So. We had quite an adventure this morning.
It all started when FlyTheTail on Flyertalk posted a deal on the Mileage Run subforumย at 7.13am Singapore time.
Just found amazing Business Promo fares from Ho Chi Minh City on Qatar to many (but not all) US destinations. Flight ticketed and confirmed, books into R class. Available on QR site as well as others. Long layovers in DOH on several routes, don’t have time for many details, perhaps others can post. Off to look into booking more flights…
Qatar Airways was offering phenomenal business class tickets out of Vietnam to many destinations in the US, Europe, South America and Africa. Round trip fares were at the ~US$700 mark. Qatar is known for frequent business class fare sales, but this was unlike anything we’d seen before
I came to be aware of the deal when at about 8.30am when OMAAT picked it up, but because of a morning meeting was only able to start searching in earnest at around 10am (by 11.30am it seems all the seats disappeared). I was trying to look for MXP and FCO availability, failing which I was happy to settle for BCN or FRA and take a connecting flight, but although I could find the cheap fares I just couldn’t make the dates work.
I was all ready to give up until I remembered that Vietnam was more than just SGN. I plugged in HAN to give things one more try and came up with this
Round trip business class from HAN to PHL, via DOH (with a technical stop in BKK). US$683. Yes, I’ll need to position to HAN but it’s a cheap flight. Moreover, it’s refreshing to finally see a premium fare deal that those of us in Asia can take advantage of (well, apart from this).
HAN-DOH is on Qatar’s A330 aircraft. These planes have a 2-2-2 configuration in business. I’m guessing I should be getting one of the refurbished aircraft with these seats
As opposed to these
DOH-PHL, however, is on Qatar’s A350. These planes are 1-2-1 in business class and are what Lucky at OMAAT calls “the best business class in the world”. I strongly refute that claim, but I’ll let you know again after I’ve actually tried it
I do note on the return there is an ungodly layover in Qatar of about 20 hours, but this should make me eligible for Qatar’s STPC program, which means a free hotel (5 Star, for business class travelers), meals, visa fee (Singaporeans need a visa on arrival for Qatar) and transport covered.
I wasn’t originally thinking about going to the States during my leave stint in November, but man, $683 round trip business is too good to turn down.
Will it be honored?
With fares this low it does venture into “too good to be true” territory. Butย I don’t think this was a mistake fare and here’s why-
First, the seats were labelled as “Golden Tickets”. This implies they created a special bucket of fares just for this sale and special text highlighting them. This is unlike a fat finger deal where it appears someone left out a zero here and there.
Second, Qatar’s Twitter team sent out this tease yesterday-
Want to experience the Worldโs Best Business Class? Weโve got a small surprise for you tomorrow. Stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/dD1OayyHHy
โ Qatar Airways (@qatarairways) July 30, 2017
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
On the flip side however, I am a bit concerned that the base fare shows as 0. There’s a healthy discussion over on FT about this and apparently Qatar has done “Golden Tickets” with 0 base fare before. I guess we’ll find out soon enough. And hey, easy come easy go.
The deal is dead for now, but I have a hunch we may be seeing more deals soon based on what QR’s Twitter account is saying (follow it and you’ll get first news of new deals). I hope as many of you as possible were able to get in on this deal, and let’s hope QR has more surprises in store for us.
PS. I have upcoming QR business class reviews for the lounge and in-flight product. I was pretty impressed. Stay tuned!
Thanks Aaron, got in on the deal through your FB Feed but it was almost 2.00 pm and everything was gone by then. Qatar quoted $3999 for Ho Chi Minh – NYC. For a moment there, my Monday became a Friday and then went back to being a Monday ๐
I would understand if you are within 1000km from Vietnam to go and get that ticket. But if you are already in US, what are points (pun intended) to fly to Vietnam to fly out back to US?
Illusion of good value can make people do certain things…
That and scaring people has been selling point by marking people for ages…
I can’t get it
I manage to lock a booking in the morning but havent make payment, system show can pay within 48hours. But just now when I wanna make payment the page is gone and can’t find my booking. I call cs and they said my booking has been cancelled. But there is no information or email from qatar.
My hold for HAN-DOH-ORD return was cancelled also. Oh well, easy come easy go.
Holds are being cancelled. No news about ticketed reservations though
Use ur pnr to manage booking, should be able to see if the booking still exist.
My ticketed booking frm SGN to JFK at USD676 is still there, hopefully it’ll be honoured! *crossing fingers*
mine is still there as of 1045pm tonight. i know what i’m gonna do when i get up at 7 in the morning.
My ticketed booking from SGN – FCO was cancelled at 1100pm ):
What a bad news
my tickets survived the night, for what it’s worth…
My past experience is that QR does not honor error fares, and of course SIN is one of the worst places in the world that protects consumer’s welfare.
Good luck and hope it gets honored, but do not position until you are certain they will honor it.
My friend ticketed booking suddenly gone, even amex already charged and seat already chosen.
guys, flyertalk reporting cancelled bookings are being reinstated. check again?
Would greatly appreciate it you are able to provide updates on the STPC as the current page says only this ‘Please contact your nearest Qatar Airways office to confirm whether this service is available for your journey. ‘.
A play by play would be great!
A play by play of the STPC and how to obtain would be great, if possible ๐
Thanks for all your great work
apologies, your comment got caught in the spam filter. yes, once we have confirmed the tickets are alive you can be sure i’ll be writing about the STPC
Hi there, just swung by the Qatar Airways office this morning to enquire about the STPC and was flatly refused. Apparently my fare (SGN – JFK, same 20hr layover) did not qualify as there were earlier available connecting flights. Now, because i ‘chose’ the fare structure under the R class (biz promo) meaning only the later flight was available, this meant that QA did not ‘give’ me a flight with that long layover, as I had chosen it. I’m happy to be corrected! The flyertalk threads seems all over the place, but thought I’d provide one datapoint for this specific… Read more »
yes, what you encountered is a commonly reported issue that people on FT are reporting. that sucks, but i don’t think you have any recourse there. are you able to pay US$150 to get a STPC?
That option was never floated by the rep either :S
Do you think there’s any wriggle room like the paid option – will you/any others be able to report back on your findings? Thanks for the prompt response ๐
I assume you’ve read through this thread already? a lot of useful stuff from people who have gone through it before (see the wiki on top- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qatar-airways-privilege-club/1448913-qr-stpc-stopover-policy.html)
will report back when i fly in setember. i know i’ll have to pay US$150 because my fare isn’t high enough, but man am I looking forward to this! looks increasingly likely that fares will be honored
Yep i have read it – seems to be summarized succinctly as below
‘QR is operating an immediate connection with seats available in the desired cabin, but the passenger has booked a connection with transit time of 8-24 hours. STPC is not permitted either complimentary or against a fee’.
does your fare fall under this? if so, then would be interested especially if you’re certain that you’ll get the STPC (even at a fee). if not, then that’s my bad luck and your good fortune. thanks for your responsiveness!
Ah ok I’m quite sure I’m not in that category. It looks like you’re sol then. But dude, you have a 680 round trip j ticket to the usa. Look on the bright side
@Aaron, see if you can take advantage of the ‘Qatar+’ promotion for your long stopover. Read more about it here – http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qatar-airways-privilege-club/1839973-free-doha-stopovers-hotel-summer-season-2017-1.html
Despite the official wording of the promotion, you’ll read in the forum that you don’t really need to have selected the multi-city option while booking to take advantage of the promo.
Excellent tips here! Iโll be saving a lot with all the tips youโve provided. Thank you so much!