Qatar Airways will become a full member of Oneworld from midnight Doha-time tonight.
The carrier joins the alliance just one year after receiving its invitation to do so.
From its first flights tomorrow morning – QR633, which leaves Dhaka for Doha at 0315 local time (0015 Doha time), and the QR1166 from Doha for Riyadh, leaving five minutes later at 0020 Doha time – Qatar will be offering Oneworld's full range of services and benefits.
First glimpse: This Oneworld-branded Qatar Airways B777 was unveiled in Doha today
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.
Earlier this month, Qatar brought in changes to its QMiles Privilege Club, including introducing a new Platinum tier (see news, September 9). There are now four tier levels — burgundy, silver, gold and platinum.
Privilege Club Platinum and Gold members will from tomorrow 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 Classpassengers 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.
More than 20 of Qatar's destinations and five countries — Ethiopia, Iran, Rwanda, Serbia and Tanzania — will be new to the Oneworld map.
qatarairways.com, oneworld.com
Graham Smith