Yesterday Qatar announced their new “Classic” fares which are similar to Emirate’s basic business class fares that they released last year.
The first piece of good news is that if you booked on or before 8 November 2020, the old fare rules will apply. The second piece of good news is that if you have status, or will get in BA, Qatar or another Oneworld airline you will still be able to get your benefits on the fares, albeit not as good as what you would have booking a higher fare class.
In this post:
What are the rules on business classic fares?
Seat selection for free
- Silver or above in Qatar
- Silver or above in BA
- Emerald or Saphhire in Oneworld
Entry to Al Mourjan lounge currently (other Qatar Business Class Lounge is closed) for free
- Silver or above in Qatar
- Silver or above in BA
- Emerald or Saphhire in Oneworld
- Otherwise, you can pay to enter
Entry to Al Mourjan lounge for free when other Qatar Business Class Lounge is open
- You will need to pay. You can also pay to enter the Al Safwa First lounge.
Entry to Qatar Airways branded lounges in Heathrow, Singapore, Bangkok, Paris Charles de Gaulle or Beirut
- You will not be able to enter even with status
Entry to British Airways Club at Heathrow lounges (Qatar is based at T5 currently) for free
- Any passenger in business class
Entry to Oneworld business class lounges when flying in Business classic
- Any passenger in business class
Entry to Qatar’s contract lounges
- Silver or above in Qatar
- Silver or above in BA
- Emerald or Saphhire in Oneworld
My thoughts
At the moment it looks like the fares have not changed at all for R class, the underlying class of business classic. So overall, for those of us that enjoyed cheap fares on Qatar in the past, the gravy train is over. If you have status and don’t mind paying a little extra for the Al Mourjan lounge then it should not be too bad if they continue to have low fares. It will be interesting how it pans out, as for me this has definitely not made me feel very loyal to them as a customer when they need it most. It’s such a shame given they had been one of the best airlines throughout the pandemic in terms of routes, service and safety.
7 comments
Great article yesterday on Barbados. We are going in December with BA it was really helpful.
Thanks Michele.
Had said the before and will say it again: these gimmicks are just a way to reduce costs for airlines. All legacy airlines will join this bandwagon. Just cut everything from the cheapest fares (while not actually reducing the fare) and raise the other fares. How else can they make money in the expected death of business travel?
Would a date change post Nov 8th to tickets booked before Nov 8th be affected by this?
That’s a good question. You would assume that the original fare rules would apply as you are not buying a new ticket but I would definitely confirm before committing to change something!
Hi Michele
Excellent summary (on yet more bad 2020 travel news!)
Just a couple of questions:
1) Any intel on when the other Qatar (is it the Oryx?) oneworld Business Lounge in Doha could be reopening? (It seems that it is in everyone’s interests for it to stay closed as long as possible, so everyone can still use the Al Mourjan!)
2) re: the Qatar Heathrow T4 lounge (currently not an option of course ) — was it always the case that you couldn’t enter that one only with oneworld status? So the only real change there is that you now also can’t enter with this R/Classic business fare?
Many thanks
Guy
Nothing has been rumoured about the other lounge and I can’t see it opening before Spring next year. Yes that’s correct you could only enter if you were in business not on status. There is the Malaysian lounge which is ok but the opening hours are very restricted at T4.
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