[Warning] Qatar won’t be helpful at all for Avios based flight bookings!
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A few months ago approx a year ahead of February 2026 I was successful in booking business class reward flights as follows:
(you can see the thread I created at the time here)These are booked as separate bookings (only way to successfully book reward flights for desirable routes – i.e. midnight race)
Flight Departure Date Arrival Date Start End Flight Times
1 08/02/26 08/02/26 LHR Doha QR 006 08:05-17:45
2 09/02/26 10/02/26 Doha Aukland QR 920 02:00-03:55+1
3 06/03/26 06/03/26 Auckland Doha QR 921 14:40-22:00
4 07/03/26 07/03/26 Doha LHR QR 105 02:45-07:20A couple of weeks ago Qatar drastically changed the flights times for flights (2) and (3)
2 08/02/26 10/02/26 Doha Aukland QR 920 18:40-20:50+1 <– 16hrs 40 mins later!
3 06/03/26 07/03/26 Auckland Doha QR 921 23:35-06:45+1 <– 8hr 55 mins later!Both changes meant our London to Doha flights didn’t work anymore and also disrupted a further connection in New Zealand.
I called Qatar and after a long polite discussion I was told that the support team were only allowed to help with the affected flight bookings (i.e. not the flights to and from London). The support team suggested I raise this further through the Qatar feedback form. I did this and after a further 2 long calls the conclusion was the same.
On Qatar’s website there was no reward based flights available that would work for us. I cancelled the Qatar London-Doha flights and was fortunately able to book suitable London-Doha return reward flights using BA and that way I also got to use an upgrade voucher to make it a good deal.
Bottom line, although Qatar appear to be a great airline, if like me you use your BA Avios to make a booking, if there are any schedule changes they will only help for the specific booking code impacted. They don’t have the facility to link bookings (like BA) and many folks will have separate Outbound and Return booking codes as I did, in order to actually secure the flights. The above change was drastic and I expected them to have been helpful because of that. They were not.
p.s. I have not flown Qatar before but since I become aware of them through my New Zealand bookings, I do have a business flight with them in a few weeks. Let’s see what the experience is like.
This isn’t unexpected with separate tickets. In a similar situation with BA, you couldn’t rely on BA agreeing to change the other flights for free either, particularly with no avios seats left.
Retaining the ability to make such drastic timing changes without knock-on effects, may be precisely why QR controls availability to make it hard to get multiple redemptions onto single ticket.
As per your other thread, QR will check your luggage through on separate tickets, and BA won’t.
It’s well-known that while QR provides a great experience on board and in its lounges, the customer service is pretty awful and handling of disruption is not so great either.
It’s well-known that while QR provides a great experience on board and in its lounges, the customer service is pretty awful and handling of disruption is not so great either.
Exactly this.
It’s well-known that while QR provides a great experience on board and in its lounges, the customer service is pretty awful and handling of disruption is not so great either.
Exactly this.
Have heard anecdotes about their poor handling of disruptions, but in this case, QR have zero obligation to the OP and this risk was known well before the booking.
“I asked them to do something for me that they are not really required to do, but they refused, how shocking!”I agree there is nothing amiss being reported here and it is not a ‘warning’. A ‘reminder’ may be a suitable description. Separate bookings are what it says – separate.
What a ridiculous clickbait headline! Seems to display quite a lack of knowledge of how bookings work but of course that’s someone else’s fault.
As a fairly new member of this forum and with no prior knowledge about Qatar’s customer service, I somehow missed what is being claimed as well known. That was a miss on my part. With Qatar appearing in ads and online as the self-proclaimed best airline in the world, I had assumed they would be more helpful considering the drastic timing change to the 1 flight a day from Doha to NZ.
The above change was drastic and I expected them to have been helpful because of that. They were not.
You have discovered the two disadvantages of booking separate tickets and a year ahead.
Airline schedules change up to about 3 months prior to the actual flight date so booking a year ahead is never guaranteed to be fixed.
Booking separate tickets-even with the same airline -is risky and that airline has no reason to help if your plans get disrupted.
IMHO QATAR CS gave a reasonable response.
Suggest you modify the title to “Reminder” instead of “warning ” as has been suggested.
For these exact reasons I always build in a decent stop between flights (especially important if your onward flight is on AA!) Also, it’s always good to see another place!
Suggest you modify the title to “Reminder” instead of “warning ” as has been suggested.
Happy to do that, but can’t see a button to edit now.
As a fairly new member of this forum and with no prior knowledge about Qatar’s customer service, I somehow missed what is being claimed as well known. That was a miss on my part. With Qatar appearing in ads and online as the self-proclaimed best airline in the world, I had assumed they would be more helpful considering the drastic timing change to the 1 flight a day from Doha to NZ.
No airline ever will treat two different bookings as just one. Except on very particular circumstances, everyone that has 2 separate bookings for one trip is because they wanted to take advantage of something like a loophole, etc. You take the risk for your trip to be cheaper, the airline (correctly) washes their hands of any problems.
No airline ever will treat two different bookings as just one. Except on very particular circumstances, everyone that has 2 separate bookings for one trip is because they wanted to take advantage of something like a loophole, etc. You take the risk for your trip to be cheaper, the airline (correctly) washes their hands of any problems.
At least with BA you can call them when the return flight becomes available and get them to add it to the existing reward booking, avoiding a 2nd booking. Unfortunately Qatar doesn’t offer that, which means you will end up with multiple bookings and increased risk of issues.
Yeah, but those are not connecting flights.
How entitled OP, WTMS, comes across as.
Its QRs fault that he messed up the potential change in times between separate reservations.And then when his post is blocked/delayed being published, that’s the fault of the moderator not what he’d posted.
Good example to others of how to take care when booking flights / posting on forums.
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