditions of carriage helped. Worth checking this link ( aimed for travel agents) https://www.qatarairways.com/tradeportal/en/policies/Schedule-change.html

[harley]

However looking at your case as the time change is less than 2 hours it may not help unfortunately