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Last week we reported on Qatar Airways’  generous rebooking policy, which at first seemed too good to be true. It contained various points, but the most interesting part was the ‘Unlimited Changes’ section:

 “You can change your travel date or destination free of charge, as often as you need, for travel until 31 December 2020. You can change your origin to another city within the same country or any other destination we fly to within a 5,000 mile radius of your original destination.”

Qatar Airways Adjusts Terms & Conditions

On Qatar’s landing page for the offer you can now find modified terms and conditions :

• “Rerouting for voluntary purposes (ie where there has been no flight disruption) is possible 14 (fourteen) days after making the booking. New flights must be booked in the same booking class (RBD), be operated by Qatar Airways and can be changed within the same country of origin and / or within a 5,000 (five thousand) mile radius from the original destination booking. If the same booking class is not available, a fare and taxes difference may apply.
• Rerouting following operational disruption (ie flight cancellation) is possible free of charge on Qatar Airways operated flights only from the same country of origin and / or within a 5,000 (five thousand) mile radius from the original destination booking.
• Rerouting is not possible free of charge if the original booking was on a fifth freedom route not touching Doha (such as PNH-SGN and vice versa; GRU-EZE and vice versa).”

You can now only change the destination of a booking 14 days or more after making the booking. Previously you could book, call 2 minutes later and have your ticket changed to Sydney instead of Singapore, for example. In addition, the same booking class must now be available, otherwise the tariff difference will be calculated.  Fifth freedom flights such as Sao Paulo – Buenos Aires are also now definitively out of the question.

Regardless, the scheme is still very attractive and the introduction of at least some restrictions was surely inevitable.

Cover picture: (c) Qatar Airways