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This week, Qatar Airways launched a new strategic partnership with Virgin Australia. But as a member of the Oneworld alliance, Qatar Airways already partners with Qantas – Australia’s other major airline.
This creates a unique situation where members of both Virgin Australia Velocity and Qantas Frequent Flyer can earn points, earn status credits, redeem points and receive certain reciprocal status benefits on Qatar Airways flights. But both partnerships were not created equally.
Qatar Airways is clearly favouring Velocity members over Qantas frequent flyers with its new tie-up. In particular, Qantas Frequent Flyer members now have access to significantly fewer Qatar Airways award seats than Velocity members.
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What’s going on with Qatar Airways award availability?
Last month, many Qatar Airways reward seats suddenly vanished from the Qantas website.
Qantas Frequent Flyer members can still redeem points for Qatar Airways flights in any class of travel, if seats are available, for travel up to 14 November 2022. But other than that, as of today, the only other Qatar Airways reward seats that Qantas Frequent Flyer members are able to book are Economy reward seats for travel between 21 December 2022 and 15 May 2023.
This is really quite bizarre, so we did some investigating. It turns out that most other Qatar Airways partner airlines – including Virgin Australia – do now have access to far more reward seats on Qatar Airways flights scheduled for 2023.
Qatar Airways reward seats are currently available to book in all classes of travel using either Qantas or Velocity points up to 14 November 2022. But from 15 November until 20 December 2022, there are no Qatar Airways award seats available to book at all through any frequent flyer program (except Flex awards booked using Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios). This is likely a blackout period due to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
From 21 December 2022 until 15 January 2023, Qatar Airways award seats are currently available to book through all partner frequent flyer programs – but only in Economy Class.
For travel dates 16 January 2023 until the end of the published schedule, Qatar Airways reward seats are currently available to book in all classes of travel using Virgin Australia Velocity points or through most of Qatar Airways’ other partner airlines. But this is not the case when using Qantas Frequent Flyer points or American Airlines AAdvantage miles.
It appears that from 21 December until 15 May 2023, as of today, Qantas Frequent Flyer members are able to book Qatar Airways Classic Flight Reward seats in Economy Class only. There are no Business or First reward seats available during this period. It’s also no longer possible to book Qatar Airways reward seats with Qantas points in any class of travel more than 249 days in advance. Qatar Airways releases award availability to other partner airlines up to 360 days before departure.
Qantas Frequent Flyer members getting their first access to Qatar Economy award seats 249 days out is a pattern that we’ve observed over the past month. It seems to be the “new normal”.
Meanwhile, the American Airlines website is currently only showing Qatar Airways award availability for travel up to 179 days (around six months) in advance. However, there have been reports of American Airlines AAdvantage members being able to book seats that were available through other partner airlines but not shown on the American website by calling American Airlines. This doesn’t work in the same way for Qantas Frequent Flyer bookings.
An example
For example, there are currently 2 Business Class award seats showing as available on each flight from Istanbul (SAW) to Doha on 16 January 2023 on the Qatar Airways website:
These seats are also available to book through Virgin Australia Velocity…
They’re available through the frequent flyer programs of most of Qatar Airways’ other partners, too, like British Airways Executive Club:
And Cathay:
And Japan Airlines Mileage Bank:
But the Qantas website shows availability in Economy Class only:
It’s a similar story with the American Airlines website:
Looking at another example, for travel in June 2023, the following reward seats from Doha to Melbourne were showing on the Virgin Australia website at the time of writing this article:
But as that date is more than 249 days away, the Qantas website can’t see any of that award availability. It instead tries to route you via London:
Velocity Frequent Flyer members can also access Qatar Airways reward seats between Adelaide and Auckland. Qantas Frequent Flyer members have never been able to redeem points on this fifth-freedom route since it launched in April.
Interestingly, seats on the Canberra-Doha route which are showing as available on the Qantas website are not appearing on the Virgin Australia website. But this is likely due to an IT glitch with the Virgin Australia website, and Velocity reward seats on this route should still be available if you book through the Velocity Membership Contact Centre.
