Qatar Airways Quietly Undid Its Own Three-Month-Old Rule

Three months ago Qatar Airways tightened the rules on who a Privilege Club member could spend Avios on. Members wanting to book award travel for someone else had to add that person to a nominated list first, and adding them required proof of recent engagement with the programme in the form of an eligible flight or qualifying credit card activity. The intent was anti-fraud: the airline wanted to make it harder for accounts to be drained or for award seats to be brokered. The effect on ordinary members was blunter. A person who had just joined, or who had spent a year quietly accumulating points, could be locked out of using them for a partner or a parent.

On around September 14 the airline removed that test. Qatar’s published rules now require only that an account be at least thirty days old before other travellers can be nominated. The earning condition is gone, and with it the circular problem it created, where a member needed to fly Qatar Airways in order to earn the right to book a Qatar Airways award seat for a companion. The change was not trailed with an announcement; it surfaced when the terms and conditions changed, which is how a good number of loyalty programme reversals arrive.

The rest of the structure survives. A member may still nominate no more than four adults. Each nominee has to accept the invitation rather than simply be added, and once accepted, each has to stay on the list for at least six months, so the roster cannot be swapped around trip by trip. Gold and Platinum members remain exempt from the list entirely and can continue redeeming for people outside it. Anyone planning a booking for a friend or an extended family member should therefore still set the nomination up well ahead of the date they want to travel.

The rollback matters most to the growing share of Privilege Club members who never set foot on a Qatar Airways aircraft to build their balance. Avios now flows in from bank points programmes, co-brand cards and transfers from British Airways and Iberia, and those members were the ones the activity test caught. If you have points parked with a transfer partner and a companion in mind, the practical sequence has not changed: nominate first, wait for the acceptance, then move the points, because transfers are generally one way.

Sources: Head for Points, Upgraded Points