New "Airline Fuel fee" on some Qatar redemptions via Velocity

[WilsonM]

Some Qatar redemptions using Velocity points require a cash co-payment of over $2,000, thanks to a new "Airline fuel fee" that's passed on by Velocity. It's not sure whether this is a temporary glitch or a sneaky change.

We've reached out to Velocity and Qatar Airways for comment, and will update as we get more information.

Qatar Airways Adds "Airline Fuel Fee" on Velocity Redemptions

For some Velocity redemptions on Qatar Airways, a new airline fuel fee raises the cash co-payment by over 100%.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[Hunter4vr]

Something is definitely going on with fuel surcharges, especially for flights inbound to Australia.

Fees for a J flight from BNE to LHR / WAW and few others are about $1200 now, which is $500 more than before, not great but not a total deal breaker. But the same flight coming back to AUS now includes fees between $2100-$2500 depending on the departure airport.

 

[MooTime]

So close to $AUD5,000 AND ~320,000 FFPs for a return jaunt Aus to Euro in J.

Sounds like velocity classic reward Plus....

 

[jase05]

Just trying to match EK

 

[am0985]

No real reason to book Qatar through Velocity especially given QR Avios gets first pick of the seats a little under a year out.

1. If you have an Amex Platinum then even with the devaluation you are still better transferring to QR. 90k points to/from Europe is effectively 135k points compared to before. Still better than Velocity points with now seemingly much lower costs and better availability.

2. If you don't have Amex Platinum...Finnair Avios frequently have deals to purchase Avios which can be converted straight to Qatar Avios (or used on Finnair flights from MEL via BKK).

The 40% discount they run a couple of times a year appears to be the best value. Here Avios can be bought for 2.2 cents (AUD) each. The 180,000 points for a return flight can be bought for $3960 (which may fluctuate a little depending on exchange rates). Of course you need to add on Qatar's own fees here but they should be considerably better than via Velocity and have much better availability if booking when the calendar opens up.

The money to purchase these points seems to be similar to the co-payment alone for the return journey on Velocity. The marginal value you're getting from the 320k Velocity points here for the return journey will be minimal.

 

[squid01]

I have a couple of velocity bookings upcoming in Qatar, J class.

I was looking to add an infant to those bookings in a couple months. When they add the infant to the tickets, will they reprice the whole taxes/fees for myself and my partner (at the new inflated rates)? Or will they just calculate the infant taxes and add that on and leave what has already been calculated for myself and my partner as is?

Really hoping we won’t be slugged with thousands more dollars of fees just for adding an infant

 

[jakeseven7]

Velocity Slaps Huge "Fuel Fee" On Qatar Airways Redemptions

Velocity Frequent Flyer appears to have slapped a huge "Airline Fuel Fee" on points redemptions for travel with Qatar Airways. Here's what's happening.

flighthacks.com.au

 

[Tiki]

Definitely something strange with IST.
IST-DOH-BNE J 139,500 + $1940
IST-DOH J 44,500 + $520
DOH-BNE J 119,500 + $394.

Maybe some fault in currency conversion? Even Turkiye's inflation isn't THIS bad!

 

[bcworld]

Definitely something strange with IST.
IST-DOH-BNE J 139,500 + $1940
IST-DOH J 44,500 + $520
DOH-BNE J 119,500 + $394.

Maybe some fault in currency conversion? Even Turkiye's inflation isn't THIS bad!

Your last example looks like the VA (QR pretending to be VA flight)...not QR as the marketing carrier.

The VA flights are not affected by this. It's not an IST specific problem.

Spot the difference

(I get what you're saying about the numbers not adding up though).

 

[anat0l]

This looks like tariffs, except in airline parlance.

Hey, you want to fly the best J in the world on points? Lucky for you at Velocity you have access to some of the best (inventory wise).

You'll have to pay for it for sure, but you want it anyway, right?

