Qatar Airways ticket flexibility further extended to 30 Sep 2022

Qatar Airways have further extended its ticket flexibility policy by a further 4 months, from 31 May to 30 September 2022.

Background

I shared a hack in May 2020 that allowed travellers to change a 50-minute flight into an epic 24-hour Business Class journey in one of the best Business Class seats in the world, all for just S$944!

I had initially booked these flights for travel on Dec 2020 before changing to July 2021, May 2022 and now September 2022.

The new ticket flexibility policy

Qatar Airways’ ticket change/flexibility policy has changed a number of times since May 2020 and passenger experiences with how the rules are implemented have been wildly inconsistent.

The new policy states that fare difference will apply for rescheduling of flights. However, I was pretty sure that I could reschedule my flights for free as there were some involuntary changes on my booking in recent weeks.

Even if there were no involuntary changes on your flights, you should call anyway to see if rescheduling is possible without paying fare difference.

There are two pages on the airline’s website that show information on the new ticket flexibility policy:

1. Travel with Confidence
2. Extending Our Commitment

How I rescheduled the flights

Here’s how I managed to change my flight dates for a fourth time:

1. Before calling Qatar Airways, I did a search on the airline’s official website for possible travel dates in September 2022. I noticed that flights from Doha to Auckland all have stopovers in Brisbane, Australia.
2. I had initially called on 31 December 2021 when the page was first updated but the phone agent did not know anything about it and asked me to call a few days later.
3. I called again this morning via the USA hotline at +1 877 777 2827 because it is toll-free on Skype.
4. I said that I wanted to change the dates of my flights and the phone agent proceeded with the usual verifications.
5. She found the flights that I’d requested and double-confirmed the dates and flight times with me before finalizing the booking.
6. She then mentioned that she will send me the new e-tickets via email and asked me to check it as soon as it was done.
7. I received the e-tickets via email and confirmed all details were accurate.

The waiting time before my call was answered was about 15 minutes, and the rescheduling process took a further 25 minutes.

The fare classes have now changed to D and I (previously I and J).

Bottom line

The pandemic is really making me work hard for this hack. I have a feeling that this short 4-month extension may be the last one. There is still a good 8 months or so till my flights, so, let’s see how this one plays out! 🤞