Qatar Airways Group Booking

Qatar Airways Group Booking – Group Travel, Group Form, Standard Group Fare Rules, and Group Bookings FAQs

Traveling in groups provides an exciting opportunity for people to connect, bond and unite with each other. Be it with family members, friends, teachers, students, teammates or colleagues, group travel always creates unforgettable memories that can be cherished forever. In a free world economy with non-restrictive air travel, getaway group vacations, international conferences and convocations and event-based group trips have become far more common than they could be imagined even a decade ago. Group travels are undertaken for all sorts of purposes now and groups however big or small prefer traveling together with no hassles of managing or preparing for travel.

And it is because of this trend that top-class airlines like Qatar Airways see group travel as a great business opportunity not just because it brings bulk revenue for the company, but also because this is how air travel is going to shape up in the future – privileged, hassle-free and convenient. No wonder, the official frag-carrier of Qatar offers various perks and benefits, conveniences and flexibilities to group travelers and designs strategies to guide them on the matter. The Qatar Airways Group Booking policy is a combination of all of these, excerpts from which are discussed in detail below.

The Qatar Airways Group Reservations policy

Qatar Airways classifies group travel on the basis of need and purpose. It identifies four types of groups, namely Sports, Education, Holidays and Meetings, and defines each group according to the purpose of travel. The Qatar Airways Group Reservations policy addresses issues regarding group travel undertaken by these four types of groups. It talks about group reservation terms and conditions, group travel benefits, the Qatar Airways group travel cancellation policy and the various group booking processes. Go through the entire group reservations policy in the following sections.

The Terms & Conditions for Qatar Airways Group Reservations

1. i. The minimum number of passengers required to be eligible for group booking benefits under the Qatar Airways Group Reservations policy is 10 for Economy Class and 6 for Business and First Class.
2. ii. Qatar Airways also allows corporates to make group bookings for meetings, conferences and seminars under its QMICE program where group members can travel from multiple points of origin across the world to a single destination. The minimum number of group members required to apply for this program is 20 and the maximum limit is 300.
3. iii. As per the Qatar Airways Group Booking norms, group booking fares along with the associated benefits and privileges will not apply on group reservations if the group size at any point of time before the final payment and ticketing goes below 10.In the occurrence of such an event, the group reservations would be treated by Qatar Airways as regular bookings and would be subject to individual ticketing rules and restrictions.
4. iv. To get special group discounts on children’s tickets, the number of children in the group should not exceed 20% of the total group size as per the Qatar Airways group booking policy.
5. v. To book group travel withQatar Airways, passengers have to first fill up and submit the group quote request form and then wait for a custom-made group farefrom the airline. Qatar Airways takes up to 2 business days to respond to special price requests.
6. vi. Qatar Airways allows deferred payment for group booking, but the booking must be secured with a deposit against each group member within 24 hours of booking confirmation. However, payment terms may be different for different groups depending on the imminence of the group travel. In other words, the nearer the date of travel, the lesser time you get for paying your group booking amount.
7. vii. A minimum of 25% of the quoted fare for each group passenger must be paid as deposits. All deposits are completely non-refundable and non-transferable to other travel agents, groups or passengers. The deposit rules apply on bookings created between 360 days and 61 days before departure.
8. viii. Qatar Airways allows passengers to hold spaces on flights without the submission of passenger names and details. With Qatar Airways group booking, passengers enjoy the flexibility of submitting the final passenger list and disclosing passenger data until a later date.
9. ix. As per the Qatar Airways group reservations policy, groups can make name changes even after the name lists are submitted, for a fee of QAR150 (or equivalent amount in USD) per passenger. For name changes or corrections on international group tickets, the passport copies of the passengers must be provided at the time of submitting the change/correction requests.
10. x. Qatar Airways allows group passengers to change the date of travel against a change fee of QAR150 per passenger plus a difference in fare which may apply. The Qatar Airways group travel policy mandates that all group passengers who have changed their dates of travel must reissue their tickets at current rates.
11. xi. In the case of ticket reissues, if the new fares turn out to be lower than the original group fares, the difference in fares is forfeited as per the Qatar Airways group booking norms. On the contrary, group passengers who have made changes to the dates of travel must pay the difference in fares to the airline if the new fares are higher than the original group fares.
12. xii. The new fare in case of date change must be calculated from the point of origin. Also, an additional rebooking fee is applicable if there is no difference in fare.
13. xiii. Changes in dates of travel are allowed only for round-trip group bookings.
14. xiv. If one or more passengers fail to turn up on the date of commencement of group travel, they can be rebooked for an individual journey on a later date and time if they so wish.But such bookings would be treated as individual ticket bookings and be subject to general booking norms and restrictions. Qatar Airways assures that such tickets can be reissued at the lowest available market fare at the time of rebooking.
15. xv. In case of rebookings resulting from no-shows, passengers are liable to pay a no-show penalty of QAR220 plus a minimum reservation fee of QAR 150 along with the applicable difference in fare. However, such flexibility is not allowed on one way bookings.
16. xvi. Qatar Airways permits deviations of up to 20% of the total group size for changes in the group travel itinerary. Each deviating passenger is charged a change fee of QAR150 plus the fare difference by the airline for making changes in group travel routes.
17. xvii. Making changes in the itinerary or rerouting requires tickets to be reissued, and the deviating passengers should be prepared to pay the difference in fares in case the new fares are higher than the original group ticket prices. If the opposite happens, the fare difference is forfeited.
18. xviii. If there is no applicable fare difference, a rebooking fee is charged from the passengers. The new fares are always calculated from the points of origin.
19. xix. Deviations and related flexibilities are only allowed on round-trip group bookings.
20. xx. The normal ticketing deadline for Qatar Airways group travel booking is within 24 hours of group booking confirmation. But this deadline can be relaxed and the time limit extended in case of bigger group sizes and higher deposits.
21. xxi. As per the Qatar Airways group reservations policy, the ticketed-seat to booked-seat ratio or the materialization rate must never go down below 80%. However, this rule doesn’t apply to small groups with only 10 group members.
22. xxii. Group fares may be increased by Qatar Airways without prior notice due to changes in taxes, airport fees and service charges. Also, additional surcharges may be added to group fares for certain flights on certain days of the week or the year.
23. xxiii. With Qatar Airways group travel, passengers can request excess baggage at an additional cost at the time of seat confirmation.
24. xxiv. The Qatar Airways group booking policy makes it very clear that no group reservation would be ticketed if APIS data of all group members are not received by the airline in the prescribed format at the below-mentioned email address,
    qrvisa@qatarairways.com.qa