I guess this supercharging is reflected on every partner (irrespective of how much QR inventory they can access); again, a case of "we got what you want and you'll pay whatever to get it". I wonder the wisdom of calling it a fuel surcharge versus a general carrier charge (i.e. we're charging you because we can for something you want)

 

[Mattg]

Velocity has not updated its table of carrier charges applicable to QR redemptions.

Using Points For Flights

Use your Velocity Points to fly to over 500 destinations. Check out our flight reward options and turn your Points into a flight for your next trip or dream holiday today

www.velocityfrequentflyer.com

Any charges not listed in that table should be genuine third-party fees/taxes, not arbitrary airline or program-imposed charges.

 

[squid01]

I have a couple of velocity bookings upcoming in Qatar, J class.

I was looking to add an infant to those bookings in a couple months. When they add the infant to the tickets, will they reprice the whole taxes/fees for myself and my partner (at the new inflated rates)? Or will they just calculate the infant taxes and add that on and leave what has already been calculated for myself and my partner as is?

Really hoping we won’t be slugged with thousands more dollars of fees just for adding an infant

Can anyone advise on this? How do velocity process adding an infant in terms of ticketing? For the existing adults tickets on the booking do they get reticketed and hence taxes recalculated? Really hoping not.

 

[anat0l]

Can anyone advise on this? How do velocity process adding an infant in terms of ticketing? For the existing adults tickets on the booking do they get reticketed and hence taxes recalculated? Really hoping not.

Guess you'll just have to call. You'll have to do so and cop it anyway if it does happen, unless you're prepared to cancel and look elsewhere, because you're certainly not leaving your little bub behind

 

[bcworld]

I guess this supercharging is reflected on every partner

Nope. The US carriers are typically very good about not having bogus surcharges on awards (BA's surcharges being a notable exception for AA). Here's what AA will charge for IST-DOH-BNE on QR. Yes, that's USD95!

 

[Phoenix-1]

This is a real gouging of VA customers. With UA J gone as well, there aren't many sweet spots left. Maybe conversion to KF.

 

[kamchatsky]

Nope. The US carriers are typically very good about not having bogus surcharges on awards (BA's surcharges being a notable exception for AA). Here's what AA will charge for IST-DOH-BNE on QR. Yes, that's USD95!

View attachment 489981

Having said that, accessing QR awards using AA miles are harder than VA, based on my search on awards last year. My example was QR J HKG-DOH-BCN on 75k AA Miles. I could find more award to other parts of Europe using VA miles, whereas for AA it was restricted to BCN and MAD at that time.

 

[Mattg]

The charges on Cathay redemptions have also massively increased. So this seems to be something initiated by Qatar Airways, not Velocity.

HKD7,755 is ~AUD1,486.




This would not affect AAdvantage redemptions because AA has never passed on fuel/carrier surcharges on partner airlines (with only very specific exceptions i.e. BA).

 

[Human]

This is a real gouging of VA customers. With UA J gone as well, there aren't many sweet spots left. Maybe conversion to KF.

I agree. For the past few years, Velocity has been superior to Qantas when it comes to long-haul redemptions to/from Australia in premium cabins. Increasingly, that's not the case any more.

I'd still pick Velocity as the marginally better FF programme if you're looking for flights to Europe in Business class (primarily because of the ability to transfer to KrisFlyer), but probably not for flights to America given United's changes and the loss of Hawaiian as a transfer partner.

I've said in the past that the great strength of Qantas FF is the availability of domestic and short-haul redemptions, but if you want to fly long-haul, look elsewhere. That's increasingly true for Velocity.

 

[dajop]

This is a real gouging of VA customers. With UA J gone as well, there aren't many sweet spots left. Maybe conversion to KF.

Use Velocity to get to DPS and purchase a cash fare from there!

 

[MelbFlyer]

It's similar to redeeming SQ reward seats via VFF - the co-payment has been insane for a while.

An example could be SIN to KUL in business - 19.5k VFF points + ~AUD$260 compared to redeeming directly via SQ - 22k KF points + ~SGD$65.