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Cymmon
10th Jan 2012, 15:01
I have travelled 4 times in the last 16 months from the UK to Manila with Qatar airways in Business class. I have accumulated 95,000Qmiles.

I will be travelling again in April and again in October. I have tried e-mail, very slow response and not good, phone £8 for a no there are no flights available to redeem your Qmiles unless you travel on dates, times, flights we stipulate!

I have given Qatar every opportunity and date in October and november with the stipulation I only need a maximum of 7 days in the Philippines, No chance of redeeming my points.

My question is:

Why give out Qmiles if it is basically impossible to redeem them?

Does anyone know of an airline that will allow easier redemption as I feel I may as well change airline as my points will be lost anyway.

Qatars loss, even though I personally admit the service on board is incredible.

PAXboy
10th Jan 2012, 16:26
1) Why give out Qmiles if it is basically impossible to redeem them?
Because it makes the initial sale look good!! They will be able to demonstrate that thousands of redemption seats ARE used every month and that, therefore, it is just bad luck and could you please try another route? This is how it works with BA Exec Club and the highly popular South African routes. Unless you can book a year in advance and be flexible, the chances of getting redemption, even upgrade seats is slim.

2) Does anyone know of an airline that will allow easier redemption as I feel I may as well change airline as my points will be lost anyway.
They Code Share with a number of Star Alliance carriers but have not yet joined. Check to see if any of them can help you?

3) Qatars loss, even though I personally admit the service on board is incredible.
If you decide that you are going to stop booking with them, do write to their CEO first and explain why. My perception is that that they are an expanding company that want to gain credibility.

Cymmon
10th Jan 2012, 16:46
Thank you PAXBoy, The best I have been offered is the morning service (totally impossible for me) with a 24hr connection in Doha (even though there is a flight 6 hours later), returning on the 0050 flight from Manila, leaving me in Manila 12hrs) and missing my UK connection when there is a 1820 service which is NEVER full. Always bookable day before.

You would have thought that even to upgrade would help?

I will write to the CEO but as all flights are paid for from my own pocket ultimately cost will be the deciding factor.

May as well just throw the miles away as they do seem to be a gimic.

Hotel Tango
10th Jan 2012, 19:08
To be honest redeeming miles on long haul isn't easy with most carriers unless you're very flexible and want to spend several weeks or even months away. I recently tried several destinations with KLM and partners (in Business) giving more than 8 months notice and couldn't find any suitable dates that matched the period I wanted together with the approximate length of stay I wanted - unless I was prepared to stay 5-6 weeks! Par for the course I'm afraid.

Cymmon
10th Jan 2012, 19:35
I have been offered different offers, ie one way upgrade then pay for return, these normally end up with me getting rid of Qmiles but then paying more in actual cash as one way fares are normally much more expensive.

May as well pay full Business return fare.

PAXboy
10th Jan 2012, 20:55
Yes, my experience too. I have become deeply cynical about the whole thing. There is no doubt that all carriers use them as (effectively) 'bait and switch'.

Each time a system gets re-hashed (oh, sorry, Improved) it declines in use to the pax. I tend to use my miles for upgrades as they have more seats available for that, than they do for outright purchase.

Anansis
10th Jan 2012, 21:02
If you are flexible, would you consider using your Qmiles to get to either Hong Kong, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur instead? Then you could do the final jump across to Manilla on one of the Asian loco's. Alternatively, you could take the one way award with QR and return with Air Asia (although they do not offer business calss as such, their long haul premium product is good value apparently).

Sorry to hear you're having problems. I generally use Emirates nowadays - award tickets attract much lower taxes than most other airlines and I've not had any major problems redeeming miles.

*Edit*
You say you've emailed QR with slow responses. Last time I redeemed Qmiles I did it online through the Qmiles website. Is this facility still available? I've always found their backroom staff in Doha to be a little bit lacking - you might even find that the tickets you initially wanted are actually available...

Cymmon
10th Jan 2012, 21:42
Qmiles website is still there but takes 4-5 days for a no, sorry, we are not sure reply.

I have a daily flight from Manila to Butuan, so out to Manila is not too much of a problem, I usually have to stay at the Marriott. But, the return to Manchester must be the early morning arrival, I have a connection to Lanzarote at 14-1500.

I have also tried the Upgrade method. We can book you economy, then we say upgrade is available then you use your Qmiles to upgrade via webform but we can't guarantee the upgrade and we cannot refund your Qmiles!!!!!!!!!!!!

Arrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

PAXboy
11th Jan 2012, 02:13
Stumbled across this by chance: BBC News - Fast Track - Do frequent flyer programmes offer value for money? (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/fast_track/9672711.stm)

Cymmon
16th Jan 2012, 15:14
I have questioned Qatar and they have replied that redeemed airmiles sell out very quickly!

So I have set them a task for the Whole of October and November.

I can depart from Manchester on any day but need 5-7 days in the Philippines. I must leave on 1455 flight to arrive Manila 1835.

Returning I must arrive at 0730 on 4 days out of 7 available in a week.

Lets wait for the reply. I think 10-11 months with this sort of leeway must get a redeem? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

If not then it looks like cheapest Business seat on any airline will get my vote as Airmiles would , in my opinion, be worthless.

Cymmon
17th Jan 2012, 07:33
Qatar have been in contact, they can offer me flights outbound 16 Oct, return 24 Oct, great you think, but again wrong flight times.

Needless to say I have asked them to try again and to send me contact details of CEO.

Cymmon
17th Jan 2012, 21:19
New reply. Now I have 2 choices in November....AND on the flights I require, I just need to pay $1509 + taxes for the priviledge.

Forget it, Qmiles, Airmiles whatever are a marketing ploy with no way of redemption.

From now on Man-Mnl is a choice of cost not the "superb service" of Qatar.

Superb , I mean great but for the price, maybe a chance of SOME redemption. I can get return Y flights for $900, so where is the extra from? Maybe difference from Y to J class and as a Qmiles holder, I pay to use them.

Oh well.