Qatar Airways Group Travel Benefits

For groups traveling with 10 or more members, Qatar Airways offers various perks, benefits and conveniences. The airline presents manygroup travel benefits as well as dedicated paid services for groups to the passengers who’ve booked tickets under various Qatar Airways group travel schemes. The benefits are as follows,

a. Special Group Fares: Qatar Airways provides special group fares for group travelersthat are competitive and flexible and often contain custom-made offers.

b. Holding Space without Name: Qatar Airways allows passengers to hold spaces on flights without submitting passenger lists and details at the time of booking. Group passengers are allowed to select seats even within 72 hours of departure.

c. Group Seating Together: No airline guarantees group seating for passengers in case of group travel booking. Airlines allow passengers to hold spaces but they don’t confirm the exact seat numbers until passenger details are submitted, dues are cleared and the bookings are ticketed. Seat numbers depend on availability at the time of ticketing. But Qatar Airways permits group seating onboard if adequate seats according to the group booking specifications are available on the aircraft. So, with Qatar Airlines, the entire group can expect to seat together during travel.

d. Deferred Payment: Passengers booking group tickets with Qatar Airways are provided with the flexibility of securing their group reservations and holding spaces on flights with minimum deposits and paying the balance amounts later until up to 7 days prior to departure. This deferred payment facility helps groups to plan their group travels better.

Apart from these, Qatar Airways promises a few dedicated services for groups at nominal extra costs which are as follows,

a. Group Check-in: As per Qatar Airways group booking norms, dedicated group check-in counters at airports can be arranged for group travelers at additional costs. These priority counters allow passengers to check in faster at the airports.

b. Special Onboard Meals: In Qatar Airways, there is a provision for special onboard meals for group travelers based on religious and other dietary preferences. This service can be availed of on request.

c. Stopover Packages: With Qatar Airways group travel, passengers can choose attractive stopover packages, vacation programs and even get visa assistance on request.

