I wrote about Qatar’s insanely generous COVID rebooking policy back in May this year. 

Qatar are now leading the pack by introducing a policy that covers travel all the way until December 2021!

The new policy isn’t quite as generous as before and there are a couple of extra hoops to jump through but it still absolutely the most flexible rebooking policy of any airline right now.

 

What’s changed from the first Qatar COVID policy?

• Unlimited route change option is only applicable when your original travel has been impacted – this is the biggest change. You must wait until one of your flights is cancelled before making any changes to your booking
• All travel must be completed on/before 31 December 2021 – Previously the date was December 31st 2020
• Voluntary rebookings must be made into the same booking class – If you booked deep discount business class, the same deep discount bucket must be available on your new date
• If you are a Qatar Airways Privilege Club member, you may change the original destination within the same country or same region – Previously you could change your destination up to 5000 miles in any direction and you didn’t need to join the Privilege Club.

 

Qatar A350

 

What does Qatar consider to be a region?

Regions are defined as Africa, America, Australasia, Europe, Far East, GCC (inclusive of Levant, Iran, Iraq), Indian Subcontinent.

No more booking a flight to Doha and then having the option of flying to either Cape Town or Shanghai.

 

 

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Conclusion

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It was only logical that Qatar would cut back on the original policy. Being able to buy a flight to Doha and then immediately change the destination to Singapore for free, made absolutely no financial sense.

The new policy requires your travel to actually be impacted before you make any changes but once that happens you retain the flexibility to rebook anywhere within the same region and on any date up until December 31st 2021, free of charge.

When it comes to flexibility during COVID, Qatar is undoubtedly still the market leader.

[NOTE: The policy is constantly changing so always make sure you check here before calling to rebook flights.]