Qatar Airways Introduces Seat Fees for Business Class Avios Bookings

Qatar Airways is one of our favourite ways for us to spend our Avios, but they've quietly rolled out a new way to get more of your money. Business Class passengers redeeming Avios for award tickets now face charges to select their seats in advance.

The Details

Starting last week, Qatar Airways began charging fees for advance seat selection on saver-level business class award tickets. These are the cheapest redemptions, unlike the twice as expensive Flexi award fares explained here. The change affects all bookings for saver tickets, whether they're made through the Qatar Airways Privilege Club, or partner programmes such as the British Airways Club.

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The fees aren't small either. Passengers are looking at £75 per segment for UK bookings, or approximately $100 USD equivalent elsewhere.

Take our return trip the New Zealand earlier in the year, for two people travelling via Doha, that's four segments each way. So for a return trip there are eight segments. Meaning, if I wanted to reserve our seats for each leg, that would have cost me an extra £600. compared to the £0 I paid earlier in the year.

Who's Exempt?

oneworld status rules do still apply, meaning those who have oneworld Sapphire or Emerald (BA Silver or Gold) can pick seats at anytime for free.

Additionally, the charges don't apply to Flexi awards or to Qatar's First Class routes, whether that be the full First Class routes, or those operated regionally but marketed as First Class.

The Waiting Game

Seat selection remains complimentary at online check-in, which opens 24-48 hours before departure. For those willing to take their chances, this is the cheapest option. A seat's a seat, is it not?

The Practical Impact

For status holders, this change actually creates a small advantage, less competition for preferred seats during advance selection. For everyone else, it's a calculation between paying for certainty or accepting whatever's available at check-in.

The real sting comes from Qatar's frequent aircraft swaps, colloquially known as being "Qatared". You see, Qatar Airways operate a huge range of aircraft, with the holy grail being the Q Suite aircraft, but other aircraft are quite outdated. Qatar often swaps these aircraft in and out quite frequently, meaning that passengers who may have expected the trip of their lifetime in a Q Suite instead being lumped with an older 2-2-2 Business Class seat with no privacy.

So, do you take the risk and pay, and hope that your seat doesn't get changed from beneath you?

That's up to you.

Sam

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