Australian Frequent Flyer has requested comment from both Qantas and Qatar Airways on the issue of many Qatar Airways award seats not being made available to Qantas Frequent Flyer members. Neither airline has responded, but we understand that this is likely caused by Qatar Airways deliberately withholding the seats from Qantas.
At the same time, AFF understands that Qantas may be blocking its frequent flyers from accessing Classic Reward seats on Qatar’s Adelaide-Auckland route. But that’s just specific to that one route.
You can join the discussion about Qatar Airways award availability on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: QR withholding award seats from Qantas?
Qatar Airways reward seat pricing
On routes where you do have the option to redeem either Qantas points or Velocity points for the same Qatar Airways reward seat, the number of points required for a Velocity Frequent Flyer redemption is slightly lower – but there’s not much in it.
There could also be a difference in the taxes & carrier charges paid. Both Qantas and Velocity pass on Qatar Airways carrier charges, but the amounts may be different. Velocity transparently publishes a chart of these carrier charges on its website, while for Qantas bookings it’s a bit more random.
As an example, a one-way Qatar Airways Business reward from Brisbane to Doha would cost 104,000 Velocity points + $444.11 if booked through Virgin Australia’s frequent flyer program. The same seat would cost 119,200 Qantas points + $575.11 if booked on the Qantas website.
Earning points & status credits on Qatar Airways
If you’re buying a Qatar Airways ticket and considering whether to earn Qantas or Velocity points and status credits, Velocity is also a clear winner.
As an example, a Velocity Frequent Flyer member could expect to earn 560 status credits for a round-trip Business Class trip from Sydney to London via Doha with Qatar Airways.
That’s more than the 500 status credits required to earn Virgin Australia Gold status. By booking these flights as “VA” codeshares, you could also earn the 4 required “VA” sectors required each year to earn or maintain Velocity status.
By comparison, Qantas Frequent Flyer actively penalises its members for flying with partner airlines like Qatar Airways with reduced earning rates. Qantas Frequent Flyer would award just 280 status credits for a return trip from Sydney to London in Qatar Airways Business Class. That’s not even enough to earn Silver status with Qantas Frequent Flyer!
Qantas also doesn’t award any points or status credits on most of Qatar Airways’ cheaper Economy fares. But all Qatar Airways fare classes are eligible to earn Velocity points and status credits. So, if you’ve booked a Qatar Airways Economy ticket in S, N, Q, T, O or W class, crediting the flight to Velocity is a no-brainer as you wouldn’t be able to earn any Qantas points anyway.
Reciprocal status tier benefits
While this partnership clearly favours Velocity Frequent Flyer members overall, there is one area where Qantas Frequent Flyer members travelling with Qatar Airways are better off.
From 12 September 2022, Virgin Australia Gold and Platinum members will enjoy lounge access and priority boarding when flying with Qatar Airways. Virgin’s Silver, Gold and Platinum members also get priority check-in. But that’s where the reciprocal status tier benefits end for Velocity members
On the other hand, Qantas Silver, Gold, Platinum and Platinum One members can access the full suite of reciprocal Oneworld Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald status benefits when travelling with the Doha-based airline. This includes extra baggage allowance, priority baggage handling and access to preferred seating for Qantas Gold, Platinum and Platinum One members.
Qantas Platinum and Platinum One can even use the Qantas First Lounges when flying out of Sydney and Melbourne in Qatar Airways Economy Class.
It also seems that advance seat selection is not currently possible when booking a VA-marketed codeshare flight operated by Qatar Airways. You can get around this by booking a QR-coded flight directly with Qatar Airways, but you may earn fewer Velocity points and won’t earn any eligible Velocity sectors if booked on the QR flight number.
You’ll find discussion about the new Virgin Australia partnership with Qatar Airways on the following AFF forum thread: Virgin Australia and Qatar Announce Strategic Partnership
