Penalties & Charges

Adding and Changing Segments to an Existing Reservation

There can be numerous reasons why a passenger requests to make changes in his/her itinerary. All changes to reservations should be handled as if these were original requests for reservations. Amending reservation office carrying out amendments must verify if passenger holds any other reservations as well and if so, determine if they are still needed.

In order to give QR opportunity to resell all unwanted seats, minimize no-shows and maximize revenue, all such unwanted space (O&D) must be cancelled immediately.

As QR is in O&D environment, all amendments leading to new O&D must be followed. This include but is not limited to cancellation of old O&D and followed by:

• Rebooking or rerouting of entire O&D
• Rebooking or rerouting of particular flight from O&D
• Cancelling
• Upgrading of entire O&D to higher cabin (revenue and redemption upgrade)
• Upgrading of particular flight from O&D to higher cabin (revenue and redemption upgrade)
• Booking additional sectors to O&D resulting in new O&D
• Amendments leading to stopovers
• Amendments leading to side-trips and being ticketed separately
• Combinations of above scenarios

Booking additional sectors or side trips which finally do not affect existing O&D, do not require cancellation of old O&D. Any new side-trip being ticketed separately and irrespective of any or nil effect on existing O&Ds, should be booked and ticketed in separate PNR with cross-reference remark containing reference RLOC.

Qatar Airways Reservation & Inventory system is able to offer, when available, immediate confirmation of flights and booking classes required. This confirmation would be based on availability calculated on Origin & Destination (O&D) logic.

However, availability of booking class for particular O&D connection is also based on Point of Commencement (POC) decision or Origin & Destination is considered as continuous journey from point of Origin to point of Destination. Simply, where the passenger begins and ends his or her journey. O&D can be distinguished into three specific scenarios:

• Local O&D which involves a single nonstop leg (DOH QR DEL).
• Online O&D as a portion of the journey that traverses QR network (IAD QR X/DOH QR BKK). Includes certain code-share itineraries, where QR flight is operated by code-share partner airline.
• Trip O&D is regardless of airlines involved and includes interline segments (ATL DL X/MAD QR X/DOH QR DXB)

When QR segments are sold together in this way or on point-to-point basis (if seats are available on O&D level), they are known as married segments. If segments are married together in PNR, it may not be possible to cancel, price or ticket a segment individually and will be treated as one unit by the GDS/CRS.

Marriage Segment Control prevents using flight connections to sell local flights that would not be available if requested outside that connection. QR Revenue Management System (RMS) is capable to identify bypass practices and rejects any cancel request in case the remaining proportion of the O&D is not available. Similarly, any bypass of point-to-point sell is detectable by RMS and rejects any onward/inward sell request in case of unavailability of seats on O&D level.

Applicability - Changes (Re-issuance/exchange)

Before Departure

Change penalty before departure will be charged or no-show charges (if any) and the ticket needs tp be reissued/exchanged with applicable fare difference (if any).

When voluntary change occurs irrespective of the outbound or inbound flight of the journey the fare will be recalculated applying new fares/rules (adhering to the new AP condition) in effect on the date of the reissue/exchange.

After Departure

Change penalty after departure will be charged or no-show charges (if any) and the ticket needs to be reissued/exchanged. New fare will be recalculated using fares in effect on the date when the original ticket was issued. Highest penalty charges among the changed fare components will be applied.

Change Scenarios - General Conditions

• Changes are applicable only if the fare rule allows change of reservation
• Change fee applies per transaction
• Change / no-show fee must be coded as XP in the tax field
• In case of no-show only one fee will be charged, either no-show or change fee whichever is higher
• For no-show scenarios please refer to no-show definition
• Revalidation is not permitted on QR Market fares (published, private and paper fares). For any change scenario ticket reissuance is mandatory irrespective of any ADC or NO ADC. 
  Exception – For group PNR’s tickets issued by travel agencies with passive segment using GDS other than Amadeus; revalidation is permitted to associate a ticket number to group PNR. Any ADC collection, ticket has to be reissued/exchanged adhering to the group policy.
• Re-pricing rule: New ticket has to be equal or higher than previous ticket fare value, when change in seasonality / weekday / weekend fares results in a lower fare, the residual value should remain as nonrefundable:
  • i) Penalties (Change / No-show / re-issuance charges) will be applied as per the highest of all changed fare component(s).
  • ii) Penalty Charge applies for Adult, Child and infant occupying a seat. Charge (including No-Show charge) will not apply for infant not occupying a seat. This implies that child and infant occupying a seat will pay the same change / cancelation penalties as adult passenger.
• The residual amount in both above cases (a & b) can be refunded to the passenger through the original form of payment or EMD as transportation credit voucher.
• Penalties (Change / No-show / Re-issuance charges) will be applied as per the highest of all changed fare component(s).
• Penalty charge applies for Adult, Child and infant occupying a seat. Charge (including No-Show charge) will not apply for infant’s not occupying a seat. This implies that child and infant occupying a seat will pay the same change / cancellation penalties as adult passenger.
• If a passenger is denied check-in due to not having passport, and/or valid visa in correct order to be transported - applicable change penalties and no-show charges has to be collected.
• For non-refundable fares if the passenger is a no-show and the fare rule allows changes with no-show penalties, then reissuance to new travel date is permitted (within ticket validity) after collecting the applicable penalties however refund of any residual value on such tickets will not be permitted.

