Qatar Airways - Oneworld Hi, i am looking into flying Qatar J class between BNE and MUC next April.

Qatar Airways - Oneworld

Hi, i am looking into flying Qatar J class between BNE and MUC next April. My question is, if I book this flight before Qatar joins Oneworld, will i be able to still earn Qantas/Oneworld points and status credits? Or do I have to wait until Qatar joins?

Qatar do not fly from Brisbane, nor have they announced a future service there. They currently only fly into Melbourne and Perth.

I'm pretty sure that if your flight with Qatar occurs AFTER they have joined OneWorld that you will earn QF points and status credits, it juist depends at what earning rate QF and QR agree on. Hope it is not like the measly point and status credit offering agreed with Malaysian Airlines if you fly MH as a QF frequent flyer!

I know that they don't fly into Brisbane, but you can book an intinerary flying between Brisbane and Munich via Perth and Doha.

Hopefully it isn't a similar agreement like the one with MH, although given the tie up between EK and QF, who knows what the agreement will look like.

Hey 7OD,

You will still earn points/SC if you book now and fly in April 2014, if the tickets you've booked are from a mileage accruable inventory.

Mileage accrual is based on date of travel and NOT the date of purchase.

The risk that you take by purchasing BEFORE QR becomes part of OW is that you may end up buying a ticket in a booking inventory that is not mileage accruable.

They way one identifies mileage accruable booking inventory is by reviewing that information published by one's frequent flyer programme. In your case, this is Qantas. Since Qantas has not yet published this information, you are making a purchase on assumptions, which is inherently risky.

There are however several approaches to take to mitigate that risk. Here are some of my recommendations:

1. Purchase a Business or First class ticket - The OW framework tends to allow for mileage accrual for all Business and First bookings. There is a chance that the rate of accrual for discounted Business seat may be less than the normal rate earned but you will still get to accrue some points. Status Credits (SC) will not be impacted by this since the amount of SC earned is dependent on the cabin flown (and not the level within the cabin). I base the risk of earning at a lower rate on the fact that QR FF themselves earn at a lower rate for discounted Business seats.
2. Purchase a Y or B Economy class ticket. Again the OW framework allows all full fare economy bookings to earn points.

Since you are flying in J (I presume J inventory and not just a short hand for "Business") I should think there to be little to worry about. But nothing is certain until the accrual tables are published.

Thnks a lot for that. I think I'll hold off in purchasing the tickets until Qatar joins nd the earning rates are published.