Is OneWorld Sapphire worth anything on Qatar??

[jkhastings]

Hello all. I have searched the database here, but cannot find answers. Nor anything definitive on airline websites.
I'm about to fly Qatar for the first time in a few weeks. I didn't have a choice as work paid for the economy class ticket. I am QF Lifetime Gold for the sake of this question.
Everything I have uncovered so far suggests that Qatar really doesn't recognise Oneworld Sapphire at all.
Choosing a seat is not free and you can't access any lounge on their network. It sounds like they are a bunch of snobs only wanting J class or above. Can anyone confirm, from recent experience, what benefits are actually being honored for Y class with OWS Status please. I did notice Velocity are saying that their Gold gets them in the lounge. How can that be? Velocity hasn't the value of QFF; or so I thought.

 

[Mwenenzi]

Hello all. I have searched the database here, but cannot find answers. Nor anything definitive on airline websites.
I'm about to fly Qatar for the first time in a few weeks. I didn't have a choice as work paid for the economy class ticket. I am QF Lifetime Gold for the sake of this question.
Everything I have uncovered so far suggests that Qatar really doesn't recognise Oneworld Sapphire at all.
Choosing a seat is not free and you can't access any lounge on their network. It sounds like they are a bunch of snobs only wanting J class or above. Can anyone confirm, from recent experience, what benefits are actually being honored for Y class with OWS Status please. I did notice Velocity are saying that their Gold gets them in the lounge. How can that be? Velocity hasn't the value of QFF; or so I thought.

Have not flown on QR, but based on reading FT, like with BA, seat selection at no cost is based on status. Closer to date of flight may have more success. Have you tried to select a seat online/app? If booked via Corporate TA, have you asked them?

https://booking.qatarairways.com/nsp/views/nspSeatLayout.xhtml

https://www.qatarairways.com/en/complement-your-journey/preferred-seat.html

Will be a lounge you can access as OWS. But not all lounges. Even some QR low priced J fares do not have seat selection and lounge access, based on class of travel.
Oneworld Airport Lounges: oneworld Lounges & Airport Lounge Access

 

[Hunter4vr]

As OWS you'll be able to access the Qatar Gold Lounge - South or the Platinum and Gold Lounge - North. See the following link https://www.qatarairways.com/en-au/lounges/worldwide.html.

I recommend the combined Gold / Plat one in the north wing, food was excellent, to be honest it is not too far off the AM.

I can't comment on seat selection, I'm gold with QR and it is definitely free, including the extra legroom seats but I'm uncertain whether the same benefit extends to OWS.

 

[jase05]

and you can't access any lounge on their network

How did you figure that out?
This is from QR’s own web site

Premium Class customers, Privilege Club Platinum, Gold and Silver members travelling on Qatar Airways as well as oneworld Emerald and Sapphire members travelling on any oneworld flight can enjoy premium lounge facilities in airports around the world.

 

[StayGoldPonyboy]

I am only Qatar silver (OWR) and flown Y recently put of BNE. Got priority check in, priority boarding lane, lounge was the Air New Zealand Lounge which was ok ( was all I wanted at that late hour).
I paid for seat selection because I wanted my favourite seat .

I got access Qatar silver lounge in Doha which is good but you'll get the much better Gold lounge I think per above?

QR chat help on the app is pretty good, you can confirm with them.

 

[andye]

Hello all. I have searched the database here, but cannot find answers. Nor anything definitive on airline websites.
I'm about to fly Qatar for the first time in a few weeks. I didn't have a choice as work paid for the economy class ticket. I am QF Lifetime Gold for the sake of this question.
Everything I have uncovered so far suggests that Qatar really doesn't recognise Oneworld Sapphire at all.
Choosing a seat is not free and you can't access any lounge on their network. It sounds like they are a bunch of snobs only wanting J class or above. Can anyone confirm, from recent experience, what benefits are actually being honored for Y class with OWS Status please. I did notice Velocity are saying that their Gold gets them in the lounge. How can that be? Velocity hasn't the value of QFF; or so I thought.