Change Fee - Collection Scenarios

1.Date Change is done for Outbound only.

Example: If O/B change fee is USD 100 and I/B is USD 125, highest fee of changed fare component(s) (USD 100) will apply for the transaction.

2.Date change is done for Inbound only.

Example: If O/B change fee is USD 100 and I/B is USD 125, highest fee of the changed fare component(s) (USD 125) will apply for the transaction.

3.Date change is done for both direction in one transaction.

Example: If O/B change fee is USD 100 and I/B is USD 125, highest fee of the changed fare component(s) (USD 125) will apply for the transaction.

4.If Change of Reservation is Not Permitted in a pricing unit:

In a combination of fares scenario, if one of the changed fare components does not allow Change of reservation: No change of reservation allowed for that fare component only.

Example: For scenario of O/B before departure of flight, O/B fare component rule do not permit Changes and I/B fare rule allows changes, possible change is only for I/B fare component.

Voluntary Upgrades / Downgrades / Upsell / Downsell Scenarios:

• A change of reservation may result in voluntary upgrades / downgrades (between cabins) and inventory upsell / downsell (within same cabin). “Difference in fare calculation” for such scenarios will be from Origin to Destination (OnD) as per the applied Fare Break Point on the ticket. Segment based upgrade / downgrade / upsell / downsell within a fare component of a journey is not permitted (e.g. OnD LONBKK journey, upgrade required on LONDOH only).

Voluntary Upgrades:

• Upgrade between Cabins: (Y to J/F, J to F) at any time within the ticket validity fares can be upgraded to any fare in the higher cabin on OnD basis.
• reissue/exchange and change fee will not be applicable however additional tax(es) (if any) have to be collected.
• If the voluntary cabin upgrade happens within 3 hours prior to departure of flight no-show penalty will not be charged. No-show charge applies if the change is made after departure of flight as shown on the e-ticket coupon.
• If the reissued/exchanged ticket is subsequently changed the conditions of the reissued/exchanged fare will be applicable.

Inventory Upsell within same Cabin:

• Any time within the ticket validity the fare can be reissued/exchanged to any higher fare in the same cabin, and then the fare will be recalculated from the point of origin provided the conditions of the higher fare have been met and applicable difference in fare is collected.
• reissue/exchange/change fee will be applicable.
• No-show penalty applies for 3 hours prior to departure of flight.
• If the reissued/exchanged ticket is subsequently changed the conditions of the reissued/exchanged fare will be applicable.

Voluntary Downgrades between Cabins (J/F to Y, F to J): 

• Downgrades between (J/F to Y, F to J) at any time within the Ticket validity Fares can be downgraded to any fare in lower cabin and then the fare will be recalculated from point of origin provided conditions of the lower cabin fare have been met.
• Re-issue and change fee will be applicable.
• If the voluntary cabin downgrade is happening within 3 hours prior to departure of flight No-show penalty will be charged.
• If the Re-issued ticket is subsequently changed the conditions of the re-issued fare will be applicable.
• Any residual value as result of cabin downgrade will remain as non-refundable.

Inventory Downsell:

Within same cabin is not permitted in all scenarios including change in fare break point.

Combination of Fares:

• Highest penalty of all fare components within the changed pricing units of the ticketed journey applies. After identifying pricing units on the ticketed journey that contains “changed fare components”, the highest charge amount of all changed fare components within those pricing units will be applicable.
• Itinerary with multiple pricing units (end-on-end combinations/side trips): “Change of reservation not permitted” condition applies specifically to the pricing units having fare components with changes not permitted.  Respective penalties for other pricing units apply.

