Update 9 Jan 2026: Qatar Airways appears to have removed the fuel surcharge, with redemptions on Velocity Frequent Flyer now returning to previous levels.
Virgin Australia confirmed to Point Hacks on Friday night that the issue has been resolved. The below article references the changes as noted on 8 Jan 2026.
Planning to fly Qatar Airways Qsuites soon? Your wallet might be in for a shock, especially if you’re booking with Velocity Points. As highlighted by a member of an unofficial Velocity Frequent Flyer members group, the fees and taxes payable seem to have increased dramatically with some programs, rivalling those of Emirates.
Point Hacks understands that Virgin Australia is aware of the issue affecting Qatar Airways reward seats and is actively investigating it. At the time of this update, Qatar Airways had not replied to requests for comment.
What’s changed so far?
While we are still assessing the breadth of the changes, here are some examples we’ve noted so far.
On a typical Perth-Doha reward seat, you would normally expect to pay around $398 per person in Business Class. However, now the Qatar Airways flight is showing a co-payment of $896 – an increase of over 125%. Economy Class is also similarly affected with an increase of 118%.
However, the Virgin Australia-marketed flight is still showing the normal fees and taxes of $398 for Business Class, which is the same as the previous level for the Qatar Airways-operated flight. So, if possible, look at booking the VA flight numbers as reward seats.
On a multi-stop journey from Istanbul to Perth, the change is more drastic. While the fees and taxes on this route used to hover around $750 per person in Business Class, they’re now $1,922. That’s an astonishing increase of over 156%; well and truly in Emirates-level territory. Some other routes from Europe are exceeding $2,000 in fees and taxes.
It’s also worth noting that the VA-operated flight from Doha appears to have higher charges when booked together with Istanbul to Doha, compared to when they are booked separately.
What could be happening with Qatar Airways reward seats?
A further analysis of the fees and charges has revealed that Qatar Airways is adding a fuel surcharge. In the Istanbul-Doha-Perth example, this extra fee currently stands at a whopping $1,264. On a Sydney-Doha one-way redemption, the fuel surcharge is currently around $501.
As the name implies, fuel charges are typically applied during periods of higher fuel costs. But some airlines have a history of using them simply to collect more revenue. Indeed, data shows that oil prices have actually decreased by 23.5% over the last year…
At the time of writing, it appears that redemptions through Avios, such as via British Airways or Qatar Airways, are currently unaffected. Some other partners, such as American Airlines AAdvantage, traditionally don’t pass on surcharges and are also not affected by this recent change.
However, searches through Cathay Pacific have shown increased fuel surcharges as well, so it seems the issue is not isolated to just Velocity Frequent Flyer.
More to come.
IST-DOH was approx $300 o/w is now +$1400