Qatar Airways Privilege Club Changes: Impacts For Canadians

Times are always changing with points, miles, credit cards, and loyalty programs. Qatar Airways Privilege Club is not exempt, as they have recently rolled out a few changes that impact the ability to book award flights for passengers other than the primary account holder.

These changes impact all Privilege Club members, but Canadians might have a bigger uphill battle ahead of them to restore their accounts to their former utility. Let’s take a look at the recent Qatar Airways Privilege Club changes and what your next steps should be to be able to continue redeeming Qatar Airways Avios for friends and family.

What’s Changing With Qatar Airways Privilege Club?

As of mid-June 2026, Qatar Airways Privilege Club implemented a change that makes it so members can continue to book award flights for themselves, but if they want to book for others, they need to meet certain requirements.

The three requirements that account holders must meet in order to be able to book award flights for others are:

• The member must be at least 18 years old.
• The Qatar Airways Privilege Club account must have existed for 30 days or more.
• One qualifying activity on the account is required, such as a flight credited to Privilege Club on Qatar Airways or a oneworld partner, or a transaction on a Qatar Airways co-branded credit card.

Once those three requirements have been met, members will unlock two features in their account that once again allow them to book for passengers other than themselves: My List and My Family & Friends.

My List allows members to add up to four Privilege Club members. Once joined, members must remain for six months, and if they leave early, that slot will remain occupied until the six-month period has elapsed.

The My Family & Friends list allows up to six members to be added, but these members cannot have their own Privilege Club account. The six-month rule is the same as mentioned for “My List” above.

I understand what they are trying to accomplish with these changes, as they are most likely aiming for greater restrictions on miles and points brokers, which may end up being a net positive for normal users down the line. But in the immediate future, there are several impacts for Canadians, as, in a roundabout way, many will have “lost access” to Qatar Airways Privilege Club, albeit temporarily.

The Downstream Impacts for Canadians

I’ll be the first to say I am absolutely guilty of utilizing the Qatar Airways Privilege Club program without ever actually participating in it in any meaningful way, as I’ve always just transferred miles in and booked my desired flights, which is how I’ve been able to fly Qatar Airways QSuites and Qatar Airways First Class.

While this wasn’t an issue for many years and we couldn’t have reasonably forecasted this change, it has now slightly become my downfall, and I’ll need to course-correct my strategy to get my Qatar account back to full usage.

For many Canadians who participate in this hobby, Avios and its associated partner programs are such a major player when it comes to flight redemptions, particularly because of the ease of earning them through the two transferable currencies we have in Canada: Avion points and Membership Rewards. And while these changes only restrict redemptions with one Avios partner, losing an entire Avios partner, even if temporarily, absolutely sucks.

The pain doesn’t stop there, as I believe Canadians have a harder process ahead to fully unlock their Qatar Airways Privilege Club account to its former glory, compared to residents of other countries. Even completing one of the qualifying activities will require a bit more planning for us.

The first option for a qualifying activity is to credit a cash fare Qatar Airways or oneworld partner flight to the Qatar Airways Privilege Club program. The problem is, oneworld really doesn’t have much of a presence in Canada, outside of a very small number of Alaska Airlines and American Airlines flights.

Take a look at this screencap from FlightConnections highlighting all of the oneworld options in Canada versus the United States; it doesn’t even compare.

The second option for a qualifying activity is to make a transaction on a Qatar Airways co-branded credit card. We flat out don’t have any credit card options for this in Canada, and while there are some in the United States, even those with access to U.S. credit cards will struggle, as the issuer, Cardless, typically does not deal with ITIN holders.

So, where do we go from here, and what is the way forward to regain full access to Qatar Airways Privilege Club?

The Way Forward For Canadians & Qatar Airways Privilege Club

For most Canadians, the best choice is going to be booking an eligible oneworld cash fare ticket and crediting it to Qatar Airways Privilege Club. If you don’t want to travel too far and are looking to fly in North America, your best choices are going to be American Airlines or Alaska Airlines for a flight that is typically within the United States.

Keep in mind that there are 16 members in the oneworld airline alliance, so there are lots of reasonably priced cash fares outside of North America, especially for shorter hops in Europe and Asia. This is going to be my play as I have a few trips planned to those areas of the world, and as a big fan of Qatar Airways, I will be looking to credit a flight to their loyalty program in the next few months to regain full access.

If you wanted to circumvent these changes in a roundabout way, you could look at booking an award on two separate accounts if booking for two passengers. There is some risk with separate itineraries (but you might be able to get them to ‘link PNRs’ by contacting Qatar Airways), and award availability can do weird things when single tickets are booked. For example, you might see 2 Saver tickets available, but when one is booked, the other one could go to Flex pricing.

If you are booking with two separate accounts, the best way to move large balances of Avios is via FinnAir Avios, as they only charge a €10 flat fee when transferring online. The sender’s Finnair account must be at least 90 days old, and there is no limit on the amount of Avios that can be transferred.

Since Avios can be freely transferred between partners, provided you have an eligible Finnair account, it would be easy enough to move an Avios balance to Finnair Avios, transfer the required miles to the other account, and move both balances back to Qatar Airways Privilege Club to make two separate bookings.

Conclusion

I’m obviously not a big fan of these changes, and like many others, will have to put in a bit of work to get my Qatar Airways account back to its former glory. But with a bit of planning and a cheap oneworld cash fare credited to Privilege Club on a future vacation, you can be back in the running to be able to redeem Avios with Qatar Airways Privilege Club for friends and family sooner than later.