Qatar Airways Group Ticket Rates

Group fare calculations are an automated process nowadays that follows a dynamic pricing strategy. Airlines prepare group fare quotes after careful consideration of several important price-impacting factors such as the destination, types of travel, travel dates and times and chosen fare class apart from the group sizes and competitor prices. Likewise, Qatar Airways Group Rates are also prepared after thorough analyses of all these price determinants. Qatar Airways doesn’t provide any guarantee on low group fares. But it offers many privileges and benefits to make the group rates special. However, quoted group fares may change anytime at the sole discretion of Qatar Airways due to the effect of uncontrollable external influences such as the rise and fall in taxes, fees and charges. For example, a hike in surcharges during the peak seasons may result in a rise in group fares. Apart from this, there is no Qatar Airways Group Discount on group travel tickets except when there are children in the group. But the total number of children should not exceed 20% of the group size in such cases.

How to book group travel tickets with Qatar Airways?

Qatar Airways Group booking is easy. It doesn’t involve any complicated process and method. Mentioned below are three ways to book group travel tickets with Qatar Airways, including both the online and offline procedures.

1. Online group travel booking through the Qatar Airways official website

Qatar Airways has different online links to address different group travel needs. It has a group quote request form for corporate group travelers under the meetings, incentives and conferences program. It also has a separate group travel request form for regular group travelers. The online links to both are given below along with the step-by-step process for group travel booking.

1. i. First, let’s discuss the online method of corporate group travel booking. To book group travel for corporate events, meetings and conferences, corporate event managers and meeting planners have to log on to the official website of Qatar Airways, www.qatarairways.com .
2. ii. Once on the home page, they have to click on the ‘Book’ menu on the menubar. This would open a dropdown box with various submenu options put in order under 3 different columns. Take the mouse to the 3rd column named ‘Groups and Business Travel.’
3. iii. Scroll down the mouse to the second submenu named ‘Meetings and Events.’ Click on that. This would open a new page with the heading, ‘QMICE – Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions.’
4. iv. Scroll down the page a bit and you will find the ‘Request a group quote’ button. Click on the button and the group quote request form would open. Corporate event managers or meeting planners have to fill up the form, provide details of the group travel and submit it on behalf of the group.
5. v. Once the group quote request form is received, Qatar Airways would weigh different factors thoroughly before preparing the final fare quote and sending it to the corporate event manager. This usually takes up to 3 business days.
6. vi. If the requesting organizations or meeting planners agree with the quoted group fares from Qatar Airways, they can proceed with the rest of the group booking process by following the instructions provided by the airline.

The separate and direct link for the regular group quote request form is given below,

. Group coordinators who want to book regular group travel for purposes like vacations, events or excursions may click on this link, fill up the group booking form and submit it. The rest of the group booking process remains the same as described above.

2. Group booking through Qatar Airways local office

Qatar Airways has local offices in different cities across the world.Passengers can send group booking requests directly to Qatar Airways by contacting the Sales Support Coordinators in the local Qatar Airways offices. The contact numbers and email ids vary according to region and they can be easily found in the contact section of the official website. Passengers willing to request group booking should find the local Qatar Airways office phone numbers, and talk to the group representatives during the official working hours which again vary from region to region.

3. Group booking through travel agents

Qatar Airways allows registered and authorized travel agents to book group travel for corporates as well as families, schools, churches, sports teams and other regular groups. Agents have to login to the official website of Qatar Airways, fill up the group quote request form on behalf of their customers and submit them. The process is the same as described above. Group booking through agents has the added advantage of being hassle-free, time-saving and convenient.

Qatar Airways group travel cancellation policy

The Qatar Airways group travel cancellation policy is brief and to the point. The summary of the cancellation policy is mentioned in the bullets below,

1. i) The Qatar Airways group cancelation policy confirms that all payments including deposits and fees paid to Qatar Airways are non-refundable.
2. ii) In case of no-shows, passengers are given a chance to rebook individual tickets at the lowest market faressubject to the payment of a no-show penalty of QAR220, a minimum reservation fee of QAR150 and a difference in fare that may be applicable. All such reissues are treated as regular individual bookings by Qatar Airways, and are, therefore, subject to regular group booking norms and restrictions.
3. iii) In case of a no-show by theentire group, the entire booking amount remains forfeited.