Qatar Airways has a ‘Qsuite Guarantee’! Swap for free if your aircraft changes

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• Phillip says:

  4 Dec4 December 06:10

  I recall this being more prominently advertised at the booking stage where Qatar was showing which flights were operated by QSuite aircraft and there was definitely a section on their website when the policy launched pre-covid but now as Rob points out it has disappeared and is only mentioned in e-mails where there is an aircraft change from QSuite to non QSuite.

  • Phillip says:

    4 Dec4 December 06:15

    When you click the ‘‘i” for more information next to QSuite during the booking process it does say that they will e-mail you if there is a change from QSuite but no mention of the detail.

• Jonathan says:

  4 Dec4 December 06:14

  I’m guessing it would be right in assuming that Shai Weiss has never been able to really able to explain the situation from where VS downgrade your seat and simply hope you won’t notice at all ?

  I can fully understand why Qatar Airways don’t want to make this great policy of theirs too well known, it’s hard to know however how many J travellers of theirs are really bothered by the type of seat they’ll be sat in, as a lot of people will be on tight connections that missing would be the last thing in the world they’d want to be doing, and spending hours dosing around the airport and the lounges available is hardly ideal, especially if you’re travelling somewhere as quickly as possible, those sort of people will be looking at flight times more than anything

  • Phillip says:

    4 Dec4 December 06:23

    I’d also say that people find Qatar downgrades more palatable than they would on Virgin, not only because the majority of non-QSuite products that Qatar offer are still of a high standard (some A330s and old 777 configuration aside), but the high quality soft product people get, regardless of seat, keeps them coming back. I’ve often spoken to people who prefer flying Qatar and don’t mind if it’s not QSuite from the start. The seat is not the main reason the choose Qatar.

    • Andrew J says:

      4 Dec4 December 06:45

      I actually prefer the 787 and A380 seat, and the general onboard experience of those aircraft. So I’m one of those people who don’t mind if it’s not QSuite, and on LHR-DOH I’ll usually select A380 if price and timings/connections are equal.

      • JDB says:

        4 Dec4 December 08:24

        Yes, both are at least as comfortable overall, if not more so than QSuite. The guarantee is a good thing, but I wouldn’t rush to change ones flights for a QSuite unless that happened also to be a better schedule or moving to a flight one preferred but not originally available.

  • jj says:

    4 Dec4 December 10:55

    My last Virgin flight had a silent equipment change to the coffin seats, and several people who thought they had selected seats across the aisle from their partners were dismayed to discover that they were now in different aisles as the seats moved from a 1-2-1 to a 1-1-1 arrangement. There were some very unhappy passengers, but, as @Jonathan says, I don’t think Shai Weiss really cares.

• NW says:

  4 Dec4 December 06:15

  I’m not sure the 500 mile part is still valid. This happened to me (also avios redemption) around this time last year for a redemption from Paris CDG. I asked if I could change the departure to London and was told this wasn’t permitted but no issue swapping to another Paris CDG departure that had no reward availability and that left at a much more convenient time the following day.

  I didn’t push very hard on it given there’s no obvious T&Cs to refer to and I figured the difference in departure taxes from London vs Paris is very large so would make sense that they’d be reluctant to do this given it wouldn’t cost me anything but would actually cost them quite a lot.

  • John says:

    4 Dec4 December 16:29

    If they agreed you could depart from London QR would have had to pay APD. I wonder if you asked to switch from a flight departing the UK to an alternative origin they would have agreed and not refunded any difference

• Patrick says:

  4 Dec4 December 06:19

  It’s very useful until they send you the email about the equipment change as you’re actually boarding the plane.

  • Ben says:

    4 Dec4 December 08:13

    Well quite. It’s of very little meaningful use if you’re going on holiday and have hotels booked or going for a business meeting. Unlikely to change plans for a seat unless you know well in advance or can get a flight that doesn’t materially affect those plans such as a shorter change in DOH.

    • john says:

      4 Dec4 December 09:36

      But could be helpful perhaps if it means you can switch to a better timed flight home for example.

• Lesley says:

  4 Dec4 December 06:30

  I am due to fly LGW DOH KUL next weekend and was offered the swap when aircraft changed meant no Q Suite. In answer to query about changing airports to achieve that, I requested a flight ex LHR and this was denied and was quoted the “you may change the date”. After a debate with customer services, they did alter my LGW departure times (not date) to achieve travelling on QSuite aircarft

• Barbara says:

  4 Dec4 December 06:37

  I actually used this guarantee last week, I could swap the dates, I couldn’t however swap the destination (so I was informed by the CS I spoke to, and I couldn’t have a layover for more than 24hrs). All in all it was good to use as this was the first time in years my Q-suite flight had ever experienced an equipment change.

  I didn’t wait for the email from Qatar, I had already seen it was changed on expertflyer so I called them ahead to swap me over. Met with little to no resistant and the attendant was very helpful.

• Robert says:

  4 Dec4 December 07:20

  How can I check if my flights have Qsuite? I’m flying EDI-DOH-COK next month. I thought it only benefited groups of 4.

  • Axel Heyst says:

    4 Dec4 December 07:38

    Having done thst route many times in last 2 years Ive never had Qsuites but the seats & service you get are srguably better. Also would recommend morning flight from EDI as usually quieter. Look at lhr – cgk flights and youll see the Qsuites availability examples which you arent offered from edi

  • Andrew J says:

    4 Dec4 December 08:03

    What only benefited groups of 4?

  • Jonathan says:

    4 Dec4 December 10:51

    If you try a dummy booking on their app, it’ll highlight Q-Suite without you having to take a second look, it shows in the available flight options

    • Robert says:

      4 Dec4 December 22:54

      Thanks for the tips I’ll give them a try.
      By benefiting 4 I meant the main marketing I’ve seen for Qsuite is that a group of 4 people can sit together in the middle aisle seats.
      Guess it’s a better seat by the window for single travellers too.

• Matt Price says:

  4 Dec4 December 07:29

  They were happy to offer me swaps from LHR to any UK airport when I had an aircraft change which I thought was decent

  • daveinitalia says:

    4 Dec4 December 09:44

    Would it work the other way round though? LHR has the highest fees of any UK airport so moving you elsewhere will save them money. Also means you miss out on the better LHR lounges

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