We received several comments and replies about our piece with Accor and Qatar Airways fast track that we published the other week (read more here) and issues with it.
Readers are encouraged to send us questions, comments, or opinions by email, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We’ll cover them here several times a week.
You can access Qatar’s page for the partnership here, and Accor’s here.
READ MORE: Accor ALL Rate & Bonus Points Offers
Here’s the piece from the other week:
Accor ALL & Qatar Airways Privilege Club Status Fast Track 2025
Here are some messages and comments from the readers:
As an ALL Platinum Member I have just taken 2 Business Class flights with Qatar Airways on January 3rd and 5th and was NOT upgraded to Gold.
The Accounts are linked correctly and I also received All Points for both flights already.
As I read on the flyertalk forum a few others were also denied a match for flights taken during the first days of january.
Some of them asked Qatar Support about this matter and got the answer that the Quotas were reached (they seem to reset in september not january).
AND:
I was reading your “Accor ALL & Qatar Airways Privilege Club Status Fast Track 2025” writeup today, and you mentioned you’ve never heard of any issues with status matching.
Well, I’ve had a personal nightmare experience with this!
Long story short, I’m ALL Platinum and QR Burgundy, and my ALL account was linked to Qantas. I was enjoying the benefits of the partnership, but before I took 4 flights on QR at the beginning of November, I decided to de-link my Qantas account from ALL and link to Qatar. I hoped for a bump from QR Burgundy to Gold after my first flight and of course, the extra points in my ALL account.
After my first flight, with friends and forum users reporting almost immediately status upgrades, nothing happened. So, I called Qatar and was told that the accounts were linked and to be patient. After a week and nothing happening, I contacted Qatar again through their online form and was informed that the accounts were not linked!? Since then, I’ve had countless calls and emails from Qatar, with contradicting replies. They’ve said everything from “accounts not linked” to “fast track exhausted” (which is simply not true as I have friends who enjoyed fast track in the weeks after my flight, and besides that, what about the missing points???) and Accor unable to help because, as far as they’re concerned, the accounts are linked and I need to follow-up with Qatar 🙁
Now I’m stuck in no-man’s land, with no status upgrade, no ALL bonus points, and I’m stuck with Qatar for 12 months before I can unlink my ALL account and link back to Qantas!!
AND:
I had a QR flight in the middle of December ’24 (accounts properly linked) and didn’t get the status match. Upon inquiring, I was told that the quota for 2024 was used up with no information on when the quota resets. Looks to me as if they are deliberately not communicating it so it’s a bit of a roulette.
There certainly appears to be an issue with these account linking.
Unfortunately, it is borderline impossible to get sensible and coherent customer service replies from Qatar Airways, however excellent the airline is on the air, and let’s not discuss the bussing around at the Doha Airport:
Hamad International (Doha) Bus Arrival & Departure Gates
I noted in the piece that Accor and Qatar Airways have published a table about how many reciprocal matches are processed per year:
- Privilege Club Gold = ALL Silver
- Privilege Club Platinum = ALL Gold
- ALL Gold = Privilege Club Silver (Oneworld Ruby)
- Accor Platinum = Privilege Club Gold (Oneworld Sapphire)
- Accor Diamond = Privilege Club Platinum (Oneworld Emerald)
The following is then disclosed in the program T&Cs:
I have confirmed with Accor that these yearly caps are indeed observed. The limits are reset every September, but this may change to a calendar year.
This is a challenging situation with members who have linked their accounts and taken the Qatar Airways flight because it seems that it turns out to be a gamble whether the Privilege Club account status is upgraded. The Qatar Airways customer support is of no help (no surprise here, really).
Here’s what Accor & Qatar Airways should do:
They should disclose how many of these matches are left at any given time.
It seems that unless you take the Qatar Airways flights right after the limit has reset, there is the likelihood that the quota has been reached, and there is no way for you to confirm this beyond seeing if your Privilege Club account status has been bumped up or not.
Conclusion
Accor’s partnerships with various airlines (currently four: Air France-KLM, Azul, Qantas & Qatar) allow members to double dip with stays and flights to earn points and miles.
The Privilege Club Gold (ALL Platinum members) and Platinum (ALL Diamond members) would be a great way to get Oneworld Sapphire or Emerald, but this setup leaves much to be desired.
You may choose to fly on Qatar Airways and pay a premium for this, only to find out that the yearly quota for status upgrades has been exhausted.
This has essentially become a gamble, and you are likely to lose unless you get the Qatar Airways flight right after the yearly quota reset, which takes place on September 1.
What have been your experiences with this fast track? Please comment below.
