Last week Qatar Airways rolled out a published status match promotion for the first time I can recall. This is a heads up that this promotion has been extended, for anyone who may want to take advantage of this opportunity.
Continue reading: Qatar Airways Status Match Promotion
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
@Lucky - A weird question... but does the 'travel statements for the past two months' refer to the time period from March to April? Because I am an Emirates Skywards Gold Cardholder and from January 2019 to February 2020, I used to fly every weekend from Kuwait to Dubai for my university classes. I am qualifying for all the other conditions, and I would be bummed to see if they are looking for travel statements from February-April or March-May because Kuwait International Airport has been closed since March 15, 2020.
Oh no.....this is brilliant
(Whine)
But I only have status with 2 airlines. QA and TK...and I think I am the same level with both of them.
I was one fligjt away from max status with Turkish before this thing started 🙁
(/Whine)
Not tempted, after they massively devalued their FFP a year ago without any notice.
Pardon me if this is a stupid question, for status match do you lose your status with the original airline or is this in addition?
To Sabine's point, they're a pretty fishy operator. They don't abide by the spirit of One World lounge access rules, they devalued a lot, they change the rules on the fly etc. They are opportunists who treat staff terribly when it suits them, and that gives an indication of how little they really care for their passengers too.
With Virgin Australia being in voluntary administration, this is very useful to people in the Velocity scheme. Great insurance against the new owner sending Virgin Australia back to the low cost carrier model. The OneWorld status allows benefits during a transition to Qantas. I’m surprised Qantas hasn’t offered their own status match against Velocity yet, considering Virgin Australia took a reasonable portion of their business traveller market.
@Ben Dover
Yes, you’re right, because every other airline really, really *cares* about their passengers and staff.
Let’s just ask Dr Dao... oh, wait...
Who has any relevant travel history for the past TWO months? I mean, come on, most of the status match partners stopped flying. Never mind.
Why would Qantas offer a status match to virgin flyers? There is no other option in Australia . If virgin folds then Qantas will get their business with no incentives.
Thanks a lot for the reply. It's quite tempting since I have status with one of the above mentioned airline, though I don't see myself traveling much for the rest of the year, so maybe I'll pass
waiiiiiiiiit a second. even when you are a Platinum cardholder in Qatar Airways Privilege Club (even when you secure it as a frequent flyer), you still wouldn't be able to access the AlMourjan Biz Class lounge or AlSafwa First Class lounge, unless you are flying Business or First Class. Jeez, that is a bummer. You'll be granted access to the Oryx Lounge (which even PriorityPass or LoungeKey members can access). In Emirates, even a Silver member gets to access their Business Class lounge, instead of the Marhaba lounge, which is DXB's contract lounge. Come on QR! You call yourself a *5 Star Airline* but cannot let your frequent flyers into your premium lounges. *facepalm*
If you get Platinum status with QR, do you get access to the Al Mourjan Business lounge whenever you fly, or is that only for paid passengers?
@JB - Unfortunately, even Platinum members will be able to access the Oryx Lounge. The premium lounges are off-limits for frequent fliers and are available to only premium paying pax.
Of course it is "pure coincidence" that QR offers status match to airlines which are either in liquidation (Virgin) or are currently grounded by their governments due to Covid-19 (SQ, EK, EY, TK).
I will not be travelling a lot this year as most of the countries on my list are either closed till end of June or longer, or require 14 days mandatory quarantine upon arrival. Hence, I prefer to stick to the FFPs I have.
Most customers left QF to VA for a reason, not least the fact that their customer service and catering is far beyond the Qantas offering. Now is QF’s chance to offer an incentive to try them again. Assuming VA won’t fold, which looks like the most probable outcome. If this did happen, I’m still more interested to see what REX has to offer. If there was a QF status match I’d be likely to give them another go. Currently QF would be my last choice, other than Jetstar. They have had an entitled attitude to business passengers.
I doubt QR would say that’s coincidence at all. I’m sure the list of airlines was well planned to coordinate the best commercial outcome for the airline.
Joshieric79 - Why would Qantas offer a match? They have a captive market moving forward (potentially). If you want full service your only choice may be Qantas, so they'd be giving away status for nothing.
On the whole I see it as a really clever move, people may already be frustrated by the response of Etihad and Emirates during this crisis (albeit some not their fault), and by targeting VA and SA, two airlines that may not be around much longer they're grabbing those customers first rather than letting them find their own way to other ME carries or TK.
