Qatar Airways are unbundling business class, which means that people on the lowest fares will no longer have lounge access or seat selection at the time of booking. The initial reaction has been mainly against the idea.
The oneworld alliance airline is not the first to do this. Emirates also unbundle their product in a similar manner, which certainly hasn’t stopped people flying with them.
Unbundling Business Class Is Not Bad
Since I am not wealthy, I fly business class on long-haul flights only when the price is right. That means low – okay, cheap! This means keeping an eye on sales, being extremely flexible with travel dates and also being willing to leave from another country in Europe.
Lounge Access – No Big Deal
That is not as big a deal as you might think. For one, Qatar Airways allow you to buy access to the Al Mourjan Business Class Lounge in Doha. This is reportedly 450 Qatari Riyals, which is around A$170, US$123, £94 and €105 at today’s exchange rates.
But I Want To Choose My Seat!
You know, I’m a window seat boy through and through. I only ever take an aisle seat if I am flying economy or premium economy on long-haul flights, so I can get up and down at a whim without bothering someone.
Overall Thoughts
Unbundling business class, while unusual, is not exactly a show stopper. It allows you to pay for the elements you want, while avoiding those you don’t use. Some people have no use for a lounge nor do they care where they sit, so why not let them pay less?
Of course, if you have a 6 hour connection, you’re going to want to be in a lounge. I get that, and that’s why you can elect to pay more. As long as the option is not taken away altogether, I really see no problem with this.
What do you think of Qatar Airways unbundling business class? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Qatar Airways.
first class should come with it all esp lounge access tacky to change that
That was pretty much my initial reaction to it as well. It is still a lot of money, even at the discounted rates, so it should come with all the bells and whistles. My thinking changed though!
I will agree with you if they lower the price. The price stay the same before this bullsheesh thing. This makes me wonder how much they paid you to write such a thing! Shame on you
Haha – I have never been paid to write anything on behalf of an airline in my life. All my writing is my own opinions and nobody tells me what to do. It will be interesting to see if the price does lower, but if it does, I doubt it would be my much. Thanks for the comment!
Except that qatar did not reduce the fares on their lowest class. You are paying a premium of 1k to get into the lounge and select a seat
Sure, anecdotal evidence shows they didn’t reduce the fares, but honestly, why should they? People are still going to pay at those prices, which are quite competitive. Also, you can see in my example that the difference is €225 for that sector. When you can pay €105 for lounge access – if you need it – it still works out to be a good deal. I would be of the view to only pay for the lounge on long connections and avoid it on short ones. Thanks for the comment!
I disagree. Offering less value at the same price is a big negative in my book. There’s also the fact that this was done without notice in a sneaky fashion. Given the indifference to customer perspectives this bodes ill for trusting Qatar in the future.
I honestly don’t see it as sneaky. What would you have preferred, six months notice of the change? Hardly anyone is booking flights, so now is as good a time as ever. Regardless, I still think the on board product is worth it, even without the seat selection and lounge.
Making substantial negative changes for your customers without notice is a negative and I’m not sure how this could possibly be construed otherwise. Giving some notice – say beginning January 01 – would have been reasonable. I must admit that your defense of a zero notice devaluation is surprising. If I substantially devalued the experience for my best customers out of the blue, I would have some justifiably upset people. Even if my prices and product were still competitive, reasonable notice is still showing that I care about my customers. That simply wasn’t the case here.
I defend it mainly because it has no impact on customers who already have bookings. Those who are making new bookings see the new options at that time, so there is no impact on someone’s contract of carriage. Everyone knew what they were getting into when they bought the ticket. Had the change meant that existing tickets would be impacted, I would be singing quite a different tune. As it doesn’t, I don’t see why the timing makes a difference.