Qatar Airways announced changes to Privilege Club redemptions earlier this year, but the full picture is only becoming clear now. From June 2026, award bookings are limited to a pre-approved list of named individuals, and the restrictions around which accounts can access the new features go well beyond what the original announcement covered.
Gone is the ability to book an award seat for anyone whose details you happen to have, and depending on how you built your balance, you may not be able to book for anyone else at all.
What Has Changed
Until now, redeeming Avios for someone else was relatively open. You needed their name, passport number, and date of birth, but there was no requirement to register them in advance. That flexibility is gone. Qatar Airways has introduced two new features that together define the group of people you can book award flights for.
The first is Family & Friends, which allows up to six people who do not hold a Privilege Club account to join a Main Member’s group and pool their Avios into one balance. The second is My List, which allows a Privilege Club member to nominate up to four existing Privilege Club members for whom they can redeem Avios on award flights. Between the two, you can book for a maximum of 10 named individuals. Anyone outside that circle is no longer eligible.
Both features carry a six-month lock-in period. Once someone is added, they cannot be removed for six months. This matters if your travel companions change or if you made a mistake adding someone early on.
The Qualifying Activity Requirement Applies to Both Features
Here is the restriction that will catch the most people off guard, and it applies equally to Family & Friends and My List. Before you can use either feature, you must have been a Privilege Club member for at least 30 days and must have completed at least one qualifying earning activity. Under both sets of terms and conditions, that qualifying activity is either a flown flight accrual on Qatar Airways or any partner airline, or at least one eligible co-branded credit card transaction.
A Privilege Club balance built entirely through credit card transfer partners does not satisfy this requirement. If your Avios came from Amex Membership Rewards, RBC points, or any other Canadian transfer program, you cannot create a Family & Friends group and you cannot create a My List. Qatar Airways does not issue co-branded cards in Canada so that path is not available.
For example we have 600,000 Avios saved toward a Qsuite trip to Auckland for two people, built through Canadian card transfers. Under the new rules, we cannot access either feature. A collector in that position has no mechanism to redeem their balance for a travel companion until they complete a qualifying flight accrual.
We understand the fraud prevention rationale, particularly given the volume of account compromises targeting Privilege Club in recent years. The execution, however, locks out collectors who built a meaningful balance through legitimate transfer activity, and that gap needs to be acknowledged.
The Practical Options
Flying any paid or award segment on a Oneworld carrier and crediting it to Privilege Club would satisfy the qualifying activity requirement and unlock both features. For a collector sitting on a large Avios balance with a specific redemption in mind, booking a short revenue segment on any Oneworld airline is the clearest path forward. It is an extra step that did not exist before June 2026, but it resolves the issue.
A second option for collectors who cannot satisfy the qualifying activity requirement is to transfer Avios from Privilege Club to a British Airways Executive Club account and book the Qatar Airways operated flight through British Airways instead. British Airways has no equivalent restrictions on who you can book for, so this route sidesteps the new Privilege Club framework entirely. The taxes and fees on Qatar Airways flights booked through BA are the same as booking direct through Privilege Club. The trade-off is availability. British Airways sees Qatar Airways award space later than Privilege Club does, which on a competitive route means you are working with a narrower window. For a trip to Auckland that difference can matter, particularly if you are trying to secure specific departure dates or cabin configurations.
Our Take
We understand the fraud prevention rationale behind these changes, and moving to a named circle redemption model is a reasonable response. The problem is that the eligibility gate applies equally to both features, and the collectors it locks out are not bad actors. They are people who engaged with the program, transferred points in good faith, and built a balance with a specific trip in mind. Qatar Airways should broaden what counts as qualifying activity.
