One of the unique things Qatar Airways does on flights within the Middle East is that they classify their forward-most cabin as first class.
Continue reading: How To Save Miles On Qatar Airways Awards To The Middle East
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
It does also create an interesting anomaly for BAEC Tier Point runners who are looking for a quick and cheap F trip but don't have time to go to North America
I booked an oneway award with Qatar's Privilege Club AUH-DOH-FRA in First/Business for 87K miles. The same in Economy/First would have been 97K miles...so that was an easy decision 🙂
(The first option can only be booked as a member with (gold ?-) status, I think)
Lucky,
Thanks for this tip! Another question about Qatar (or even Etihad). Is there any way to redeem AA miles on QR or EY to Europe without having to break it out into two separate awards? This is where that pesky requirement of not being able to transit in a third region comes into play? Been trying to figure out the best way to Istanbul using AA miles in biz without paying the heavy fuel surcharges on BA. At this stage, the best I've come up with is Iberia.
@ JT -- Nope, unfortunately not when redeeming American or US Airways miles, sorry.
Who ever heard of marketing the forward cabin in a 2-class plane as first class? Oh, wait, every airline in the history of the USA 😛
@Lucky thought you might this interesting, Qatar airways is going to introduce a bedroom concept in their business class cabin: http://m.gulfnews.com/business/aviation/qatar-airways-latest-to-announce-bedroom-product-1.1437868
Also episodes of season 2 of Ultimate Airport Dubai is out on Youtube
FWIW, I flew DOH-DXB and back in F last week, and only got the regular business class champagne. Krug in the lounge at DOH, though.
@ Joe Jones -- They only serve Krug on the longer services within the Middle East, backwards as that may seem (since you'd think Doha to Dubai is more lucrative than Doha to Cairo, for example).
As someone who flies out of CMB about three/four times a year (RT, so 8x segments) on their A320s I WISH EY would also do the same. Fat chance 🙁
It's a little late, got directed here from your new review, but Bangkok, London and Paris are three destinations, not two.
"The only two longhaul routes on which they operate a first class cabin are Bangkok, London, and Paris"
hmmmmmmmmmm.................
Anyone have any recent experience with this? Just tried to book a BIZ award from Europe to Dubai via Doha and getting the first class pricing . . . and haven't had any luck to override this.
@Adam W. - I just booked JFK-DOH (business class) DOH-Muscat (first class) 70k AAdvantage miles.
My question is, will I be able to use the first class lounge in Doha??
After calling a few agents I was able to get the price reduced to the Business class award (BUD-DOH-DXB). From other reports here it seems we would have access to the lounge, but I'll have to confirm later this month.
@Jo Anna Hill Did you have access to the first class lounge by doing JFK-DOH J and DOH-MCT F for 70K AAdvantage miles in late 2016 or early 2017? I know the situation in the Middle East for QTR is quite different now, but that particular routing should still be OK, I would think.