After less than three months, Qatar Airways Privilege Club has dialled back its unpopular award booking restrictions that dictate who members can and can’t book flights for using their Avios. While members could previously book award flights for nearly anyone, Qatar now requires you to add travellers to either a My List or Family & Friends group before redeeming your Avios for their flights.
While limitations still apply on who you can redeem flights for, as of 14 September 2026, Qatar Airways has removed the qualifying-activity requirement to access My List or Family & Friends.
Qatar Scraps My List Qualifying Activity Rule
These changes were likely a move to limit miles brokers from buying and selling award seats under other people's accounts. Privilege Club members can now only book award tickets for:
- The account owner (yourself)
- Up to four adult Privilege Club members added to your My List
- Up to six non-Privilege Club members added to your Family & Friends group
There are a couple of catches, including that members are stuck on either list for six months once they join. For My List, account owners have to send an invite to add someone, plus everyone is capped at just one list. If the person you're inviting is already on a friend's My List, they won't be able to join yours.
The biggest caveat with both My List and Family & Friends comes down to account eligibility. To add anyone to these lists, your Qatar Privilege Club account must be at least 30 days old and had completed at least one of these two qualifying activities:
- Credit a cash Qatar Airways or partner airline flight to Privilege Club
- Make a transaction on an eligible Qatar Airways co-branded credit card
This was particularly frustrating news for Australian points collectors. Australia lacks a co-branded Qatar Airways credit card, and flexible points transfers like moving points from American Express did not count toward the activity requirement.
The backlash on social media and frequent flyer sites likely forced Qatar's hand here. Note that your Privilege Club account must still be at least 30 days old to access My List and Family & Friends. But the restriction that was causing the real problem has been removed, meaning you no longer need to fly around just for the sake of being able to book a flight for someone else.
Summing Up
Qatar Airways still wants to stop miles brokers gaming the system, but it's dropped the part of My List that was actually hurting ordinary members. If you tried to add someone and got knocked back for lack of qualifying activity, it's worth trying again. Just don't forget the 30-day account minimum is still in place.