Qatar does restrict access to the DOH Al-Mourjan, LHR and SIN lounges (maybe others) to J pax and QR elites. There are alternatives in those ports for non-QR OWS so they can claim fulfilment of their OW obligations. In Doha there is a separate OW Gold lounge. I understand it's not as good as the (very good IMO) the Al-Mourjan

I didn't know there was no seat selection for OWS. I thought there was. You should have access to priority checkin, boarding and extra baggage allowancd

 

[WilsonM]

I didn't know there was no seat selection for OWS. I thought there was.

Are you (or someone else) able to make a dummy booking and check for OWS? I've done this in the past when writing the QF Gold guide (when I was Gold), but I'm WP now so I can't check for OWS - it might have changed.

FWIW, OWE can select seats for free, including preferred and exit-row seats (this includes upper deck Y on A380s...). As a note, VA Gold can't select any seat for free, including standard seats, at least prior to payment.

you can't access any lounge on their network.

You can't access any of the Qatar Premium lounges in outstations, nor the Al Mourjan and Al Safwa lounges, if you're accessing them on status. But that doesn't mean you can't access any other Oneworld lounge in that airport - if you're departing Singapore for example, you can't access the Qatar Premium Lounge if you're flying Y, but you can access the QF J lounge and the BA lounge as well.

 

[RealtimeY]

Premium Class customers, Privilege Club Platinum, Gold and Silver members travelling on Qatar Airways as well as oneworld Emerald and Sapphire members travelling on any oneworld flight can enjoy premium lounge facilities in airports around the world.

They've written that to mean that you can enjoy the "premium" privilege of lounge access around the world based on status (but not to the Qatar Premium Lounges/Al Mourjan/Al Safwa, which is reserved for premium class customers).

 

[jase05]

but not to the Qatar Premium Lounges/Al Mourjan/Al Safwa, which is reserved for premium class customers).

As they should.
OW status passengers still get access to lounges though which is the question that was asked

 

[jkhastings]

As OWS you'll be able to access the Qatar Gold Lounge - South or the Platinum and Gold Lounge - North. See the following link https://www.qatarairways.com/en-au/lounges/worldwide.html.

I recommend the combined Gold / Plat one in the north wing, food was excellent, to be honest it is not too far off the AM.

I can't comment on seat selection, I'm gold with QR and it is definitely free, including the extra legroom seats but I'm uncertain whether the same benefit extends to OWS.

Thank you. I've been able to remedy the situation. The travel agent loaded my Velocity number which I've let lapse to Silver. That's why they wanted to charge me. Just had that changed to QF and been able to choose preferred seating. All via their live chat.

Post automatically merged: Aug 10, 2024

Are you (or someone else) able to make a dummy booking and check for OWS? I've done this in the past when writing the QF Gold guide (when I was Gold), but I'm WP now so I can't check for OWS - it might have changed.

FWIW, OWE can select seats for free, including preferred and exit-row seats (this includes upper deck Y on A380s...). As a note, VA Gold can't select any seat for free, including standard seats, at least prior to payment.


You can't access any of the Qatar Premium lounges in outstations, nor the Al Mourjan and Al Safwa lounges, if you're accessing them on status. But that doesn't mean you can't access any other Oneworld lounge in that airport - if you're departing Singapore for example, you can't access the Qatar Premium Lounge if you're flying Y, but you can access the QF J lounge and the BA lounge as well.

Hmm. Interesting. I'm flying out of CDG in Paris, so there will be other OWS options.

 

[jkhastings]

How did you figure that out?
This is from QR’s own web site

Premium Class customers, Privilege Club Platinum, Gold and Silver members travelling on Qatar Airways as well as oneworld Emerald and Sapphire members travelling on any oneworld flight can enjoy premium lounge facilities in airports around the world.

The way it was worded suggested that you couldn't access their Qatar lounges, which I thought were the only ones available to me. I didn't realise that you can fly Qatar with a QR flight number and access a different OW airlines lounge. Seems odd that the other airlines lounge has to pay for guests eating and drinking their stock when not even flying on their airline.

