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

[bernardblack]

This may have been corrected? I'm seeing copays in the $800 range in either direction AU<>EU, using QR codes to/from ADL and QR or VA to/from BNE/MEL, which looks like the status quo ante. (It's $1200 leaving LHR, but they have the ridiculous premium departure tax. Choosing FCO as origin brings down to $800.)

 

[Up in the clouds]

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

Silly ?? Why didnt you book the infant when you originally booked?

 

[jase05]

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

Some decent cash fares from Asia back to Australia too. We don’t mind the VN service which we can often get for around $1100 one way ex CGK. in J. Got 2 of them booked for this year already

 

[bernardblack]

Silly ?? Why didnt you book the infant when you originally booked?

OP may come back to answer, but possibly baby not born (or even known about, if booked far in advance) when ticketed?

Back in the day we booked flights for a friend's wedding when we were expecting. As I recall they put a note on the booking and we called back after birth to give name, sex, DoB and pay the 10% lap fare.

 

[jase05]

Looks like it might be fixed

 

[HS-TQE]

Fixed. Charges removed from VFF and Cathay FF (formerly Marco Polo FF).

Update: Qatar Airways removes fuel surcharge

Qatar Airways reward seats are now a lot more expensive to book with various programs such as Velocity, due to fuel surcharges.

www.pointhacks.com.au

 

[WilsonM]

Looks like it might be fixed
View attachment 490158

Yep, fixed for all programs affected. No explanation as to why though.

Edited the article to note the latest update, but have still kept it up with the changes noticed on 8 January.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I’m not sure I understand?

If Qatar airways increased fuel surcharges, how did they magically appear on the VA booking engine? Surely Qatar doesn’t have unfettered access to Velocity’s systems to make these changes?

Does that mean someone from VA entered the new figures? And if so, did they not question these?

 

[MooTime]

I’m not sure I understand?

If Qatar airways increased fuel surcharges, how did they magically appear on the VA booking engine? Surely Qatar doesn’t have unfettered access to Velocity’s systems to make these changes?

Does that mean someone from VA entered the new figures? And if so, did they not question these?

Royal Commission??

 

[bernardblack]

I’m not sure I understand?

If Qatar airways increased fuel surcharges, how did they magically appear on the VA booking engine? Surely Qatar doesn’t have unfettered access to Velocity’s systems to make these changes?

Does that mean someone from VA entered the new figures? And if so, did they not question these?

My guess, with no inside info:

QR added a new line item to their fees/surcharges alongside the relevant award buckets. VA (and likely CX) had a set of accepted fare fees/taxes codes that they suppressed in lieu of their own surcharges, with everything else (including legit taxes) passed through. And QR didn't warn them about this so the new code wasn't excluded.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

My guess, with no inside info:

QR added a new line item to their fees/surcharges alongside the relevant award buckets. VA (and likely CX) had a set of accepted fare fees/taxes codes that they suppressed in lieu of their own surcharges, with everything else (including legit taxes) passed through. And QR didn't warn them about this so the new code wasn't excluded.

That sounds plausible. I’ll take that!

 

[squid01]

OP may come back to answer, but possibly baby not born (or even known about, if booked far in advance) when ticketed?

Back in the day we booked flights for a friend's wedding when we were expecting. As I recall they put a note on the booking and we called back after birth to give name, sex, DoB and pay the 10% lap fare.

Correct.

 

[Tiki]

IST-DOH-BNE back to $578 taxes.