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Qantas Frequent Flyer members have all but lost the ability to use their points for Qatar Airways flights.
In August 2022, after all Qatar Airways reward seats temporarily vanished from the Qantas website, some seats initially returned. But at that point, Qantas Frequent Flyer members only had access to Qatar Airways Business and First Class reward seats up to 119 days in advance. Qatar Airways Economy seats became bookable through Qantas Frequent Flyer up to 249 days in advance.
Previously, Qantas Frequent Flyer members had been able to book most Qatar Airways reward seats from the time they were initially released – up to 355 days in advance.
There has been yet another change for the worse
While the previous situation was far from ideal, Qantas Frequent Flyer members still at least had a possibility to use their points on Qatar Airways closer to departure – if the limited number of available reward seats hadn’t already been booked by members of other frequent flyer programs.
But it is no longer possible to redeem Qantas points for any Qatar Airways Business or First Class seats more than 3 days out from departure. All other premium cabin reward seats have simply disappeared from the Qantas website.
Meanwhile, it is now only possible to redeem Qantas points for Qatar Airways Economy reward seats up to 30 days prior to departure.
For example, when we searched the Qantas website for Classic Flight Reward availability from Berlin to Doha on 20 March 2023 (this is in less than 30 days), a Qatar Airways flight is an option in Economy Class (only).
At the time of writing, the Virgin Australia website shows both Economy and Business reward seats available to book on the same flight:
But when searching for reward seats more than 30 days out, the Qantas website shows no options at all on Qatar Airways:
This is despite the Virgin Australia website showing Velocity reward seats available on Qatar Airways on the same route and date:
In fact, you could book both Economy and Business on QR82, departing 26 March 2023, using Velocity points.
In case you’re wondering, the Qantas website is still showing flights available from Berlin to Doha on other partner airlines such as Finnair, for travel more than 30 days out. But there are no Qatar Airways reward seats showing whatsoever.
The same phenomenon can be replicated when searching for Qatar Airways award space on many other routes and dates.
What’s going on?
Australian Frequent Flyer invited both Qatar Airways and Qantas to comment on this latest development. Neither airline responded to our request.
While we don’t know for sure, it would appear that Qatar Airways has decided to stop giving Qantas Frequent Flyer members access to its award inventory. This action seems to be deliberately targeted against Qantas because reward seats in all cabin classes are still available to book up to 11-12 months in advance through other Oneworld airline frequent flyer programs, as well as with Velocity Frequent Flyer.
Last month, Qantas Frequent Flyer changed its terms & conditions to prevent Qatar Airways Privilege Club members from earning Avios or Qpoints on many domestic Qantas flights.
What about existing Qantas Classic Flight Reward bookings on Qatar Airways?
Existing bookings should not be affected. However, we would recommend that you closely monitor any Classic Flight Reward bookings that include Qatar Airways sectors for any changes. If there is a schedule change that would require Qantas to re-issue your ticket, and Qantas fails to do so, you may lose your flights and Qantas might not be able to get them reinstated.
See our guide to navigating Qantas’ reward booking ticketing failures for more on this.