 

[Mwenenzi]

Hmm. Interesting. I'm flying out of CDG in Paris, so there will be other OWS options.

Oneworld web site. Need to check opening hours and terminals.
And wording
"Access for eligible customers traveling on any oneworld member airlines including; British Airways, Cathay, Iberia, Royal Jordanian and all other oneworld carriers."
vs
"Access for eligible customers traveling on these oneworld member airlines only."

Airport Lounges: oneworld Lounges & Airport Lounge Access

Enjoy airport lounge access at nearly 700 airport lounges worldwide through your oneworld Priority tier. Exceptions may apply.

www.oneworld.com

 

[RooFlyer]

The way it was worded suggested that you couldn't access their Qatar lounges, which I thought were the only ones available to me. I didn't realise that you can fly Qatar with a QR flight number and access a different OW airlines lounge. Seems odd that the other airlines lounge has to pay for guests eating and drinking their stock when not even flying on their airline.

The lounges will keep tabs on the affiliation of the pax entering their lounges via scanned BPs. Not sure how the charging back goes, but I think the other airlines would be paying for their elite's lounge usage.

As a regular QR flyer, I see their lounges in action all the time. Personally, I think their philosophy of looking after their own status pax in preference to other airlines' status pax, and then the highest OW status pax, and then the rest, is a good one. The value of status/lounges decreases greatly as the lounges etc become crowded, so the QR people get the best, provided by their airline. However QR does honour its OW obligations by providing good lounges at DOH, in your case, the 'Gold Lounge South'.

Lounges | Hamad International Airport

Al Safwa First Lounge

dohahamadairport.com

Might be worth looking at a map before you arrive to see where the lounge is beforehand. DOH gets VERY crowded at times, especially between 1am and 6am and the signage isn't great. I still get disoriented trying to find the Al Mourjan, after having been there dozens of times!

Maps | Hamad International Airport

dohahamadairport.com

 

[RooFlyer]

I didn't realise that you can fly Qatar with a QR flight number and access a different OW airlines lounge.

You might like to join us on one of the annual Asian 'lounge crawls'. As many as want to participate arrange flights on Sunday evening out of, say SIN or HKG where there are lots of Oneworld lounges, and with some in premium cabins and others with other guesting rights, we use all the various Oneworld airlines' lounges, including Firsts

HKG lounge crawl 9 June 2024 (the annual Asian lounge crawl)

During the SIN Lounge Crawl 11 June 2023 JessicaTam posted she will not be organising the 2024 crawl as She has decided to go on a road trip :rolleyes: Jess I trust you will get the priorities back in order for 2025 ;)😆 So as not to break with tradition there will be a 2024 Asian lounge crawl...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[WilsonM]

Thank you. I've been able to remedy the situation. The travel agent loaded my Velocity number which I've let lapse to Silver. That's why they wanted to charge me. Just had that changed to QF and been able to choose preferred seating. All via their live chat.

Post automatically merged: Aug 10, 2024

Hmm. Interesting. I'm flying out of CDG in Paris, so there will be other OWS options.

Good to hear you were able to sort out your seating issues!

CDG is a pretty bad one for OW lounge coverage, and even worse for QR as they fly from Terminal 1, while most other OW non-Schengen airlines seem to fly from Terminal 2 (I honestly don't know how easy it is to transit, but I think it's landside).

You might like to join us on one of the annual Asian 'lounge crawls'. As many as want to participate arrange flights on Sunday evening out of, say SIN or HKG where there are lots of Oneworld lounges, and with some in premium cabins and others with other guesting rights, we use all the various Oneworld airlines' lounges, including Firsts

HKG lounge crawl 9 June 2024 (the annual Asian lounge crawl)

During the SIN Lounge Crawl 11 June 2023 JessicaTam posted she will not be organising the 2024 crawl as She has decided to go on a road trip :rolleyes: Jess I trust you will get the priorities back in order for 2025 ;)😆 So as not to break with tradition there will be a 2024 Asian lounge crawl...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Tokyo Narita is next year! NRT lounge crawl 8 June 2025