System Date Range Limitation:

• Reservation can be made for a maximum of 360 days from the date of issue. For such journeys if the inbound date of travel is beyond 360 days (out of system date range).

• First change of reservation will be permitted free of charge for the inbound fare component irrespective of the change of reservation condition in the fare rule.
• Endorsement box should mention “1FOC for travel date out of system date range”.
• Once the travel date is within the system date range ticket has to be re-issued availing 1 FOC. The change must always be to a date later than the original booking and more than 360 days (Amadeus) from the issuance of the ticket. Otherwise FOC change does not apply and ADM will be raised for incorrect application. This exception will not be applicable if fare rule allows any free change of reservation.
• This process has to be handled manually as this is out of ATC scope.

Segments with date of travel out of system range:

• One rebooking penalty waiver is permitted for rebooking in the same RBD, provided Fare Basis rules are adhered. Any rebooking on date specified in Endorsements/Restrictions field which results to higher fare, taxes, fees, sur-/charges subject to that additional collection (e.g. due to RBD change, change from week to weekend fare, travel restrictions, blackouts, seasonality. Min/max stay, etc…) and Fare Basis rules to be adhered. Service Fee, sometimes called as Ticketing Fee or OB Fee can be waived.
• In case that original RBD is not available, you may rebook based on the standard voluntary principle and collect difference of fare, taxes, fees, sur-/charges as applicable for the actual date of travel specified in Endorsements/Restrictions field (DDMMMYYYY). Rebooking penalty can be waived once and fare basis rules shall be adhered. Service Fee, sometimes called as Ticketing Fee or OB Fee can be waived.
• In case of any date change, rebooking penalty and Service Fee, sometimes called as Ticketing Fee or OB Fee are not waived. 

Refund Description :

Refund is the repayment to the purchaser of all or a portion of a fare, rate or charge for unused carriage or service.

If a ticket is non-refundable, no part of the fare and surcharges (YQ/YR) will be refunded. However for markets where YQ & YR has to be refunded as per local government's regulatory requirement, supporting documents have to be submitted for approval and fare conditions should reflect this.

• If a ticket is issued with non-refundable fare(s); unutilized coupon's flown based tax(es) are refundable.
• If non-refundable fare is re-issued to a refundable fare, YQ / YR and the base fare of the original non-refundable ticket remains as non-refundable

However there are instances wherein ticket refund requests for restricted documents are entertained due to some unavoidable circumstances as given below:

1. Passengers holding confirmed QR tickets may not be able to travel on flights due to following reasons:

• QR flight is delayed and passenger arranges an alternative flight on his/her own and not the option provided by QRFailure to operate a flight reasonably accordingly to schedule and aircraft changes
• Passenger or one of his/her close relative get sick prior to flight departure – a medical certificate is required to be submitted.
• Failure to operate a flight due to extraordinary events or circumstances classified under Force Majeure or Act of God. These conditions include but are not limited to flooding, extreme weather conditions, earthquake, tsunami, hurricane, volcanic eruption, war, political unrest, strike, riot etc. A QR Commercial Policy will be issued to cover extraordinary event/circumstance and serve as basis to authorize refunds.
• Some customers may not get visa to enter Doha. Qatar immigration authorities can deny visa to Qatar Airways customers.

2. Ticket refund may also be necessitated due to system/printing related errors.

3. Passengers declared as "blacklisted" are not allowed to travel on QR flights. Ticket is suspended in such cases, ticket and other costs are refunded to these passengers.

In situations where your passenger misses a flight as a result of QR’s fault, the no-show charges will not be applied upon verification of such situations.

Refund validity of ticket is 12 months from date of issue for fully unused ticket; and 12 months from the first uplift date for a partially used ticket.

Note:

Refund of tickets beyond 12 months is only allowed in the following situations:

• 1) Local law / regulatory requirements: When local regulatory requirements take precedence over Qatar Airways Ticket Refund Policy, local station finance is authorized to process the refund on such scenarios without any subsequent approval.
• 2) Refund in case of death: Legal heirs of the deceased will be refunded after valid documentation (Death certificate or copy etc.) is verified.

Please coordinate refund requests to your local Qatar Airways office.

Refunds in another Country

With the implementation of electronic tickets (E-tickets) and other instruments such as Electronic Miscellaneous Documents (EMDs), the existing electronic environment now offers much more flexibility towards processing of refunds in countries other than point of sale (POS).

