I booked a one-way Economy ticket from Kochi (COK) to Doha with Qatar Airways, expecting Platinum membership and Qcredits to offer some flexibility for an airport upgrade. A few hours after booking, I received an online upgrade offer for INR 71,000 (around USD 750). A couple of days later, award seats became available, so I wanted to cancel the original ticket and book the award seat instead. I then discovered that the amount paid for the online upgrade is completely non-refundable. This is an unreasonable policy: even when upgrade availability changes or a better redemption option becomes available, passengers lose the full upgrade amount. Qatar Airways’ terms and conditions appear to offer very little flexibility—and do not seem to favour passengers, even Platinum members.