Begin forwarded message:

From: Qatar Airways Customer Care
Date: 10 April 2023 at 11:32:26 am BST
To: Peter Bryan Peter Bryan
Subject: CAS-2328170-S5P2G9 CRM:0500000000435


Dear Mr. Bryan,

This is in reference to your email regarding the preferred seats,

We understand your expectations of having a smooth and comfortable flight and appreciate your disappointment when you found out that your pre-booked seat was changed.

At the outset, please allow us to clarify that Advance Seat Reservation (ASR) is applicable on all Qatar Airways flight sectors. However, ASR is not a guarantee. Qatar Airways reserves the right to change or re-assign the seats at any time, even after boarding of the

aircraft if there is any need to do so due to operational, safety or security reasons. However, we note that the seats you were provided were chargeable thus we regret to advise that we are unable to accommodate your request on this occasion.

Thank you for taking the time to write to us. We are grateful for your patronage and look forward to serving you onboard soon.

Yours Sincerely,

Mouna Abidar
Customer Care

Qatar Airways – Going Places Together

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I bought an Economy LGW-BKK return from Qatar as they offered one free change of date or destination for a slight premium, and which I thought I might need. They were offering ‘multiple free changes’ at a higher price.

A few weeks before departure I needed to change my return flight.

As the online facility to amend a booking didn’t work I called them to ask the cost of changing flights, and found it would cost more to change the date than to buy a new ticket from their website (and throw the old one away) although my flight is selling for almost three times the price of the tickets I wanted to switch to.

A refund would be a slight improvement – I’d get US$48 back due to their $350/£283 fee. Both options are non-starters.

I checked the ticket conditions which don’t mention the ‘one free change’ they advertise on their website. The ‘fare rules’ which came with my ticket say they’ll charge up to £283 fee plus fare difference.

When I previously changed dates with BA and Emirates, the process was easier and the results correlated closely with the price of the tickets so I was expecting better from Qatar.

I decided to to tinker around with the rebooking system to see if it would let me make any changes, and I decided to search YYZ as the new destination instead.

I don’t know how or why, but it showed the change as being $0 extra. Decided to see if it would confirm, and it sure did!

What I will say is that FC fares to YYZ were substantially higher than those to BUF (not always the case – sometimes they’re around the same). I’m certainly not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially now that I’m getting home a night earlier thanks to this.

The purchased fare was a Z fare.

Call the given number they will explain about your cancellations and rebooking