@Ben (Lucky): Qatar Airways only match status from the listed carriers. They don't match status from either Delta or United at all. I would leave American out as it is a oneworld member.
The Qatar Airways status match website link is working again, FYI.
I just asked for a match to my TK elite status. Even though I rarely fly Oneworld airlines given I live in a SkyTeam hub in which *A actually offers the best connections by a mile, it can certainly be worthwhile.
QR is certainly not the best Oneworld frequent flyer programme there is, but I thought that those Qcredits alone should be worth it for a free upgrade! Let's see what it will bring.
Last two months' statement lol. I wonder if the QR folks expect to see a full list of travel record at times like this.
I have TK*G, will try and see what happens.
Went to their website to apply for the status match on 20 May 2020, 1438h Doha Time.
Got notified that the promotion has ended... quite some time before the published deadline of 11:59 PM Doha Time.
Oh well.
@E Faigmane, why don’t you just email them with the required information anyway? The page was just a page with instructions and an email address, so you should be able to still give it a go
@E Faigmane - I got the same, but I just submitted everything to that email, 80 minutes before the deadline.
My guess is some low-level person managing the site prematurely uploaded that text.
@joshieric and @CR, I reached out to QR, let’s see if they respond. Fingers crossed.
My friend and I both are top tier flyers with United. We emailed Qatar Airways over a week ago following the instructions. My friend got a denial response. I have not heard back yet. The reason could be that United MileagePlus is not one of the programs Qatar would match. Good luck to all. Please update whether anyone was successfully matched.
I too am curious if anyone has been successful. Still waiting for the response from airline.
I received a response - tried to match SQ PPS status. They asked for evidence of my virgin AU status (I have none). I sent them back an email so will wait and see. Not hopeful.
No success yet. I sent all required documentation originally, then received a response asking for the same documentation that had already been provided. I provided the details and attachments again, but haven’t had a response. Not a great QR experience so far...
Qatar Airways has strangled its competition away from its hub through ‘partnerships’ and buying into OneWorld airlines. It is no surprise that they would make a play for loyal Turkish Airways customers as it is one of the very few quality airlines that still competes with Qatar Airways out of HIA/DOH.
Here is the update from the airline:
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Thank you for your email requesting tier status match.
We have received the documents provided from your end. However, we are unable to verify your name on the account statements. Therefore, we request you to provide the requested documents for us to review your request further.
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One problem is, the account statements downloaded from TK website do not enlist any details of account holder name nor membership number. Instead, I just saved a screenshot which at least can have the name appear on top right corner of the screen.
Let's see what happens next.
Anybody status matched? No news in my mailbox from May 18th, only request for the screenshot I already sent. QA look like some amateur company!
@bob, my wife and I finally heard back from them two days ago letting us know that they are looking into our requests
No response for me and 3 colleagues that have applied. All eligible with EK Gold / Platinum status.
Mine was approved today, albeit after following up Privilege Club for an update on the status match but was actioned within a few hours of that follow up. I'm a VA Platinum and was matched to QR Platinum and submitted a copy of my VA membership card and a PDF version of a print out of the main VA Velocity account page.
Being ADL based my travel patterns are primarily to the East Coast USA and Europe (with some domestic AU) so this will be very useful, especially with the uncertainty of VA's international and partner network on the other side of voluntary administration and the new state of the airline industry post-COVID whatever that might be.
Just received an email with the acknowledgment of my status match to platinum.
I will make the most of this once the boarders reopen. Thank you Ben for bringing this promotion to my attention, cheers.
Just now I've been approved for the status match too - from TK Elite to QR Gold. Quite surprising, given I've only flown four medium/short haul flights in past one year to reflect on the statement and I've become less frequent flyer these days.
Same here, just got an email today confirming the status match of my KrisFlyer Gold to QR Gold. Let's see how soon I can actually get to use this 😉
I just got my match. I actually
Provided documentation as a Delta diamond and United Platinum and they matched me to QR PLATINUM. It’s good for 12 months but too bad it will be near impossible for me to maximize the usage other than AA domestic in USA.
I got my Gold status match last year , Fantastic!! The rules as I understand them says I require 150 Qpoints to keep my Gold status for another year( half the usual amount) . With some difficulty I achieved over 150 but Qatar Airways are refusing to give me another year even after contacting them 6 times , they are just giving me until Dec , the same as everyone else . Anybody else had this problem? Or am I understanding the promotion incorrectly .