Qatar status match for Virgin, Singapore Airlines, Emirates and more

Move quick to take advantage of this status match to Silver, Gold or Platinum with Oneworld member Qatar Airways.

By David Flynn, May 18 2020
Qatar status match for Virgin, Singapore Airlines, Emirates and more

Qatar Airways has unlocked a rare status match for top-tier frequent flyers of just six airlines: Emirates, Etihad Airways, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Turkish Airlines and Virgin Australia.

It's an interesting roster, name-checking Qatar's largest competitors – UAE neighbours Emirates and Etihad, along Turkish Airlines and Singapore Airlines.

It's certainly no accident that all Emirates, Etihad and Singapore Airlines are flying skeleton schedules and face airport bans on transit passengers, while Turkish Airlines has shut down all international passenger flights and expects only a limited restart in June.

The last two airlines on that list, Virgin Australia and South African Airways, face their own troubles: Virgin remains in administration and has pinned its hopes on a multi-billion dollar take-over bid, while South African Airways is expected to be replaced by a new state-owned airline.

If you hold status with any of those six airlines, Qatar Airways is now offering to match this with the equivalent status in its own Privilege Club program – but you'll need to move fast, as this deal expires at 11.59pm on Wednesday May 20 (Doha time).

Your newly-minted Qatar Airways Privilege Club Silver, Gold or Platinum status will be valid for 12 months, meaning that could could enjoy all the privileges and perks through to May 2021.

To sweeten the deal, you'll need to collect only half as many 'Qpoints' as usual to keep that status through to as far as May 2022.

One of the key benefits of holding status in Qatar Airways Privilege Club is that, as Qatar Airways is a member of the Oneworld alliance, your shiny Privilege Club card boasts benefits with other Oneworld airlines such as American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Japan Airlines and of course Qantas.

The latter will be particularly appealing for worried Virgin Australia frequent flyers, as they'll enjoy the same level of perks as their Qantas Silver, Gold and Platinum counterparts – including access to domestic and international Qantas lounges.

What Qatar Airways status can I get?

The Qatar Airways Privilege Club has three core tiers – Silver, Gold and Platinum (in the gemstone parlance of Oneworld, these equate to Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald).

Your status in the frequent flyer program of one of the six eligible airlines will be matched to the corresponding Privilege Club tier.

Here's how the Qatar Airways Privilege Club Silver, Gold and Platinum tiers should line up against their equivalents for Virgin Australia Velocity, Emirates Skywards, Etihad Guest, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles and South African Airways Voyager.

   QRPC Silver   QRPC Gold    QPRC Platinum 
Virgin Australia Velocity Silver Velocity Gold Velocity Platinum
Emirates Skywards Silver Skywards Gold Skywards Platinum
Etihad Airways Guest Silver Guest Gold Guest Platinum
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Elite Silver KrisFlyer Elite Gold PPS Club
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles Classic Plus Miles&Smiles Elite Miles&Smiles Elite Plus
South African Airways Voyager Silver Voyager Gold Voyager Platinum

Note that the fine print on this promotion says the decision "remains at the discretion of Privilege Club management; Privilege Club reserves the right to decide on the corresponding tier."

How to apply for a Qatar Airways status match

You'll need to already be a member of the Qatar Airways Privilege Club – signing up is fast, free and done at qmiles.com.

Also, take a photo or a scan of your frequent flyer membership card

Qatar Airways requests that your status match application also include the last two months of statements for your current airline – but given that the last two months have probably seen you doing no flying, we suggest you go back to a few months from late last year or early this year when you were travelling quite a bit.

Add those to your application, with a covering note explaining how your recent travel plans have been scuppered by COVID-19.

Bundle everything up and email it to [email protected], with the subject line “Privilege Club Status Match", and also include your Qatar Airways Privilege Club membership number in that email.

Remember: this has to be done before 11.59pm on 20 May 2020, Doha time (as a quick Asia-Pacific reference that's 7am on May 21 in Sydney and 5am in Singapore).

Your membership status match request will be reviewed, and approval sent within 10 business days.

How to keep your Qatar Airways status to 2022

Qatar Airways Privilege Club status is determined by how many Qpoints you earn during your membership year – and that bar has been substantially lowered for successful status matchers.

During your complimentary gratis status period you'll need yo earn the following number of Qpoints to keep your Privilege Club tier status for another 12 months:

  • Qatar Airways Privilege Club Silver: 75 Qpoints (usually 150)
  • Qatar Airways Privilege Club Gold: 150 Qpoints (usually 300)
  • Qatar Airways Privilege Club Platinum: 300 Qpoints (usually 600)

In general, the more you spend on your ticket, the more Qpoints you’ll earn. This applies to both the class of travel you book and the distance you fly.

But with Qpoints able to be earned on the flights of Oneworld member airlines, this makes it easier to work your way up the ladder.

That said, in order to retain your Qatar Airways Privilege Club status you'll also need to have clocked up at least 20% of your Qpoints and "flown four sectors" on "flights either marketed or operated by Qatar Airways", the airline says.

David

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.

Qantas

31 Oct 2013

Total posts 12

Applied, but unsure of how many Qatar segments will be achievable by May 2021.




25 Feb 2015

Total posts 57

@DaveFromOz yeah I know what you mean. But I'm thinking maybe this strategy is intentionally a simple carrot dangle around getting normally *A flyers to give Qatar a try (even if only once) experience their service and favourable, less-stripped-back schedule, then consider a longer term commitment to them into the future.

