The pandemic has accelerated the death of the Airbus A380. Both Air France and Lufthansa plan on retiring their A380s, and it looks increasingly likely that Etihad may retire its A380 fleet, and that Qantas may retire at least some of its A380 fleet.…
Qatar
A few days ago the Gulf blockade came to an end, meaning Qatar is restoring diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Bahrain. On the aviation front, this means that Qatar Airways can once again use airspace of these…
A few days ago the Gulf blockade came to an end, and as I write this the first Qatar Airways plane has entered Saudi Arabian airspace -- how cool! Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister has confirmed that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Bahrain,…
Qatar Airways is continuing its US expansion. The airline recently announced it would start flying to San Francisco, and it's now starting service to another West Coast city. As of March 15, 2021, Qatar Airways will launch 4x weekly nonstop flights between…
Qatar Airways has just launched its latest promotion on purchased miles, which is the best we've ever seen (for that matter, we've only ever seen the frequent flyer program sell miles a few times). Qatar Airways Privilege Club is offering a 50% discount…
I've been following travel loyalty programs for about 15 years. I have to say that I don't think there's a loyalty program out there with more untapped potential than Qatar Airways Privilege Club. Qatar Airways is recognized by many as being one of the…
Historically Qatar Airways' Privilege Club program has actively been a competitive disadvantage for the airline, which makes zero sense to me. The program hasn't been rewarding or competitive in terms of elite perks, mileage redemption amounts, and more.…
Here's a nice concept for a group of people who have largely been forgotten during the pandemic. While border restrictions have been tough on many people during the pandemic, seafarers and offshore workers have dealt with among the greatest challenges.…
It's fairly rare to see an airline loyalty program offer a compelling bonus for new members nowadays. Earlier I wrote about how Aegean Miles+Bonus is offering 5,000 miles to new members with no activity requirement. Well, Qatar Airways Privilege Club…
A Qatar Airways spokesperson tells me the following: "We have also not made any changes to award ticket policies as a result of fare family changes. Our valued Qatar Airways Privilege Club members booking a Business Class award flight will receive the…
Usually I find Qatar Airways' Privilege Club frequent flyer program to be exceedingly uncreative. That's probably why I didn't see this initiative coming, because it's extremely well thought out. Qatar Airways has launched a new program exclusively for…
Qatar Airways is known for its incredible Qsuites business class, considered by many (including me) to be one of the best in the world. Just as we've seen airlines unbundle economy class over the years, we've also seen airlines start to unbundle business…
Qatar Airways is making progress in its lawsuit against Saudi news station Al Arabiya. Back in August 2017, Saudi-owned news station Al Arabiya published what was purported to be an animation of the potential impacts of the Gulf blockade. With the blockade,…
After a significant delay, Qatar Airways' Boeing 787-9s will finally enter service tomorrow... but not with passengers. Qatar Airways has an incredibly modern and varied fleet. The Doha-based airline ordered 30 Boeing 787-9s, and started taking delivery…
Qatar's government is finally starting to apologize for an incident that recently unfolded at Doha Hamad International Airport. Earlier in the month two horrible things happened at Doha Hamad International Airport. First of all, a newborn infant was…
A few days ago Qatar Airways made global headlines after an abandoned newborn was found in a bathroom at Doha's Hamad International Airport, which somehow led to at least 13 Australian women being strip searched. In particular this has caused a huge…
This has to be one of the most bizarre and disturbing travel stories of 2020, and I don't even know how to begin to make sense of this. On October 2, 2020, an abandoned premature newborn was found in a bathroom at Doha Hamad International Airport. It…
Qatar Airways took delivery of three new Airbus A350-1000s yesterday, but that's not even the interesting part of the story... Let's start with the actual news, at least for non-avgeeks. Yesterday Qatar Airways took delivery of three Airbus A350-1000s.…
Qatar Airways honored Breast Cancer Awareness Month in a special way today. The Doha-based airline had an all-female crew operate a special flight over Qatar. According to the airline, the flight had female pilots, cabin crew, ATC controllers, engineers,…
This isn't of much consequence to passengers one way or another, though it sure is interesting to get an inside look into airline operations in this way... In late September, Qatar Airways' Chief Flight Operations Officer sent a rather scathing letter…
While I'm not a vegetarian (anymore), here's a change I'm very happy to see... While it has long been possible to pre-order a "special" vegan meal, Qatar Airways is now adding fully vegan options to its a la carte menu for business class passengers.…
A few days ago Qatar Airways announced its latest US destination, which will be San Francisco. This is an update to that post, to note that award availability is now wide open on this flight in business class, for anyone who wants to make a booking.…
Over the past several months we've seen airlines introduce flexible booking policies to make people comfortable with the idea of planning future travel in these uncertain times. Arguably Qatar Airways at one point had the world's most generous policy…
Qatar Airways has just reported its results for the 2019-2020 financial year, and as you'd expect, the situation is rough. The airline lost about three times as much money as in the previous financial year, which was otherwise a record-breaking year…
