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I flew LHR-DOH-BKK on Qatar in July and I could get the LHR-DOH leg in first for an additional 37.5k Avios so I did. The other 3 legs were in business but I could have got the BKK-DOH leg in first as well for the same price. I was allowed access to the first lounge in Doha and I had confirmed that beforehand even though my onward flight was in business.
However, looking to buy the same tickets today, I notice that Qatar now has a disclaimer on their Avios calculator page which reads:
“Award flights are not available when travelling to or from London in First Class, on A380 aircraft.”
https://www.qatarairways.com/en/Privilege-Club/qcalculator.html
This would explain why I have not seen any reward availability despite all other business and economy options being available to and from BKK and not in their “double Avios” specials.
I thought they HAD to offer 2 seats for redemption in first ?
@Talay – QR doesn’t HAVE to do anything; their seats, their rules and it’s different eg for BA where Avios has a contract with BA. In any event, I don’t think QR ever promised two F seats on the few flights offering that cabin.
Who is saying they have to offer 2 F rewards?
“Award flights are not available when travelling to or from London in First Class, on A380 aircraft.” – which part of that is not clear? From top of my head I’ve been seing this message since as far as I remember. That is why I was surprised to learn you were able to get some award F seats on this route in 7/2023.
Do other EU routes with A380 First (eg, Paris?) have the same restriction?
And what about DOH/SYD?
I appreciate availability will be difficult, but good to know whether its even worth trying
I booked one for my wife in October 2022, but via ba.com – it wasn’t showing on the Qatar Airways site.
@Talay – QR doesn’t HAVE to do anything; their seats, their rules and it’s different eg for BA where Avios has a contract with BA. In any event, I don’t think QR ever promised two F seats on the few flights offering that cabin.
So Finnair are or “have to” offer X premium redemptions but Qatar doesn’t ?
Clearly Qatar have a contract with Avios so not sure why you think they wouldn’t.
Just if you were rolling out Avios and getting partners to use it as their reward currency, wouldn’t you (as the owner of Avios) insist that those using Avios must offer premium redemptions ?
If you didn’t then surely you devalue your program ?
“Award flights are not available when travelling to or from London in First Class, on A380 aircraft.” – which part of that is not clear? From top of my head I’ve been seing this message since as far as I remember. That is why I was surprised to learn you were able to get some award F seats on this route in 7/2023.
The part that was not clear is the fact that I already booked and flown the seemingly impossible and I have seen DOH-LHR offered previously so if that notice has been up there since before April 2023 then it is just not true.
I booked one for my wife in October 2022, but via ba.com – it wasn’t showing on the Qatar Airways site.
I have noticed two issues with the BA.com booking and that is where you have a split business / first such as LHR-DOH-BKK then that cannot be booked on BA as it cannot handle the mixed class and also where Qatar is using the “flexi” option to offer a seat but at double Avios, then BA cannot cope with that either.
What I haven’t checked yet us whether Qatar and BA are using the same peak and off peak dates and if not, then that could make one better value than the other.
I booked my reservation on Qatar’s website in first / business seating in April 2023 to fly in July and September 2023.
Definitely not using the same peak/off-peak dates – QR seems to have whole swathes blacked out over periods like school holidays where there’s no premium availability or only at double avios. There are a couple of other threads discussing this.
I’ve got a flight very soon showing 8/8 in F but haven’t been able to upgrade my ticket
@SamG, where are you flying to? We are still trying for J to F to SIN next week.. some hope!
I’ve seen a few F seats to BKk in sep / Oct using shops booking on BA.com
Also last week there were f seats in May just to Doha on BA.com using avois as I booked them
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