Some countries have regulations in place that prohibit sales made in those countries to be refunded in other countries. Where such regulations exist, Qatar Airways will continue to ensure compliance.

Restrictions to refund outside the country of sale are implemented in the following countries namely:

• Algeria
• India
• Greece
• France/Benelux
• Brazil
• Morocco
• Nigeria
• Tunis
• Iran
• Malawi
• Eritrea
• Sudan

Applicability - Cancellation / Refund

Before Departure

For fully unutilized ticket the amount paid will be fully refunded including tax(es) after deducting the cancellation charges (if any) as per fare rules provided the fare is refundable.

After Departure

For fares which permits refund after departure.

For partially utilized ticket the refund will be the amount equal to the difference between the fare paid and the OW applicable fare for travel between the points for which the ticket has been used less any cancellation fees. If one way fare is not available or published on the inventory mentioned on the ticket then deduct next available OW in higher RBD for which the journey has been performed.

Filing Process:

For calculating the refund automatically under ATC transaction, ATPCO CAT–33 is coded with a booking class mapping to pick the next available OW in the absence of a published OW on the same RBD. Whenever there is a change to the existing OW structure, (example publishing new OW’s in lower RBD’s, or withdrawing OW’s from existing structure) Station Pricing has to notify the Fare distribution team to ensure the CAT-33 coding is done correctly and the same has to be validated at the time of publishing fares.

• i) If applicable OW fare plus cancellation fees exceed the actual collected base fare for the journey, the base fare paid remains non-refundable. All unutilized coupons flown based tax (es) excluding YQ/YR will be refundable for such scenarios.
• ii) Tickets which are used beyond point of Turnaround – No Refund permitted.
  
• iii) Tickets which are used out of sequence – No Refund permitted.
• iv) Unutilized or partially flown tickets with non refundable taxes should remain as non refundable.

For tickets which are used beyond Point of Turnaround and out of sequence – No Refund permitted.

Cancellation / Refund Scenarios - General Conditions

• If a fare is non-refundable then no part of the Fare + YQ/YR will be refundable.
• Charge applies for Adult, Child and infant occupying a seat.  Charge (including No-Show charge) will not apply for infant not occupying a seat. This implies that child and infant occupying a seat will pay the same change / cancellation penalties as adult passenger.
• Change / No-show Fee collected under XP in the tax field will remain as non-refundable.
• In case of no-show only one fee to be charged. Either no-show or cancellation fee whichever is higher
• For no-show scenarios please refer to no-show definition.
  
• Where a ticket is issued with a combination of at least two fare basis, (e.g. Promotional fares combined with a Flexi fares) the most restrictive rules will apply.
• If a passenger was denied check-in for not having valid travel documents (Passport, Visa, etc.) – all applicable cancellation and no-show fees should be collected.
• Refund will be refused if the application is made after expiry of the ticket validity. 
• If a ticket has been reissued/exchanged multiple times and finally submitted for cancellation, the highest cancellation fee / non-refundable amount among all the reissued/exchanged fares will apply.

Cancellation Scenario on Combination of Multiple Fare Basis:

Totally unutilized tickets - Passenger is No-Show on O/B:

• E.g. Cancellation fee applicable will be USD 100.

• E.g. Cancellation fee applicable will be USD 100

Partially utilized tickets - Passenger is a No-Show on I/B:

• E.g. Cancellation fee applicable will be USD 75

• E.g. Cancellation fee applicable will be USD 150

Non-Refundable Fares Scenarios:

• For non-refundable fare no part of the fare +YQ/YR will be refunded. If YQ & YR has to be refunded as per local government’s regulatory requirement, supporting documents have to be submitted for pricing approvals and fare rule and coding should reflect as YQ / YR refundable.
• If a ticket is issued with non-refundable fare(s); unutilized coupon’s flown based tax(es) are refundable.
• If non-refundable fare is re-issued to a refundable fare, YQ / YR and the base fare of the original non-refundable ticket remains as non-refundable. 

Offloading After Cancellation:

Whenever segments are to be cancelled, rebooked or refunded 48 hours to 3 hours prior to departure, Travel Agent should check if e-ticket coupon :

• Airport Control  "A" - Control of the coupon has been sent from QR Reservation System Either to departure Control System or to Other Airline  (operating carrier of code-share flight  or interlinecarrier).
• Checked in "C" - PAssenger is checked in and entitled to board the aircraft.

Some GDSs may show A status or ARPT, in such case it is recommended to verify with the nearest QR Office or Customer Contact Center on whether the coupon has been checked-in.