Thanks for the information David. I have status on Virgin Australia that I would like to match but I can't find any statements in my emails and can't see where to find them on my velocity account - could you please point me in the right direction?

10 Jul 2018

Total posts 105

Hi Lucktraveller, you can find your Velocity Activity Statements at: https://experience.velocityfrequentflyer.com/my-velocity/my-activity/summary

Thanks Brandon - I assume I just take a screenshot to send to them?

10 Jul 2018

Total posts 105

Yes, that's what I did.

03 Mar 2019

Total posts 4

I haven't done a status match before. When I send the activity history should I filter it to only show flights? Ie remove credit card, accommodation, fuel points and status points transactions and flight redemptions?

09 Aug 2015

Total posts 94

I don't see that it would matter much, the main thing QR will be looking for are your Virgin flights so they can see you have an actual 'flying pattern' and didn't just get your VA status through some other status match offer.

Delta Air Lines - SkyMiles

14 Apr 2013

Total posts 326

Fingers crossed, I just submitted mine. TBH I am looking forward to experiencing the QR service at the end of year

Turkish Airlines - Miles & Smiles

08 Jun 2014

Total posts 263

I'd like Qatar to match my QF Status... as much as it's the same...

18 May 2020

Total posts 1

Probably a silly question - but if I apply for this status match will it impact my Velocity Gold status? Or can you in theory have both Gold status on both programmes?

Delta Air Lines - SkyMiles

14 Apr 2013

Total posts 326

Yes you can have both. The status match will not impact at all on your Velocity Gold Status.

09 Aug 2019

Total posts 3

Does a anyone have any experience with a soft landing for these sort of matches? I'm not sure how much travel I'm likely to have the opportunity to travel in the next year with all the restrictions. However have plans for just after the year of the match would be up.

22 Jun 2013

Total posts 4

If I'm platinum QF and gold with velocity - should I do this? I love the idea but would it be better to just get the QF FF points and emerald status through oneworld?

24 Oct 2010

Total posts 2558

Even if you don't requalify for Qantas Platinum in your current membership you would still have a 'soft landing' drop to Qantas Gold, and that's equivalent to what you would get from Qatar Airways via a Velocity Gold status match – so there's no immediate benefit to this QR status match, at least at Gold status level.

QF

11 Jul 2014

Total posts 962

Did anyone actually get a status match, I got an email thanking myself for applying and my request would be passed on for review, that was it.

Qantas

31 Oct 2013

Total posts 12

No response yet, just an email re joining program.

VA platinum so hoping .....

13 days after providing all requested documentation, I received an email that included a service number

Qantas

31 Oct 2013

Total posts 12

Received the same on Friday!

Not sure what's going on here.

I'm a VA platinum and applied last Monday. Received a email in the week asking for a activity statement that had my name on it (VA don't supply this, only one that shows you're velocity number and status) sent this and still no reply.

I'm starting to this this might a ploy to gain frequent flyer information for data reasons and maybe there's no real status match coming. Happy to be proven wrong tho haha

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

13 May 2018

Total posts 5

Has anyone actually got through with that and got status match? I also am VA Platinum and applied, didn't even get anything yet, not even an eMail acknowledgement like others.

05 Jun 2020

Total posts 1

You're not alone. VA Platinum applied on 20th May with no response.

05 Jun 2020

Total posts 3

I have got a reply with a ticket number after week mentioning that they have received my request. Waiting to hear the outcome. Has anyone got status match?

QF

11 Jul 2014

Total posts 962

This could be a Qantas / One World thing and keeping there powder dry until the outcome of Covid 19 and VA. Pick off VA's top customers, I know people who do heaps of travel and got a reply promise but nothing yet in match.

bmc
bmc

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

22 Aug 2013

Total posts 173

Emerald!

E

Jetstar Airways - Qantas Frequent Flyer

27 May 2017

Total posts 2

Mine just came through tonight - Emirates gold / Oneworld sapphire.

26 Mar 2020

Total posts 5

Just got the email - VA Platinum matched to Qatar Platinum and OneWorld Ruby.

26 Mar 2020

Total posts 5

Emerald rather (not ruby)

09 Aug 2015

Total posts 94

Got my email overnight, now have Platinum status with Qatar which means Oneworld Emerald too, thanks ET for letting us know about this great offer!

05 Jun 2020

Total posts 3

Got my confirmation, VA Platinum matched with Qatar Platinum and OneWorld Emerald.

Thanks for this post which enabled to get this status match!

Thanks very much for posting this information - I got my status match!

Singapore Airlines - PPS Club

14 Nov 2012

Total posts 15

Got matched to Qatar Gold from Singapore Airlines PPS Club, was hoping for Qatar Platinum. Not sure whether I should ask politely. My husband also got matched to Qatar Gold from SQ Krisflyer Gold.

Thanks for alerting us to this status match.

Anyone still waiting for a match to come through? I emailed through all required documentation as a VA Platinum and are still awaiting a response :(

05 Jun 2020

Total posts 3

Did anyone get the physical card via post?

03 Mar 2019

Total posts 4

Hey Jeff,

I haven't received the physical card yet either. Would be interested to know if anyone has received their physical card. I got my status match in the 11th of June but still no physical card.

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

04 Apr 2018

Total posts 11

Didn't receive any correspondence, but received email confirmation of status match today. Not sure how many Qatar segments I'll fly before June 2021 but hey....

Qantas

31 Oct 2013

Total posts 12

I think that they may have to extend the eligibility dates if they want to actually have anyone be able to take advantage of this status swap.


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