Qatar Airways promised us a trip … and then canceled it. Help!

Qatar Airways generously awarded more than 100,000 free tickets to frontline healthcare workers during the global pandemic. The worldwide lottery for this sweepstakes was a way for the airline to express its deep gratitude to these dedicated professionals.

Gaytri Patel, a resident physician and loyal TPG reader, was thrilled to be selected as one of the recipients of the reward. But with the pandemic dragging on for years, she and her husband found it challenging to redeem their two free airline tickets.

After several unsuccessful attempts to do so, Qatar Airways confirmed the Patels on a trip to Thailand scheduled for December 2022. It looked like the couple would finally be able to enjoy the airline’s thank-you gesture.

Unfortunately, there was another obstacle on the horizon for the Patels. Just weeks before the scheduled trip, Qatar Airways suddenly canceled their tickets and refused to reinstate them.

With thousands of dollars on the line in nonrefundable hotel bookings and time running out, Patel asked TPG for help.

Qatar Airways says thank you to frontline healthcare workers

In May 2020, two months after the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic, Qatar Airways announced a ticket giveaway to award complimentary flights to frontline healthcare workers.

“United in dedication, we share our gratitude. Now it is our turn to give something back to those on the healthcare frontline. There are no words or gestures that are enough to repay these brave men and women but we hope that our small offer of a complimentary return flight on Qatar Airways will allow them to enjoy a well-deserved holiday, visit family and friends or explore a destination they have always dreamed of, as travel restrictions start to ease.”

– Qatar Airways press release

The release went on to explain that the lottery was open to frontline healthcare workers all around the world. Each professional selected from the pool of applicants would receive two round-trip economy tickets — one for themselves and one for a companion — anywhere Qatar Airways flies.

It was a truly generous offering. Healthcare workers around the world jumped at the chance to participate in the free airline ticket giveaway, and Patel and her husband were two of those hopeful applicants.

“We were surprised but very grateful when we received notification that I had won,” Patel recalled. “I couldn’t wait to start planning our adventure!”

The complimentary tickets had a slight hitch: a December 2020 expiration date. As physicians, the couple suspected that the pandemic would not have run its course by the end of 2020. But constrained by the expiration date on the free tickets, they went ahead and booked a trip.

“We confirmed tickets to Bangkok and hoped that the quarantine and other restrictions would be lifted by December,” Patel told me.

Of course, we now know that the coronavirus would continue to cause massive disruptions in the travel industry for the following two years.

The Patels wouldn’t be going to Thailand as planned.

Qatar Airways extends the expiration date of reward flights

As you probably guessed, Qatar Airways was forced to cancel the Patels’ flight to Thailand that year. When the notification of the cancellation arrived, it was no surprise to the couple.

“We figured the flight would be canceled,” Patel told me. “The quarantine was still in place, and there were all sorts of other restrictions. It was for the best because Parth and I were still very busy working. It wasn’t really an appropriate time for a vacation.”

When Qatar Airways canceled the trip, Patel was issued a flight credit to use within the next year. This is in line with the Department of Transportation’s rules about flight cancellations for trips originating in the U.S.

The upshot: Airlines must refund a passenger to the original payment method when the carrier cancels a flight. In this case, Qatar Airways canceled the flight that was a reward ticket, so they were required to refund the couple in the form of a reward ticket.

Another year left to redeem their gift from Qatar Airways

Now the couple had an additional year to redeem their gift from Qatar Airways.

“We tried again and booked a replacement trip to Thailand for March 2021,” Patel told me.

It wasn’t long, though, before Patel received a cancellation notice from Qatar Airways. “Due to operational reasons,” according to the airline, those flights were canceled, too.

The Patels tried again and booked the same flights for January 2022. But by then, there had been a new surge in COVID-19 cases and Thailand had reinstated its quarantine rules for travelers.

“There was no possible way that we could comply with the quarantine requirements with our limited vacation time,” explained Patel. “So, I called Qatar and explained our problem. At that point, we just wanted to book as far out as possible. We were tired of canceling and rescheduling over and over. Qatar confirmed us on flights in early December 2022.”

The couple began to think that they would never be taking their dream vacation to Thailand.

Finally redeeming the free flights from Qatar Airways

As 2022 progressed and pandemic-related international travel restrictions began to ease, the Patels were confident that their adventure to Thailand was going to happen.

But then the two physicians got some some scheduling news from their residency program. Now the trip they had booked in early December would not be possible.

For the sixth time, Patel found herself contacting Qatar to reschedule the couple’s dream vacation.

“The agent allowed us to rebook our flights for the end of December which fit into our residency schedule. We were so looking forward to this trip,” Patel explained to me. “After Qatar Airways confirmed our flights, I made all the other arrangements. We were so excited!”

With all the planning complete in early April, all that was left to do was wait.

But then in September, six months after Qatar Airways had confirmed their trip to Thailand, Patel received an email about a schedule change.