In case coupon has been checked-in, passenger will have to be offloaded prior rebooking, reissue/exchange or refund. Simple segment cancellation will not offload passenger from check-in system and will treat passenger as no-show. In such case Travel Agent may be at risk of receiving ADM due to no-show.

How to offload passenger?

• If passenger did online check-in, then offload will have to be done via qatarairways.com. 
• If passenger did airport check-in, then offload will have to be done by airport team.

Important note 

• Offload can be done latest by 3 hours prior to departure, in order to rebook, reissue/exchange or refund e-ticket.
• E-ticket will lose its validity and will be suspended should offloading occur in less than 3 hours prior to departure. In such case, e-ticket can`t be rebooked, reissued/exchanged or refunded and a new e-ticket will have to be purchased.
• In case of refund, Travel Agent has to ensure that all coupons being refunded have been changed to R (RFND) status.

Whenever segments are to be cancelled, rebooked or refunded 48 hours to 3 hours prior to departure, Travel Agent should check if e-ticket coupon :

• Airport Control  "A" - Control of the coupon has been sent from QR Reservation System Either to departure Control System or to Other Airline  (operating carrier of code-share flight  or interlinecarrier).
• Checked in "C" - PAssenger is checked in and entitled to board the aircraft.

Some GDSs may show A status or ARPT, in such case it is recommended to verify with the nearest QR Office or Customer Contact Center on whether the coupon has been checked-in.

In case coupon has been checked-in, passenger will have to be offloaded prior rebooking, reissue/exchange or refund. Simple segment cancellation will not offload passenger from check-in system and will treat passenger as no-show. In such case Travel Agent may be at risk of receiving ADM due to no-show.

How to offload passenger?

• If passenger did online check-in, then offload will have to be done via qatarairways.com. 
• If passenger did airport check-in, then offload will have to be done by airport team.

Important note 

• Offload can be done latest by 3 hours prior to departure, in order to rebook, reissue/exchange or refund e-ticket.
• E-ticket will lose its validity and will be suspended should offloading occur in less than 3 hours prior to departure. In such case, e-ticket can`t be rebooked, reissued/exchanged or refunded and a new e-ticket will have to be purchased.
• In case of refund, Travel Agent has to ensure that all coupons being refunded have been changed to R (RFND) status.

Reasons Causing No Show :

• Passengers, booking offices and travel agents failing to cancel unwanted reservations.
• Missed connections due to flight delays
• Customers holding invalid personal and/or travel documents
• Communication mishandling
• Passengers holding reservations for more than one reservationfor the same services requirement "multiple or duplicate" bookings.

Consequences to an itinerary in case of no show :

• In case a customer is a no-show on a flight then all down-line segments of that itinerary are cancelled, *certain regulatory exceptions apply.  

No show applies for the following scenarios:

• A passenger who fails to use reserved accommodation for reason other than misconnection.
• A passenger is denied check in due to not having passport, valid visa etc. in order to be transported.
• A passenger fails to show to the flight before the gate is closed unless delay is due to connecting flight being delayed where in the entire itinerary is present on one or conjunctive QR document(s).
• A passenger fails to change/cancel his/her reservation 3 hours prior to departure.
• Any re-booking made within 3 hours prior to departure or after departure of flight as shown in the e-ticket will be considered as a No-show.

For a scenario where in the original reservation is cancelled prior to No-show condition, but the new reservation are made after departure of the flight (as mentioned in e-ticket coupon) QR Reservation and Ticketing Staff may perform a manual transaction to avoid the collection of No-show fee.

No-show charge:

The charge made by reason of the failure of a passenger to use reserved accommodation, either through failure to arrive at the airport at the time fixed by the carrier, or through arriving improperly documented or otherwise not ready to travel on flight.

No-show on online checked-in passengers:

For bookings that are created in a non-Amadeus GDS system, a customer after having performed an online check-in may later decide to cancel his/her reservation (s) 3 hours prior to the departure of a flight. Under such a scenario although the agent has cancelled the reservation, the passenger will not be offloaded from a flight and is subsequently termed as a No-show passenger. Travel agents (especially non-1A system users) will be required to contact the nearest QR office or a Contact Centre agent who in turn will liaise with the respective airport personnel to ensure that the passenger (s) is offloaded from Qatar Airways Departure Control System (DCS) and subsequently segments can then be cancelled by the agent within their respective GDS.

Non-compliance to the above requirement will result in an ADM being raised.