On several flights on Qatar I have been diisappointed to find out post - flights that the flight was not eligible for QFF points.
Transparency at the booking site - and a quote for a different fare that will earn points, would be an honest and customer friendly approach.
It sounds like your issue is misplaced, it is with Qatar, not Qantas. Sure, Qantas sets the different earning rates for Qatar fares, but you booked a ticket with a partner, so you should have (if at all possible – and I realise sometimes it is hard) found out what fare class the ticket booked into before purchasing, and then headed to the Qantas Frequent Flyer website to make sure it was capable of earning.
As for Velocity - one day I’m Silver - next day I’m Red - and I only found out at check-in.
Had you logged into your account recently? Membership cards usually say when the benefits expire on them, even a credit card will have an expiry date. I expect you wouldn't go to a supermarket to buy groceries with an expired credit card... so why should checking your frequent flyer status expiry be any different?
User-friendly transparency please
And for goodness sake what is the agenda behind the fine print - make it normal size so we can read it, and make informed decisions.
As far as Qantas goes, before I book anything
I head here. On this page I can type in my flights and the airline I am on. I can then look at the partner airline Fare Types to work out if my fare qualifies for earning, and at what rate.
For example, Qatar:
Qatar (QR) | Discount
Economy | Economy | Flexible
Economy | Premium
Economy | Business | First |
KLMV | BH | Y | - | CDIJR | AFP | |
Qantas:
Qantas (QF) International | Economy Sale | Economy Saver | Economy Flex | Premium Economy Sale | Premium Economy Saver | Premium Economy Flex | Business Sale | Business Saver | Business Flex | First Sale / Saver / Flex |
| ENOQ | GKLMSV | BHY | T~ | R | W | I | D | CJ | AF |
Qantas (QF) Domestic | Red e-Deal | - | Flex | Discount Premium Economy | Premium Economy Saver | Premium Economy Flex | - | Business Sale /
Business Saver | Business | - |
| EGLNOQSV | - | BHKMY | T~ | R | W | - | DI | CJ | |
You can see that Qatar has 15 earning fares with Qantas Frequent Flyer, but only 7 are in Economy classes. Meanwhile, Qantas has 22 earning fares with Qantas Frequent Flyer, with 13 of those fares in economy. From this you can see that the cheaper Qatar fares will not earn anything with QFF.
This morning I had a call from the ATO because I'd completely filled out my tax the wrong way and had to amend the whole thing. I'm by no means the smartest crayon in the box, but I do my research before booking flights so I don't get caught out. I fear this whole ACCC thing is going to end badly with a system that works being tinkered with so heavily that we all end up worse off, all so people don't have to do the required reading. I screwed up my tax, but I was happy to pay more because it was my mistake. Luckily, someone gave me a call and helped me out. This is what AFF is for really, pickup the keyboard and someone will talk you through it.