When Patel called the airline to discuss the alteration, the agent explained that one leg of their itinerary had been canceled. As Qatar’s representative was trying to find a replacement flight, she suddenly placed the couple on a lengthy hold.

When the agent returned, she had disturbing news.

This promo is over and your flights are canceled

“The representative said that she had proceeded to ‘suspend’ our tickets since our travel was beyond the validity time point for the healthcare tickets promo (which supposedly ended in May 2022),” Patel told me.

“Understandably, we were furious, as we had these tickets confirmed for over six months, with not a single email from Qatar Airways regarding this.”

The agent concluded their conversation, and Patel soon received a confirmation of the cancellation of their flights to Thailand.

The couple found the turn of events hard to believe. They began a new mission — trying to find someone at Qatar Airways who would reinstate their flights. But despite weeks of attempting to contact anyone at the airline who could help, the couple seemed out of luck.

Then Patel had another idea: She asked TPG for help.

Figuring out what went wrong

When Patel’s plea for help landed in my inbox, she was in a panic. Her trip was in peril. She had been counting on Qatar Airways to fly her to Thailand and had booked nearly $10,000 in nonrefundable hotels, excursions and domestic airfare within Thailand.

“No one at Qatar Airways is able to help me. We no longer have tickets to fly to Thailand, and we can’t cancel the nonrefundable parts of this trip. Can you help us?”

Reviewing the timeline of events, I could see that someone at Qatar Airways had made an error with the couple’s reward in March. Although the airline had issued multiple extensions of its gift to healthcare heroes around the world, the free tickets did officially expire in May 2022.

That final expiration date of the promo was a “fly by” date, not a “book by” date. In terms of flight credits, that distinction is very important. The flight credits some airlines, such as American Airlines, issue have a “fly by” policy, after which they are unusable. For other airlines, such as United Airlines, which has a “book by” policy, passengers can make their bookings right up to the expiration date and then fly beyond that date.

Qatar Airways’ healthcare heroes promo had “fly by” expiration terms. That meant Patel and her husband would have needed to begin their trip by May 2022. But the agent they had originally spoken to at Qatar Airways allowed the couple to reserve an itinerary beyond that date.

For that reason, I focused my investigation on seeing if I could get the couple’s tickets reinstated since they had not been informed of the problem until after they had booked all of the nonrefundable elements of their vacation.

Will Qatar Airways reinstate the flights for these healthcare heroes?

I had to get the Patels’ case in front of someone at Qatar Airways who had the ability to dig deep into the circumstances.

As a consumer advocate and reporter, I have access to executives that the average person does not. I reached out to our media contact at Qatar Airways and made a plea for the couple and got a speedy and felicitous response:

“Hi Michelle,

Thanks again for raising this and we have looked into this, I’m happy to say the team has already been in touch directly with the customer and had the booking reinstated with our apologies.

The tickets for healthcare workers was an extremely important gesture for the airline given their commitment to the world during the darkest days of the pandemic and we want to ensure people get the flights to which they are entitled.

Kind regards, **** Qatar Airways Corporate communications”

Two months after someone at Qatar Airways had unceremoniously canceled the Patels’ holiday trip, their tickets were reinstated. This positive resolution came two weeks after I joined the Patels’ fight to get their flights reinstated (I had also had a hard time finding someone at the airline who could help them).

The Patels’ much-needed vacation was back on. And this time, it would actually happen.

Qatar Airways makes it right

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GAYTRI PATEL/THE POINTS GUY

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Because TPG interceded, these deserving frontline healthcare workers took their long-awaited trip to Thailand. The Patels had a wonderful time and thanked Qatar Airways for their generosity and TPG for our assistance.

“Hi Michelle!

We are so grateful to you and your team for all of your hard work you put into this- without you guys none of this would have been possible! So thank you all so much!!!! 😊”

Bottom line

Winning a prize from an airline is exciting — there's no question about that.

The Patels were able to enjoy their dream vacation to Thailand, but it isn’t likely that the couple would have been able to achieve this outcome had they not reached out to TPG.

Unfortunately, by the time all the stars aligned between their schedules and international travel restrictions, the free flight award had expired, according to the fine print of the contest.

Participants have an obligation to acquaint themselves with the rules of any prize they win so they don’t land in a situation like this couple found themselves — with thousands of dollars in jeopardy because of a misunderstanding and an airline agent’s mistake.

The Patels almost lost out on what turned out to be an unforgettable adventure, and their story could have easily had a different ending.

Luckily, TPG was able to step in and help. Ultimately, Qatar Airways decided to extend the couple’s prize one more time so they could finally take their trip.

This case underscores the importance of paying attention to the terms and conditions of benefits, rewards or prizes you receive. You have a responsibility to do that because if you don’t, you might not be as lucky as the Patels.

If you find yourself in a frustrating situation with a company and can’t reach a resolution, send your story to tips@thepointsguy and I will be happy to help you, too.