Reader Email: Qatar Airways Denies Lounge Access In Seattle On American Issued Award Ticket?

Another LoyaltyLobby reader has been in touch who was refused lounge access in Seattle on American Airlines issued business class award on Qatar Airways.

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You can access Qatar Airways here.

Here’s the email from the reader:

Has there been a recent change with Qatar Airways “U” class ticket benefits? I was denied lounge access in SEA (The Club SEA lounge) while traveling to DAC connecting through DOH on QR in U class on an AA award. I contacted support and the response I received is below.

There is a post in LoyaltyLobby from March 2021 where a reader with an AA award ticket was denied lounge access in SFO but later he found out that he should have been granted access. Just wondering if there has been any change since then.

Response from the Qatar Airways customer care:

There still appears to be unclarity when it comes to lounge access on Qatar Airways business class flights. The confusion arises because the lowest paid business class fares don’t include one.

One of our readers had a similar issue previously in San Francisco:

Reader Email: Qatar Airways Denies Lounge Access In San Francisco On Business Award Ticket?

He received a $300 Voucher for the inconvenience after contacting the customer care:

UPDATE: Qatar Airways Denies Lounge Access In San Francisco On Business Award Ticket?

Qatar also incorrectly first insinuated that awards would not include lounge access that they quickly backtracked:

Qatar Airways Removes Lounge Access From Business Class Awards

Qatar Airways Business Class Fares With No Lounge Access (Pay $500 – $2,000 Extra)

Conclusion

Qatar Airways is absolutely fantastic in the air, but God helps if something goes wrong and the “robots” replying to emails don’t have the correct template ready. It is an utter shit show.

The reader should have had access to the business class lounge both in Seattle and Doha. The business class access is only excluded from the cheapest business class fares but included on awards.

Not sure why it is so difficult to get this information to Qatar’s outstations, and it seems that there is an issue with people replying to customer service messages that don’t surprise me.