Qatar Airways is launching an unprecented new change and cancellation policy that could translate to significant flexibility and cost savings for travelers later this year.
In a release late last week, the Doha-based carrier shared that its new promotional policy for the rest of the year would allow for unlimited and free changes for any flight booked and traveled through the rest of the year.
Unique to the policy, however, is that travelers can also change the origin and destinations of the flights — also for free. In this scenario, Business Insider points out that a traveler could book a near-term flight from Washington D.C. to Yerevan, Armenia for $494. Shortly after that, the traveler could change the origin of the flight to Chicago and the destination to the Maldives or Johannesburg — a ticket that would cost hundreds of dollars more — for free. Additionally, dates of travel can also be adjusted for free, meaning the final flight could potentially be taken during the busy Thanksgiving or Christmas seasons.
The only limitations on airport changes are that the new origin must be in the same country while the new destination needs to be within 5,000 miles from the original point of arrival.
Qatar Airways is also offering the ability to cancel and refund the flights for free, convert the flights into a voucher good for later travel or cash the credit in for points in the airline’s loyalty program. Qatar Airways is in the Oneworld alliance, which shares some benefits with worldwide carriers such as American Airlines, British Airways and Qantas.
Source: Forbes