Qatar Airways has just made changes to the redemption fees that it charges when booking award tickets. We’re not talking about change or cancelation fees, but rather about the carrier imposed fees you have to pay in cash when redeeming Avios.
Continue reading: Qatar Airways Adjusts Award Redemption Fees (Mostly Bad)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Award sweep spots, going away one by one. Is the end of our points game coming?
What’s the point of posting these new fees on different routes when u don’t even post the old fees for comparison???
Without question. At the same time the formal alliances are being weakened as more airlines restrict premium redemptions to members of their own program, or in this case, to programs using the same "currency". The points have also become massively devalued, firstly by the huge increase in redemptions rates across the board, and also by the gargantuan number of points floating around the system from credit-card spend, etc, which is directly attributable to airlines trying to wring every last red cent out of their frequent flyer programs by selling them to all and sundry.
I can't see things getting better. I think the premium redemption market will become ever-more compartmentalized and rarefied ala La Première, which is accessible only to AF/KLM's most frequent (and lucrative) customers.
@Regis
Dynamic pricing is enabling airlines to more effectively ensure they maximize the value for each and every seat in every flight. Many sweet spots were legacies of the old table-driven pricing.
The game has been shifting continuously for the past 15+ years. Just talk to anyone who was playing back when cash back was king.
It does seem we currently are in yet another transition.
For at least 5 years the old "fare rules" strategy has been out of favor. Maybe it will have its day again.
It's much much more difficult for airlines to efficiently and effectively use dynamic fare rules. Historically those kinds of sweet spots have been the most lucrative.
“There’s still lots of value to be had with Qatar Airways Privilege Club” I’ve never seen it. Especially if you’re on the west coast. LAX and SFO are cash-pay routes in any class other than economy.
It is time to get rid of antitrust regulation for the carriers and alliances as well as as open skies. All of those rules serve one purpose only, collusion/ price and supply fixing and driving prices up. Interlining will and has worked in the past. That will make loyalty valuable and possibly make flying competitive again. Look at the alliances now, they are becoming regional duopolies at best.
Is there a way to calculate the carrier-imposed fees without having the necessary miles for an award? I'm thinking of SFO to SIN via Doha. It's about 12K miles each way. Would the fee be $250 each way, or something higher. I couldn't tell on the Qatar website because I don't have enough miles on account for those flights.
They prob aren't making much $$ off current awards bc there are so few avalabel Saver awards (business, first). So annoying.
Exactly. Same with every other departure city, it feels. I've searched them all.
Eventually miles will have a fixed value with perhaps limited exceptions, basically like Delta, Southwest, Jetblue, etc. It will suck but it's inevitable. These cash fees - not like it's any different than the massive BA surcharges - are another step towards that.
Curious why you reposted the same article, deleted the previous, and removed all the comments originally there? Odd.
Josh Cahill does. Ben keeps it careful and smooth. Not as pussyfoot as Sam Chui, but careful.
Unfortunately too many influencers in this space has caused a lot of damage to airlines by publicising every sweet spot and loophole that existed in these programs. Airlines are now fighting back by increasing charges and lowering availability.
The redemption price is crazy. For eg doha to Sharjah round ticket costs around QAR 980/-
If you take a redemption ticket , you use 16k avois + QAR 580 redemption fees. What is the benefit? I don’t see anything.
Earlier, it used to be only taxes amount. This is not worth the penny especially for people who purchase avios by buying them on offer.
I had calculated purchasing avois for $1100 which would have given me 105k avios. When I checked the ticket price it was the same in terms of price when we add avios + redemption charges.
So doesn't make sense at all. No value for money. Just a gimmick.
Do a conversion value and you realize it is better to book rather than redeem.