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Forums Frequent flyer programs British Airways Executive Club Lounge access on Qatar avios tickets

  • tomahawk 88 posts

    Qatar have 4 business fare classes but the “lite” class does not get lounge access. When doing an avios redemption what fare class do you get? Or does it somehow depend. We just did LHR to KUL via DOH and each leg was a different class, although this was a rescheduled 2for1 due to BA’s cancellation of all the KUL flights, so may have been treated differently. Having just experienced the garden lounge at Doha it’s certainly not something I would want to miss out on!

    Jon 300 posts

    I had no trouble getting into Al Mourjan Garden lounge on my Avios redemption last summer. Booked a couple more last week and it clearly said “lounge access” during the booking process, so hopefully you should be fine. Fare class shows as U / Business (no mention of Lite, Classic etc) for Avios redemptions.

    By the way, it appears it’s no longer possible to change your FFP number on Avios redemptions with QR (whether booked via BA or direct with QR) once initially set during booking. The usual routes of using other OW web sites, eg Finnair, don’t seem to work. I used QR’s online chat to ask them to change it, and they said they had, but my two upcoming bookings still show my BA and QR numbers respectively.

    John 1,341 posts

    Full avios redemptions should always get lounge access.

    I believe upgrading using avios doesn’t get lounge access.

    See the flyertalk thread for more information about changing your FFP on QR redemption tickets

    JDB 6,252 posts

    A standard Avios ticket on QR gives you access to the QR (rather than OW) lounges. If you are travelling on QR business as a result of rerouting by BA, the standard policy is to rebook you into the lowest booking class, so if that’s ‘lite’ (P) you don’t get QR lounge access and similarly if you are rebooked into either ‘P’ or ‘R’ those categories don’t offer free seating selection which can cause issues.

    Garethgerry 173 posts

    A standard Avios ticket on QR gives you access to the QR (rather than OW) lounges. If you are travelling on QR business as a result of rerouting by BA, the standard policy is to rebook you into the lowest booking class, so if that’s ‘lite’ (P) you don’t get QR lounge access and similarly if you are rebooked into either ‘P’ or ‘R’ those categories don’t offer free seating selection which can cause issues.

    Not disagreeing with you. But if I’d booked a full J ticket with BA I’d be a bit miffed if they re-booked me with a lower ticket. I’D expect everything I paid for , seating , lounge etc. It always used to be that way , but then that was a long time ago, never travel J on own money.

    SteveCroydon 102 posts

    I travel regularly to Australia on QR using Avios tickets booked via BA. These trips are in Business (U class) and First (Z class). You are entitled to full lounge access on Avios tickets; Al Mourjan for Business and Al Safwa for First.
    I once had a CS agent at the entrance tell me I was on a Business Lite ticket and didn’t qualify. I told her that was wrong – she checked and apologised and I got into the lounge. Previously other HfPers have reported this problem at Doha.
    Stand your ground and get them to check – Avios tickets DO have lounge access.

    Ladyshopper 162 posts

    I experienced a problem at Birmingham airport when travelling on my avios tickets on Qatar (business). They told us we weren’t entitled to lounge access, which was incorrect, but they were absolutely adamant. In the end I produced my RJ Gold Sparrow membership card, and they gave us the lounge passes that way (but I’ve since learned that if we’d just gone to the lounge and scanned our boarding cards we’d have been fine). Definite staff training issue at Birmingham.

    Other than that, no problem anywhere else. Used the Al Mourjan garden lounge on outbound and inbound flight.

    JDB 6,252 posts

    A standard Avios ticket on QR gives you access to the QR (rather than OW) lounges. If you are travelling on QR business as a result of rerouting by BA, the standard policy is to rebook you into the lowest booking class, so if that’s ‘lite’ (P) you don’t get QR lounge access and similarly if you are rebooked into either ‘P’ or ‘R’ those categories don’t offer free seating selection which can cause issues.

    Not disagreeing with you. But if I’d booked a full J ticket with BA I’d be a bit miffed if they re-booked me with a lower ticket. I’D expect everything I paid for , seating , lounge etc. It always used to be that way , but then that was a long time ago, never travel J on own money.

    There’s expectation and there’s reality. Re lounge access, more often than not BA won’t find availability in P so it doesn’t arise too often. The cost free pre-allocated seating for P and R is more complicated.

    Garethgerry 173 posts

    A standard Avios ticket on QR gives you access to the QR (rather than OW) lounges. If you are travelling on QR business as a result of rerouting by BA, the standard policy is to rebook you into the lowest booking class, so if that’s ‘lite’ (P) you don’t get QR lounge access and similarly if you are rebooked into either ‘P’ or ‘R’ those categories don’t offer free seating selection which can cause issues.

    Not disagreeing with you. But if I’d booked a full J ticket with BA I’d be a bit miffed if they re-booked me with a lower ticket. I’D expect everything I paid for , seating , lounge etc. It always used to be that way , but then that was a long time ago, never travel J on own money.

    There’s expectation and there’s reality. Re lounge access, more often than not BA won’t find availability in P so it doesn’t arise too often. The cost free pre-allocated seating for P and R is more complicated.

    In reality if I was travelling as I used too , 25+ J returns equal number of C and domestic at 8000+pts for many years . I’d have been straight onto BA , no GL , but they did hand out board direct phone numbers and have said , what the F…. . Anyway in old days , J prices were same for every airline and you were rebooked in J.

    Man of Kent 178 posts

    Last year we travelled on an Avios redemption to Muscat via Doha (not an upgrade) booked through Qatar Airways. We were booked in fare bucket U for the London / Doha legs and Z for the Doha / Muscat legs.

    We used the Qatar Airways Premium Lounge at LHR and were able to access the Al Safwa lounge at Doha on our return (we didn’t visit a lounge in Doha on our way out as we had a short connection).

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