Qatar Airways will become a full member of Oneworld with effect from October 30.
From that date, the three million members of Qatar's Privilege Club loyalty programme will receive frequent flyer privileges whenever they fly with any Oneworld member airline.
These privileges include earning and redeeming Qmiles for awards, and earning Qpoints for tier status when flying with all Oneworld airlines.
In readiness for joining, Qatar has also brought in changes to its QMiles Privilege Club (effective October 4), including introducing a new Platinum tier. To see details of this, click here.
There are now four tier levels — burgundy, silver, gold and platinum. The set-up is as follows:
- Platinum tier cardholders will have Emerald status in the Oneworld programme
- Privilege Club Gold will be equivalent to Oneworld Sapphire
- Privilege Club Silver will be Oneworld Ruby.
To see more, click here.
Members will require 150 Qpoints to qualify for Silver tier, 300 Qpoints for Gold and 600 for Platinum.
Existing Privilege Club and Burgundy members will be merged into the Burgundy tier, which becomes the base level of the programme and will no longer require requalification.
Burgundy members will receive new Burgundy membership cards upon their first earning activity with Qatar Airways Privilege Club after October 4.
Also from that date, members with 600 Qpoints will be automatically upgraded to Platinum tier and membership cards will be dispatched.
From October 30, Privilege Club Platinum and Gold members will be able to access 550 airport lounges worldwide offered by Oneworld member airlines when they fly with one of the alliance's carriers. Qatar Airways' First and Business Class passengers will also be able to use Oneworld partner airline lounges.
Meanwhile, the 130 million members of the established Oneworld airlines' frequent flyer programmes will be able to earn and redeem awards and tier status points and receive all other Oneworld benefits on Qatar Airways.
Qatar Airways is already participating in Global Explorer, the round-the-world fare offered by all Oneworld members and various airlines that are not part of the alliance.
When it becomes part of Oneworld, the Qatar Airways network — serving 130 destinations in 70 countries across the world — will be covered by the full and extensive range of Oneworld fare and sales products.
More than 20 of its destinations and five countries — Ethiopia, Iran, Rwanda, Serbia and Tanzania — will be new to the Oneworld map.
Tom Otley
