Qatar Airways has been on the offensive in recent days. First, we saw extremely generous “travel with confidence” policies which many took advantage of to book cheap business class travel, and now they’ve announced a status match in a bid to win over frequent flyers for future travel. Forward-thinking one might say!
Which programs can status match?
Only a select number of programs are accepted for the status match. For obvious reasons, those with One World status are not included. To take advantage of this status match, you will need to have status with one of the following airlines:
- Virgin Australia
- Emirates
- Etihad Airways
- South African Airlines (RIP – they went bust a few weeks ago)
- Turkish Airlines
- Singapore Airlines
Which Tier Will I Get?
Qatar Airways is a One World Airlines (like Qantas, British Airways and many others) and its frequent flyer program is called Privilege Club. It used to be an “okay” program, but it has been devalued into the ground over the years so personally, I don’t value their points. That said, I never say no to the opportunity of a status match!
The match will be apples for apples so if you’re Velocity Platinum; you will get Privilege Club Platinum which translates to One World Emerald. For those with KrisFlyer status, your Gold will only get Gold, to get Privilege Club Platinum you will need to be PPS Club.
| (QR) Privilege Club | Privilege Club Silver | Privilege Club Gold | Privilege Club Platinum |
|---|---|---|---|
| (EK) Skywards | Skywards Silver | Skywards Gold | Skywards Platinum |
| (EY) Etihad Guest | Etihad Guest Silver | Etihad Guest Gold | Etihad Guest Platinum |
| (VA) Velocity | Velocity Silver | Velocity Gold | Velocity Platinum |
| (SA) Voyager | Voyager Silver | Voyager Gold | Voyager Platinum |
| (SQ) KrisFlyer | KrisFlyer Elite Silver | KrisFlyer Elite Gold | PPS CLub |
| (TK) Miles&Smiles | Miles&Smiles Classic Plus | Miles&Smiles Elite | Miles&Smiles Elite Plus |
How long is the status valid for?
Qatar Airways is being rather generous and offering a 12-month validity which means you can enjoy the perks of your status until May 2021 (let’s hope we can fly somewhere by then!).
How to requalify for another 12 months?
Making the offer potentially even better is the requalification requirements. Once you have your status match approved, you have until May 2021 to collect half the usual status points to maintain your tier. You will also need to complete 4 sectors operated by Qatar Airways, and at least 20% of your Points should come from Qatar operated flights. A return trip to the US or Europe should do the trick since that’s 4 sectors.
- Privilege Club Silver: 75 Qpoints (usually 150)
- Privilege Club Gold: 150 Qpoints (usually 300)
- Privilege Club Platinum: 300 Qpoints (usually 600)
How to apply for a Qatar Airways status match?
To get started, you will need to sign up for the Privilege Program; first, it’s free and should take a few minutes of your time. The second step is to email your last two months’ statements and a copy of your frequent flyer membership card from selected airlines, along with your Qatar Airways Privilege Club membership number to [email protected], with the subject line “Privilege Club Status Match”.
If you want to make your case for a status match stronger (keep in mind that they will be evaluated on a per case basis and there’s no guarantee), you can, of course, include a 12-month statement of your trips considering almost everyone has been grounded for the last 2 months!
It should take up to 10 days for your status to be reviewed and approved if you were successful.
Deadline To Apply For Qatar Airways Status Match
Don’t put this offer on the back burner because time is of the essence. The cut of time and date is 11.59 pm on 20 May 2020 (Doha time). Qatar is 5h behind us on the West Coast and 7h if you’re on the East Coast of Australia.
Qatar Airways Status Match Terms & Conditions
- This offer is applicable to top tier members of Emirates, Etihad, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Turkish Airlines, and Virgin Australia.
- Members who wish to receive an equivalent tier status with Qatar Airways Privilege Club should join Privilege Club by visiting qmiles.com and provide the following documents by email to [email protected] for verification.
- Privilege Club Membership Number
- Last two months’ statements from your current programme
- Copy of the current frequent flyer membership card
- Details provided in the Privilege Club membership account should match the documents submitted.
- Campaign Period: 14 May 2020 – 20 May 2020.
- Members who wish to receive the status match should provide the documents on or before 20 May 2020, 11.59 PM Doha time.
- Privilege Club reserves the right to approve or reject the request based on the documents submitted.
- Members’ existing tier will be matched to a corresponding Privilege Club tier, at Privilege Club management’s discretion
- Privilege Club reserves the right to decide on the corresponding tier.
- Privilege Club reserves the right to cancel the membership and the status if the documents provided are forged.
- Qualifying match recipients will be upgraded within 10 days of the receipt of the documents.
- Earn the required Qpoints based on the above table during your complimentary period to keep your Privilege Club tier status for another 12 months.
