QATAR AIRWAYS: Privilege Club status extension to end December 2023

The Pandemic has caused lots of problems for loyalty schemes across most airlines, what the years of the pandemic, where flying was dramatically reduced. Different airlines have dealt with it differently with status extensions or status point rollovers, as with Qantas.

Qatar has extended status for its premium members to the end of March 2023. ET has confirmed with the airline that Privilege Club members will get a surprise via email that will automatically extend their current status until the end of 2023 – even though they may not have earned enough Qpoints to earn the extension under normal rules. There are also confirmatory posts about the extension of Flyertalk.

This is good news for those Qatar Privilege Club members who have earned Emerald Status with OneWorld, as they will continue to be able to access Qantas First Lounges and similar status lounges by British Airways and Cathay Pacific.

Just a reminder to Qatar Privilege Club members that the frequent flyer scheme adopted Avios as its currency a year ago in March 2022. Qatar also became a partner of Virgin Australia in mid-2022 – so you can earn those Avios with Virgin as well.

2PAXfly Takeout

Good news if you are a member of the Qatar Privilege Club. You have the rest of the year in which to re-qualify for your current status with the airline. If you are a predominantly Virgin Australia flyer and intend to credit all your points and status earnings to Qatar Privilege Club, then read the fine print carefully. Also,

Qatar has done some unbundling of its business fares, so don’t assume that you will have lounge access or additional baggage allowance until you read the fine print on the fare you are going to purchase Business Lite fares don’t include lounge access, or advance seat selection, so be warned.